Koya-san

Getting Here and Around

If you approach Koya-san by cutting across the Yoshino-Kumano National Park by bus from Shingu or Hongu on Route 168, get off the bus at Gojo and backtrack one station on the JR Line to Hashimoto; then take the Nankai Line.

By rail, the last leg of the trip is a five-minute cable-car ride (¥380) from Gokuraku-bashi Station. JR Passes are not valid for the cable car. The lift deposits you at the top of 3,000-foot Koya-san, where you can pick up a map and hop on a bus to the main attractions, which are about 2½ km (1½ mi) from the station and 4 km (2½ mi) from each other on opposite sides of town. Two buses leave the station when the cable car arrives, which is every 20 or 30 minutes. One goes to Okuno-in Cemetery, on the east end of the main road, and the other goes to the Dai-mon, to the west.

Koya-san Tourist Association office at the intersection in the center of town can be reached by bus for ¥300.