Book Lantau Island attraction tickets

Lantau Island sits at the western edge of Hong Kong's territory, larger than Hong Kong Island itself yet carrying a quieter, more contemplative character than the dense urban core across the water. Mountains run through its interior, the highest being Lantau Peak at just over 900 metres, and the coastline shifts between sandy beaches, fishing villages, and the reclaimed land that now holds Hong Kong International Airport. For a territory so associated with vertical density and relentless pace, Lantau offers a genuinely different register.

Most visitors arrive with the Ngong Ping Plateau in mind, and the journey there is as much the point as the destination. The Ngong Ping Cable Car climbs from Tung Chung, the new town at the island's northeastern corner, across forested ridges and open sky for roughly 5.7 kilometres. The standard cabin gives a clear view of the terrain below, while the Crystal cabin, with its glass floor, turns the ascent into something more vertiginous and memorable. At the top, the plateau opens onto the Tian Tan Buddha, a 34-metre bronze seated figure completed in 1993 and still one of the largest outdoor bronze Buddhas in the world. The Po Lin Monastery beside it has been a place of worship since the early twentieth century, and the incense, the scale of the statue, and the mountain air together create an atmosphere that photographs rarely capture accurately.