Let\’s Visit Asia

Hong Kong’s Ngong Ping Skyrail

by Ruth on April 14th, 2006

The Ngong Ping Skyrail is a cable car ride connecting Tung Chung Town Centre in Hong Kong and Ngong Ping on Lantau Island. The 5.7 km ride will last about 20-25 minutes, and promises a 360-degree bird’s-eye view of Hong Kong: the airport, the South China Sea, the Lantau Country Park and the Tian Tan Buddha Statue. This huge copper Buddha statue used to be fairly difficult to reach from Hong Kong, first involving a ferry or subway ride to Lantau Island, followed by a 50 minute bus-ride on a steep road up the mountain to the Po Lin Monastery. By mid-2006, when the skyrail opens to public, there’ll be a more picturesque alternate route. Here’s what your cable car journey will be like:

If commencing your Ngong Ping Skyrail experience at Tung Chung, you will depart the terminal and glide across Tung Chung Bay to Airport Island, before the first Angle Station turns the ropeway back
towards Lantau. From the comfort of your 17-person cable car cabin, you will enjoy amazing views of the Hong Kong International Airport and Tung Chung skyline.

Crossing back over the shores of Lantau Island, you enter the North Lantau Country Park; the vistas from the cable car dramatically change from the hustle and bustle of the city, to the serene and natural surrounds that Lantau is famed for.

As the cable car glides gently through the Country Park, you will be inspired and refreshed by the rolling grassland slopes, forested mountains and natural streams and waterfalls. You will come to understand why Lantau Island is also known as Hong Kong’s ‘green lung’.

Approaching the cable car’s Ngong Ping Terminal and Ngong Ping Village, you will begin to catch your first glimpses of the mighty Tian Tan Buddha Statue. Constructed from 202 bronze pieces, the Tian Tan Buddha Statue weighs over 250 tonnes and soars 34 metres into the sky; it is a dominant landmark on the Ngong Ping Plateau.

Alighting from the cable car at Ngong Ping Terminal, you are a short stroll from Ngong Ping Village and its many attractions and retail, dining and entertainment experiences. You are also within walking
distance of the Tian Tan Buddha Statue, which is only a five-minute stroll from the Village.

Personally, I’m not a fan of cable cars. I barely survived the cable car from Sentosa Island to Singapore’s HarbourFront Center (nope, I skipped the last leg to Mount Faber). But if this is something for you, check out the different packages and ticket prices. Take note of the surcharge for rides during “Special Days” (July 1, October 2,7 and 30, and December 25-26).

Technorati Tags: cable car, Hong Kong, Tian Tan Buddha, buddha, Lantau Island, Ngong Ping Skyrail,

Share This

Related Stories

Ngong Ping is Officially Open to the Public!Ngong Ping 360 SuspendedNgong Ping Opens on June 24

POSTED IN: Asian City Tours, General : Asia Travel, Getting There and Away : Asia