About Lugard Falls
Lugard Falls (盧吉飛瀑 [Lújífēi Pù] or [lou4 gat1 fei1 buk6] in Cantonese) could very well be the closest waterfall to the well-touristed Victoria Peak, which is something just about every visitor to Hong Kong pretty much has to experience.
More specifically, the waterfall is a mere 400m from the Peak Tower and the Peak Galleria at the Victoria Peak touristed area.
Yet even with the close proximity to such a famous attraction, I got the sense that very few of these people even bother to visit the waterfall (let alone be aware of it)!
Heck, when Julie and I first visited Hong Kong together in April 2009, we didn’t even know about this waterfall and thus we didn’t visit it even though we independently went up to Victoria Peak on our own.
Anyways, Lugard Falls is actually a fairly tall but temperamental waterfall since its location is so close to Victoria Peak that it doesn’t have a substantial drainage to sustain its flow for long periods of time.
Thus, for our late November 2024 visit (when I was finally able to witness it; more on this later), we were fortunate to have our trip preceded by some heavy rain a couple days before our arrival in Hong Kong.
As a result, the pictures you see on this page reflects the remnants of that injection of flow after a few days without significant rain.
I’d imagine that a few more dry days later, this waterfall would likely trickle or go dry, which is why I claim that you’d need to time a visit to get a good experience.
As for visiting Lugard Falls, all it took was to get up to Victoria Peak (typically by the historical tram but you can also take the bus up to the peak; see directions below).
From there, you’d then walk in the opposite direction of the views (e.g. the Lion’s Pavilion) and head towards Harlech Road, which is just across the street from Peak Road (the road cutting right in front of the Peak Tower).
Then, walk onto the narrower Harlech Road for around 350m, which leads to a bridge fronting the upper drop of the Lugard Falls.
This stretch of Harlech Road (also called the “Fitness Trail”) is actually part of the Peak Circle Walk so there are certainly options to extend a visit up here, or even get some exercise in (as I noticed locals doing during my Saturday morning visit).
There’s no official figure on its height but by my estimation, you can at least see the upper 5-10m of its drop.
The rest of its falling course goes beneath the bridge into a steep ravine that prevents access to the waterfall’s base, which is why I suspect is why no one really knows its true height.
In any case, the view from the bridge is towards the general direction of Aberdeen Harbour with a few odd buildings clinging to the mountains in the light of sight.
By the way, if you’re wondering why Lugard Falls has an English name, it comes from Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, who was the governor of Hong Kong from 1907-1912.
Anyways, the overall detour to get to this waterfall, document it, and come back to Victoria Peak only took me around 15-20 minutes.
Since I happened to be on a tour that allowed me to explore Victoria Peak at leisure for about 25-30 minutes, this was plenty of time to fit in this excursion and avoid the crowds already at the views of Victoria Harbour.
That’s why I claim that regardless of whether you’re on a paid day tour of Hong Kong or you’re visiting Victoria Peak on your own, there really isn’t an excuse not to at least check out this waterfall while you’re up here.
Even if the waterfall isn’t flowing well, at least it takes you away from the crowds for a moment and lets you experience a more laid back side of Hong Kong.
Of course, even as I say this, you certainly won’t be alone here for long since it is a popular spot in its own right (just not as pushy and as crushed by crowds as the viewpoints of Victoria Harbour).
Authorities
Lugard Falls is on Victoria Peak overlooking the city centre of Hong Kong in the Central and Western District of Hong Kong Island. It is adminstered by the Central and Western District Council. For the latest conditions or other inquiries, you may want to try The Peak website.
There are a variety of ways to get to Victoria Peak (most of which you can look up on GoogleMaps from wherever you happen to be at in Hong Kong).
In my mind, the most scenic and quickest way to get up to the views from Victoria Peak is via the The Peak Tram.
We happened to get to the Peak Tram Station Entrance directly via shuttle van provided by our organized tour operator.
However, to get there on your own, you can take the MTR (i.e. Hong Kong’s subway system) to Central Station, and then walk from there for about 10-15 minutes to the Peak Tram Central Terminus.
Once at the Peak Tram Central Terminus Station, then you can buy tickets and queue up to get onto the funicular that goes very steeply up to the Peak Tower.
Note that it’s also possible to get right up to the peak via bus (take bus 15 or X15 from Exchange Square to the Peak Galleria terminus, or take bus 12 or 12M from Lan Kwai Fong or Lyndhurst Terrace to the Peak Galleria terminus).
If you’re really feeling like you’ve got the energy and all the time in the world, then you can hike about 1.5 hours up the Central Green Trail from the Hong Kong Park Sports Centre to the Peak Tower.
Finally, if you’re really in a hurry, then you can take a taxi right up to the Peak Galleria area from the city centre in Hong Kong (which is said to cost around $65-$80 HKD, which is roughly $10 USD based on the exchange rate as of November 2024).
For geographical context, Hong Kong City is about 8km (about 15 minutes drive) south of Kowloon, about 36km (over 30 minutes drive) east of Tung Chung, and about 40km (over 30 minutes drive) southeast of Shenzhen, China.
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Bottom up sweep from the downstream view towards the waterfall itself as seen from the bridge across its stream
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