Chuanhuatang Temple

• By dokuya
• 28 December, 2015
• 1 Comment

The Chuanhuatang Temple is the biggest and one of the oldest temples on Lion’s Head Mountain which is located on the Hshinchu & Miaoli county line borders.  My wife and I wanted to visit Lion’s Head Mountain but wondered where we could stay.  We found out that this temple offers guests houses and food for visitors.

Reservations were recommended as weekends and holidays can be very busy.  We went during the week at an off peak time and we may have been the only guests staying there.  As a result they gave us the room with the best view and biggest balcony.  The fee for the room was only $1,000 NTD per night (about $32 USD).  There was no charge for the food, donations were accepted but not asked for.  I would recommend donating $100 NTD (about $3.20 USD) per person per meal.  There were few if any other eating options.  The meals were vegetarian and good.  The room had 2 double beds so it could accommodate 4 people.  If you shared that cost it would only be $8 USD per person.

The view was spectacular from our balcony and from the entire complex.  Because we were “the only” guests there it made walking around at night inside the “complex” kind of an adventure.  As remote as it is it is still reachable by public transportation.  You can take a bus from the Hsinchu or Zhunan train station.  Once you get close there is a shuttle bus that runs about once an hour that will take you to a parking lot neat the Temple.

There are a total of 11 temples on the mountain with trails that connect them.  There are also other hiking trails.  The mountain town Nanzhuang is a shuttle bus ride away.

Just a note, although I was on the mountain for 3 days and 2 nights and did talk with some monks at various temples it was just casual talk.  You won’t find “religious pressure” here.