Enryaku-ji Temple

A fantastic place where this temple sits on Mount Hiei , a quite and beautiful place to worship God. The east temple is accessible via the cable car from Otsu city. Buy the package ticket because it definitely will save you a lot . It covers transportation from Kyoto, cable car, entrance to the temple and the bus around Mt. Hiei. There are 3 temples which you need to take the bus to get there. one trip is not cheap. End to end costs you 800 yen , so package ticket is useful here.

Hidden gem of a temple at the top of Mt Hiei. Very historic temple at the top with many Japanese locals visiting. Also a great view of Lake Biwa and the surrounding towns. To get to the temple, take the Sakamoto cable car up (Japan's longest cable car!)

I went here after exploring Hiei Garden Museum. It rained so hard while I was riding the bus going to this temple, so I decided to buy souvenirs first. After the weather calmed down, I started touring around the temple. There is an admission fee of ￥1,000 to enter Enryaku-ji. There is a lot to see here, plus they also have shops, restaurants, a museum, and they also have a hotel inside the temple grounds. By the way, there is also an ongoing stamp rally here and if you collect 8 or 12 stamps, you can redeem it for cool prizes. Check their website for information and future events around the area. You can reach Enryaku-ji either by car, bus, or cable car (Sakamoto Cable). The temple is also majical during rainy days, however if you don't want a hassle trip, then I suggest checking if the weather is good.

The main hall is still in maintenance. You can get in but it hasn't much charm (and you cannot take pictures). Still, I would definitely recommend the hike and enjoy the place as a whole :).

The surrounding temples of the temple complex are beautiful and it is a great hike from the first cable car (not taking the rope way) of about an hour if you take your time. Unfortunately, the main temple is under construction and there is absolutely nothing to see there. The other temples were wonderful though and made up for the hike.