There are 3 different ways you can reach to the top of Victoria peak. Easiest way is to take the bus 15 from Hong Kong island to Peak station. This is the most convenient and economical option to consider. You also get to see nice views of the Hong Kong sky scrappers while sitting peacefully on upper section of the bus. If you get the front seats on top section of the bus; that's the best place to enjoy the ride with a view.
Another interesting way (rather most popular way) is to take the 'Peak Tram' from Central. Only issue with this option is that it is time consuming and expensive. You basically need to get into a queue for quite sometime on both sides (riding the tram to the peak and while returning back to Central). During typical travelling season, it gets crowded by tourists as most of the travellers have this on top of their bucket list while travelling in Hong Kong. You will mostly see expats or tourists in the queues than HK locals.
I will talk about the third and most exciting option here which is apt for the adventure seekers and hikers out there! I will cover the 'Central Green Trail' that leads from Central to the top of Victoria peak. This trail takes around couple of hours to hike and includes a combination of stairs and concrete pathways.
If you are coming from the Central MTR then you need to take the exit 'K' that leads to the Bank street in Hong Kong.
From Bank street it takes 5 minutes walking towards 'Peak Tram' station point. While walking towards the station, you can see a big hoarding for it from a distance as seen in below picture.
After reaching the spot, the trail won't start right here but you can walk alongside the actual tram track and get to see the tram too while climbing the stairs. Basically, you can start the climb at the same spot where people board the 'Peak Tram'.
Hikers start climb the trail from left side while the ones taking tram take the right side of the route here. Fortunately, when we started climbing the stairs, we right away saw the Peak Tram coming down on our right side.
Compared to most of the other trails in Hong Kong, this trail i found particularly easier to hike since its slope wasn't that steep; though I must admit that climbing the stairs like below require some efforts.
Initial part of the climb includes crossing the roads cutting through the trail few times (3-4 times). After crossing the road, you see the sign leading to the Peak and start with these set of stairs again.
On the right side you can see the tram track traversing through bridge.
Once you reach the road above then you can look down and see the tram track below while in the back you can see large banks (HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of China) standing tall.
And once you look up on the other side, you can see the track leading to the top along with the hiking trail alongside.
Keep climbing and take the stairs on the right. If you are lucky, you might get to see the running tram on the track. Checkout the below video!
The road you can see on the right hand in above video is what you need to take for the hiking trail. Once you take that turn, that's where the actual Green trail starts for Victoria Peak. You get to see the station no.7 mentioned on the wall as part of Central Green Trail. It means there must be a starting point with station no.1 but who cares we started mid-way on this trail it seems :)
Every station number here is assigned with a type of a tree to educate locals about its characteristics and I am sure they must have planted them along the trail (however we didn't keep that level of attention on the surrounding trees since were focussed more on hiking the trail!). That explains why the name of the trail is 'Central Green Trail'. Keep walking till you reach the next station.
8th Station is dedicated to Adventitious roots. By the way, we got to know one important news that Bella is missing. When you are visiting the trail and come across a cute female dog around that looks something like below picture then please contact the owner as per the hoarding. We all miss you Bella!
You reach another bridge after walking for few minutes before reaching the station #9. Once you reach there, cross the road on the other side where you will see the sign for the 9th station that gives an information around urban development including popularity of mid-levels in Hong Kong.
This is where the slop starts getting steeper (not too steep though in general compared to other trails). Best part about this section of trail is you start getting initial views of the buildings around and that makes the hike a bit more interesting. Also you would notice a combination of stairs and concrete pathways while climbing.
Sooner you will arrive at the 10th station that talks about 'Tree Surgery' describing what it really means. I wonder how many people would be interested to read these descriptions.
Keep walking the zigzag lanes going upwards and leading to the next station. The path becomes narrower as you proceed further but the slope remains at same elevation until the next station #11 arrives. This station describes the concept of 'Urban Hydrology'.
The trail becomes greener as you pass by this station and it feels literally like you are taking a stroll through the forest.
After reaching the 13th station, you need to walk for 10 more min before reaching one of the highways. It appears to be a residential area where you will see personal vehicles of locals parked right across the road. On the other side of the road, you can finally start seeing landscape views of the city as below;
Keep walking few more steps and you end up at one of the stops of the Peak Tram. People board the train from here as well if required.
We got to see one of the trams going down the hill while moving on as seen in below pic;
By this time you are almost there. Few more steps and you start seeing the Victoria Peak Tower in vicinity and the trams going up and down on the track next to the trail. Checkout the below pic of the Peak tram reaching the Victoria tower.
You finally reach the Victoria Peak and get the best view of the city.
Victoria Tower is designed more as a tourist friendly attraction, hence you would end up seeing all the fast food chains like Burger King, McDonalds and others. Few french and Italian restaurants provide the diversity in terms of cuisines.
You can sit back and enjoy the views from the tower roof top ('Sky Terrace 428'). You need to buy a ticket of HKD 52 for an adult and HKD 26 for a child or senior citizen.
Hope this post give you an idea of what to expect while hiking to Victoria Peak by following the Central Green Trail from Central. Do share your comments and experiences if any while hiking to the Victoria peak. Would love to get your views. Happy travelling!
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