Lingyin Temple, Zhejiang, China

5Zarza's Travels 5:00 PM Mar 4, 2021

Favourite temple in China so far...
A beautiful grand construction with a variety of different buildings set back up various sets of stairs. Each building contains what can only be described as breathtakingly enormous statues of various Chinese deities, so grand in scale and design. They ask you not to take photos inside the buildings and I think that is a great idea. Can get very busy, but I believe the hustle and bustle is part of the beauty, as people pray, share food and talk everywhere! Even if you are not religious or spiritual this is a fantastic place to visit, almost makes you feel as if you are part of something grander! Remember to keep looking up, the beauty of the roof for example is something not to be missed, whilst focusing on everything at eye level too. Lots of steps, but keep climbing up - it is worth it!

4Dickson90 5:00 PM Jan 10, 2020

Be prepared for a lot of climbing of stairs
Lingyin Temple is one of the oldest and wealthiest Buddhist temples in Mainland China, and, along with the West Lake, should not be missed when coming to Hangzhou. As the Hangzhou Metro does not cover many of the main attractions in Hangzhou, including this one, it is probably advised to take a taxi there straight, as the buses there may not be familiar or easy to use for tourists. To get in there however, one has to first pay a ticket to enter the Fei Lai Feng Park, which in itself is a separate attraction worth visiting too, with all its centuries old stone sculptures and statues on the natural formations in the park. It will take a fair bit of walking before getting to Lingyin Temple itself. Once you reach Lingyin Temple itself, you will have to pay a separate ticket to enter the temple at its ticket office. The ticket price itself includes a joss stick to make your prayers at the temple grounds itself if you so desire. The temple itself is quite big, and there are a lot of stairs to climb so do be prepared for some walking to get all the way to the end and back. Do take the time to see the giant Buddhist statues and observe worshippers burning incense and making prayers on the temple itself. Sometimes you may be lucky to even see monks at work chanting Buddhist prayers and chantras for well wishers. The vast history of this temple is well worth a read before visiting this temple. Probably at least an hour would be needed to properly see the temple in full.