Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden

Chi Lin Nunnery was founded in the 1930s and completely rebuilt in the 1990s in the manner of Tang dynasty architecture: cypress timber cut and fitted with interlocking joints and wooden dowels rather than nails, with wide overhanging eaves, lotus ponds in the forecourt and halls holding gilded figures. Across the road, linked by a bridge, Nan Lian Garden opened in 2006 in the same Tang idiom, a compact landscape of rock, water, pine and a golden pavilion set against the housing blocks of Diamond Hill, which is the contrast people photograph. Both are free, quiet by Hong Kong standards, and maintained to a standard that is unusual anywhere.

What you actually see

• Timber joined without nails - Tang-style construction in cypress.
• Lotus ponds in the forecourt - the approach to the halls.
• Nan Lian Garden - rock, water and pine in a Tang landscape plan.
• The golden pavilion against tower blocks - the contrast the garden is known for.

When to go

Year round; the lotus flowers in summer. Two to three hours for both. The nunnery halls close at lunchtime and in the afternoon; the garden stays open later.

Honest expectations

It is a modern reconstruction, not an ancient building, and some visitors mind that. Photography is restricted inside the halls. The nunnery closes earlier than the garden and the hours catch people out. Weekends are busy.

Nearby

Wong Tai Sin temple is one MTR stop away; Kowloon Peak rises to the east.