Devil’s Peak: fortifications and urban views galore

Devil’s Peak is one of the easiest urban hike to do in Hong Kong, walkable from the nearest MTR Station with plenty of exit points. Located at the eastern end of Victoria Harbour, you can see Hong Kong Island, Victoria Harbour, and Kowloon from its vantage point. With well paved trails and history, too, it’s almost a shame not to hike this trail!

Devil’s Peak Summary:

• Difficulty: 1.5/5
• Time Taken: 2-3 hours
• Pros: easy hike with good views, as well as seeing an abandoned fortress
• Cons: none in particular, but the trail start is not the easiest to reach

Getting to the start of Devil’s Peak

From Yau Tong MTR, take A2 exit and go down the stairs and continue down the road.

At the turn of the road, take the crossing instead and continue left towards the big skywalk and pass it.

This will take you pass the Lei Yue Mun Estate towards a purple building.

Go right across from the purple building up the winding road (aka don’t cross the road), which goes up for about 10 minutes passing two pavilions.

The trail start is marked by a sign on this side of the road, and you’ll have to cross and go up the stairs to reach the start of Wilson Trail Stage 3 aka Devils Peak.

Going up to Gough Battery

The trail is well paved and gently slope its way up. The yellow marker with a hiking man for Wilson Trail can be found along the way in addition to signpost pointing out distance and destinations. For Gough Battery, follow the sign to Devil’s Peak Fortification up the path.

The fortifications here are known as the lower Gough Battery, was put in place to monitor the Lei Yue Mun Channel – the eastern exit of Victoria Harbour – when New Territories was leased to British in 1898. The roudout and fortress are all built in early 20th century, and was a major line of defence against the Japanese in WWII.

It is unclear when the fortification became abandoned, though it is likely to fall into neglect after WWII was over. The redoubt (a military fortification) are partially covered by vegetation, but the round shape can still be observed.

Once you’ve visited the battery, exit via the same road and continue up.

Devil’s Peak

Before you reach the Devil’s Peak, first you’ll need to go up a flight of stairs. The stairs itself isn’t so hard, but I mentioned it because there is a perfect little rock about midway up that makes for the perfect photospot.

The Devil’s Peak stands at 222m above sea level, and the remnants of the fortifications can still be seen.

There’s a good view of both Victoria Harbour and the Junk Bay behind, and a good photo spot is across from the pillar that marks the peak.

Once you finished admiring the view, head across the fortification and seek out this little ladder that would take you to a muddy path downhill.

The Junk Bay Chinese Permanent Cemetery is in full view from here, until we reached a platform level.

From here, you can choose to end the hike and follow the direction to get down to Yau Tong, which should end at the purple building that we passed on the way up.

Alternatively, carry on the Wilson Trail Stage 3. This part of the path is still paved and flat, passing through a few metal gates.

At the end, the trail goes down to O King Road. It is also possible to end the trail here and walk back to Yau Tong.

Wilson Trail Stage 3 Black Hill

To continue the trail, turn road and cross the road until you reach the well marked trail start.

The incline of the stairs increases in this part of the hike.

The stairs leads up to a hillside path that gives a panoramic view of Kwong Tin Estate and beyond.

Carry on the hike up to Black Hill, which looks worse than it actually is.

The top, though offers a view of both New Kowloon side and Tsuen Kwung O, is mostly blocked by trees.

The path that undulates up and down a bit, pass the Black Hill Triangulation Tower.

Look out for a small path to the right after as it offers a good view of the housing developments at Tsuen Kwung O.

The trail ends at Ma Yau Tong Village, take a right there and keep going to get out. It takes around 5-10 minutes to get out of the village, but the yellow sign for Wilson trail should be easily found to the right.

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Getting back out

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Once you reach the main road, turn left to the bus station. Here, there are plenty of buses that head out to Mong Kong and other destinations alike, and we took 93K to reach Kwan Tong to change bus (or to MTR). The journey only takes about 10 minutes and the buses are pretty frequent.