Kotohira

The first half of your climb up the sacred mountain is a chaos of vendors' wares and tourists' chatter. But the final half of the ascent is filled with the rewards of pilgrimage: the echo of your footsteps, a splash of blue sea through a break in the trees, a hummed konnichiwa from above you on the trail. The stairways leading up the mountain Kompira-san are famous—785 steps to the impressive main shrine and 583 more to the final lookout—and finishing the climb, breathless at the summit, you will see why this path to enlightenment is so well worn.

On the way down you may want to rest at the Shoin, an Edo-period hall with artifacts and screens painted by Okyo Maruyama; ¥400. When you reach the bottom, congratulate yourself with a tour through the Kinryo Sake Museum and Brewery, marked by an enormous sake bottle fountaining into the street in front of the temple stairs: sample the wares for ¥100 a shot.

The town sits almost smack in the middle of Shikoku and it's easy to access: Takamatsu is probably the closest city but you can also go directly to Kochi. Change trains at Tadotsu for Matsuyama or Awa-Ikeda for Tokushima or Iya. Kotohira is an express stop on the JR lines and the terminus of Takamatsu's Kotoden local line, and the town's stations are down the road from each other. Ditch your bags in coin lockers before you head toward the mountain.