Lingyin Temple and Feilai Peak (灵隐寺·飞来峰)

Temple · Hangzhou. A 1,700-year-old Chan temple beside a cliff of carved Buddhas; free, but book a slot.

Source: https://chinafootnotes.com/places/lingyin-temple · Data checked 2026-10-08 · Rendered for 2026-10-09 (Asia/Shanghai). Facts carry their status; "not found yet" means we searched and found no reliable source.

Why go

Lingyin Temple (灵隐寺) is one of China’s oldest and largest Buddhist temples, founded in 326 AD in a wooded valley west of West Lake. Across the stream, Feilai Peak (飞来峰) is a limestone ridge carved with more than 300 Buddhist figures, the biggest such group in Zhejiang. One free reservation covers the peak, the temple and the smaller Yongfu and Taoguang temples. Entry is free but limited by timed, real-name booking, so book before you go.

What to do

• Walk the carved cliffs of Feilai Peak. Follow the path beside the Lengquan stream to grottoes and niches cut from the Five Dynasties to the Yuan dynasty. The smiling Maitreya and his eighteen arhats stand on the south bank.
• Climb through the temple halls. Pass through the Hall of Heavenly Kings into the Mahavira Hall, home to a 24.8 m Sakyamuni assembled from camphor wood, then walk uphill past the Medicine Buddha Hall to the Hall of Five Hundred Arhats and its 500 bronze figures.
• Add Yongfu and Taoguang. Yongfu and Taoguang temples lie further into the hills and are included in the same booking. Taoguang sits higher, with a view toward West Lake.

• Don't miss: The smiling Maitreya carving on the south bank of the Lengquan stream, surrounded by eighteen arhats.

• Best time: A weekday morning slot, early
• Skip if: A day when your preferred slot is full and you have no waitlist place; entry without a booking is refused.

Practical details

• Hours: Daily 07:30–17:30; last entry 17:00
• Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun: 07:30–17:30, last entry 17:00
• An older English page on the temple site still shows 7:00–18:00 and RMB 75; the later operator notice replaces those figures.
• Booking windows: morning 07:30–12:00 (latest entry 13:00) and afternoon 12:00–17:00 (earliest entry 11:00).
• Admission: Free; reservation required
• The former RMB 45 Feilai Peak and RMB 30 incense tickets were abolished on 1 December 2025. Older English pages, including the temple’s own Maps & Info page, still show them.
• People aged 70 and over, and holders of certain disability, veteran, teacher and blood-donor certificates, enter without booking by showing the original document. The notice does not say whether foreign passports qualify for the over-70 exemption.
• Booking: Free timed booking · opens 7 days ahead at 08:00
• Hangzhou Lingyin Feilai Peak (WeChat mini-program) (杭州灵隐飞来峰) — WeChat → search 杭州灵隐飞来峰 · passport: yes
• Hangzhou Lingyin Feilai Peak (Alipay mini-program) (杭州灵隐飞来峰) — Alipay → search 杭州灵隐飞来峰 · passport: yes
• Passport accepted: yes — Passports are listed among accepted documents for non-mainland visitors; the booked document is checked at the gate with a face match.
• Book at least one day ahead, up to seven days; same-day reservations are not accepted. One phone number books up to five visitors, and children 14 and under must be booked by an adult, up to three children per adult.
• On-site registration ended in February 2026; if a slot is full, join the online waitlist by 20:00 the day before.
• Third-party sellers advertise tickets for a service fee; the operator booking is free.
• Last admission: Entry verification stops at 17:00
• Time to allow: 3–4 hr
• Getting there: No metro at the gate; metro plus bus or shuttle
• Show a taxi driver: 杭州市西湖区灵隐路法云弄1号 灵隐寺
• At weekends and holidays in the autumn season, taxis and ride-hailing cars drop at the Xixi Road No. 608 car park or the Xiaoyawu bus stop; check the weekday rule on the day.
• Foreign visitors: Book with a passport; carry the same passport

Not found yet

• foreignVisitors.foreignPhone: Neither the operator notices nor 2026 English guides say whether an overseas mobile number can register or receive the code for the mini-program. One Malaysian traveller (Nov 2025) booked with a VPN while outside China and used her hotel's phone number; no source covers a foreign SIM inside China. (searched: web search (English), web search (Chinese), English personal blogs, reddit, Xiaohongshu)
• foreignVisitors.english: No source describes English signs, audio guides or English tours inside the scenic area. (searched: operator English site, English personal blogs, reddit, Xiaohongshu)

Traveler tips

• Book on the day the slot opens: 08:00, seven days ahead. Admission to Lingyin Temple (灵隐寺) and Feilai Peak (飞来峰) is free, but you need a timed real-name reservation. New dates open at 08:00 each morning for the day seven days ahead, and the last day you can book is the day before your visit. Search for the mini-program 杭州灵隐飞来峰 in WeChat or Alipay. Weekday quota is 35,000 visitors, weekend 50,000 and holiday 65,000. Caveat: Quotas and release time are from the November 2025 operator notice; the February 2026 operator notice kept the seven-day horizon. A July 2026 visitor on Reddit advises booking at least the day before because weekend slots fill up; they bought through Trip.com, a third-party seller, so the operator mini-program remains the free route. source
• Foreign visitors book with a passport and must carry the same passport. Visitors from outside mainland China book with a passport, a Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card, or a Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan travel permit or residence permit. Enter the passport number exactly as printed, because the gate matches your face and your original document against the reservation. One document number can hold one booking per day, and one phone number can book up to five people. Caveat: The operator notice lists the documents and the face check. Arron Goh and Anthony both say passports are accepted; neither describes an overseas-phone sign-up, which no source documents. Anthony adds that a phone photo of the passport is a backup, which the operator does not say. (2 travelers) source
• Cancel by 17:00 the day before, or lose booking rights for 30 days. Since February 2026 a booking counts as a no-show if you have not entered by 17:00 on the visit day and did not cancel by 17:00 the day before. The first no-show suspends both the booking account and the named visitor for 30 days, with longer bans for repeats. Orders for the next day that are placed after 17:00 cannot be cancelled. Do not hold bookings for several days just in case. Caveat: The 17:00 cancellation deadline and 30-day suspension are from the January 2026 announcement carried by Zhejiang Online; the operator English notice confirms the February start for the waitlist and for the end of on-site registration. The rule that next-day orders placed after 17:00 cannot be cancelled is from the National Day 2026 report by Tide News carried by CNR. source
• If the date is full, use the online waitlist, not the gate. On-site registration was cancelled and the two service centres no longer issue same-day entry. When a slot shows full, join the waitlist in the same mini-program no later than 20:00 on the day before; results arrive by service message, and the waitlist asks for a face check. Walk-up visitors without a booking or waitlist slot are not let in. As a backup, a group-buy guided tour (about ¥30 a person) can carry a slot, but order before about 17:00 the day before. Caveat: Waitlist details such as the 22:00 push deadline and one date per account come from the January 2026 announcement as reported by Zhejiang Online. 杭州本地宝 (29 Jan 2026) adds that a successful waitlist cannot be cancelled, and a missed entry counts as a no-show. 林林游园记 (22 Sep 2026) says the on-site route is closed. 故城有小楼 (21 Feb 2026) failed a waitlist started two days ahead for a holiday weekend, and 平芜尽处 (1 Oct 2026) was still waiting at the deadline for 2 October. momo (16 Aug 2026) does not say whether a foreign passport is accepted on tour tickets; they also found their waitlist had succeeded without a message. Official rules treat only the mini-program booking as valid. (2 travelers) source
• Plan around 07:30 to 17:30, with entry stopping at 17:00. The scenic area opens 07:30 to 17:30 and stops verifying entry at 17:00. The booking has two windows: morning 07:30 to 12:00 (latest entry 13:00) and afternoon 12:00 to 17:00 (earliest entry 11:00). Arrive inside your window, because a missed slot is refused. Each document can enter and leave only once a day. Caveat: The English Maps & Info page on the temple site still shows the old RMB 75 admission and 7:00 to 18:00 hours; the November 2025 notice is later. source
• Take the weekday slot and arrive before 08:00. Weekdays have the smallest quota, 35,000, against 50,000 at weekends and 65,000 on holidays. Go early, when the halls are quieter and the valley has morning mist, or after about 15:00 when groups thin out. Caveat: The quotas are official. The early-morning and after-15:00 windows come from two 2026 guides (Go China Freely names 07:30 to 09:00 and 15:00 to 17:00), not from counted queue data. (2 travelers) source
• Walk Feilai Peak before the temple halls. The limestone ridge of Feilai Peak (飞来峰) faces the temple across the Lengquan stream and holds more than 300 carvings from the Five Dynasties to the Yuan dynasty, the largest group in Zhejiang. The smiling Maitreya with eighteen arhats stands on the south bank of the stream. Do the cliffs and grottoes first, then cross to the halls, which climb uphill. Caveat: Carving counts and positions are from the temple’s English pages; the peak-first order comes from three guides, not from the operator. Go China Freely gives 60 to 75 minutes for the peak, a single-source figure. (2 travelers) source
• Look for the camphor-wood Buddha and the bronze Arhat hall. The Mahavira Hall (大雄宝殿) holds a 24.8 m seated Sakyamuni assembled from 24 pieces of camphor wood, the largest camphor-wood statue in China. West of it the Hall of Five Hundred Arhats (五百罗汉堂) has 500 bronze arhats, laid out on a swastika plan, around a bronze four-mountain pavilion. Both are on the main axis. Caveat: Dimensions are from the temple’s English pages. The claim that the pavilion is the tallest solid bronze structure is the temple’s own. source
• Reach Lingyin by metro plus bus; there is no metro station at the gate. From Hangzhou East station take Line 1 to West Lake Cultural Square, change to Line 3 to Huanglong Sports Center, then take a bus shuttle to the temple. From the airport use Line 19 to Wensan Road and a connecting bus. Caveat: Routes are from the September 2026 traffic guide and the September 2026 bus news item; shuttle line names change between seasons, so confirm the stop name in the map app. The temple’s English page also lists city buses Y2 and K7 from Hangzhou Railway Station. Xiaohongshu guides (陈小兆, 20 Jul 2026; 林林游园记, 22 Sep 2026) give the same pattern: metro line 3 to Huanglong Sports Centre (exit B) or Dongyue (exit D), then the dedicated Lingyin bus, about 10 to 15 minutes, or bus 7 from Chengzhan station exit A. (2 travelers) source
• Taxis stop at a transfer point on weekends and holidays; use Xilu 608 or Xiaoyawu and a shuttle. In the autumn season, on weekends and public holidays 08:00 to 17:00, taxis and ride-hailing cars drop you at the Xixi Road No. 608 car park (西溪路608号停车场) or the Xiaoyawu bus stop (小牙坞公交站). Take the shuttle bus from there into the Lingyin area. On weekends and holidays after 08:00 taxis and ride-hailing cars are not allowed into the Lingyin area (earlier at Spring Festival). Ask the driver for Xilu 608 (西溪路608号) and change to the ¥2 shuttle to Lingyin or the ¥5 Lingyin guesthouse line, both through the Lingxi tunnel in 10 to 15 minutes. From the south-west, take a taxi to the Xiaoyawu stop, then bus 103, 121, 324 or 1314 for four stops to Lingyin East, about eight minutes. By metro, take the ¥5 Huanglong Sports Centre line from exit B or bus 319 (¥1) from Gudun Road exit C. Caveat: The autumn weekend and holiday rule is from the September 2026 report; the report does not say whether weekdays are covered, so check the stop name on the day. 陈小兆 (20 Jul 2026): before 08:00 a taxi to the Lingyin department store gets closest to the gate; after 08:00 the map defaults to the Xilu 608 car park and a 15-minute shuttle. 社科似鸟龙 (3 Oct 2025) found taxis stopped at the Beigaofeng junction after 07:00 and walked in. 间隔15分 (18 Feb 2026) wrote the full set of options for weekend and holiday control; 陈小兆 (20 Jul 2026) gives the same Xilu 608 fallback after 08:00. A reply in the thread says the taxi ban began at 06:30 at Spring Festival 2026. (3 travelers) source
• Driving: odd-even plates plus a "West Lake pass" for the Lingyin area. On autumn weekends and holidays from 08:00 to 17:00, cars follow odd-even plate numbers across the West Lake scenic area. Cars entering the Lingyin area also need a West Lake pass (西湖通) applied for through the Police Uncle app, Zheli Ban or Alipay at least one day ahead, one use per car per month. Parking at City West Park and taking a shuttle is the alternative. Caveat: Rules are from the September 2026 traffic announcement as reported; apply for the pass before the day because same-day applications are not accepted. source
• Yongfu and Taoguang temples are inside the same booking. Yongfu Temple (永福寺) and Taoguang Temple (韬光寺) are part of the same reservation zone, so there is no second ticket. Yongfu is a short walk through bamboo from Lingyin. Taoguang is further up the hillside behind it, with a viewing pavilion above West Lake: the climb is 20 to 30 minutes on steps, and a visit takes one to one-and-a-half hours. Three more temples sit a short ride past the gate and are not part of the booking: Fajing (法镜寺, ¥10), Fajing Chan (法净禅寺, free) and Faxi (法喜讲寺, ¥10, scan a code on the spot). A sightseeing cart for ¥10 runs from the stop near the Lingyin department store; the walk is about 2 km, roughly 30 minutes. Bus 1314 from the Shangtianzhu stop goes back to the lake. Caveat: Inclusion in the reservation is from the operator notice. Walking times and visit lengths come from one blog and one Trip.com post and are rough. Nicole (22 Jan 2026) climbed from Lingyin Temple to the top of Taoguang on stone steps and took the ¥10 cart back to the gate; the author says the divination hall there was open in January, while a commenter in August said it had stopped. 柯柯 (17 Jan 2026) lists the temple fees and the walking time; 社科似鸟龙 (3 Oct 2025) gives the cart stop and bus 1314; 林林游园记 (22 Sep 2026) gives the ¥10 cart to Faxi. (5 travelers) source
• Free incense is given at the gate; there is no incense ticket now. The old RMB 30 incense ticket was cancelled together with the RMB 45 Feilai Peak ticket. Visitors can take three free incense sticks at the temple entrance and use them in the halls. Some older English guides and travel pages still show RMB 75. Caveat: The operator notice announces free admission for the whole scenic area; the free incense is described by Arron Goh (Lingyin) and by 流汁猫兒 for the Taoguang gate, and is not in the notice. A Hangzhou local guide on Reddit, who sells tours, says shops outside the gate claim the temple bans outside incense and sell a "blessed" set for 198 RMB; the three free sticks given at the entrance are enough. 陈小兆 and 林林游园记 (2026) also describe three free sticks at the entrance, lit by hand-waving rather than blowing. (4 travelers) source
• Temples close in typhoon alerts. When Hangzhou raises its typhoon emergency response the Buddhist Association closes Lingyin, Yongfu, Taoguang and the other West Lake temples, then announces reopening a day or two later. This happened twice in summer 2026. Check the temple notices page or the mini-program if a typhoon is forecast. Caveat: Based on two closure and two reopening notices on the temple notice page; whether a closure triggers automatic refunds of bookings is not stated. source
• Vegetarian noodles are the usual lunch. Two vegetarian options sit inside the grounds: a temple refectory serving mushroom noodles near the main hall area, and the Fuchuan tea house at Yongfu Temple. Plan a simple meal there rather than a restaurant lunch. Caveat: Go China Freely quotes RMB 10 to 15 for a noodle bowl and Anthony RMB 60 to 80 per person for a fuller meal; no operator price list was found, so the figures are rough and the two guides name different venues. 柯柯 (Jan 2026) ate mushroom noodles at a shop near the exit; 赳赳宝贝 (May 2025) gives about ¥20 at Lingyin and ¥30 at Yongfu; Nicole (Jan 2026) says a canteen next to the cart terminal sells good vegetarian noodles. (4 travelers) source
• One traveller needed a VPN to book from abroad. One Malaysian traveller (Nov 2025) could not open the mini-program 杭州灵隐飞来峰 from abroad and booked only after installing a VPN app. Inside it, the traveller changed the document field to passport, typed the name exactly as in the passport and entered the hotel’s phone number; when the passport number was not recognised, adding a space and deleting it made the booking type appear. Caveat: 不當畫手很久了 (25 Nov 2025), a Malaysian traveller, could not get into the mini-program from abroad and booked only after installing a VPN app; a reply in the same thread said it still would not open for them. Whether it opens from a foreign SIM inside China is not stated. Booking can only be made one to seven days ahead. 认真生活的Jane (7 Jul 2026), a Hangzhou resident, asked in English how foreign friends can book by themselves after a friend could not complete the booking; no traveller replied. (2 travelers) source
• Beigaofeng cable car in, then walk down into the temple area without a queue. Ride the Beigaofeng cable car (北高峰索道) up and enter the Feilai Peak area from the mountain side. The ride costs ¥30 up and starts at 07:30; buy tickets in the BGF索道 mini-program or at the counter, which hands out a queue number. Then walk down past Taoguang and Yongfu temples to Lingyin Temple, reaching the hall without waiting at the main gate. Sit facing backwards for the lake view. Caveat: 社科似鸟龙 (3 Oct 2025, National Day) arrived at 07:30 holding number 600 while 250 was being called, and rode up at 08:00. Both routes used the Caishen Temple (Lingshun) stop, which was reported closed for repairs from late May 2026. 赳赳宝贝 (8 May 2025) gives ¥20 for the ride down and a 10 to 50 minute queue. (2 travelers) source
• The big Lingyin name board is at gate 1; gates 3 and 6 lead to Yongfu Temple first. The main ticket gate (gate 1) has the big Lingyin Temple name board for photographs and is the busiest on holidays; take the photo on the way in. The other gates are quieter, and gates 3 and 6 on the Buddhist Academy side lead straight to Yongfu Temple, which is calm in the first hour. Caveat: 陈小兆 (20 Jul 2026) only mentions the main gate's board; the gate numbers come from 去往克卜勒的你 (23 May 2026), who counted seven gates. Once you leave the area you cannot re-enter it. (2 travelers) source
• A free guided tour of the main hall exists but is easy to lose in a crowd. Free explanation in the main hall of Lingyin Temple takes about an hour. On a crowded winter weekend a visitor lost the guide in the crowd, so stay close. Caveat: 柯柯 (17 Jan 2026) went on a Saturday morning in winter fog, lost the guide in the crowd and found the incense and souvenir counters three rows deep. No timetable is given. source
• Lingshun (Caishen) Temple at the top of Beigaofeng is closed for repairs. The Caishen Temple (灵顺寺) at the top of Beigaofeng is closed for repairs for part of the second half of 2026. If a guide suggests the cable car up to it, walk Taoguang and Yongfu first and then Lingyin Temple instead. Caveat: 去往克卜勒的你 (23 May 2026) wrote that it closes for half a year; the reopening date is not announced in the post. The closure of about half a year was reported by 去往克卜勒的你 in May 2026, and a commenter put the start at 25 May. source

Sources

• Lingyin Temple (en.lingyinsi.org) (published 2025-11-21)
• Lingyin Temple (en.lingyinsi.org) (published 2026-02-03)
• 杭州西湖风景名胜区灵隐管理处（杭州灵隐公众号） (published 2025-11-19)
• 杭州西湖景区资讯／杭州网 (published 2025-11-20)
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• Lingyin Temple (en.lingyinsi.org) (published 2013-01-15)
• Lingyin Temple (en.lingyinsi.org) (published 2013-01-18)
• Lingyin Temple (en.lingyinsi.org) (published 2013-01-15)
• Lingyin Temple (en.lingyinsi.org)
• 潮新闻／杭州网（杭州交警供图） (published 2026-09-05)
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• Anthony (The China Journey) (published 2026-04-25)
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• elwenion2 (published 2026-07-05)
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• 杭州灵隐讲解员阿籽 (published 2026-01-25)
• 不當畫手很久了（斜槓手作攤主） (published 2025-11-25)
• 社科似鸟龙 (published 2025-10-03)
• 柯柯 (published 2026-01-17)
• 去往克卜勒的你 (published 2026-05-23)
• 陈小兆 (published 2026-07-20)
• 林林游园记 (published 2026-09-22)
• momo (published 2026-08-16)
• 杭州本地宝 (published 2026-01-29)
• 平芜尽处 (published 2026-10-01)
• 故城有小楼 (published 2026-02-21)
• 赳赳宝贝 (published 2025-05-08)
• Nicole (published 2026-01-22)
• Tripilot2025 (published 2026-08-25)
• 间隔15分 (published 2026-02-18)
• 认真生活的Jane (published 2026-07-07)

More places

• Pair with: West Lake, Longjing Tea Village
• More in Lingyin & the tea hills: China National Tea Museum, Longjing Tea Village
• Book ahead: what to reserve before you go