Eko-in Temple (Pilgrim's Lodging)

We were a family of 3 staying in a family room at the Ekoin Temple as part of our 3.5 weeks tour of Japan. We stayed for 1 night (staying for more than 1 night would have broken the bank - it's very expensive). Shared public bath/loos - clean/good.||The Ekoin Temple is a lovely - very traditional as you would expect, a beautiful Japanese garden, etc.||If you don't like Japanese food then this won't be for you. Food is served in your room. We found the dinner to be better than the breakfast.||You are able to join meditation sessions, a fire ceremony, etc - all good if you are into that sort of thing.||We pre-booked the night tour of the cemetery which was really excellent - we'd definitely recommend you do this tour. You could walk through the cemetery at night on your own but you'd have no idea what you're looking at/passing.||Koyasan is a lovely place, lots of history and temples to visit, nice walks - well worth a visit. I think 1 night is sufficient.||While planning the trip, the journey from Osaka to Koyasan looked like it was going to be a nightmare but in reality it was very easy even if it did involve buses, trains and cable cars! ||We're glad we stayed at Ekoin Temple - some great memories - just wish it wasn't so expensive.

It was an interesting experience. Make sure you understand this is not a hotel. It's a lodging with limited privacy, Spartan rooms with no locks, shared bathroom and communal showers and you'll be fine. Great spot for one night stay in Koyasan and a night visit to the cemetery. Vegetarian dinner was very good. The breakfast less so. I'm not sure how strong is the spiritual experience, everything felt commercialised enough, but we enjoyed one night stay here.

Quite disappointed. We paid 200 euro each for one night in the Temple. The Temple is a nice place and very quiet. The food was all vegan, well prepared, but not enough for hungry people. The mediation was really bad, the munk just left the room for about 15 minutes and didn't explain a lot. We only saw 4 munks in the whole Temple. We really felt that we paid a lot for a touristic experience that wasn't authentic. We also saw multiple BMW's tucked away behind a building, which really enforced the non-authentic feeling.

Rooms: Had lovely room with double occupancy for a couple, simple tatami style room with a veranda, rooms had no locks and shared toilet and baths were a short walk from the room. Heaters made it cozy during the night. Toilet/baths: Separate gender toilets and communal baths available, clean and simple. Activities: They have a great timetable to involve us in their prayers, meditations and fire-ritual. Made it straightforward for organising our plan for the day. Add on cost for the Okunoin night tour. Activities nearby: easy explore the town of Koya-san by foot and it’s really near (5-10mins walk) from the Okinoin cemetery. Environment: Super relaxing and zen atmosphere at the temple, lovely landscaping. Access: arrived by car, ample parking available and they let us keep the car there even after checkout. Service: Welcoming monks who will help with check in and guide us through the temples activities. Spoke in English. Food: Delicious shojin ryori which we enjoyed, dinner and breakfast was waiting for us in our rooms after our activities.

Pleasantly surprised. I was expecting basic food and accommodation but we had the most comfortable futon of our trip so far and the food was definitely not basic. The monks were lovely and helpful. A great experience.

Wow! If you are travelling to Koyasan I highly recommend staying the night in this beautiful temple. The peace and tranquility of the place left us feeling instantly relaxed. Loved the meditation and fire ceremony. Our room was|spotlessly clean, absolutely beautiful, warm and comfortable. The monks were friendly, helpful and welcoming. We had the added bonus of snow ❄️ and I will never forget the beautiful snowy scenery we woke up to.

We had a great one night stay at the Eko-in temple in April. It rained while we were there so we spent most of the time at the temple rather than exploring the local area. We joined the morning prayer and the fire ceremony plus the mediation session all of which were recently interesting. The dinner and breakfast were delicious too!

Joined their English meditation today. Really disappointing for a guided meditation - the monk leading it could barely speak any English and was reading everything off a paper. After a few very basic instructions he left the room for a long period of time, only to return at the end of the session to conclude it. There was no guidance at all during the meditation, given that the service is not free, it feels like a pretty big scam. Would avoid their activities.