Lama Temple (Yonghegong), Beijing

Lama Temple tickets and how to book

A full ticket is about ¥25 and a half-price ticket about ¥12. Those are the figures from a 2022 Beijing government notice and Visit Beijing; we found no current official price list, so treat them as unofficial. Children under 6 or under 1.2 m go free. Chinese guides give half price to ages 6–18, students and over-60s, while English-language guides disagree on whether foreign seniors pay half or nothing.

The temple sells tickets only through its official WeChat account, “雍和宫游客信众服务”, and warns that no other platform or person is authorised to resell them. Passport holders buy a full-price ticket online and scan a QR code at the gate; half-price tickets are issued at the ticket office against the original document. It's one ticket per document per day.

Whether you can still buy at the ticket office on the day is the open question: one 2026 guide says walk-up tickets are gone, another says the ticket office still sells them. Book ahead to be safe, especially for weekends and Buddhist holidays.

To pay in WeChat you need WeChat Pay linked to a foreign Visa or Mastercard — set it up before you fly. Cash in yuan works at the ticket office. If that all sounds like a hassle, a guided tour includes the ticket.

Lama Temple opening hours

The temple is open every day, with no weekly closing day. Chinese guides give 9:00–16:30 from November to March (last entry 16:00) and 9:00–17:00 from April to October (last entry 16:30). Some older guides list 16:00 and 16:30 as closing times instead — the difference seems to be last entry versus closing, so aim to arrive well before 16:00 in winter.

It's open on Mondays, when the Confucius Temple next door and the halls at the Temple of Heaven are shut, which makes it a good Monday-morning choice. Very occasionally the temple closes for a day by notice in its WeChat account, and Chinese New Year brings special hours and huge crowds.

Go at 9:00 on a weekday. The courtyards are still quiet, incense smoke hangs in the low light, and you can stand in front of the Maitreya without being pushed along.

Is the Lama Temple worth it?

Yes — it's Beijing's best place to see living religion rather than a museum. Monks, people bowing with incense, prayer wheels turning and golden halls under imperial yellow roofs make it one of the most atmospheric sights in the city, and the sandalwood Maitreya is genuinely jaw-dropping.

It's less essential if you've seen big Tibetan monasteries elsewhere, and it does get crowded by late morning. One to two hours covers all five halls; add an hour for the Confucius Temple across the street. The one real hurdle is the WeChat-only booking — sort it before your trip.

What to see at the Lama Temple

• The south entrance — where free incense is handed out; the temple suggests lighting three sticks.
• Gate of Harmony and Peace (Hall of the Heavenly Kings) — a laughing Maitreya, the guardian Weituo and the four Heavenly Kings.
• Hall of Harmony and Peace — the old palace's main hall, with the Buddhas of the Three Ages and 18 arhats along the walls.
• Hall of Everlasting Protection — with the Medicine Buddha at its centre.
• Hall of the Wheel of the Law — a bronze Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelug school, and behind him the nearly 5-metre Mountain of 500 Arhats with figures cast in five metals.
• Wanfu Pavilion (Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses) — the 18-metre white-sandalwood Maitreya you came for. The pavilion has three storeys, and the statue rises through all of them.
• The 1792 Lama Discourse stele — Qianlong's decree on choosing reincarnated lamas by drawing lots from a golden urn.
• Prayer wheels along the galleries — spin them clockwise, the same way you walk around the halls.

Photos and incense: the house rules

Photos in the courtyards are fine. Inside the halls, watch for signs — photography is banned at many of the altars, and flash is never welcome. Honestly, the Maitreya is easier to remember than to photograph: it's too tall to fit in a frame from the floor.

The temple hands out free eco-friendly incense and doesn't let you bring your own. Light three sticks and hold them at the burners in the courtyards, never inside the halls. Burning may be paused in high wind, heavy rain or smog. There's no need to buy incense from shops outside.

A short history

Construction began in 1694, when the Kangxi Emperor built a mansion for his fourth son, Prince Yinzhen. The prince became the Yongzheng Emperor in 1722, and in 1725 his former home was renamed Yonghegong, the Palace of Harmony and Peace — hence the imperial yellow roof tiles.

In 1744 his son, the Qianlong Emperor, turned the palace into a Gelug monastery, and it became the Qing court's centre for managing Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhism. The 7th Dalai Lama sent the sandalwood trunk for the Maitreya; tradition says it took three years to reach Beijing. The monastery was listed as a national monument in 1961 and reopened to worshippers and visitors in 1981.

Lama Temple vs Confucius Temple vs Temple of Heaven

The Lama Temple and the Confucius Temple face each other across Yonghegong Street — do both and you get the contrast of a busy monastery and a silent museum in one morning. On a Monday, when the museum and the Temple of Heaven halls are closed, the Lama Temple is the obvious pick.

Nearby — add to your day

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Confucius Temple and Imperial Academy

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1 h 15 min · ¥30, one ticket with the Guozijian · 5 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Confucius Temple and Imperial Academy

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Nanluoguxiang

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1 h · Free, open 24 hours · 31 min walk

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Drum and Bell Towers

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1 h · ¥30 for both towers · 34 min walk

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42

Beijing hutongs

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1 h 30 min · Free; rickshaw about ¥100–200 · 38 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Beijing hutongs

How to do it right

• Set up WeChat Pay with your foreign card before the trip — the temple sells tickets only through WeChat.
• Walk from south to north: the halls build up to the Maitreya in the last pavilion.
• Take the free incense at the entrance; you can't bring your own in.
• Wear comfortable shoes — the courtyards are long and the thresholds high.
• Keep your backpack in front of you and don't carry lit incense into the halls.
• Afterwards, wander the hutongs of Wudaoying and Guozijian Street for cafés and quiet courtyards.
• Travel light: there's no bag storage at the temple.

Questions