Travelling is often very fast-paced, jumping cities and making sure to taste all the best food in a foreign place before going back to the drudgeries of everyday life. However, it’s because of this rush that sometimes, it’s best to take a deep breath and slow things down for a day.

In Taiwan, Buddhism is one of the most common religions practised. Accordingly, in the Dashu District of Kaohsiung, north of the central city area, you can also find Taiwan’s largest Buddhist monastery and museum. Built to draw visitors to teach them of the philosophies of Buddhism, it is also home to a tooth relic of the founder of the Buddhist faith. Open six days a week (closed Tuesday), it is free entrance, and with its expansive area in a mountainous region, it is an excellent place for a half- or even full-day trip.

Getting There

If you don’t have a car, there are a few ways of reaching Fo Guang Shan by public transport. There are buses that leave from Kaohsiung, Fengshan, and Zuoying High Speed Railway Stations. These prices vary and as do the length of the journeys. You can find the timetable for the buses and their fares on their website. You can pay by cash or use Taiwan’s transport cards.

We took the Harvard Express (哈佛快線), also known as E02, from Zuoying High Speed Railway (HSR) Station. This route is also the most expensive at NTD70 (US$2.25), but it’s also the fastest. Though Google Maps suggests the journey to take around 1 hour, we found that it was only 30 minutes on the day we went. You can refer to the photo schedule below for timetable. This bus departs from the E02 platform of the bus stop outside Zuoying Station (Exit 1).

Alternatively, the 8501, which we took going home, stops at E-Da World, a popular theme park and resort town on the way to Fo Guang Shan. This departs from and arrives at platform 3 at Zuoying HSR. We took this bus on our return journey. In our situation, we were ushered from one bus to another at E-Da World, which we suppose constitutes as a transfer, but we found it stress-free. This one took around 40-45 minutes.

Be warned that buses have limited seats, and they don’t allow you to stand. This means that if you’re in line for the bus you can still miss it, which may force you to wait for the next one. Because of this, we encourage you to turn up 10 minutes earlier than the scheduled time of departure, maybe even earlier on weekends, so you can secure seats.

What to Do

Fo Guang Shan is far bigger than we imagined, and requires a fair bit of walking to get from one end to the other. The grounds are on mountainous terrain so it can be hilly. We give a precautionary note for those who can’t walk long distances or navigate steep paths that it may be something to consider, though you can rent wheelchairs at the Main Halls.

You can also hire audio guides and request free guided tours in Vietnamese and English via their website. Besides that, there are many things to see, such as the architecture of the pagodas, the mastery of the 108-metre Buddha statue, exhibitions, galleries, and a plethora of shops to purchase Buddhism-related goods and traditional arts.

For those looking for a unique experience, they also offer monastery stays. Email them for more details.

What to Eat

Buddhism follows a diet which encourages vegetarianism. As such, the food offered on the grounds contain no meat. Often, these are replaced with alternatives made of gluten or soy, or vegetables such as mushrooms.

You can find a huge number of restaurants and eateries all throughout the grounds with varying styles of service. Some offer à la carte menu items, whereas others are in buffet style. In the Main Hall you can also find more sophisticated dining options which includes dim sum restaurants, but also snack foods such as waffles and the ever-present milk tea.

Water Drop Tea House 傳燈樓滴水坊

This restaurant is one of many which has Taiwanese vegetarian à la carte dishes. This is located in an obscure area at the bottom of the back of a building. Other restaurants serving à la carte items also have a similar menu, so we don’t necessarily need to recommend this one restaurant. Orders are placed by writing onto a sheet of paper and paying for them at the register. You can also purchase extras such as side dishes as well as soup to enjoy with your meal.

The spicy thick noodles (辛辣乾拌刀削麵; NTD100; US$3.20) came with sweetcorn, thick, chewy noodles and a brown sauce. There were also crispy pieces of either soy or gluten (we assume the latter), which become chewy as you eat. The additional seasoning of five spice will likely remind Taiwanese people of what is commonly used to season fried chicken. Despite its name and the warning chilli icon, it was not spicy in the slightest. It is much more savoury than we’d expected, a little herbal, but it is complemented by the sweetcorn.

We also chose the spiced mushroom steak with chilli sauce and rice (椒麻菇排飯; NTD100; US$3.20). Huge slices of mushroom are lightly battered with flour and five spice to imitate the infamous Taiwanese fried chicken steaks, then drizzled with a mild sweet chilli sauce. We loved this one. The mushrooms are juicy, crispy, and savoury, seasoned perfectly and very flavourful. In this dish they didn’t bother to disguise the mushrooms as meat, but we didn’t miss it. If you’re visiting a restaurant and see this on the menu, or even spot it as an item at a night market, we highly recommend it.

Lastly, the green tea Yakult (抹茶多多; NTD80; US$2.60) is based off the popular Japanese probiotic drink. The original Yakult drink is about the thickness of full-fat milk, and its flavour is sweet and a little sour due to the lactic acid. It’s an iconic drink and familiar to many who grew up in Asia. In this case, there was a lightly milky flavour of green tea which paired better than we expected with the sweet and sour. This one we highly recommend, too.

Due to its location in the mountains and the largeness of the grounds, Fo Guang Shan is an excellent place for a little bit of peace and quiet, as well as a look into the Buddhist roots of Taiwan. Simply go with an open mind and good walking shoes, and there’s plenty to enjoy.

Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Museum 佛光山佛陀紀念館
No. 1號, Tongling Road, Dashu District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 84049
Mon-Fri 9am-6pm (Closed Tues)
Sat-Sun 9am-7pm
fgsbmc.org.tw/en/index.aspx