Tai O Heritage Hotel

Tai O is a fishing village of stilt houses on the west coast of Lantau, and the hotel is its old marine police station, built in 1902 on a small hill beside the ferry pier as a base against pirates. After 1996 it served only as a patrol post, until 2002, and is now a Grade II historic building. The Hong Kong Heritage Conservation Foundation restored it under the government's revitalisation scheme and opened it as a hotel in 2012; a UNESCO Award of Merit followed a year later.

The nine rooms and suites fill the old quarters, armoury, briefing room and canteen, named after marine police ranks, vessels and Tai O sights. Sea Tiger, once the inspectors' quarters, is the double with a listed sea view; The Commander, in the old barrack office, is a suite with two bathrooms. The cannons, a searchlight and a detention cell survive, explained on a free tour of about fifteen minutes. Tai O Lookout, the glass-roofed restaurant, cooks with the village's shrimp paste and looks over the South China Sea.

It is run as a non-profit social enterprise: more than half the staff live on Lantau or in Tai O, and surpluses go into heritage work and village festivities such as the Dragon Boat Water Parade. Sustainable Hotel Awards followed in 2015 and 2019. Getting here takes time, about fifty minutes on bus 11 from Tung Chung, then a two minute jetboat run by villagers or a twenty minute walk. Once the day visitors have gone, the evenings are quiet.