Do HK beaches close for the winter?
 

What times of year are beaches in HK either closed or simply unusable due to cool weather?

Being Canadian I'm used to going to the beach when temps are as low as the low-mid 20s C (mid-high 70s F). I gather it's around this time of year that temps start to dip below that level.

Does anyone use the beaches in the winter? Are they open to visitors?

They are open year round but you'll find very few swimmers. When surf is high, they may hoist red flags and will not have lifeguard on duty.

Awesome, thank you. Fingers crossed for warm weather... I'd be happy to just lie on the sand and just wade in shallow water :)

Water quality can vary depending where the beach is, wind and currents, but it is far from clean.

While air temp can be in the upper single digits Celsius to low 20's in the winter, sea temperature is quite constant. Around 21C during all of winter.

Few beaches have the lifeguard service year-round, but they are cleaned and the facilities (changing etc) are open. Note that the showers are water at ambient temperature, so that will be a bit cold in winter. The shark nets will also often be taken away for repair when the beach has no lifeguards on duty.

Go here for details of which beaches have lifeguard services and when: http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/beach/inde...cation-hk.html

Thanks for the extra information! Looking forward to checking it out!

Shark nets? :eek:

Yup. Keeps us safer (but not entirely shark-proof) and traps garbage also.

I was at Hung Shing Yeh a few weeks ago. Was a pretty hot day, tons of people on the sand, and the water felt warm. But they didn't have the shark net up, and everyone in the water just stood around where the water's less than a foot deep.

Makes me less disappointed I didn't make it to the beach a year ago. Talk of sharks and trash doesn't conjure up the best beach imagery.

The shark stories are typical HKer overreaction ;)

A handful of people were bitten many years ago and practically the next day every beach in HK had shark nets and they were planning the next installment of Jaws. This is not Western Australia.

You shouldn't be disappointed for not going, sharks or no sharks. Most beaches in HK are nothing to write home about. Spend your time elsewhere, unless you live in a landlocked place and have never seen the ocean.