The Best Beaches in Hong Kong: A Complete Guide

Most visitors never find Hong Kong’s beaches — which is a shame, because some of them are exceptional. Over 200 kilometres of coastline, more than 30 government-managed beaches with facilities, shark nets, and lifeguards in season, and on a clear October day the south side of the island is as beautiful as anything in southern China. The crowds that fill the malls have no idea what they’re missing.

The surprise is partly geographical. Hong Kong Island’s south side, hidden behind the ridge of hills that forms the Island’s spine, is a different world from the harbour face: quieter, greener, and lined with beaches that most visitors never find because they never cross the hills. Lantau’s southern coast has three kilometres of largely empty sand. The Sai Kung peninsula in the New Territories has water quality that routinely tops the city’s monitoring rankings. And the outlying islands — Cheung Chau, Lamma — have their own beaches a short ferry ride from Central.

What to Know Before You Go

Beach season runs from April to October. Government lifeguards are on duty and shark prevention nets are in place at all gazetted beaches during this period. Outside these months, swimming is at your own risk and lifeguards are off duty.

Shark nets: All 36 government-managed beaches are equipped with shark prevention nets — barriers running from the seabed to the surface, inspected by divers twice weekly. There have been no fatal shark attacks at netted beaches since installation in the mid-1990s. Beyond the netted area, you are in open water.

Water quality: The Environmental Protection Department monitors and grades beach water quality throughout the bathing season on a scale of 1 to 4 (1 = highest quality). Grades are displayed at each beach and available online. Most gazetted beaches maintain Grade 1 or 2 consistently; a small number can drop after heavy rainfall. Check before you go if water quality matters to you — the EPD Beach Water Quality Hotline is 2511 6666.

Jellyfish appear occasionally, especially after storms. Take warnings posted at beaches seriously.

Weekdays are significantly better than weekends at the popular beaches. Repulse Bay and Shek O in particular can be dense with Hong Kong families on sunny Sundays from June to September. The same beaches on a Tuesday morning are a different experience entirely.

Facilities at gazetted beaches typically include changing rooms, showers, toilets, lifeguard posts, shark nets, and barbecue pits. Kiosks selling drinks and snacks are common but not universal.

Hong Kong Island: The South Side

Repulse Bay

The most famous and most accessible beach in Hong Kong — a wide crescent of golden sand backed by luxury apartment blocks, lined with restaurants and cafés, and busy on every decent weekend from April to September. It is a good beach by any standard: the sand is clean, the water is monitored and generally good quality, and the facilities are comprehensive.

What makes Repulse Bay interesting beyond the beach itself is the surroundings. At the eastern end of the beach stands a collection of large Chinese religious statues — a goddess of mercy, various deities, a long bridge said to add three days to your life for every crossing — which constitute one of the stranger beach-side sights in Asia. The colonial-era Repulse Bay building (now a luxury apartment complex) with its distinctive hole in the middle — intended to allow a dragon to pass through to the sea, in deference to feng shui — adds further architectural curiosity.

For lunch or a drink, the restaurants at The Pulse shopping complex behind the beach are functional; better to walk five minutes along the coast toward the quieter end of the bay and find something smaller.

Middle Bay and South Bay — two smaller beaches between Repulse Bay and Stanley, accessible by taxi from Repulse Bay or a 15–20 minute coastal walk. Neither is large or especially well-facilitated, but both have become known through consistent community use as welcoming spaces for LGBT+ visitors, particularly on weekends. Worth knowing if the more crowded main beaches don’t appeal.

Getting there: Bus 6, 6A, 6X, or 260 from Exchange Square bus terminus in Central (approximately 25 minutes); or minibus 40 or 40X from Causeway Bay (Jardine’s Bazaar). No direct MTR access.
Best time: Weekday mornings, April–June and September–October for best combination of warm water and manageable crowds.

Shek O

Discover Shek O — the Beach That Those Who Know Hong Kong Love Best. Located at the end of a winding road past a golf course, with a genuine village behind it and the open South China Sea in front, Shek O is where Hong Kong’s in-the-know visitors head when the obvious options feel too crowded. The Thai restaurants in the village are worth the trip on their own.

The beach can get crowded on summer weekends, but it never achieves quite the density of Repulse Bay, partly because it takes slightly longer to reach and partly because the road in acts as a natural limiter. Water quality is consistently rated good. The village restaurants are better than the beach itself might suggest — the Thai places in particular are worth the trip.

Shek O pairs naturally with the Dragon’s Back hike: the trail ends at or near Shek O and Big Wave Bay, making a hiking morning followed by a beach afternoon the obvious programme. [Details on the Dragon’s Back are in our Walking Trails guide.](../walking-trails/)

Getting there: MTR to Shau Kei Wan (Island Line), Exit A3, then Bus 9 to Shek O terminus (approximately 30 minutes). Buses run every 20–30 minutes.
Best time: Weekdays; October–November for uncrowded perfection.

Stanley Beach

Stanley beach is not the most spectacular swimming beach in Hong Kong but it is the most integrated into a half-day out. The beach sits in front of the Stanley waterfront, with the market behind it and a promenade of restaurants and bars either side. It is the kind of beach you visit as part of a broader Stanley afternoon rather than specifically for the swimming — though the water quality is reliably good and the setting is pleasant.

The beach is also the site of Hong Kong’s annual Dragon Boat Championships, held in June, when the waterfront becomes one of the more exhilarating spectacles in the city’s sporting calendar.

Getting there: Bus 6, 6A, 6X, or 260 from Exchange Square in Central (approximately 40 minutes). The bus journey over the hills is itself part of the appeal — sit on the upper deck.

Deep water bay

A smaller, quieter alternative to Repulse Bay, just around the headland: a sheltered bay with a short beach, good water quality, and significantly fewer people. Popular with early-morning swimmers who appreciate having it largely to themselves before noon. The surrounding area includes a golf club and some of the most expensive private housing in Hong Kong, which gives it a rather different neighbourhood character from Shek O.

Getting there: Bus 6, 6A, 6X, or 260 from Central — get off one stop before Repulse Bay at Deep Water Bay.

Lantau Island: Hong Kong's Longest Beach

Cheung Sha

Escape to Cheung Sha — Hong Kong’s Longest and Most Peaceful Beach. Three kilometres of pale sand on Lantau’s south coast, with the island’s hills rising behind and almost no one on it during the week. Cheung Sha is what happens when you get off the tourist trail — and paired with a day at the Big Buddha and Tai O, it makes Lantau one of the best full days available in the region.

Cheung Sha is quiet enough on weekdays that you can have a substantial stretch of it to yourself in the shoulder seasons. There is a small number of restaurants and beach bars near the Lower beach; the Upper beach has minimal facilities — bring what you need.

The beach makes most sense combined with a Lantau day trip that also includes Tai O and possibly the Big Buddha. It adds a genuinely different dimension to what is otherwise a cultural and hiking itinerary. [Full details on Lantau day trips in our Beyond the City guide.](../beyond-the-city/)

Getting there: MTR to Tung Chung, Exit B, then Bus 11, 11A, or 23 from Tung Chung Bus Terminus (approximately 20 minutes). Bus 1 from Mui Wo ferry terminal also passes Cheung Sha.

Sai Kung and the New Territories

Clear Water Bay — First and Second Beach

The Clear Water Bay peninsula, in the eastern New Territories, has two adjacent beaches with consistently the cleanest water on any easily accessible government beach in Hong Kong. Second Beach is the larger of the two, with finer sand, better facilities, and a kiosk. First Beach is smaller and more tucked away. Both have lifeguards during the season, shark nets, and full facilities.

The journey from Kowloon takes around 40–50 minutes and the beaches feel genuinely removed from the city. Not as dramatically scenic as the remote Sai Kung beaches, but more accessible and with full facilities.

Getting there: MTR to Diamond Hill (Exit C2), then Bus 91 to the terminus at Clear Water Bay Second Beach (30–40 minutes); or Green Minibus 103M from Hang Hau MTR.

Tai Long Wan and Long Ke Wan — Remote Sai Kung Beaches

These are the beaches for those willing to earn them. Tai Long Wan — a broad bay of pale sand and clear green water on the MacLehose Trail in Sai Kung East Country Park — is the most beautiful beach in Hong Kong and accessible only by hiking in or by kaito boat from Sai Kung pier. Long Ke Wan is similarly remote and similarly striking.

There are no facilities at either beach beyond basic toilets. Bring everything you need, including enough water and sun protection. The kaito boat option from Sai Kung town removes the need to hike in, which makes the remote beaches significantly more accessible — ask at the pier about departures to Tai Long Wan.

These beaches are treated in more detail in the [Walking Trails](../walking-trails/) and [Beyond the City](../beyond-the-city/) guides.

Getting there: Hike in via MacLehose Trail Section 2 (see Walking Trails guide), or take a kaito boat from Sai Kung town pier.

Outlying Island Beaches

Cheung Chau — Tung Wan Beach

The main beach on Cheung Chau runs along the eastern shore of the island, facing away from the harbour. It is broad, clean, well-equipped, and reliably uncrowded compared to the south side beaches. The setting — the island at your back, the open channel ahead — is pleasant rather than dramatic. It combines naturally with a day on the island. The beach is also historically notable as the training ground of Lee Lai-shan, Hong Kong’s first Olympic gold medallist, who won the windsurfing event at Atlanta in 1996.

Getting there: Ferry from Central Pier 5 to Cheung Chau (35–55 minutes), then a short walk across the island.

Lamma Island Beaches

Lamma has several beaches accessible from the family walk between Yung Shue Wan and Sok Kwu Wan — Lo So Shing beach in particular is a quiet, attractive cove along the trail, with good water and basic facilities. The beach near Yung Shue Wan village is smaller but convenient for those arriving by ferry.

Getting there: Ferry from Central Pier 4.

Beach Summary

Beach	Location	Best For	Getting There	Facilities
Repulse Bay	HK Island south	Convenience, facilities, atmosphere	Bus 6/6A/6X from Central	Full
Shek O	HK Island east	Authentic village, good all-round	Bus 9 from Shau Kei Wan MTR	Full
Stanley	HK Island south	Combined with market/waterfront	Bus 6/6A/6X from Central	Full
Deep Water Bay	HK Island south	Quiet, early mornings	Bus 6/6A/6X from Central	Full
Cheung Sha	Lantau Island	Longest beach, uncrowded	Bus from Tung Chung MTR	Basic–Moderate
Clear Water Bay	New Territories	Best water quality, accessible	Bus 91 from Diamond Hill MTR	Full
Tai Long Wan / Long Ke Wan	Sai Kung (remote)	Most beautiful, wilderness feel	Hike or kaito boat	None
Tung Wan	Cheung Chau Island	Easy island day, clean water	Ferry from Central Pier 5	Full
Lo So Shing	Lamma Island	Quiet cove on the family walk	Ferry from Central Pier 4	Basic

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When to Go

April–May: Water warming up, crowds not yet arrived, jellyfish risk low. Excellent combination.
June–August: Peak season — hot, humid, and busy at weekends. Weekday visits are significantly better. Water warm and good for swimming.
September–October: The best beach month. Typhoon season easing, water still warm, summer crowds gone, sky often clearest of the year. Shek O on an October weekday is as good as it gets.
November–March: Lifeguards off duty, water cooling, most people avoid swimming. The beaches are empty and beautiful; swimming is not prohibited but is at your own risk.

External Links

Hong Kong Government – Beach water quality reports
Leisure and Cultural Services Department – information on beach facilities and lifeguard services

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