Half a day, spent well
This is the version of Lantau for guests with a morning or an afternoon to spare - a flight in the evening, a meeting at four, or simply a first day in the city that should not be spent in a conference room. It covers the plateau and nothing else: the cable car, the Buddha, the monastery and the Wisdom Path. What it deliberately leaves out is the far west of the island, and for that you want the full-day programme.
The cable car up
Ngong Ping 360 has run from Tung Chung since September 2006: 5.7 kilometres, about twenty-five minutes, over the North Lantau Country Park. The line makes a sixty-degree turn above the airport island, so the runway and the terminal pass underneath twice, once on each leg. We take you up early, before the queue builds at the Tung Chung terminus.
The Buddha
The Tian Tan Buddha was begun in 1990 and dedicated on 29 December 1993. The figure is 26.4 metres, about 34 metres with its podium; it was cast in 202 bronze pieces; and it stands on Muyu Peak at the top of 268 steps. It is the second-largest outdoor bronze seated Buddha in the world. The climb is a real climb but a short one - most guests take ten minutes up and rather less coming down.
Cultural Insight
Po Lin Monastery is older than the statue by almost ninety years. It began in 1906 as a thatched retreat built by three monks from Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang, on the Yangtze; it was named Po Lin in 1924 by its first abbot, and today it holds some 102 hectares of the plateau. The vegetarian kitchen that serves lunch is part of the monastery rather than a restaurant attached to it, and it is one of the few places on the island where the food is the reason local people come up.
The Wisdom Path
A short walk from the monastery, 37 pillars of huanghuali hardwood stand in a figure of eight on a hillside terrace. Each carries part of the 268-character Heart Sutra. The group was completed in 2005 and is the largest collection of wood-carved Buddhist scripture in the open air anywhere.
Down and back
The cable car returns you to Tung Chung, where the vehicle meets you, and you are back in Central or Tsim Sha Tsui about five hours after collection. If you would rather not repeat the cable car, we can drive down instead - the coastal road is slower but it passes the fishing village at Tai O, which is worth the detour.
Meals
Lunch (vegetarian, at Po Lin Monastery)
Accommodation
Day programme - no hotel night included.
