Out of the way spots

[Mennon]

Hey FGs,
My mother is coming to visit around New Years for 10 days, and I want to know if you guys know some pretty special, out of the way spots, hotels, etc that won't be swamped by old people in hats. She will be based in Nagoya, and she's been here twice before, and visited the usual spots.
Help me make this one special. All of your suggestions will be researched.
Thanks, Mennon.

[amdg]

I know a few good hotels, but first a few questions:

Is she into onsens? Will another female be travelling with you guys (to keep her company in the onsens)
Has she stayed at a Japanese inn and had kaiseki ryori before?

I'd probably recommend a hotel with a good onsen or rotenburo seeing that its going to be damn cold at that time of year.

[hakuman]

I recommend koya san in Wakayama prefecture. I took my family there when they visited, and they were very impressed. You have to take a train from Osaka south for about an hour and a half, and its a beautiful ride through the mountains. Then you have to take this...tram type thing up to the top of the mountain (koyasan) and a bus from there. You can find all the information you need on the net, or in some travel guides. There is definitely some stuff on japan-guide.com

Anyways, there are no hotels there. The only place to stay is in buddhist temples. The prices are a little expensive (it was 9000/person/nite) when I stayed, but that comes with two amazing meals - all natural, no meat. I believe that most of the food is picked by the monks from the surrounding area.

You have the option of getting up at 6 am to pray with the monks if you are into that kind of thing. Also, the biggest cemetary in Japan is in Koya san, and its pretty cool. Its about a 30 or 40 minute walk through the forest with thousands of graves. Some are so old they are crumbling, and others are brand new. The area is beautiful, and its not a crazy tourist trap (although there are some tourists there) so you dont have to deal with crazy crowds of people.