Sai Kung Public Pier

Very clean and walkable pier along Sai Kung’s coastline where you can watch as local fishermen bring in their catch of the day. Pro-​tip that I didn’t know about: apparently you can just straight up buy the fish/​crustaceans here and then bring it to the nearby restaurants and have them cook it directly. It will be slightly less costly and a good experience. There are also various boat tours but honestly you’ll find better elsewhere in Asia and for cheaper. Lastly, don’t stop walking until you get to the end of this promenade– when you’re facing the water keep walking left until you hit the end. You’ll find an absolutely gorgeous view of sailboats anchored in the shallow bay. The water is pristine and makes for a great photo op.

I like Sai Kung despite it’s quite far from the city but that’s the point — you need to get out of the city to come here. It’s become more and more touristy over the years but it’s still a nice place to check out — both for locals and for tourists.
There is the pier and in the late afternoons during the weekends, there will be a floating market where you can purchase seafood from the fishmongers — straight from the boat. You can pay a fee to the restaurant and have them cook it or you can take it home. Or, you could just go to one of the restaurants on the strip and order whatever you want. It’s a tourist area so be a smart customer!
There are also some small shops and cafes towards the other end of the promenade. There you can find some traditional snacks, single origin coffee, and even a famous pineapple bun!

Quaint area to visit. If you’re lucky, you might be there during market time. There are a few prominent seafood restaurants, as well as numerous other eateries (if you’re craving something else). We even spotted a Starbucks and a Subway. Even if you’re not hungry, the huge outdoor tanks full of exotic sea creatures are fun to have a look at. Lots of interesting shops, too.

There’s a special place in me left in Sai Kung. What is it? I don’t know, but the many hints range for my admiration for its scenic coastline, the locals that line up on the along the piers selling their stunning variety of sea life, or the fact that every dog in town makes an appearance every Sunday.
It’s a simple fisherman’s village turned travel destination without being touristy. There’s lots of great shops and restaurants to walk through, hidden back alleys where the locals go, it’s nothing overly stimulating. But I see it as perfect, and throughout my travels in Hong Kong this the one place I can spend an entire day just breathing it all in. I truly miss it.

Summer is finally here. And I am sure you know what that means. JUNK! Yes, it is the perfect season to have a junk boat in Sai Kung! I have to say that given I live in the far west in Hong Kong, going to Sai Kung has been an ordeal for me. First I need to take the westrail then change to MTR, and then a minibus. Safe to say that it at least takes me two hours to get there, anyway, it is definitely worth it though.
Sai Kung is such a poplar place for people Hong Kong and you are expected to see lots of tourist and also expats. Given its secluded location, the scenery here is just amazing. The mountains and the ocean will definitely put your mind at ease and makes you wonder did I just fly to a tropical paradise? Anyways, there are quite a few different types of junk boats you can get. If you plan to have a all-​day long junk, normally it takes only HKD$ 300 per person and that comes with food on boat; however if it is just a night junk (normally that leaves at Central Pier instead of Sai Kung), it charges maybe around HKD$ 250 per person and you have to bring your own drinks. To me, the daytime junk is definitely better because you can have a bit of tan and also you can have all kind of water sports — wakeboards, banana boats, etc. I have to say that Sai Kung Junk is a must-​do activity in Hong Kong!

Everyone who has ever been on a boat trip would know this place– on any given weekend morning in the summer you will see tonnes of people standing around with backpacks and all dressed for the beach. Together you will usually see heaps of food and more importantly: enough booze to sink the boat. In the past there was another public pier which you can still see out to the side, but obviously the volume of traffic got too much and a new one was built and this is the one in use right now.
This new one does look more modern and actually no one will ever notice it: most people there are waiting to get on their boat and be off so I doubt anyone will really mind what this pier looks like.
Attractions wise there is nothing much to do here as mentioned; this is a functional pier and its not the amusement sort of pier that you get overseas. The only highlight you have in this area would be the fishermen who sell seafood to you right beside the pier and the seawall. Its interesting in the sense that this is effectively a floating wet market where you can choose whatever you want (and there is a wide range of fresh seafood) and they will gut the fish or whatever need be for you on the spot. As the boats sit quite low against the pier they have to hand your purchases to your through a pole which makes for an interesting experience (most people just stand there and wait for something to be dropped into the sea). You will also find some people advertising day trips to outlying islands on small boats; I haven’t been myself but they are not expensive at all.
There is also two restaurants at the entrance to the pier but that’s part of the park so I will leave someone else to comment about that there.

To clarify, there are three piers — the Sai Kung public pier, the Sai Kung New Public Pier, and Jockey Club Golf Course Pier which has a Jockey Club jetty to take you to the Kau Sai Chau public golf course. These are all in the same area, not far from the seafood restaurants on Man Nin Street. On the opposite end of the promenade is a watersports centre, public swimming pool, and. I’m not sure what else. I’m usually on the foodie side.
In the morning and late afternoon, the «floating market» of dingy boats are full of fresh sea fare from the last haul, and people can be seen bargaining with the fisherman from the pier side. A Sunday market is set up along the promenade itself too, selling absolutely everything — seafood, dried seafood, kites, hiking gear, and some of the most adorable little kittens I’ve ever seen. Indeed, the promenade can turn into a bit of a catwalk for pets, and most restaurants around here allow pets — usually on the outdoor tables.
The seafood restaurants — including a Michelin-​pick — are located around Man Nin Street, near the end of the promenade. The pier is a completely different place at night — when most of the fishing boats are sold out, and markets packed up for home, replaced by crowds of people — tourists and locals — lining up for dinner at one of the many seafood restaurant options available. I don’t know a trip to Sai Kung without some lunch or dinner at Hung Kee Restaurant. With its giant neon fish sign blinking in the night, it’s hard to miss.
You can’t really go wrong with a seafood joint near Sai Kung pier though — there are both English and Chinese menus at most places, and worse comes to worst, just point at something in one of the many huge fishtanks full of fresh, live seafood like geoduck, horseshoe crab, mantis shrimps, and garoupa… Have them cook it up for you at an added cost. A bit of advice — it’s usually cheaper to go for the set meals, and make sure to ask for a set menu before you even sit down, so you can avoid paying market price for some of the live seafood in the tanks.