Lama Temple (Yonghegong)

雍和宫（南门）

Incense-thick Tibetan Buddhist temple with an 18 m sandalwood Buddha

⚠ Real-name booking, passport

Hours

Roughly 9am–4:30pm (about 4pm in winter), last entry 30 minutes before closing; confirm seasonal hours

Tickets

Adults ¥25. Real-name booking on the 雍和宫 WeChat mini-program from 7 days ahead; QR and passport checked at the gate. Free incense

Address

12 Yonghegong Street, Dongcheng; enter by the south gate

Scan your ticket and you're handed a free bundle of incense; inside, every courtyard is hazy with smoke and people bowing. It was the Yongzheng Emperor's mansion before he took the throne, so the roofs are palace-yellow while the halls are Tibetan Buddhist. In the last hall, the Wanfu Pavilion, an 18-metre Maitreya carved from a single sandalwood trunk makes you crane your neck to see its face. Plenty of young Chinese come to make wishes, so it's livelier than you'd guess.