Sometimes a busy and bustling vacation can turn into a trip to the heavens. This time around my partner thought it would be great to take me to the big Buddha in the sky on Lantau Island. He hates touristy things that everyone wants to go see therefore it was nice of him to bring me here. Also, he’s seen it already and I gotta say its a great site to see, but seeing it once is enough for me (and I’m guessing other tourists might think the same.)

How to get to the Big Buddha

The great thing about Hong Kong is that everything is well-connected via train and other public transportation. In this case you will take the MTR (the orange line or Tung Chung line) to Tung Chung which is the last stop on that line.

If you’re coming from Hong Kong island, you will have to take the Island line (or the blue line) to Central Station and transfer to the Tung Chung line to the last stop, take exit B.

If you’re in Kowloon you’ll board from Kowloon station right inside the ICC tower.

From the Tung Chung station you can walk towards the cable car. The cool thing about taking the cable car is — Well I should say everything about the cable car is pretty fun, but the best part is picking which car you’d like to board. They have a regular cable car and a cable car with a glass bottom, which is the one I boarded. The cable cars start at around HK$188 (just over $20 USD) for a round trip ticket but the glass bottom car is slightly more expensive per person.

The views from the cable car are picturesque beyond anything I’ve seen on Hong Kong. It seems that Hong Kong knows how to captivate time and time again.

It’s great to see the water below, but its more interesting to see the hiking trails to the big Buddha, because who wants to hike all day and night? Im taking the cable car!

You can check out maps of Hong Kongs transportation on my last blog post, or click here to be redirected to blog post on how to get around Hong Kong.

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Ngong Ping

You land at Ngong Ping a cute city that looks about 1000 years old (however, I believe its intentional.) The layout is amazing and all the architecture is built to look like ancient Chinese structures of traditions past. There are countless stores and restaurants lining the side of the road.

At the end of the Ngong Ping you’ll find 268 steps that take you directly to the giant Buddha. It’s bigger than I thought it would be. It’s also on a hill overlooking the city. The views from here are quite nice.

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Let me break it down for you:

The whole ordeal is about a half days worth of time. It’s fun and the cable car is amazing. I say its worth the time to do this at one point.

To get to the Big Buddha Take the Tung Chung line to the end, take Exit B

• walk to the cable car (which is about 2 minutes from this line)
• Pay about $20 USD to ride the cable car round trip and land on Ngong Ping
• The big Buddha is at the end of the cute city above 268 steps