Fukuchi-in Temple (Pilgrim's Lodging) — Hotel in Koya

Ok so, if you want to stay in a traditional Japanese house but aren't interested in the Buddhism side of things, go stay in a proper Ryokan. This place felt a little too tourist-y to be a temple. I'm not religious but I can be respectful...shame not everyone can be. But if you want to see the Buddhism side of things, this is for you. The rooms are simple with tatami mats - someone will come and make your bed up in the evening, before which you can use the table. The room has a TV and there is WiFi...the TV felt unnecessary but hey. The rooms are cold - there is a heat pump but ours wasn't great so bring warm clothes, including to sleep in (you are given a set of Japanese house clothes to wear but if it's cold outside, you'll want more than this). The showers are in the onsen rooms, so if you have tattoos you technically cannot shower at all...but if you go in super early (before prayers) then you can probably get away with it. The onsens are great - take your towel in, get naked, shower first, get into the water. Sorted. The dinner and breakfast are vegetarian and are both very good - as long as you are brave enough to try some new things. You can attend morning prayers at 6am - but don't wear the Japanese clothes for this and be on time. Note the temple generally is also cold, so wrap up. Overall an interesting experience, not one I would repeat. Only complaint is we were served at reception, for dinner and breakfast by the same person who was doing a great job but was clearly overly busy with everything. For such a high price for a room and food, I think there could...

It's a very unique and memorable experience. Unfortunately, this lodging does not have many of the amenities or benefits that are normally expected of a usual vacation lodging experience.

When we visited, it was the end of December. The temperature outside is below freezing. However, outside of your room and the eating area, the temple is not heated. This means that anytime you walk out of your room to go to, ex. Breakfast, dinner, onsen, or other activity, you must walk through the cold and very large temple. This probably wouldn't be an issue in the summer, or late spring or fall, but it's just not comfortable.

In your room, there are no chairs or desks. It's just the floor, a low table, and some cushions to sit on. Only one power outlet. During the nighttime they pull out bedding for you while you eat. Obviously this is probably appropriate for the temple experience, but if one of your guests has trouble sitting on the floor or needs to use a computer or something, it's not easy.a

Finally, again, it was the height of winter when we visited, but the heater seemed to struggle to keep our room at a comfortable 22c (highest it could maintain was 17c).

I definitely would not recommend spending more than one night here. There just aren't enough activities to justify it. It's also a 2-3 hour trip from Osaka, so keep that in mind for your...

The hotel's exterior is breathtaking. A stunning entrance and two beautiful gardens inside. That's where it ends.||The internal spaces are rambling and furnished with hideous and uncomfortable furniture. ||We we shown to our room which had a window looking straight into a blank wall so was airless and smelly. We asked to change and had to pay an extra €50 to upgrade to a room with a view. The tatami mats are probably never vacuumed - we all have eye infections after 2 nights on them.||The meals are served in your room so if it isn't nice, you're going to spend a lot of time in it. The bees only get made after dinner is chapped so there's no resting during the day. ||The dinner consisted of for trays which a charming young man had to bring from the kitchens - he also made our beds - and we heard him rushing up and down the corridors for hours. ||The dinner was not to our liking (too many pickled veg and vast amounts of tofu) although we have wide ranging food tastes. The breakfast was inedible. Be warned, though there's little enough to eat in the town in the evening. Ice costs €3.50 and over stewed filter coffee €3.||The onsen, while hot, is in an unremarkable small courtyard, so not exactly with the stay.||The staff at reception were cold and rude and really don't want to help.||I really didn't...