Saimonin Reviews

Unique temple stay experience.

We had a great stay at this establishment. We stayed two nights. The meal is included, the night is certainly basic but that's what we came for. The total price is not cheap but it's an experience

After booking a room with a bathroom, a monk took us to a semi-underground room. It was so cold. He showed us the shower and bathroom in the corridor. We told him that we paid more to book a room with a bathroom, and he took us to find an old monk. Unless we were mistaken, none of their rooms had a bathroom. I obviously spent hundreds more just to have a bathroom in the room, and it was clearly written on the order. He asked me to contact Ctrip at his expense, and he also contacted the agent. It took about an hour and a half to figure this out. He took us back to the original room and opened the locked door (at first we asked him what the small door was, and he said it was a maintenance room). There was a dirty toilet and a sink that couldn't be smaller. Anyway, there are no hotels on Mount Koya. If you want to stay, it’s a shukubo in the temple. They are expensive and have poor conditions, so think twice.

Because the group chose this Ximenyuan Hotel, everything was as expected, very good.

The food was very delicious and we had a great time.

The Saimon-in is well located in the middle of the village, right next to the bus station. The facilites however are not in proper shape (and for sure not according to the price): the bathrooms are dirty. Even if additional fees for a private toilet are paid, it’s unfortunately not clean. Staff is unfriedly. We can not recommend this location.

Good temple lodging. We got what we came for: austere room with sleeping mats, excellent buddhist opulent meals, beautiful temple building, good ryokan, great location. There is no hot water in the room or washing area, but that is ok. The room had a toilet, normal Japanese electric bidet type.