Hoon-in — Attraction in Koya

The staff here are super friendly. The restrooms are very clean and updated. The showers are what you expect (or maybe not)? Three shower heads right next to the community tub. One for males and one for females. Bath (and as a result shower) time is from 4pm until 9:30/10pm. The food was tasty (a little on the sweet side). The grounds are well kept and the rooms are clean. There is a meditation service at 6:30 am (just before breakfast) and heard from my wife it is all in Japanese.

The signage to find this place is not obvious. I have attached a picture for you to look out for. But do know it is located to your left/right just after/before Family Mart. Speaking of family mart, if you find yourself thirsty or hungry after your Japanese meal at Hoon-in, family mart is the spot. You can meet up with your other (not local to Japan) roommates who are not used to the (light) Japanese meals. Then again, we stayed at another place that offered Japanese meals and it was quite filling.

The room is quite large and is split in half: one side houses a TV and the kerosene heater while the other side houses the sleeping beds. We left the divider open in order to heat the sleeping area and the heaters shut off automatically...

The place was very clean and the food was delicious. There was one monk who cared for us during our stay and he spoke English. We didn't see any other monks except during the morning prayer. We ate with other guests (tourists).

I wish there was a place to sit and relax, really feel the Buddhist temple atmosphere. It really is just a place to eat and sleep while visiting the area.

Morning prayer: they had a seating area for guests. Three monks sat by the alter and chanted for about 20ish minutes. It was very peaceful and a nice way to start the morning.

Shower situation: there were about 30 other guests. The ladies shower had three shower heads, all open to the bath area. There was a bar of soap and shampoo/conditioner. There was a small changing room to remove your clothes. They only provide a small hand towel, but when we asked they gave us a bath towel. Shower was pretty busy unless you go at opening or closing (4-10pm). I was there peak tourist time in April. There was little privacy in the...

We booked what was sold to us as "a night in a Buddhist temple" and honestly I found thousands of incongruences that gave me the sensation of sleeping in a super expensive hotel with an extremely poor service... We paid more than 450 euro to sleep one night in a room for 4 people, one wc, no shower. Uncomfortable futons, cold temperature everywhere, and the dinner and breakfast even if kaiseki style, lacked of quantity and quality... if you wanted Coffee you had to pay extra... The only "Buddhist experience" we had was the possibility of attending the morning prayer from 6.30 to 7.00 Surprisingly, there was the possibility of ordering beer inside "the temple" Honestly I've lived really beautiful experiences in other countries and I absolutely would not recommend this one... Koyasan is beautiful, but my advice is to just visit it...