One of Hong Kong's favourite camping spots!
Difficulty Rating: 4/10
Duration: 1 hour
Cell Service: 5/5
Instagrammability: 5/5
Sharp island has beautiful waters and mesmerising rock formations. If you have a drone, this island is a must-do as it looks incredible from up above. We were lucky enough to even witness a double (almost) rainbow!
How To Get There:
If you'd like to directly get to the beach shown below (Hap Mun Bay) and not hike, you can also take a direct sampan from Sai Kung Pier. Views as pictured above!
Hiking & Camping Directions:
At the Sai Kung ferry pier (image 1), there are a number of stalls with 'sampans' (image 2) that you can take to go to Sharp Island. It's possible to haggle for a better price and it may cost between HK$20-40 per person.
You will get off at Kiu Tsui Port which has a beach adjacent to it (image 3). It is possible to camp out on this beach which is on the western shore of the island. The beach has BBQ pits, showers, changing rooms and toilets.
Connected to the Kiu Tsui beach is a tombolo that can be walked on during low tide to get to the Kiu Tau islet (image 4).
While the views from this beach are gorgeous, we were looking for a more picturesque beach with white sand. Further south on this island is a gorgeous beach called "Hap Mun Bay" (aka Half Moon Bay). The hike from Kiu Tsui is about an hour, also with great views (image 5). To begin, walk to the end of Kiu Tsui beach and look for a sign towards "Hap Mun Bay Beach" (image 4).
The trail ends directly at the campsite behind the beach. You can either camp here (cleaner), or set up your tent on the beach (prettier). We chose the latter and woke up to a beautiful day at the beach!
To get back to Sai Kung, you don't need to hike again. There are several boats that come to Hap Mun Bay Beach every 20-30 minutes and you can just take off for about $20. Just make sure to ask if it goes to Sai Kung first!
As you can't rent tents on this island, you need to bring your own. We rented ours from an online store called Rent-A-Tent (http://www.rentatent.hk/) with pick-up from Diamond Hill. You can text them on Whatsapp (90653163) and book a day in advance. Here is also a camping packing cheat sheet we've prepared to make your planning easier!