Hong Kong: Day Trip to Lantau Island and Tai-O, a DIY Adventure

On our last full day in Hong Kong we are going to Lantau Island using public transportation and a cable car. We left our hotel around 8:30 am and took MTR to Tung Chung Station, where we used exit B to reach Ngong Ping cable car station. We ordered our tickets online the day before to avoid a long wait and also arrived about 25 minutes prior to the opening of the cable car station. We were almost the first people in line and were quickly moving towards Lantau in our gondola. We had great views of the airport, beaches as well as the South China Sea.

20161030-DSC_0360 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

You can also hike to the top, if you so desire

The gondola ride to Ngong Ping village takes about 25 minutes. The village itself has somewhat of a theme park atmosphere. You will find souvenir shops and lots of Western and Asian eateries.

20161030-DSC_0429 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

20161030-DSC_0387 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

It is very easy to find your way to the Big Buddha. It is towering above you in plain sight!

The Buddha (Tian Tan) stands 112 feet high. 300 steps lead up to a circular viewing platform.

20161030-DSC_0398 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

20161030-DSC_0401 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

It is great exercise to climb the steps and the views of the area are very rewarding.

After visiting the Buddha we continued on to the Wisdom Path. We had the trail to ourselves! It is not very well maintained and leads past a few abandoned buildings reminding me somehow of a very modern Angor Wat.

20161030-DSC_0406 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

Wisdom Path features a series of 38 wooden pillars with calligraphy of the heart Sutra arranged in an infinity pattern.

20161030-DSC_0409 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

It is very peaceful and beautifully presented.

After a while we were on our way to Po-Lin Monastery.

20161030-DSC_0420 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

20161030-DSC_0421 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

Lots of worshippers come to pray, pay their respects and bring offerings in form of incense.

We walked back to Ngong Village and boarded Lantau Bus #21 for a 20 minute ride to the fishing village Tai-O. Our Octopus card was accepted as payment.

Tai-O is a community of fishermen who have built their houses on stilts above the tidal flats of Lantau Island. It is very scenic.

20161031-DSC_0431 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

20161031-DSC_0436 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

We strolled around the waterfront for a while and took a dolphin watching excursion through the canals and out to sea.

The bus from Tai-O to Mui Wo, the ferry station, runs only every 40 minutes and takes about 1 hour. We planned our visit accordingly and enjoyed the scenic bus ride on an almost empty bus.

At Mui Wo we boarded a ferry back to Central on Hong Kong Island. The ferry ride was absolutely beautiful during the late afternoon hours.

20161031-DSC_0452 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

20161031-DSC_0457 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

20161031-DSC_0460 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

From Central we took the Star Ferry back to Victoria harbor from where we walked back to our hotel.

It was an incredible day and created a wonderful finale to our month in Asia.

The next morning we took MTR to the airport, where we cashed out the balance of our Octopus cards and boarded another long flight back to the US.

I hope my reports are helpful to some of you fellow cruisers. I certainly enjoyed writing them!

Safe travels

Petra

Great photos!

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Great job on posting your D.I.Y. tours in H.K. - a picture is worth a thousand words, very much appreciated for the CC community.

Tai O hasn't changed much in the last 45 years from my recollection, it's been that long and I hiked the walking path up to Po Lin then, long before the Giant Budda was planned. Bring back good old memories as we didn't have time on our recent trip but to stop at Tai O.

How crowded was the MTR in the morning and how was the PMB & free shuttles to/from the mall from KTCT ... was there a long line & waiting? Were they running them non-stop all day while ship is docked ?

Would you, as a cruise ship pax, say it was easy to get around on your own - D.I.Y. without take ship's excursion or book a private tour?

These are questions most often asked here and I've always assured the majority, that HK is very much a visitor-friendly place to see & explore, and that popular sights are easy to reach and usually with bilingual English/Chinese signage/help.

Did you get to use your Octopus Card to buy coffee at McDonald and checkout their local breakfast specials ;p - buy facial tissues & bottled water at the local 7-11's, and, freshly baked goodies at Maxim's inside those MTR station ?

Any comments about ship terminal's WiFi, data & cellular access ? I see that the air quality hasn't changed much for the better in the urban concrete jungle.

Great "job" (well done) in sharing & posting these mini-reviews, just a suggestions - you might want to do a sort of, mini-index or tabs, linking up all of your mini-reviews so that if someone find 1 or 2, they can (hopefully) find the rest of them easily ... these can get scattered over time here on CC.

Great information!...getting excited on our cruise that starts in Hong Kong.

We will be arriving in HKIA around 8:30am. We are planning on leaving our luggages at the airport and head out to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha.

Is there a place to leave our luggages in Tung Chung? (2 large 28inch luggages) Perhaps we can save a trip all the way back to the airport. Our hotel is in Tsim Sha Tsui. Thank you. :)

Great information!...getting excited on our cruise that starts in Hong Kong.

... arriving in HKIA around 8:30am ... planning on leaving our luggages at the airport and head out to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha. Is there a place to leave our luggages in Tung Chung? ... hotel is in Tsim Sha Tsui. Thank you. :)

Off-topic, my question to you - how do you plan to get to TST once you get your 2 large pc. of luggage ?

Storing it at HKIA or take a blue taxi over to CityGate Outlet Mall's attached Novatel Hotel, bellman will probably store it for a few hours with a nice tip on your return. Roll them over to ride the regular MTR (and transfers once or twice across station platforms) out to TST's hotel, or take a red taxi ?

Or, store it at the airport, take the S1 or S64 bus for the easy 10 minutes bus ride over to the NP360 next to the mall for the cable car ride ? Or, do you wish to take the slower but scenic bus ride up the hill & enjoy the countryside views ?

There are very limited # of lockers at the outlet mall but I would not count on it. If this is your 1st. time visiting HK (or not in recent years) - simplicity is to check the bags at HKIA, take the bus ride over and return when you are done touring to the airport, retrieve the bags & roll them across the hall to catch the Airport Express (where there's free porter services.)

Typoon Hato (Hurricane "Sky Pigeon" in Chinese) caught weather forecast by surprise last night & earlier this morning - went from Signal 8 to Signal 10, hitting both HK and Macau almost directly as it passed thru just south, now continued into mainland China & expected to be downgraded ... leaving a path of destruction.

Tai O was, among some of the low lying areas, hit hard and sea water flooded the town & villages nearby - as much as 15' over flood stage ... despite barrier efforts to limit the damages. Just got alerted - these pictures from a local Chinese newspaper had images of some of the flooded area in Tai O. Article in Chinese but the pictures tell it all.

http://std.stheadline.com/instant/articles/detail/492336-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF-%E3%80%90%E5%A4%A9%E9%B4%BF%E9%A3%9B%E8%B5%B0%E3%80%91%E5%A4%A7%E6%BE%B3%E7%81%BD%E6%83%85%E5%9A%B4%E9%87%8D+%E9%80%BE40%E4%BA%BA%E5%88%B0%E5%BA%87%E8%AD%B7%E4%B8%AD%E5%BF%83%E6%9A%AB%E9%81%BF

Fortunately, only 1 or 2 fatalities reported thus far - fool got swept out into the Victoria Harbour while watching the smashing waves, despite government warnings to stay away, and injuries as expected, lots of fallen trees & mud slide, etc. and scattered power outages. Full scale recovery already underway. Airport & transport services were all shut down during the storm's peak but since restored gradually as conditions safely permitted.

For those of you planning your cruise-visit this Fall, just about everything should & will return to normal. (Also, for Tai O, these images give you a good glimpse into the rural countryside that you will see, not the skyscrapper or concrete jungle of the city)

Mking8288...thank you as always.

Based on your usual detailed info, we will store our luggages at HKIA, then take the S1 bus to NP360...and take the gondola up to Ngong Ping.

We'll go back to the airport (in reverse), get our luggages, then take the A21 bus (learned this from you) to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Any other suggestions? Is it better to take the MTR? Thanks again.

We managed our 25" rollerboard & backpack onto the A21 (double-decker, air-conditioned) bus & got off at our hotel stop around the corner from Nathan Road, our bus stop right in front of the hotel. Luggage storage rack downstairs but limited, sit upstairs for best view, CCTV monitor help you keep track of your bags - listen to bilingual announcement about upcoming stop + digital display. (Our current plan for Spring 2018 is HK & Vietnam and planning to do just a 22" rollerboard, packing light = travel light)

MTR's Airport Express do cost more but if you are tired from jetlag, it might be easier - ask at the counter when you purchase them about discount for 2 or more on a single AE pass (vs. the regular Octopus card ... which you will need to get around for 2 days anyway) Kowloon Station (East) for AE is over by the reclaimed waterfront/landfill, not on TST proper, so take the free shuttle to your hotel (check & board the proper route)

Have some local currency (HKD) ready on arrival (we can get ours from local AAA office, exchanged for free based on their rates ... but, we kept some from our last VN & HK trips, no worries to us) Airport's Currency Ex. counter give the worst rates, get as little as you need (if arriving on weekdays - Tung Chung outlet mall has CE counter services & probably better rates, or use the bank's ATM to withdraw cash ... we used our Citi Card to get money once in Kowloon as we alerted our home branch of our plans ahead of time.)

Once you exit the customs hall & before arrival/greeting hall, you will find the MTR Service Centre as well as tourist info, currency services, etc. - use those free luggage cart - then find your way to storage.

Airport has free & fast WiFi, use it to check the weather forecast & operational status of NP360 first !!

Might be a good time to pause & find a place for a hot meal, breakfast or what not first - plenty of good choices inside the airport terminal (and, easier) before finding your way to the S1 bus over to TC. Outlet mall has a very good food court at local prices, as an alternative - before taking the cable car ride up.

Thanks so much for the pictures and info on getting to Lantau Island. I was going to take the cable car but after looking at your photos, maybe I'll take the bus! That looks a bit too outside my comfort zone. lol. Is it pretty intuitive to find the bus stop to go to the village where the Big Buddha is?

Wonderful report, Ssislandgirl! Enjoyed those photos!

Making - Thanks for the link to Tai O article. So sad to see the destruction in this tiny, out-of -the -way village. We had a day on Lantau much as you described and by the time we reached Tai O, we were starving. Found a tiny little restaurant run by a tiny old lady. She spoke no English and we spoke no Cantonese. So she ushered us into a minuscule kitchen where we rummaged through her fridge, pulled out a variety of ingredients and watched her transform them into delicious dishes. As we sat eating at one of the 2 tables on her back porch, I noticed a group of elderly men playing Mah Jong across the way. Raised my camera for a candid shot, but when she waggled her finger at me, I put it away and just enjoyed the experience.

Thanks for a detail description of going to such lovely places. If I go at 8:30am as you have done do you think I can just get ticket there or what is the e-address to get ticket on line?

Thanks for a detail description of going to such lovely places. If I go at 8:30am as you have done do you think I can just get ticket there or what is the e-address to get ticket on line?

Here's a direct link - https://www.np360.com.hk/en/

You can book 14 days in advance - you will still to go to the pickup window to get your e-ticket on arrival.

It is always advisable to check the weather and cable car's operating status before going - even if you are flying into HKIA on the day of/just before your planned visit. Airport & MTR train stations are free WiFi enabled & visitors friendly.

If you do not plan to spend all day up on the hill, you do not need to spend extra $$ for any packages. The basic cable car ticket is fine, no need for the crystal cabin (which is, really, the clear floor-bottom cable car - regular ones see just fine)

Here are some snapshots we took during our trip - HKIA in the background in one of the pictures. Enjoy

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sk1t4ivmr5msxoa/HKG%20NingPing%20360%20Cable%20Car%20%26%20Big%20Budda.jpg?dl=0

YES!! YES!! Appreciate these wonderful pictures and details about these great options for near Hong Kong. Going there and to SE Asia for the first time in January 2018. Love getting these types of excellent visual samples.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 185,716 views for this posting.