Hotel 2 Bintang di Kōya

鎌倉時代の雰囲気を残す境内！　宿坊寺院！　精進料理も美味しく朝の勤行！　アジカン体験など特別な時間を過ごさせていただきました♪ 定期的に伺いたくなる。場所の一つ！次回は紅葉の金剛三昧院を見たいし！　雪の金剛三昧院！　石楠花の金剛三昧院！　桜の金剛三昧院魅力いっぱいです。

It’s hard to rate this location as it’s not like anything I’ve experienced before. So a good thing to keep in mind before you go is to set your expectations. This is not a hotel so you won’t get hotel amenities. We didn’t have a private bathroom, there are limited plugs in the room, you have to wear slippers inside, limited communal shower times, and you sleep on futons on the floor. What you do get is a wonderful experience: the optional morning prayer (the whole experience was 1 h 20 min), vegetarian dinner and breakfast (some kids might not like but adventurous souls will enjoy), peaceful surroundings, old architecture, easy walk to all major sites. I would totally recommend this place for a night in koyosan. I think one night is perfect to get the full magic of the place.

I stayed here June 6th and 7th 2024 I have stayed at dozens of places in Japan over three months, from temples to hotels, guest houses, and hostels. I am not some person who has only stayed at top hotels then got upset when not knowing what to expect elsewhwere. This was the worst experience BY FAR. There is an extremely rude monk running the place. ***** bath only, which is not listed on the reservation sites. To make matters worse, it is only open for four hours a day in the evening. Want a morning shower or bath? Too bad, it is only open 4 hours in the evening. Want a clean bath? Too bad. There was a giant millipede swimming around in the bath. When I tried to show the monk and didnt take my slippers off in the right place of the bathroom he yelled at me. SHOES HERE NOW! I tried to say look please there is a huge bug (in Japanese) and he yelled again SHOES HERE NOW! NOW! I have no idea how such a rude person became Buddhist, he clearly does not follow his own religion. In every Japanese accommodation there is at bare minimum communal hot water for tea and a microwave. Not here though. When I asked about it the monk acted like I was crazy and gave me an attitude. He left the office at 3:30 and disappeared despite a 5pm closing time. Need info? Too bad.

We made our way to Koyasan with our small group of 5 plus our guide, via a maze of trains, busy stations and platforms, a furnicular up the mountain and finally a bus to our temple stay. It was cold weather, even though it’s April. There were still a number of cherry trees blossoming- so pretty. The temple was attractive and comfortable ( if you count sleeping on the floor, sitting on the floor for meals comfortable!). Our room was heated but the rest of the temple was not so it was cool walking to the onsen and the meal room. Our room had the futon, pillows ( very uncomfortable), a low table, small TV, wifi, hanging space. Our evening meal and breakfast were traditional Japanese vegetarian and interesting food. We purchased sake for a very reasonable price with the evening meal. Beer was also available. The onsen was a good cultural experience ( and even better because I was there alone!) Our accommodation was very close to the Okunoin cemetery which is an absolute must see.

Good temple lodging. We got what we came for: austere room with sleeping mats, excellent buddhist opulent meals, beautiful temple building, good ryokan, great location. There is no hot water in the room or washing area, but that is ok. The room had a toilet, normal Japanese electric bidet type.

There are many shokubos in Koyasan. If you don't understand Japanese, you could book through one through the shokubo association and they will just randomly assign one to you or one of those travel hotel websites (with limited selections). I stumbled upon Komyo-in website which has an OK english translation page and let me book direct. Most of the reviews are on google and i think it deserves one here. Communication: Mostly through google translate and it worked fine. The hospitality was great. Everything was well organised. Nothing was too much of a hassle. I stayed here for 2 nights. I wanted to do the cemetery night tour and the monk told me that he would wait for me and not lock the door if i returned pass the curfew hrs (9pm). I didn't think it would be a problem but they didn't want me to worry. Location: The temple is located just behind the Eko-in, where the night tour starts. It is also located near the bus-stop if you are coming from the koyasan cable station. Food: I ordered the breakfast and dinner on both nights. There were delicious and adequate for a standard portion. They have the larger portion selection. Room: Spacious as a solo traveler. They provided me a gas heater and it was warm enough when i was in the room. Tea and cookies were complimentary. Clearly, you have to utilise the public bath and toilet. Bath time was given for each gender. Atmosphere: It might be like the big temple but i really quite liked the small temple setting. I also participated the morning ritual one morning. Highly recommended.

Stay at a traditional temple lodge. Mt. Koya's oldest Tsurukame (crane and tortoise) style 'Karesansui' garden (known as a rock garden) is a must see!

Pengalaman penginapan yang berbeza terutamanya. Dikelilingi oleh biara dan berada di resort Buddha, ia sangat mengagumkan. Beberapa siri aktiviti seperti meditasi dan nyanyian diatur di kuil. Ikut sami-sami di biara untuk melakukan amalan Buddha pada masa yang ditetapkan. Makanannya vegetarian, sangat ringan dan penuh. Pintu bilik tidak berkunci, tetapi terdapat peti besi di dalam bilik. Tandas awam dan tempat mandi awam agak mudah.

It wasn't the most pleasant experience considering that the males n females had to share toilets and that some other rooms had private toilets n bath instead. And also the fact that the walls are super thin hence whomever is connected to your room if their loud or they don't like your voice volume than you might get kicked to the curb. It's a very frustrating experience for sure since it tests one's patience n ability to let go. It's training for the customers n monks alike. I met a Japanese friend here whom shared with me how rude the monks and the staff were to one another n I think that shows the quality of this place however we were pretty lucky as there was a male who spoke mandarin n a male who spoke English both quite well in this place n though the mandarin speaker was quite condescending towards the other monks, the English speaker was really nice n patient overall. He helped me out a lot since we couldn't communicate with the others n seemed to be the only customers that spoke English whom booked this place by ourselves, the others around seemed to have a guide n were usually in groups. It's a unique experience n I recommend just staying for one night or going to the other temples. I went for the ajikan meditation at eko in temple n the service n cleanliness was on another level for sure. The food here was also really simple. Also a must see are the tomb area n the walk to kobold daishi temple. As a sensitive person, I felt the overwhelming love n presence and the cleanse of my heart of this amazing soul over there. To me, that was worth it. Remember to clean yourself with the water out front before going in.... and of course to the amazing fateful friendship that occurred for us with the jap-********* couple we met. It was the next fav of mine after the time spent in nara visitor center. That was truly magickal n how I wished we stayed longer there. But all was good cause the way I planned this trip made it so that we would have this fateful encounter to the end of our trip.

As an overall experience this was 5/5. The room was spacious with both AC and a kerosene heater (which we needed) as it was freezing. Safe in the room as they are not able to be locked. The staff are very attentive and the facilities are very clean. Dinner was vegetarian and buffet style which was served in your room. It was great to experience all of the Japanese foods. Futon mattresses were made on the floor by the staff and had warm doonas and blankets. Shared bathroom was a bit of an issue if you had to get up at night and walk to the bathroom in the cold. The monk who did the morning prayers was such a warm person making us feel very welcomed. Loved the chanting, ritual and symbols used the prayer ceremony. This was followed by a buffet breakfast served in the community dining room. They accommodated for the older ones of us with chairs if you could not sit on the floor to eat breakfast. Again, vegetarian traditional Japanese food. The Zen garden was peaceful but not attended to like some of the other gardens we had seen. A definite bucket list experience.