The Lama Temple, or Yonghegong, is my favourite temple in Beijing, and one of the nicest that I’ve seen in China. As you exit the lama temple/yonghegong underground station, you’ll immediately be hit with the heady fragrance of incense. Follow your nose down the street leading away from the ring road towards the temple. This street is filled with shops selling incense - if you fancy burning some in the temple (don’t worry, you don’t have to be a buddhist or anything) then you can pick some up for a few RMB. Once you’re inside the temple, you walk through a series of buildings and courtyards until you reach the final building at the back, which houses the big buddha. Check out the architecture and the rooves - the whole place is beautifully designed. I particularly like the lama temple in winter, when the beijing air is crisp and fresh, and it’s freezing cold. Maybe just sit down and take in the peaceful atmosphere. A lovely place to spend a couple of hours.

A beautiful temple near the heart of Beijing. The is still a working Buddhist temple… in fact the capital of chinese buddhism… so at certain times of day you can see the monks gather in the central prayer room. At other times though you can still see them wandering around, chatting on their mobile phones etc.

The architecture is really nice and as you would expect within the walls the atmosphere, despite all the tourists, is very serene and wisps of incense float all around you. It’s quite big but probably still only takes about an hour or two to have a good look round. There is a small room with some exquisite bronze sculptures (mostly from the Qing dynasty) and at the back is an enormous buddha statue apparently carved from a single tree! according to the plaque from the guiness book of records, it’s the world’s largest wooden buddha. On the way there (it’s a 2 minute walk from the subway) you can pick up some incense and take it inside to join the locals in having a bit of a pray. Buddha is probably the best god in my opinion so definitely the most worthwhile to pray to.