Overview
The statue faces north toward mainland China, unusually for a Buddha image, and its name comes from its base, modelled on the Temple of Heaven’s altar in Beijing. Po Lin Monastery below it was founded in 1906 and is the working half of the site. The Ngong Ping plateau around them sits at 500 metres, so the weather here differs from the city’s.
Highlights
Take the Ngong Ping 360 cable car from Tung Chung — 25 minutes over the mountains and the airport, and the arrival is the point of the trip. The monastery’s vegetarian restaurant is the meal to have here. The Wisdom Path, a short walk of wooden pillars carved with the Heart Sutra, is quiet even when the plateau is busy.