Ap Lei Pai is a small island just outside of Ap Lei Chau in the southside of Hong Kong. It is connected to Ap Lei Chau via a narrow sandbar that makes this hike feels like an exploration to the remote ends of Hong Kong.

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The attractiveness of Ap Lei Pai lies not only on its beautiful blue water, stunning scenic views, rock pools, amazing rock formation but also on the various activity we could do in order to reach this Island. In fact, it has everything a thrill-seeking climber or a casual hiker is looking for. You could hike, swim or climb and you could even do a bit of rock climbing and coastal scrambling.

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The most important thing is you could choose and combine the most suitable trail or activities you wanted to do that is appropriate to your skills and people you bring along. This flexibility allows you to decide the duration of the hike, whether it is a half or full day hike, or the intensity of the adventure, just hiking or coastal scrambling with an injection of rock climbing. If you are really short on time and stamina, or if you wanted to maximize the time spent on adventuring, you could even take a boat ride back to Aberdeen (~ 15 mins) on your return journey.

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I went to Ap Lei Pai twice to cover the different trail and I have created 2 separate post to share our journey. The current post (Map 1) shared our steep hike from Lei Tung Estate to Mount Johnston, descend to Ap Lei Pai, and finally a 30-mins coastal scrambling to the lighthouse. The second post (Map 2) detailed our journey from Horizon Plaza with an hour of coastal scrambling and rock climbing to Ap Lei Pai. After that a gentle walk across the island to the lighthouse.

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The destination is Mount Johnston Lighthouse located at the southern end of the island. Overall I would rate the difficulty of the hike as medium but it really depends on your experience and stamina level. While the hike itself is not too long (~ 2 hours to the lighthouse with lots of photo taking session) this is not an easy hike either. The steep climb to Mount Johnston (Yuk Kwai Shan) and the coastal scrambling to lighthouese can be challenging and tiring. As such suitable clothing is required including a good pair of hiking shoes.

Our hike starts from Lei Tung station. Take exit B once you reached the station and look for Lei Tung Bus Terminal. The start of the trail is hidden in between 2 yellow structure. You have to step over the barrier, walk along the pipes and climb the stairs to the top. At the top of the stairs, turn left and follow the fence until you see a sign.

Once you see the sign in the image above, you have 2 choice. Go straight for a steep direct climb to Mount Johnston. It’s a bit challenging but quite short (~15 mins) and there are ropes at few steep section to help you with the ascent. If you choose to turn left, it will take you longer to reach the top but the incline is gentler, more like zig zag.

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My advice in the steep climb to Mount Johnston is to go slow and to have few rest stops. I think I climbed too fast and at certain point I felt like running out of air. The view here is awesome anyway, so worth stopping a while to enjoy the view.

The view at Mount Johnston submit is wonderful. On a clear day, you will see the whole of Lamma Island, Ap Lei Chau and also Horizon Plaza. I think this is also an awesomes spot to enjoy sunset. There is literally nothing to block your view. Continuing on the trail at the summit will bring you to Ocean Park and Ap Lei Pai Island scene.

At the other side of the summit, there is rock monument to commemorate a historical WW2 event. We did not spend much reading the history as we were very busy taking photos and videos of the scenery.

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Descending down to the sandbar connecting to Ap Lei Pai is relatively easy with a section requiring the assistance of a rope.

This is the channel that connects the 2 islands. We reached the sandbar area in an hour from Lei Tung Estate. This spot is perfect for photo taking. Surrounded by seas on both sides is interesting . If you come in the evening, the sunset view will be awesome.

If you don’t feel like continuing the hike you could actually take the boat from here back to Aberdeen pier. But you need to call the them first as there is no ready made structure for boarding.

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Once you crossed the sandbar, the coastal scrambling trail is located on your right. For this section, I have attached my 360 degree camera to the top of my hat as there are few sections that may require the use of 2 hands. Looking back at the experience now, I feel I could complete this section by holding my video camera. Just need to be careful in balancing the walk and choosing the right rock to climb on.

This video shows the initial coastal scrambling to Ap Lei Pai lighthouse

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This is the most challenging section of the hike. Have a look to see whether it is ok for you. The cliff is a bit high and there is no safety rope for you to hold on. As I have some hiking experiences, the scrambling is not too difficult for me. Probably just need to be extra careful.

The rock face has an interesting pattern. It looks like a map.

Finally reached Ap Lei Pai Lighthouse in roughly 2 hours. This includes many stops taking pictures and setting the video camera. The coastal scrambling alone takes around 20 mins non-stop. If you want a more comfortable hike, there is an alternative trail that goes straight from the sandbar to the lighthouse. My other post has the details for this trail.

If you are not in a hurry, I would highly recommended you to stay until sunset. The changing hue makes the whole scenery so romantic. If you are concern about hiking in the dark on your return journey, you could take the boat back either from the lighthouse or near the sandbar. It is a bit expensive (~ 40 hkg per person) but it’s truly worth the price. I leave you with some surreal pictures to end the lovely post. Happy adventuring!