The Tai O Fishing Village is a popular tourist destination, known for being one of the oldest fishing villages remaining in Hong Kong. Despite its popularity with tourists and locals alike, it took me five years of living in Hong Kong before I finally made the trek out to Tai O. Honestly, I couldn’t really give you a good reason for why I waited so long. The pictures I saw of the village were beautiful and I had been wanting to go for ages, but just kept putting it off as it was so far away. Finally, the opportunity arose for me to hike to the Tai O Infinity Pool, which is right beside the fishing village, so I managed to squeeze the fishing village into my trip as well.
How to get to the Tai O Fishing Village
You can either take the ferry from Central pier and then the bus, or you can take the MTR to Tung Chung and then catch the bus from there. For more details on either route, click here.
What to see
As the name suggests, the main attraction at the Tai O Fishing Village is the village itself. You can spend an hour or so just aimlessly wandering around the village, admiring the tiny homes on stilts above the water. Try to arrive earlier in the day, as the water begins to recede in the afternoon.
When you first get off the bus, locals will try to sell you a boat ticket to take you through the village for about 15 minutes, which costs around HK$20. Even though that isn’t much money at all, we decided not to go on the boat, as we wanted to take our time walking through the village by ourselves.
Aside from the houses on stilts there are plenty of little shops throughout the village that sell touristy items, dried seafood, and plenty of food.
What to eat
There are quite a few different foods in Tai O that you can’t easily find elsewhere in Hong Kong, so be sure to arrive with an appetite. I did a bit of research beforehand on what to eat while in the fishing village and I managed to find and devour all three: charbroiled egg puffs, Tai O donuts, and jumbo fishballs.
The charbroiled egg puffs were good, but didn’t have that charcoal taste I was expecting. Frankly, I much prefer the waffles with peanut butter and condensed milk that you can get just about anywhere in Hong Kong (though the best one I’ve had is in Shau Kei Wan).
I was surprised at how much I liked these donuts. We were lucky that we got there when the donuts had just been made, and were piping hot and fresh. In terms of taste and texture, they had a slightly crispy, sugary exterior and an airy inside.
The Tai O Jumbo Fish Ball stand was only a few feet from the bus terminal. You can choose between regular and spicy fish balls, along with a few other seafood snacks on a stick. I had one spicy and one regular fish ball, which were both really tasty (just be warned that the spicy one was more spicy than I was expecting).
Is it worth the trip?
Personally, if you’re going all the way to Tai O just to see the fishing village, I’m not sure it’s worth it. However, if you go and can combine a few sights to see and things to do, then I would say it’s definitely worth the trek. When I went, we originally explored the fishing village first and then made our way over to hike to the Tai O Infinity Pool (which is a waste of time, FYI). You can always visit the fishing village and then head to one of the beaches along Lantau or start/end a hike at the village as well to make the most of your time.
