Fo Guang Shan

Fo Guang Shan was founded in 1967 in the hills of Dashu district and grew into one of the largest Buddhist organisations in Taiwan, with a monastery, a university and a publishing operation on the same site. What most visitors come for is the Buddha Museum, opened in 2011 beside the monastery: a long paved avenue flanked by four pagodas on each side, rising to a main hall and, behind it, an enormous seated Buddha on a high plinth that is visible from the motorway. Inside the halls are relic shrines, galleries on the life of the Buddha and a good deal of modern museum display. Monastics live and work here, and the site is used rather than staged.

What you actually see

• The pagoda avenue - eight towers flanking the long approach to the main hall.
• The seated Buddha - the great figure on its plinth at the top of the site.
• The relic shrine - the enshrined hall at the centre of the main building.
• The monastery - the working temple complex on the hillside beside the museum.

When to go

October to April, because the site is a vast expanse of pale paving with almost no shade and the summer here is brutal. Early morning and late afternoon are the sensible hours. Buddha's birthday in the spring and lunar new year bring very large crowds. Dress covering shoulders and knees is expected inside the halls.

Honest expectations

The scale is institutional and the architecture is modern concrete and stone, which disappoints people expecting something ancient. The paving reflects heat savagely and there is a great deal of walking. Parts of the site read as a well-run visitor attraction with shops and a food court. Photography is restricted inside the shrine halls and the rules are enforced politely but firmly.

Nearby

The Lotus Pond and central Kaohsiung are about forty minutes away.