Book a private cable car cabin at sunset and you get a nice photo for 25 minutes. Book a table on the sand at Cheung Sha instead and you get an actual evening together, for about the same money. Dinner on the sand beats dinner behind glass Restaurants like Bathers, on Lower Cheung Sha, put you directly on the beach for grilled king prawns, wagyu burgers and seafood pasta with a glass of wine and real waves breaking nearby.

Most Lantau itineraries pad a two-day trip into three because three sounds more thorough. Usually it just buys you a slower third day you could have skipped entirely. What two focused days actually cover Day one: the Ngong Ping 360 cable car up to the plateau, the Big Buddha, Po Lin Monastery and the Wisdom Path, then a bus to Tai O for a pink dolphin boat trip and dinner, overnighting at the Tai O Heritage Hotel or a seaside guesthouse.

Everyone online tells you to book the fully transparent Crystal+ cabin. Almost nobody mentions that the Big Buddha looks exactly the same from the cheap seats. The cable car tiers, compared honestly The Ngong Ping 360 cable car runs three cabin tiers: a standard cabin at roughly HK$295 round trip, a glass-bottom Crystal cabin at roughly HK$365, and a fully transparent Crystal+ cabin at roughly HK$545. The window view over Tung Chung Bay and Lantau North Country Park is identical in all three; the only thing changing between them is what is underneath your feet.