I’ve been wanting to visit the Tai O Infinity Pool ever since I saw photos on Instagram of that picture-perfect spot. All the photos I came across online looked so unlike concrete jungle of Hong Kong that I was completely captivated. Despite living here for five years, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I finally made the trek out to Tai O. I planned the trip to see the fishing village and to check out the infinity pool (two birds one stone, y’know). The route to the infinity pool is relatively short and easy (compared to other hikes around HK at least), but you’ll likely be disappointed when you get there.. read on for a detailed guide on how to get there and why it might not be worth the hike.

Starting point of the Tai O Infinity Pool hike

For starters, you’ll need to make the long trek over to the Tai O Fishing Village. You can go one of two ways: go to Central Ferry Pier and hop on the ferry to Mui Wo. Once in Mui Wo, hop on Bus 1, which will take you all the way to Tai O. Alternately, you can take the MTR to Tung Chung and catch Bus 11 to Tai O. I opted to take the ferry, as I heard the queues in Tung Chung for the buses can get insanely long on the weekend.

Either way, the bus will drop you off at a small terminal, just outside the fishing village. Directly to the left of the entrance into the village is where you’ll see a long pier – make your way along the pier and follow it to the left and into the small cluster of houses along the water.

Through the little “village”

Continue along the path, past the houses on your left and the shoreline on your right. You’ll eventually get to a fork in the road – stay straight and keep going along the shoreline (follow the signs that say “Man Cheung Po”).

Keep following the shoreline

When you come to the next fork, go left – following the sign that says Man Cheung Po. From here, follow the flat path along the shore (for what will feel like ages). You’ll come across a first set of stairs to your right with the sign for Man Cheung Po directing you to go up the stairs. DO NOT climb up. Instead, continue straight along the path.

Hiking up towards the infinity pool

You’ll eventually (we literally thought we had missed the stairs because we felt like we had been walking for way too long) reach a second set of stairs on your left. These are the stairs you want to go up. From here, the hike is relatively short, but it’s also all uphill (I stupidly wore Birkenstocks, since I thought this was more of a leisurely stroll than a hike). You’ll pass a white house on your left soon after your ascent – just keep following the path until you see the white and blue abandoned house. Walk up to the front of the house, turn right, and continue following the path. You’ll find the Tai O Infinity Pool shortly afterwards.

Lovely views and.. disappointment

I had heard rumors that there were now guards at the infinity pool to stop people from swimming in it, since technically it’s a man-made water basin. Unfortunately for me, those rumors were true. When we finally arrived at the infinity pool, there were two guards stationed beside it to prevent anyone from going in (see first photo above). We tried to hide our disappointment as best we could and asked if we could walk around to the back of the infinity pool to take a photo, which they had no problem with. The views were incredibly beautiful (see second photo above), but it obviously would have been even more enjoyable if we were able to cool off in the water before heading back down to the fishing village.

Journey Length:  4 km 
Total Time: 1 hour 

If anyone knows of any other natural infinity pools in Hong Kong where you ARE allowed to swim, please let me know!