My Taipei adventure continued with a visit to 龍山寺 Lungshan Temple (also called Longshan Temple) in the vibrant Wanhua District. This popular Chinese temple dating back to the 18th century totally charmed me with its stunning architecture and deep cultural significance. It’s no wonder this place is both a major stop for travellers and a beloved symbol of Taipei’s rich heritage.
What makes Lungshan Temple particularly fascinating is that it’s dedicated to Guanyin (the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara), but actually houses over 100 different deities. I loved discovering how the temple beautifully blends Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucianist traditions all in one sacred space. The craftsmanship here is simply breathtaking – from intricate wood and stone carvings to colourful murals and elaborate altars that had me constantly reaching for my camera. The best part? The temple welcomes visitors at no cost, making it a must-see cultural experience that won’t break your travel budget.
How to get to Lungshan Temple
Take the MRT (blue line) and alight at Longshan Temple Station (BL10). From Exit 1, cut through Bangka Park (艋舺公園) and you’ll see the temple. It’s just a 3-minute walk away.
The main entrance to the front hall of the temple is only opened during special occasions or festivals. On normal days, we will have to enter via the right hand side (from our perspective while facing the entrance) which is known as the Dragon Gate and exit from the left hand side i.e. Tiger Gate.
Image source: Lungshan Temple’s website
Waterfalls and koi pond in the front courtyard
Upon stepping into the front hall, we saw many devotees praying, making offerings, chanting scriptures and so on. Some were drawing divination lots.
If you walk towards the rear hall, you’ll also see people praying to deities like Wenchang Dijun (文昌帝君 a.k.a. God of Literature) to help excel in studies and Yue Lao (月下老人 a.k.a. God of Marriage & Love) to help find true love or to have a blissful and everlasting marriage.
We are not religious so we don’t really know how to go about doing the praying, etc. If you’re interested to know more, you can refer to this step-by-step guide on the Lungshan Temple’s website.
Drawing divination lots
One of the main things that any visitor to Lungshan Temple should do is to draw a divination lot, which is somewhat similar to fortune telling. There are instructions in English to explain the lot drawing process.
Drawers for the respective numbered lots (1-100)
Hubby drew a number 50 lot, which happened to be a very good one!
There are booklets by the lot drawers that further explain the lots in greater details. I would suggest you take a photo of this and use Google Translate to translate the text into English if you can’t read Chinese because this Chinese booklet gives way more details than the English version one.
The English version booklet only provides the direct translation of the poem on the divination lot and doesn’t explain what it actually means.
Lot 50: “The boat is filled with treasure, roams around the world & has favourable winds on its sails.” Doesn’t make much sense to us, lol.
Final thoughts
Lungshan Temple is definitely worth adding to your Taipei itinerary. Often called the ‘meeting place of the gods,’ I discovered it’s equally a vibrant gathering spot for locals. While the stunning architecture immediately caught my eye, what really made the visit interesting was observing the authentic religious practices happening all around me. Watching locals light incense, make offerings, and pray gave me a genuine glimpse into Taiwan’s spiritual culture that no guidebook could fully capture.
Pro tip for fellow travellers: I’d recommend planning your visit for late afternoon or early evening. This way, you can soak in the temple’s peaceful atmosphere as the sun sets, then easily walk over to nearby Huaxi Street Night Market and Guangzhou Street Night Market afterward. I ended my temple visit by following the aromatic trail of street food vendors and treated myself to some incredible local delicacies. The perfect Taipei evening! 🙂