Koya San or Nara

Hello, we will have one full day/night to spend somewhere outside of Kyoto. we would like to hear opinions on whether or not to spend that day/night in Nara or at Koya san. Both look great to us and we want to stay someplace rural, relaxing, and traditional as the remainder of our time will be in Tokyo and Kyoto. Thanks so much, Matt

If you are spending the night, go with Koya-San. It will be much more relaxing and rural. And you can still go to Nara the next day, it is easily to see everything in Nara in just an afternoon. It's a great little city, but really not all that much to see there. And most of the hotels are rather urban. Koya-san seems more like it is what you are looking for.

Just spend the night at Koya-san last week and we thought it was great. Stayed at the Renge-jo temple (9000Y/person with 2 meals) where the 87-year old mother of the priest runs things and speaks great English, and loves to tell tales of her memories of Japan before the war. Book ahead by phoning the Koya-san tourism authority and they'll fax your reservation. The place was deserted last week; 3 other guests at our temple and we only saw 2 other foreigners in town.
Leave earlier and you'll be able to fit in Nara's main sights on the way up or down too.
From Kyoto it's a bit of a trip (we had JR passes so went changing at Nara, Oji, and Hashimoto before using the Namba line [810Y] up to the mountain) taking 3-4 hours but you finally leave the urban sprawl behind near Hashimoto and the landscapes are nice. Left Kyoto at 10:30, arrived at the Koya-san temple in time for check-in at 15:00, we saw all the main sights the next morning (cemetary, main temples, view from main gate) before heading back at 14:00 (arr in Kyoto at 17:30). Koya-san is small and you'll only need the bus to get to/from the cable car station really, the rest is pleasantly walkable.

sounds great, you convinced me. Koya san in the evening and morning, Nara in the afternoon. Thanks for the advice. Matt

Do Koya-san in two days. Get there early in the day and walk around. Then take the afternoon koya guide club afternoon walk.

Wake up in the morning and do the Koya Guide club morning walk. (Two different parts of Koya san are featured.) We learned so much about Budhisim on those walks.

Koya San Guide Club