Tian Tan Buddha at Ngong Ping
Thirty-four metres of seated bronze at the top of two hundred and sixty-eight steps, on Lantau island.
Duration
4 hrs – 6 hrs
Difficulty
●●○○○
Best time
When the cable car opens
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The Tian Tan Buddha was completed in 1993, in bronze, thirty-four metres seated on a three-tier base. It faces north, towards Beijing, which is unusual: statues of this kind normally look south.
Two hundred and sixty-eight steps climb to it from Po Lin monastery below. The journey is part of the visit: the Ngong Ping 360 cable car crosses twenty-five minutes of mountain and sea, with glass-floored cabins for a supplement.
Getting there
MTR Tung Chung line to the terminus, then the Ngong Ping 360 cable car. Bus 23 from Tung Chung makes the same climb by road.
What to bring
- Walking shoes
- Windbreaker
- Board
Rules on site
The cable car closes in high wind and for maintenance several weeks a year: check before crossing the city. The queue at Tung Chung runs over an hour at weekends.
Other places in Hong Kong
- Victoria PeakThe densest skyline in the world, seen from six hundred metres.
- Star FerryA ten-minute crossing between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, at water level, since 1888.
- Temple Street Night MarketKowloon's night market, fortune tellers and open-air canteens.
- Man Mo TempleGiant incense coils hanging from the ceiling, in an 1847 temple wedged between two towers.