I really wanted to see this beautiful Lantau Island mainly for the Big Buddha, image that I’ve seen countless times on the internet. Also I was excited about the cable cars, since I recently conquered a little of my fear of heights by taking a cable car in another trip. Since then it’s a trill to get into one (the next step to conquer more of my fear of heights will be to zip-line 🙂 ).
Besides the cable cars, can get to the Lantau Island via bus from the Hong Kong’s MTR Tung Chung Station Exit B, where you need to take the New Lantao Bus 23 from Tung Chung Town Centre, which takes around 45 minutes. Alternatively you can catch a ferry from Central Pier 6 to Mui Wo, then take New Lantao Bus 2 to Ngong Ping Village, which takes around 40 minutes.
Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car to Lantau Island
The most interesting and fastest way to get to the Lantau Island’s Ngong Ping Village that hosts the Big Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery is to take the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car from Hong Kong. You will need to go to Tung Chung MTR station and take Exit B and the Ngong Ping Cable Car Terminal will be a short walk across. The directions are well marked and you should find your way easy.
Because I was visiting in December around the New Year, there was a huge amount of people that waiting in the queue to get to the island (at 9am about a 2hour wait). I’m not sure if the queue is so long for the rest of the year, but when I arrived I was already thinking about making a 180 turn back to the hotel..
Luckily I could purchase a special VIP pass that included one trip with the glass-bottom floor cabin and a 3D photo frame with your photo in it, from one of the Ngong Ping 360 employers that were walking through the people in the line. A bit pricey at around 50 Euros per person, but I highly recommend it in case you visit in a time of the year where the queues are long, because you will skip all the line and it will save you hours of waiting. Especially on the way back, the queue was now about 4 hours of waiting, and with my back problems is no way in hell that I could stay for so many hours in a line!
Once inside the cable car you can enjoy a 20-25 minute ride with nice city and landscape views below you, until you arrive at the Ngong Ping Village in Lantau Island.
In the Ngong Ping Village you will find various attractions for tourists, restaurants and gift shops.
The Giant Buddha of Lantau Island (Tian Tan Buddha)
The Tian Tan Buddha statue of Lantau Island is a short walk from the Ngong Ping Village and is the world’s largest bronze statue. This rather new statue, erected in 1993, took 12 years to complete and is 34 meters high, facing north towards the people. The 268 steps walking up to the statue can be a little tiering especially if it’s very hot outside, but you have level spaces between the steps if you need to take a short rest. Once up, you won’t be able to enter inside the 3-level exhibition hall beneath the Big Buddha unless you had pre-purchased a vegetarian coupon. Unfortunately I didn’t know about this detail, and I was too lazy to go down the stairs and up again, so I couldn’t enter.
Po Lin Monastery
The Po Lin Monastery of Lantau Island was constructed by three buddhists in 1924, and over time there were more buildings added, like the big temple. You can read more about he monastery’s history on the monastery’s website.
Burning incense is considered by Taoists and Buddhists to be a way of communication with the other world. So you will see that most people visiting the monastery will bring incense and burn it outside in the dedicated area, while saying a prayer. You could join in the rituals by burning your own incense as there are plenty of shopping stalls where you can buy them from, and they are very cheap.
Tai O Fishing Village
It only takes 15 minutes to reach the Tai O Fishing Village by taking bus 21 from the Ngong Ping Village bus station. The bus leaves approximately every hour. Alternatively if you don’t want to wait for the bus, you can take a taxi for around HK50. If you want to visit the Tai O Fishing Village directly from Hong Kong, you can take the ferry from Central Pier 6 to Mui Wo, then Bus No. 1
Here you can buy the shrimp paste that is famous for this area, and sample the deep-fried fish balls, which I’m not a huge fan of, but had to give them a try. It’s nice to have a stroll around the streets paved on each side by the dry-fish stores or try one of the local restaurants. You can also take a 20 minute boat ride for 20HK – boats depart from the bridge and the main marina. I found the boat ride pretty interesting, as you get to see the Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macau bridge in construction. The finished bridge will be 55km long and one of the longest bridges, making it a landmark.
To get to these destinations, you will have to fly into to Hong Kong first. You can read my post about my Hong Kong experience with information on the main attractions I’ve visited here. Book your flight well in advance if you can, to find cheaper flights! I hope you like Hong Kong and Lantau Island as much as I did!
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