Ngong Ping Cable Car

Hong Kong's most spectacular ride is not in a theme park: the Ngong Ping cable car swings out of Tung Chung, crosses the bay beside the airport runway, climbs over the green shoulder of Lantau and delivers you twenty-five minutes later onto a mountain plateau at 1,300 feet, with the Big Buddha sitting in the mist ahead. The glass-floor Crystal cabins turn the whole thing into a slow-motion flight - sea below your shoes, planes lifting off to one side, forested ridges rolling away to the other. It is the rare attraction where the transport genuinely outshines the destination, and the destination happens to be a giant bronze Buddha.

History

After a feasibility study, the government invited bids in 2000 for a 30-year franchise to build and run a cable car between Tung Chung and Ngong Ping, and construction began at the start of 2004. Planned for January 2006, the opening was delayed by trial problems and typhoon damage; the line opened to the public on 18 September 2006, with a grand opening on 9 November 2006 (Wikipedia, Ngong Ping 360).

What to look for

• The Crystal cabin - glass floor over the bay and mountain ridges.
• The airport crossing - aircraft taking off directly below the line.
• Ngong Ping plateau - the arrival village, Po Lin monastery and the Buddha stairs.
• The Wisdom Path - wooden columns of the Heart Sutra on the hillside beyond.

When to go

Clear, dry autumn and winter days give the views the ride is sold on. Avoid days with low cloud - the cabin can spend half the trip inside a grey nothing, and refunds are not a thing. Weekday mornings dodge the worst of the queues, which can otherwise run to an hour.

What to expect

Queues are the honest cost, especially on weekends and holidays - book a timed ticket online and go early. The cable car closes for maintenance periods and in high wind, when buses replace it on the winding mountain road (scenic in its own right, less magical). Ngong Ping village at the top is a purpose-built shopping stretch that visitors either tolerate or walk straight through toward the monastery.

Nearby

The Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery are at the top; Tai O fishing village is a bus ride further west.

Key facts