Chishaku-in Temple — Attraction in Kyoto

This temple stay was worth every penny. The hotel facilities are luxurious and the rooms are huge for the city. We stayed in the Japanese western style room. The beds were comfortable, the tea table area was so cool, and the bathroom was large and had nice fixtures.

They give you pajamas and slippers that you can use in the hotel bath house. The bath house is separated by genders and has plenty of washing stations with soap and conditioner and a getting ready dry area. They even allowed us to use the public bath even though we both have tattoos (feminine western style) which is pretty rare for Japan.

We bought the breakfast and dinner kaiseki meals and they were awesome!!! One of the best most authentic meals of the whole trip. The temple tour and prayer in the morning was a cool experience even though the monks only spoke in Japanese (expected as a visitor in...

Wow. All facilities are brand new and well kept. We stayed overnight. Three people in a Japanese style room. They don't speak English but the reception monks use a translator device so they are very modern and prepared. The only place we encountered in Japan in our two weeks who has and use a translator device.

They have a public bath, also serve dinner and breakfast both in the common room. Looks great and taste pretty good. We ordered the regular meal but you can also upgrade.

We loved the cakes they gave us in the room. So much so that we bought a box.

At 540am you can meet them to visit the prayer /ceremony. We did that and it was worth it. There is a tour of the grounds afterwards. Very spiritual and calming experience. It's all in Japanese but you can get the jist by looking around.

Awesome. Recommend. Use Google translate to book on their...

One of the lesser known things about this temple is that you can stay here!

Beautiful, large modern rooms. We had the western-style room which still incorporated some traditional Japanese touches. If you’re a couple, the room will have two large single beds, so be warned if you like to share. There is also only one pillow each. Check in was facilitated by use of a translator (we speak very little Japanese) but was an easy process. Highly recommend getting the dinner and breakfast package, and making the early morning wake up to watch the morning prayers and temple service. It’s all in Japanese, as expected, but still a very humbling experience to be part of. Plus you get a private tour of the temple before the crowds! Overall a really cool experience that’s a bit outside the usual tourist trail, and one I’m glad I was able to do...