I recommend allocating one of your days in Hong Kong to taking a day trip over to Lantau Island by cable car, enabling you to visit the Po Lin Monastery and the Tian Tan Buddha. As the quaint Tai O Fishing Village is located nearby, this can also easily be included into your itinerary.
Getting to Ngong Ping
The Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car lower station is just a five minute walk from Exit B of the MTR at Tung Chung Station. with a journey time from Central of around 30 minutes.
Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car
The 25 minute, 5.7 km cable car ride from Tung Chung begins by offering impressive views of the Lantau North Country Park, the coastal areas of the Tung Chung Bay and an aerial view of aircraft activity at Hong Kong International Airport.
The breathtaking cable car ride continues across valleys and over forests until the monastic buildings of Ngong Ping and the Big Buddha come into view. With three cabin options available there are tickets to suit all budgets ranging from standard to crystal and crystal+ cabins.
All offer outstanding views with the crystal cabin having a glass floor and the crystal+ being almost entirely constructed of glass offering uninterrupted panoramic views from all angles. We rode up to Ngong Ping in a crystal cabin and on our return journey later in the day we completed our trip in one of the new crystal+ cable cars.
Ngong Ping Village
This culturally themed village was built with traditional Chinese architectural elements to complement Ngong Ping’s natural landscape. The village is lined with cafes, souvenir shops and leads visitors on to the Po Lin Monastery and Big Buddha.
Po Lin Monastery
Po Lin Monastery was founded in 1906 and features intricate architecture, beautiful gardens and offers a chance to witness daily Buddhist rituals and ceremonies. It’s a place of quiet reflection, where the scent of incense fills the air.
Since the grand opening of the Tian Tan (Altar of Heaven) Big Buddha in December 1993, Po Lin Monastery has become a world renowned Buddhist monastery with devotees and tourists visiting throughout the year.
Tian Tan Buddha
The star of the show is undoubtedly the Big Buddha which is located around a ten minute walk from the monastery. There are 268 steps up to the plinth but we took them in stages and whilst pausing for short rests, turned around to soak up the stunning views.
Once we reached the top we were able to walk around the plinth of the Big Buddha which stands at 34 metres (111 feet tall). Don’t forget to look inside the small museum beneath the Big Buddha before going back down the steps.
Ngong Ping Village is also home to the following paid attractions:
Cable Car Discovery Centre
This is a permanent exhibition documenting the history of the Ngong Ping Cable car system. Aspects of the construction project are covered, demonstrating the feat of engineering needed to install the cable car infrastructure. The exhibition contains interactive displays and is a fun learning experience for visitors of all ages.
Motion 360
Located next door to the Cable Car Discovery Centre is Motion 360. This is a multi-sensory 4D ride across Lantau Island, floating over the Big Buddha and then diving into the sea to ride with the island’s famous white dolphins. Suitable for the entire family and not in the least bit scary.
360 Lantau Culture and Heritage Insight Tour
We also took advantage of the 360 Lantau Culture and Heritage Insight Tour to experience Hong Kong culture and life in a fishing village. We met our guide at a designated spot in the centre of Ngong Ping village and after a brief introduction we were taken by coach on the 15 minute journey to Tai O village.
Tai O village is built around a creek with homes built on stilts over the water. It’s very picturesque and far removed from the ultra modern life in Central. After a wander through the village we enjoyed a 20 minute boat trip from the Tai O Chung bridge. Our excursion started off by taking us out to sea to try and spot some dolphins. That day there weren’t any to be seen but we did enjoy coastal views and of the Tsing Yi Bridge that links Lantau Island with Macau.
The second part of the boat trip took us alongside the characterful stilt houses that have been bult along narrow, connected waterways. We moored in front of one of them and were invited to take a look inside someone’s home and observe how the internal space was utilised for comfort and practicality.
There was then ample time to explore the village for ourselves and to sample some dried fish and pancakes from the street vendors before returning by coach to Ngong Ping village for our return cable car ride down to Tung Chung. More details of this tour can be found here.
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We were guests of the Hong Kong Tourist Board and as always, all views and opinions are entirely my own.
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