Koyasan temple stay

My wife and I are planning to stay at a temple on Koyasan on 9 March. Japanese Guest House has replied it would cost 25,920 yen to stay at Shojoshin-in for the night. Does this seem expensive?

I've come across Fudoin and Ekoin on the forum that people like. Are these cheaper, just as good in terms of food, overall experience and proximity to the Okunoin lantern Temple? What are the differences between these?

Thank you all

This would depend on the type of room, but given that the cheapest rooms at Shojoshin-in cost 9,720 yen per person, yes, that seems expensive.

I stayed at Ekoin late last year, as it was recommended in the Lonely Planet guide for its English-speaking staff. My friend and I had a great time there. It cost about $100 a night each. There was an onsen, lots of good food for breakfast and dinner, a kotatsu for the cold night, and a bus stop very close. We took the bus to get to Okunoin (since bus travel was included in the World Heritage Ticket); it took about ten minutes, I think, and was very easy (just make sure you get a copy of the timetable). The monks at Ekoin were extremely friendly, and we were given a pair of souvenir chopsticks each. If you do stay there, make sure you go to the fire ceremony in the morning - it's a real experience.

We stayed at Komyo-in for one night - (2 adults and 5 year old boy) Price was 9720 yen per adult including dinner, room (japanese style) and breakfast. Food was excellent vegetarian. We were the only people staying at the temple and had the onsen bath to ourselves. We booked directly thru Koya San Tourist Association online by telling them our budget and food requirements (vegetarian strict) and they found the temple for us. It was close to the bus stop. The town is very small and you could walk the whole length in an hour but the bus was useful with a child.

For two people that doesn't sound expensive assuming it includes your meals too (which I bet it does). I paid a bit less at Fudoin (which was an awesome place), but there was only one of me so they gave me a break on the meals a bit.

http://traveljapanblog.com/wordpress/tag/fudoin/

I highly doubt that Koya has any onsens.

Different temples just means the difference in architecture, niceness of the rooms (heaters, murals, statues) and the toilet/bath facilities.

I spent more than $500 for 4 a few years back.
There are always other alternatives and it isn't necessary to book the most expensive. If you ask me, it is better to book a midrange lodging as you can be sure the morning and dinner vegetarian meals would be of a higher quality. Just a note that eating such cusine for lunch at Tenryuji Temple, Kyoto costs between 3000 yen and 5000 yen. Considering you get two meals, access to the temple, and a bed; I won't go for any temple lodging that is less than 10,000 yen per person.

(My dinner was really suberb. Had strange fruits and other vegetarian stuff that I wouldn't mind not eating meat for a week)

We stayed in shojoshin-in for one night last October. That was a similar price to what we paid. I'm not sure of the differences between it and other temples but we were very happy with our stay there. The inner courtyard is beautiful, we were up on the 3rd floor overlooking it but our breakfast and dinner room was right beside the little pond with lovely paintings on the walls. It has western style toilets and both individual lockable big wooden Cyprus tubs as well as a communal indoor bath. It's easy to find from the bus stop (the people at the station will point out which stop is best for you) and the enterance to the cemetary is right outside. The monks were lovely and spoke plenty of English but don't expect to see too much of them as it is a working temple and they do have their own chores to attend to. I think Eko-in was right next door if I'm not mistaken.

I've stayed at Shojoshin-in and that price sounds correct for two people. Note that the temples charge by the person, not by the room. Anyway, Shojoshin-in is great and I highly recommend it.

On a side note, there is (at least) one hot spring in Koyasan at Fukuchi-in Temple. Otherwise, the baths at most, if not all, of the other temples are Japanese style, but fed with regular hot tap water rather than hot spring water.

Update: I got a reply from Japanese Guest House that there is a cheaper room available at Shojoshin-in for 21,600 yen. I thought all the rooms are the same, does this sound right?

Google review suggests Ekoin is too busy with those who have read the lonely planets guide. Did anybody here find it crowded?

For my Shojoshin-in was too expensive - 43,200 yen per 4 people (10 800 per 1 person).

I found very good offer on booking.com - Sekishoin - 21 600 yen per 4 people with breakfast and dinner (5 400 per 1 person). Sekishoin is next to Shojoshin-in and has quite good opinions.

Update: I got a reply from Japanese Guest House that there is a cheaper room available at Shojoshin-in for 21,600 yen. I thought all the rooms are the same, does this sound right?

No, they have various levels of rooms. They have standard rooms around 10,000 yen per person if I recall correctly, with more upgraded rooms from there. Are those per person charges your mentioning?

Fyi, I believe most temples in Koyasan charge a fairly uniform rate starting around 10,000 yen per person per night. But you can find places cheaper. As typical for Japan, you can expect to get a higher level of service at more expensive places.

Thanks for all your help, I have booked Shojoshin-in for our stay. Will share the experience afterwards. Thank you again.

We stayed in Shojoshin-in autumn 2012. We paid 30,000 Yen for two but that was for the private Hanare residence there, a self-contained cottage in the grounds, we chose this as it had a private bathroom and toilet and I was nervous on that first trip about not having a toilet in the room. The hanare could have slept at least 8 people, there were 4 rooms within the central living space. We took our meals in the main temple, in a private room, as did the other visitors.

If its not too late, why don't you look up booking.com and read the reviews to be found there of a variety of places.