(山寺) Yamadera

One of the most instagram worthy shots in Yamagata, Yamadera is a nice stroll up a hill in a shrine.

Budget: JPY2,410 (~USD23)

JPY2,410, Train to/from Yamadera Station, One day's worth allocated with Seishun 18 ticket.

Visit Date

January 1, 2018
I did this trip as a Sendai - Yamagata winter holiday vacay using the Seishun 18 ticket, though I plan to re-do this with the bullet train passes (itinerary)

When to Go
Winter! So latter December to latter February.

Special Notes

Temple website.
During winter, the temple closes at 4pm, and they only let people in until 4:30pm.

Itinerary
In this case, I was already staying in a hostel in Yamagata.

09:13am. Arrived at Yamadera Station, and started following my google maps to the temple. I had to stop a lot to take pictures though.
09:20am. Arrived at the temple, and immediately started the ascent up the stairs. There were some icy sections, so attention was needed. I think at the entrance there is a rental of rain boots (?), but I didn't understand it back then. In hindsight, maybe they even rented out some spikes to help with the snow "hike".
09:36am. Arrived at the gate.
09:42am. Arrived at the iconic temple overlooking the mountains. This was a huge compound of temples, with its own post box. I explore the other temples (all closed) and basically just walked around.
10:11am. Started heading down, taking the same stairs that I took going up.
10:33am. Down at the entrance. Walked around the area.
10:40am. Back at the station.