Lantau Island, Hong Kong, China
天壇大佛 · Tīntàahn Daaihfaht (Cantonese) / Tiāntán Dàfó
A bronze Buddha 34 metres high sitting on a hilltop of Lantau Island, above Po Lin Monastery and a cable car ride from the city. Finished in 1993, he is young, but he has become one of Hong Kong's best-known images, and from his feet you look over green mountains to the South China Sea.
Photo: cloud.shepherd, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
In 1906 three monks from the mainland settled on the remote Ngong Ping plateau of Lantau Island and built a small hermitage; it grew into Po Lin, the Precious Lotus Monastery. In the 1970s the monks decided to build a great Buddha. It took twelve years and some 250 tonnes of bronze, cast in more than 200 pieces in Nanjing and assembled on the hill, and was consecrated in 1993.
The name comes from the Altar of Heaven in Beijing: the three-tiered base copies its circular terraces. The Buddha raises his right hand to remove suffering; his left rests on his knee in a gesture of giving. Until the cable car opened in 2006, getting here meant a long bus ride over the mountains; now the cable car carries visitors 5.7 kilometres from Tung Chung in about 25 minutes.
The Buddha, the monastery and the Wisdom Path are free. You pay for the cable car or bus, for the exhibition inside the base (with a meal ticket), and for the vegetarian meal.
| Part | Ticket |
|---|---|
| Ngong Ping 360 cable car | Cable car ticket |
| The Buddha and his platform | Free |
| The exhibition inside the base | With a meal ticket |
| Po Lin Monastery | Free |
| The Wisdom Path | Free |
Look up at his face, and then at the six bronze figures kneeling around the platform below him: the Six Devas, each offering flowers, incense, a lamp, ointment, fruit or music, the six offerings of Buddhist practice.
Then turn round. Below you lie the roofs of Po Lin, the green ridges of Lantau, and on a clear day the sea and the islands.
"It is an ancient statue." It was finished in 1993; the monastery itself dates from 1906.
"You must pay to see it." The Buddha and the monastery are free; you pay only for the cable car or bus and, if you wish, for the exhibition inside the base.
Half a day: the cable car, the Buddha, the monastery and the Wisdom Path. Add Tai O fishing village by bus if you have the afternoon.
From Tung Chung the cabins cross the bay, climb the mountains and come over the last ridge with the Buddha suddenly in front of you. Crystal cabins have glass floors. In fog or typhoon warnings the line stops.
From the cable car station a short street of shops leads to a stone gateway; through it the Buddha sits framed on his hill. Look out for the brown cattle that wander freely on Lantau.
Climb the 268 steps. Under the Buddha, three halls house an exhibition and a relic of the Buddha; entry is with a meal ticket bought at the monastery.
The main halls, rebuilt and enlarged since the 1970s, are richly painted in red and gold. The vegetarian kitchen serves monastery meals at lunchtime.
A short walk east, 38 wooden columns stand in a figure of eight on the hillside, carved with the Heart Sutra in the hand of the scholar Jao Tsung-I. Walk round them slowly; it is the quietest place on Ngong Ping.
The Buddha was consecrated in December 1993. In the same year the European Union came into being under the Maastricht Treaty.
| Year | Here | Elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 1906 | Three monks found a hermitage at Ngong Ping | The San Francisco earthquake |
| 1993 | The Buddha is consecrated | The European Union is founded |
| 2006 | The cable car opens | Pluto is reclassified as a dwarf planet |
One line to remember: a young Buddha on an old mountain, between the city and the sea.
These are stories people tell about this place. They are legends, not history, and each one says where it comes from.
Most great Buddhas face south; this one faces north, and people in Hong Kong say it is to look towards Beijing, or to bless the people of China.
Source: Popular Hong Kong explanation; the monastery gives no official reason
Later, people who live here will be able to add the stories they grew up with, and say which of these they have heard.
Last checked 2026-11-12. Hours from Po Lin Monastery and Hong Kong Tourism Board information as reported in 2026 guides; cable car prices from Ngong Ping 360 as reported in 2026.
Checked 2026-11-12
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