Koya-san, Japan

Koya-san is home to a number of Japanese Buddhism's holiest sites. First settled in 819 C.E., over a hundred major temples have been established atop these mountains of Wakayama Prefecture, south of Osaka. Many of the temples offer lodging for pilgrims, who come from all over Japan and beyond in pursuit of the centuries' worth of wisdom entombed among thousands of graves, and of the serenity and quietude of the mountains.