Hong Kong's identity is built on density — the towers, the crowds, the noise of eight million people occupying a small peninsula and a tightly packed island. But the territory also includes 234 other islands, islets, and rocks, most of them home to little more than the occasional typhoon shelter and a few hardy inhabitants. These are Hong Kong's hinterland: fishing villages that survived the colonial era without being absorbed into the urban machine, monasteries run by monks who chose the islands specifically for their distance from everything. The islands are car-free, which makes them immediately different from the urban core. Bicycles replace taxis. The pace drops. The air, at least on good days, is cleaner.

The outlying islands hold genuine antiquity. Tap Mun's Tin Hau temple was built between 1662 and 1721 and contains a bronze bell cast in 1737 — still present, still ring-able. Tung Lung Chau has stone carvings estimated to be 700 years old, and the remains of a fort that was demolished in 1810. Tung Ping Chau, the farthest inhabited island, has a temple dating back 250 years and deserted villages whose residents long ago left for the mainland or the city. Its rock formations — schist layered with calcium and magnesium into stripes of colour — draw hikers who have come specifically to see the geology. Po Toi's rock formations carry names: Tortoise Rock, Buddha's Palm Cliff, Monk Rock. There are prehistoric carvings there too, older than any of the temples. Waglan Island's lighthouse, built in 1893, still operates.

For most visitors, the outlying islands means Lamma or Cheung Chau. Lamma is known for its hiking trails, its relaxed pace, and above all its seafood restaurants — basic in decor, exceptional in quality, lined up along the waterfront at Sok Kwu Wan and Yung Shue Wan. Cheung Chau offers beaches, a small but genuine town centre, and the annual Bun Festival, in which towers of steamed buns are erected and, in the competitive climbing event, scaled by athletes racing to grab buns from as high up as possible. Peng Chau is smaller and quieter than either, the option for visitors who want to go genuinely off the beaten track without much effort. All three are reached by regular ferry from the Outlying Islands pier in Central, just west of the Star Ferry terminal. Fast ferries run frequently; slow ferries run less often but offer the better experience.

The ferry is the key to the outlying islands, and the Central pier makes it straightforward. Sun Ferry (formerly New World First Ferry) and the Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry Company operate most of the major routes. An Octopus card handles payment on most services, though some older boats still take coins only. A 50% surcharge applies on Sundays and public holidays — weekday travel is cheaper and less crowded. For the more remote islands, the options narrow considerably. The Soko Islands require hiring a sampan from Cheung Chau. Waglan Island requires advance permission from the Marine Department. Kwo Chau, uninhabited, is accessible by tour or rented kaito from Sai Kung. A kaito — the Cantonese word is 街渡, gāaidouh — is a small hired ferry, the informal transport of the islands, and riding one is itself part of the experience.