22 sites · 14 provinces
Temples, monasteries and mosques still in use, Buddhist, Daoist, Muslim and Christian.
22 of them here, grouped by region. 5 carry a UNESCO listing. Chinese addresses are given as they are written, which is the form to show a driver. See all seven kinds, or the background on how a working temple differs from a museum one.
2 sites
North China (华北)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Yonghe Temple (Lama Temple) (雍和宫)The Tibetan Buddhist temple in central Beijing, converted from an emperor’s mansion, holding a 26-metre Maitreya carved from a single sandalwood trunk.(北京 东城区 雍和宫大街 12 号) | Qing | 1.5-2h · Best Mar-May, Sep-Nov |
| Mount Wutai (五台山)UNESCOOne of the four Buddhist mountains and the only one holding both Han and Tibetan traditions, with 47 temples and the two wooden halls recorded as China’s oldest.(山西 忻州 五台县) | Eastern Han to Qing | Best May-Oct |
1 site
Northeast China (东北)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Saint Sophia Cathedral (Harbin) (圣索菲亚教堂（哈尔滨）)China’s most complete Byzantine-style Orthodox church, a green-onion-domed red-brick cathedral that makes Harbin feel like Moscow, a relic of the city’s early-20th-century Russian émigré history.(黑龙江 哈尔滨 道里区 透笼街) | Late Qing / Republic | 1h · Best All year (winter especially beautiful) |
10 sites
East China (华东)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Temple of Confucius (Qufu) (曲阜孔庙（三孔）)UNESCOThe temple of Confucius, the teacher who shaped 2,500 years of Chinese and East Asian civilization, with a palace-sized temple and dragon-carved pillars finer than those in the Forbidden City.(山东 济宁 曲阜) | Zhou (founding) / Ming-Qing (existing) | Best Mar-Nov |
| Id Kah Mosque (Kashgar) (艾提尕尔清真寺)Listed as China’s largest mosque, on the old main square of Kashgar, in a fifteenth-century Central Asian form. Twenty thousand worshippers gather here at Eid al-Adha.(新疆 喀什 喀什市 艾提尕尔广场西侧（解放北路）) | Ming founded / Qing expansion | 1-1.5h · Best Apr-Jun, Sep-Oct |
| Guoqing Temple (国清寺)The ancestral temple of Tiantai Buddhism, the sect that shaped Japanese Buddhism (Enryakuji on Mount Hiei traces its lineage here), with a 1,400-year-old Sui Dynasty plum tree that still blooms and no entrance fee.(浙江 台州 天台 天台山) | Sui (founding) / Qing (existing) | 1.5-2h · Best Mar-Nov |
| Lingyin Temple (灵隐寺)A 1,700-year-old temple in a forested valley, home to the monk Ji Gong (a monk widely kept in folk memory) and 340 ancient stone carvings including China’s earliest laughing Buddha.(浙江 杭州 西湖区 飞来峰) | Eastern Jin (founding) / Qing (existing) | 2h · Best Mar-Nov |
| Drepung Monastery (哲蚌寺)Recorded as the largest Buddhist monastery in the world, once home to 10,000 monks and built as a white town up a mountainside. At Shoton a 500-square-metre thangka is unrolled down the hill at dawn.(西藏 拉萨 城关区 根培乌孜山南坡) | Ming | 2h · Best May-Oct |
| Jokhang Temple (大昭寺)UNESCOBuilt for the Jowo Shakyamuni, the statue Princess Wencheng brought from Chang’an in 641 and the one Tibetan Buddhists regard as the holiest in the tradition. Pilgrims prostrate their way here from thousands of kilometres out.(西藏 拉萨 城关区 八廓街) | Tibetan Empire | 1.5-2h · Best May-Oct |
| Palkhor Monastery (Baiju Monastery) (白居寺)“The King of Tibetan Pagodas”, a 32-meter, 9-story stupa with 108 doors, 77 chapels, and 10,000 statues, a three-dimensional Buddhist mandala, in a rare monastery where three sects coexist.(西藏 日喀则 江孜) | Ming | 1.5-2h · Best May-Oct |
| Samye Monastery (桑耶寺)Tibet’s first true monastery, the first to have Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, built as a 3D model of the Buddhist universe (mandala), with the main hall representing Mount Meru surrounded by continents and sun-moon temples.(西藏 山南 扎囊 桑耶镇 雅鲁藏布江北岸) | Tibetan Empire | 2h · Best May-Oct |
| Sera Monastery (色拉寺)Famous for its daily Buddhist debating sessions, monks clap, stomp, and gesture while arguing about Buddhist philosophy, a 600-year-old educational tradition still practised every afternoon.(西藏 拉萨 城关区 色拉乌孜山南麓) | Ming | 1.5-2h · Best May-Oct |
| Tashilhunpo Monastery (扎什伦布寺)The Panchen Lama’s monastery at Shigatse, holding a gilt-bronze Maitreya 26.2 m high, recorded as the largest figure of its kind in the world.(西藏 日喀则 桑珠孜区 尼色日山南麓（朗卡路 1 号）) | Ming founded / Qing-modern expansion | 2-3h · Best May-Oct |
3 sites
Central China (华中)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Shaolin Temple (少林寺)UNESCOThe birthplace of Zen Buddhism and Kung Fu, where Bodhidharma meditated for nine years facing a wall, and where the martial arts that conquered the world’s imagination were born.(河南 郑州 登封 嵩山五乳峰下) | Northern Wei / Tang | 2-3h · Best Mar-Nov |
| White Horse Temple (白马寺)Recorded as the first Buddhist temple in China, founded in 68 AD when Indian monks arrived with scriptures on a white horse, and called the ancestral temple of Chinese monasteries.(河南 洛阳 洛龙区) | Eastern Han (founding) / Ming-Qing (existing) | 1.5-2h · Best Mar-Nov |
| Ancient Building Complex of Wudang Mountains (武当山古建筑群)UNESCOThe “Taoist Forbidden City”, built by the same emperor who built the Forbidden City, with a gilded bronze temple on the mountain peak and the birthplace of Tai Chi.(湖北 十堰 丹江口) | Tang / Ming | Best Apr-Oct |
1 site
South China (华南)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Sacred Heart Cathedral (Guangzhou) (石室圣心大教堂（广州）)Described as China’s largest Gothic stone church, a granite cathedral with twin spires and stained glass, standing among Lingnan shophouses in old Guangzhou.(广东 广州 越秀区 一德路) | Late Qing | 1h · Best All year |
1 site
Southwest China (西南)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Qingyang Palace (青羊宫)Recorded as Chengdu’s oldest Daoist temple, where Laozi is said to have taught, with a bronze goat worshippers rub for luck and a working tea garden in the middle of the city.(四川 成都 青羊区 一环路西二段) | Tang (founding) / Qing (existing) | 1h · Best All year |
4 sites
Northwest China (西北)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Labrang Monastery (拉卜楞寺)Recorded as the largest monastery in Amdo, with a prayer wheel corridor described as the world’s longest at 3.5 km and more than 2,000 wheels, and a monastic university where monks study for fifteen to twenty years.(甘肃 甘南 夏河) | Qing | 2-3h · Best May-Oct |
| Famen Temple (法门寺)A Tang Dynasty underground palace discovered in 1987 containing the finger bone of the Buddha and 2,500 pieces of imperial treasure, one of the major Chinese archaeological finds of the 20th century.(陕西 宝鸡 扶风 法门镇) | Eastern Han / Tang | 2-3h · Best Mar-Nov |
| Great Mosque of Huajue Lane (Xi’an) (西安化觉巷清真大寺（东大寺）)A 1,300-year-old mosque hidden in Xi’an’s Muslim Quarter, a Chinese courtyard mosque with no dome, where Arabic Quranic carvings meet Song-dynasty calligraphy steles.(陕西 西安 莲湖区 化觉巷 30 号（鼓楼西北侧回坊内）) | Tang founded / Ming extant | 1-1.5h · Best Mar-May, Sep-Nov |
| Kumbum Monastery (Ta’er Temple) (塔尔寺)The birthplace of Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) sect of Tibetan Buddhism, the sect of the Dalai and Panchen Lamas, famous for its butter sculptures made by monks in freezing temperatures.(青海 西宁 湟中 鲁沙尔镇) | Ming | 2h · Best May-Oct |
Which of These Are Worth the Detour
Some of these sit inside cities and take two hours; others are a half day off the expressway and worth it only if the period interests you. Tell our local team your route and they will say which ones fit and which are better left.