Travel Special: November - Hong Kong

We're chewing dried mandarins and walking through the market in the fishing village of Tai O on Lantau island, less than 20 miles from the vertiginous skyscrapers of downtown Hong Kong. This is the westernmost point of the Special Administrative Region (SAR), the last landfall on the east side of the vast Pearl River delta. The villagers build their own houses - from bits of boat, packing cases, corrugated iron - on stilts over the inlet, and when the tide comes in the whole place seems to float.

The village's salt pans have long since closed down but Tai O is renowned for its fermented shrimp paste, which like its close Thai cousin, adds a rich and pungent quality to curries. The pace of life is very un-Hong Kong - old men clack down their Mah Jongg tiles on tin tables, dogs doze and fish dry slowly in the sun. Take a short boat ride out into the bay and you'll see 747s glide into the new airport to the north - none of the steep-banking drama of the descent into the old Kai Tak airport in the city - and, if you're lucky, a pod of Humpback dolphins which, unique to the area, are bright pink.

A 10-minute taxi ride away at the village of Ngong Ping is the island's biggest draw, the Po Lin Monastery and, on a hill above it, the 26m-high bronze Big Buddha. Rather than climbing the steps to his feet, the best way to view the old man is a 10-minute walk to the Wisdom Path - a figure-eight of 10m-high wooden obelisks inscribed with the Buddhist Heart Sutra - and then a scramble up to the top of the hill, giving a breathtaking view, framed by Lantau Peak to your left and the Buddha to your right, down the valley towards the Shek Pik reservoir and towards the Soko Islands, three or four kilometres distant.

It's a scene that you might not expect in Hong Kong, the epitome of a cosmopolitan city: an overwhelming landscape of tower blocks, flyovers and neon, home to big business and shrine to shopping - the one true religion here. But there are more than 250 islands in the SAR, and you can catch a ferry to the larger islands, such as Lamma and Cheung Chau, from piers in the heart of Central, and within an hour be sun-bathing on the beach.

With a little work you can avoid the crowds entirely. Sai Kung is a small town in the New Territories (the mainland to the north of Hong Kong island), in a natural harbour of dozens of islands and islets. To fortify ourselves for a tough afternoon of boating, we ate lunch at Chun Kee restaurant on the quayside. Out front were aerated tanks of seafood - langoustines, crabs, sea snails, garoupa, squid and other critters whose phylum you could only guess at - that you condemn to being steamed and paired with a garlic sauce just by pointing at. Fabulous.

Just yards from the restaurant, you can hire a sampan - for $50-100 (£4-8) per half hour - to take you round the harbour, down the Sai Kung peninsula or to the secluded beaches on nearby islands. One that's worth a stop is Kiu Tsui, about 2km east of Sai Kung, where you can amble, top up the winter tan, or go snorkelling to explore the coral that grows in the sheltered water.

Heading north from Sai Kung, we took another taxi and drove up the coast road. There's a Riviera-like feel to the area, with deserted coves, and acacia, eucalytpus and pine forest that sweeps down the hills almost to the water's edge. But there are no boutique retreats, or even charmless B&Bs, here to take advantage of the sea views. Instead, most people base themselves in one of the city's hyperluxe hotels and plan day trips (shopping permitted) to the countryside using the excellent public transport system. Depending on your proclivities, you could rub shoulders with the plutocrats in the marbled grandeur of the Ritz-Carlton; or wear silly glasses with the Wallpaper* set at the oh-so-chic Landmark Mandarin Oriental.

Whichever you choose, getting away from it all is just a ferry or taxi ride away.

The writer travelled with Cathay Pacific (cathaypacific.com/uk, 020-8834 8888), and stayed at the Ritz-Carlton (ritzcarlton.com, 0800 234 000). Weekend rates from £142 per night, plus 13% tax. Visit www.DiscoverHongKong.com