Dambulla Cave Temple
Dambulla, Sri Lanka
Dambulla is easy to visit on your own. Foreign visitors buy a ticket at the office near the Golden Temple at the foot…
192 tickets & tours
By type
Best buddhist temples to visit worldwide
A Buddhist temple is a working monastery as much as a monument, and its parts vary by tradition. In Thailand and Sri Lanka look for the ordination hall, the assembly hall with its main Buddha image and a bell-shaped stupa holding relics; in Japan, a gate with guardian figures, a main hall, a pagoda and often a garden; in Nepal and Tibetan Buddhist temples, a white stupa ringed by prayer wheels. Murals, Buddha footprints and great reclining images are the details worth slowing down for.
How to visit a Buddhist temple: shoes, dress and manners — Shoes, dress, feet, photos and offerings in Buddhist temples, from the wats of Thailand and Sri Lanka to the Zen temples of Japan.
Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn)
Bangkok, Thailand
Wat Arun stands on the Thonburi bank of the Chao Phraya, opposite Wat Pho, and most people simply take the cross-river…
46 tickets & tours
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Doi Suthep sits on a mountain 15 km west of Chiang Mai, so the real choice is how to get up there.
46 tickets & tours
Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha)
Bangkok, Thailand
Wat Phra Kaew stands inside the walls of the Grand Palace, so there is no separate ticket: one Grand Palace ticket,…
45 tickets & tours
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
Kiyomizu-dera
Kyoto, Japan
Kiyomizu-dera does not sell timed tickets, and there is nothing to book for an independent visit: the grounds are open…
40 tickets & tours
Lama Temple (Yonghe Temple)
Beijing, China
The basic purchase at the Lama Temple is a timed entry ticket, and in recent years Beijing's main sights have…
34 tickets & tours
Shaolin Temple
Dengfeng, China
The Shaolin Temple lies at the foot of Mount Song near Dengfeng, about 75 km south-west of Zhengzhou and 50 km…
34 tickets & tours
Senso-ji
Tokyo, Japan
There is no ticket for Senso-ji: the temple grounds are free and always open, and the main hall can be entered at no…
31 tickets & tours
Perfume Pagoda (Chua Huong)
Hanoi, Vietnam
The Perfume Pagoda is not a single building but a pilgrimage route through the limestone hills of Huong Son, about 60…
28 tickets & tours
Wat Phnom
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
No ticket for Wat Phnom alone is sold online, and none is needed: foreigners pay a small fee at a booth at the foot of…
23 tickets & tours
Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion)
Kyoto, Japan
Kinkaku-ji is simple to visit on your own: you pay at the gate on arrival, and the ticket, a paper talisman printed…
19 tickets & tours
Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tham Suea)
Krabi, Thailand
Entry to the temple and the summit stairway is free, and many visitors come independently, by taxi, rented scooter or a…
18 tickets & tours
Katsuo-ji (Daruma Temple)
Minoh, Japan
Katsuo-ji sits in wooded hills above Minoh, north of Osaka, and is not hard to reach on your own: an admission fee is…
17 tickets & tours
Wat Rong Khun (White Temple)
Chiang Rai, Thailand
Thai visitors enter free, while foreign visitors pay a modest fee at the ticket office;
17 tickets & tours
Wat Pha Lat
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Wat Pha Lat is free to enter, and most independent visitors arrive on foot.
16 tickets & tours
Zenko-ji
Nagano, Japan
The temple grounds and the outer part of the main hall are open to everyone free of charge.
16 tickets & tours
Wat Umong
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Wat Umong is free to enter and there is nothing to book.
15 tickets & tours
Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple)
Kathmandu, Nepal
Swayambhunath needs no advance ticket. Foreign visitors pay a modest fee at a booth on the way up, local worshippers go…
13 tickets & tours
Giant Wild Goose Pagoda
Xi'an, China
The pagoda stands inside the working Da Ci'en Temple, and the basic product is simply admission to the temple…
12 tickets & tours
Chureito Pagoda (Arakurayama Sengen Park)
Fujiyoshida, Japan
The pagoda stands in a public park on the hillside above Fujiyoshida, and there is no ticket, gate or opening fee.
11 tickets & tours
Lingyin Temple
Hangzhou, China
A visit to Lingyin involves two tickets bought one after the other.
11 tickets & tours
Bich Dong Pagoda
Ninh Binh, Vietnam
Bich Dong costs nothing to enter, so what is sold online is really a way of reaching it and of fitting it into a day…
10 tickets & tours
Ella Temple
Ella, Sri Lanka
There is no ticket for this temple alone, and none is needed: like most village temples in the hill country around…
10 tickets & tours
Cover shoulders and knees, which is strictly checked at Thai royal temples, where cover-ups are lent or sold at the gate. Shoes and hats come off before any hall with an image. Never point your feet at a Buddha, climb on statues or pose with your back to one, and walk clockwise around stupas and prayer wheels. Women should not touch monks or hand them things directly. Photography is usually fine in courtyards but often banned inside halls.
The catalogue’s finest include Wat Pho in Bangkok, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep above Chiang Mai, the Dambulla Cave Temple in Sri Lanka, Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto, Swayambhunath in Kathmandu and the Lama Temple in Beijing, still home to resident monks.