Longshan Temple (龍山寺 lóng shān sì) must be on your list of places to visit in Taipei. If you don’t, it’s like visiting Paris and missing the Eiffel Tower.
Visiting Longshan Temple is a great way to feel like you are removed from the city life throughout the rest of Taipei. I have visited more than 100 temples in Taiwan, and to this day, Longshan Temple in Taipei is still way up there at the top of my list of favorites.
While there are many temples in the city, Longshan Temple is one of the largest and most famous, and brings with it a lot of the old Chinese traditions that are hard to find elsewhere in Taipei.
Traditional shops, folk, Chinese medicine herbal vendors and other institutions populate the surroundings of the temple. Blind masseurs can also be found.
Taipei’s Longshan Temple is home to lots of calligraphy and poetry and many bronze and wooden sculptures of various figures and important characters in Chinese mythology.
The charm is that it’s not a tourist destination exclusively. People genuinely go there to pray, pay respects and ask for advice from the deities that it houses. Longshan Temple in Taiwan’s capital is technically Buddhist and dedicated to Guanyin, the Buddhist deity associated with compassion. However, it is home to many others and worshipers visit for individual purposes.
Bottom line: Take the convenient MRT to Longshan Temple, take in the 19th century Chinese architecture and art, look at various calligraphic poems, and browse the surroundings for a multitude of folk Chinese wares.
Information about Longshan
Where it is: No. 211 Guangzhou Road
MRT Station: Longshan Temple MRT Station
How to say it: lóng shān sì 龍山寺
How much: Free
When to go: 5am-10pm daily
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