Nara, Japan
koyasan - potential temple stay todai-ji temple (Nara) and Koyasan is one of
most sacred locations in Japan Koyasan: THE MOUNTAIN IS DOTTED with a total of
52 shukubo, temples that historically offered overnight lodging to pilgrims.
Most of these have also begun to welcome non-pilgrim tourists in recent decades
(there are a dozen or so holdouts). For $80 to $150 per night, per person, you
can sleep on a tatami mat on the floor of a traditional guest room in a
1,000-year-old temple, eat the monks’ traditional vegan fare, and participate in
the daily meditation and prayer. A few of the temples advertise amenities like
sutra writing classes, views of monks raking the gardens below, or natural hot
springs to bathe in — features you can’t filter for on Airbnb or Hotels.com. And
in the case of many of the temples, you can’t be totally sure what you are
getting — an ambiguity that appealed to me in an era when every possible travel
destination is so scrupulously documented and Instagrammed.