Angkor Wat
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Angkor Wat is not ticketed on its own. Every visitor needs an Angkor pass, which covers the whole archaeological park…
532 tickets & tours
Asia
Best temples in Asia
12 temples in Asia, ranked by why it makes the list from the catalogue data. Each page tells you what to see, which ticket or tour to book and when to go.
| # | Temple | Country | Why it makes the list |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Angkor Wat | Cambodia | The high point of Khmer architecture, raised for Vishnu in the twelfth century and still in Buddhist worship, and the anchor of any Siem Reap stay. |
| 2 | Borobudur | Indonesia | Nine stacked terraces of narrative reliefs lead pilgrims clockwise to a summit ring of latticed stupas looking out over the volcanoes of Central Java. |
| 3 | Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib) | India | Amritsar's gilded shrine in its sacred pool, with hymns sung all day, a free community kitchen and the marble walkway glowing best at night. |
| 4 | Kailasa Temple (Ellora Cave 16) | India | A whole Shiva temple carved downwards out of one basalt hillside at Ellora in the eighth century, with some 200,000 tonnes of rock cut away. |
| 5 | Fushimi Inari Taisha | Japan | Japan's head shrine of the rice deity Inari, where tunnels of donated torii gates and stone foxes lead for hours up a sacred mountain. |
| 6 | Potala Palace | China | Lhasa's red and white palace of the Dalai Lamas, visited by a fixed one-way route through private apartments and dim chapels at 3,700 metres. |
| 7 | Paro Taktsang (Tiger’s Nest) | Bhutan | Guru Rinpoche's meditation cave became Bhutan's holiest monastery, a cluster of golden-roofed temples on a sheer cliff reached only on foot. |
| 8 | Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha) | Thailand | The 46-metre gilded Reclining Buddha is only the start: Wat Pho's quiet courtyards of chedis and Buddha galleries are also Thailand's school of traditional massage. |
| 9 | Temple of Heaven | China | Where Ming and Qing emperors prayed for harvests, a round-heaven, square-earth layout of blue-tiled halls set in parkland where Beijing residents dance and play cards. |
| 10 | Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque | United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi's great mosque draws on the whole Islamic world, from Moorish arches to Mughal domes, and is open to non-Muslim visitors daily. |
| 11 | Registan, Samarkand | Uzbekistan | Three tiled madrasas face each other across Samarkand's great square, their star patterns and striped tigers a summit of Timurid and later Central Asian building. |
| 12 | Boudhanath Stupa | Nepal | One of the largest stupas in the world, circled clockwise at dusk by Tibetan pilgrims spinning prayer wheels, with monasteries and rooftop cafes all around. |
Borobudur
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Visiting Borobudur now involves two decisions rather than one.
370 tickets & tours
Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib)
Amritsar, India
The Golden Temple is open to anyone of any faith, and there is no ticket, no queue to book and no fee: entry, the shoe…
15 tickets & tours
Kailasa Temple (Ellora Cave 16)
Aurangabad, India
The Kailasa Temple is Cave 16 of the Ellora Caves, and it is entered on the general Ellora ticket bought at the counter…
No online ticket
Fushimi Inari Taisha
Kyoto, Japan
There is nothing to buy to enter Fushimi Inari: the grounds and the mountain trails are open free of charge at all…
38 tickets & tours
Potala Palace
Lhasa, China
Visiting the Potala is shaped by the rules for foreign travel in Tibet rather than by the ticket itself.
1 ticket or tour
Paro Taktsang (Tiger’s Nest)
Paro, Bhutan
There is no ticket for Tiger's Nest that you can simply buy online and use on your own.
No online ticket
Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha)
Bangkok, Thailand
Wat Pho is one of the easiest of Bangkok's great temples to visit on your own: the ticket is sold at the gate,…
42 tickets & tours
Temple of Heaven
Beijing, China
The Temple of Heaven sits in a large walled park in southern Beijing, and the ticketing reflects that.
108 tickets & tours
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Entry to the mosque itself costs nothing. Visitors register for a free time slot through the mosque centre's…
18 tickets & tours
Registan, Samarkand
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
The Registan is an open public square framed by three madrasas, and you can see the facades from the edge of the square…
4 tickets & tours
Boudhanath Stupa
Kathmandu, Nepal
No ticket for Boudhanath alone is sold online. Foreign visitors pay a heritage fee of a few hundred rupees at the…
No online ticket