Kongo Sanmaiin

As expected

Our room was big and clean and the staff was friendly, overall the temple lodge was s great experience. Koyasan is a truly magical place to visit.

The location up a side street in a wooded area was lovely. The Buddhist temple and buildings (across the road from the provided accom) were very impressive and atmospheric. The meals were good and the prayer session in the morning was fascinating. The accom buildings were rather dingy and scruffy. The futons were very uncomfortable. The public bath was available in the evening but not in the morning. So there was no opportunity to shower in the morning. The monks were not particularly welcoming and rather abrupt. You got the feeling they tolerated visitors because of the large amount of yen we were bringing in.

Lovely temple stay with great food and gorgeous location! We stayed one night at Kongo Sanmai-in with dinner and breakfast. The temple is located withdrawn from the main street which makes the location very quiet and serene. The food was very good and a great way to experience the buddhistic vegetarian dishes. And the morning prayer was a great experience as well. We were very happy that we stayed at this temple for our temple stay experience at Koyasan! Some things to know if you wanna stay here as well: - Some of the staff could speak English, but it's definitely a benefit to know Japanese, especially for the morning prayer where all (for our prayer session at least) was explained in Japanese. - The rooms are not the most soundproof, meaning you might be able to hear the ones staying in the neighbouring room if they speak loudly. But it wasn't really an issue for us - The baths are shared (even if you have your own toilet) and they are traditionally Japanese like the ones you might see at a public bathhouse with a shared bathtub and showers on a row. Its a fun and authentic experience, but if you're shy or uncomfortable with showering with others, just ensure you have showered before arriving here.