Semi civilized coastal walk with tons of tourist entertainment or/and a decent coasteering route with local people thinking that you are nuts 😆
- Beauty/fun: 6.5/10 if you arrive before the massive crowds and you go full coasteering mode. Way lower in easy mode following the crowds.
- Difficulty (check this link if new here, this is not your standard HK hiking web): 5/10 if in full coasteering mode. Very exposed to swell & wind waves but with as many easy exits as you could wish to the “civilized” route. A few traverses and very varied rock quality.
- The map (how to download to your phone offline maps)
See full screen & the Garmin track.
As I mentioned in the previous post, the only information in English that I had found about the Shenzhen coastline was this route. I knew it can get crowded, so really early start. I woke up with the sunrise. I had some breakfast in one of the shops next to the beach car park and I headed to the start.
The main path is quite clear with quite some markers. I checked a side path following ribbons. Just a bit more jungle-y. Reconnect with the main path and big chains down to the coastline. There were already a few hikers around going slow (0:35 “excuse me, I show you how to go down”). With the crowds this kinda spots might be boring bottlenecks. The costal walk was simple here.
And in no time I arrived at the first resting area 😅 (0:55 “ni hao, ni hao”) Full route you can find tarps with benches, tables and others with people selling food, drinks, even hiking clothes and shoes… Everything that a mainland beginner hiker would like. Tons of Government signs telling you where you are and all the dangers around. As soon as the ground becomes just a little bit more difficult there are chains to help you go up the hill and go down later in an easier section.
Where those two people were going up the chains, I decided already to leave the official path (1:28). Well deserved. Pretty rocks and easy coasteering, still in dry mode.
I needed to go to help a “hiker” (zero gear, not even a backpack) that got down through the wrong path (1:44) and was struggling with the slippery sandy area. “No, no. A lot easier there on the right on the solid rocks”… Later I found another guy (1:53) that was trying to go on the coastline too as much at possible. But soon he gave up. Eventually the coasteering becomes more difficult and requires getting wet (knee high for me) and he went up the hill (2:16). This next section is pretty too with easy traverses and a couple of jumps.
Later (3:00) a full wet section or proper traverse and climb with poor rock quality. I was recovering from a shoulder injury, so after a mini overhead climb I decided that it was time to go back to the chain easier version (4:10). Just after this area.
A few more up the hill and down. Pretty colored rocks. There is a shallow cave too
and several others en route. Not bad at all for beginners. Little by little I encountered more hikers. Above all after the Southernmost corner.
It seems that most “hikers”, families with small kids in city wear included, only do a little loop. Up the road to the Observatory down the stairs (5:10 – 3b) and through the last section of the coastal walk, easiest, back to the East side of XiChong beach. Or some hire a speedboat (tons of them around) for going back. The last section has nothing but the peculiar rock in the picture above (5:32) with a small tunnel under.
A video full dry version and more crowded.
Once in XiChong my initial plan was to walk on the beach and go to the opposite side. The very West. To try to check the rocky coastline there. I could see on the map paths up and down the hill.
But it wouldn’t be as easy as planned… Again… The beach is a closed area. I didn’t want to pay the entrance ticket and then discover that I couldn’t get where I wanted. So I bought some food in the stalls just at the exit (around 4 on the map) and took the road just parallel to the beach. It is a small maze. It would have taken me less time to go directly to the main road instead, where I ended up anyhow. From there I went up the hill. My idea was to go to the top, try one of the paths down and from there check how the coastline looked like, go back up and trail run to Nan’Ao on the North, from where to take the transportation back home. Failure…
Atop (6) just recently opened 7 Eleven and next to it what it looks will be a fancy bar and/or restaurant with nice views of all the coastline under construction. The way to the path blocked… 😒 I thought I’d just continue up to the hiking path but… Guards again. They point me to some boards in Chinese explaining that the route was dangerous, nature reserve. That previous hikers had had problems there and that I could not follow 😒 I decided to end the outing and jog to the nearest bus stop.
On my way I saw other path starts up the hill and kinda confirmed that the Government and hikers are playing some strange game. The former puts guards to avoid hikers going up and the latter find new ways and set up ribbons marking them. Government officials find them and set new guards and boards saying that it is illegal & continue looping 🤷♂️ Too much for this humble foreigner. Back to HK.
A first bus took me to slightly further North than NanAo and there I changed to another one which took me to Liantang Checkpoint. Subway to Futian and speed train to Hong Kong. Amap’s time estimation was quite accurate and the transfers really easy.
After two days Shenzhen left me an strange feeling. Definitely there are tons of places to visit, similar to Hong Kong’s. But the uncertainty of the possibility of finding guards, barbwire or whatever not allowing you to go up the path or down the coastline is not fun… I wanted to go back to a few streams that I had briefly visited long years ago. This time in full exploration mode with the ropes and everything. But I am not sure if it will deserve all the logistical effort. TBD.
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