Koyasan temple stay or Kinosaki ryokan

Hi,
Im planning my trip to Japan at the moment and I'm trying to choose between a night at koyasan and kinosaki. They're both quite expensive. if you had to choose one, which would be a better experience and stay?
Thanks!

Depends on what YOU like? They are two very different places. One is a relaxing onsen town. They other is a thought provoking spiritual town.

Did both and it really depends on you.

Personally I absolutely LOVED Kinosaki and just had to go a second time during my trip. The town, walking under the cherry blossoms next to the river with my gf at night, the amazing food, strolling around in our Yukatas, the awesome baths all over town, the private onsen in the ryokan. Everything was just incredible!

Koyasan was really great as well, though the overnight stay wasn't really worth it. Sure, walking through the forest graveyard at night was absolutely awesome, but the temple stay itself was a bit of a letdown. It was an old temple that looked really nice and traditional from the outside. But accommodation was something in between a ryokan and a youth hostel and outside morning prayers the whole stay didn't feel very "temple-y" overall. Way too expensive for what it offered.

The temple experience is very unique. Compared to staying at other religious lodging, this one does not impose much (if any) rules. The quality or how run-down it is depending on the lodging provided.

I agree that a ryokan would be a much more enjoyable stay and probably more worth your money. Koya is more for those who have already tried a Ryokan and want something same but different. the temple is serene and is more relaxing than enjoyable. (You feel rested spiritually due to the peacefulness but there aren't activates that makes you go "Wow". Probably certain attractions would make you sigh "haaaa")

I would recommend a temple stay, as it is a very unique experience: copying sutra, zazen, taking part of the evening and morning sessions, the shojin ryori, dharma talks. It was really amazing!

I did a temple stay several times and although Koyasan is the most popular location, the best temple stay I did was a Taiyo-ji temple in Chichibu. This is my trip report, in case you're interested: http://monochrome.me.uk/news/temple-stay-at-taiyoji-temple/