Guide to Hong Kong´s Best Photo Locations part.2

1. Tian Tan Buddha in Lantau Island

Lantau island, also known as Lantou 烂头, this is the biggest island in the Hong Kong region, and it doubles the height of Victoria Peak in HK island. It is a little far from HK island, Lantau is located in the south tip of the HK region, near the international airport, but thanks to the efficient public transportation you can get there in as little as half an hour.

But, before you go, take in consideration the weather forecast, if it‘s a foggy or hazy day you might not be able to see the Buddha or if it rains it could get a little bit uncomfortable; I’m not saying to not go if you encounter a little bit of bad weather, but only to visualize how it could look from up there, remember that you will be at about 950 meters high.

So, let’s start by explaining how to get there.

There are many options for you to choose from, but I will name you only three of which I consider to be the easiest.

My personal favorite is taking the Airport Express (if you are in HK, Kowloon or the International Airport), is not the cheapest ride, it’ll cost you around 110 HK dollar for a round trip (by the time this post was written), but certainly the fastest, it’ll take you around 24 minutes from Hong Kong Central. You will have to get off at Tung Chung Station.

My second choice will be the MTR subway, it will be cheaper but it will take you around 45 minutes to get there from Hong Kong Central.

And my third option would be to take a cab, but I wouldn’t even recommend it, you could get into traffic jams and it could be also very expensive.

Once from Tung Chung Station you’ll have two choices, take the Ngong Pin 360 cable car, this will get you directly on top of the mountain into the Ngong Pin Village in about 25 minutes, or you could hike the mountain path and walk all the way up, the path is very easy to walk, but is a long way up, roughly 5.6 km of stairs, either way you choose you will enjoy the panoramic views of the island.

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Ngon Pin village is a quaint little Chinese town where you will find souvenir shops, restaurants and even a theater where they display Buddha´s legends and stories.

You´ll find that the village is very touristy, and even though the village was constructed in old traditional style, do not expect to find a genuine old village, because is not, the village was built to accomodate the influx of tourist coming in to see the Tian Tan Buddha, which was built in 1993, soon after Hong Kong was returned to China.

Following the way through Ngong Pin Village, a short 5 minute walk, you’ll arrive to Ngon Pin Piazza, after the Piazza you will find the stairways to the Big Buddha (Tian Tan Buddha), a very impressive sitting Buddha statue, the second largest in the world with 34 meters length.

View of the Po Lin Monastery from the Tian Tan Buddha platform.

My suggestion is to always shoot when the light is best, before and trough sunrise or from sunset until dark, but this is not the case for this particular location, the cable car opening hours are from 10 am in the morning until 5 pm in the afternoon. But don’t let this discourage you, the whole journey from HK island all the way up to the Big Buddha is worth it, the views that you’ll get to experience from the cable car or from the trekking path, the views from top of the Big Buddha’s platform, the Buddha itself and the Po Lin Monastery, they are all well worth photographing, maybe you won’t get a portfolio shot, but the experience is something you can’t miss, so, take my advice and don’t let this one pass.

I hope you liked this information, if you would like to learn more about Hong Kong, please follow me on social media, leave a comment below or send me an email.