My husband and I went to Japan last year and had such a wonderful time! We started our trip in Kyoto and loved exploring the city. Here’s everywhere we visited:
Fushimi Inari Torii Gates
This was something that I was really looking forward to. I knew that it might be crowded, but luckily jet-lag got us up bright and early and we were over to the Torii gates around 6:30am. Barely anyone was there and even less people were around the farther in we went. We traveled to the top of the shrine, with a few stops along the way. I loved seeing all the cats everywhere and it was interesting learning more about the gates as we walked through them. Overall, we probably spent 2.5-3ish hours there.
Gion
Gion was a beautiful part of the city to walk around. We loved all the traditional looking homes and shops! Rumor has it that it’s a popular place to spot geisha, but we didn’t see any. Just tourists dressed up. 🙂 It was a great place to wander and eventually the main road leads up to the beautiful Yasaka shrine.
The shrine is a great place to walk around! We enjoyed all the lanterns and seeing it lit up in the evening.
Golden Pavillion
Seeing the Golden Pavilion is a quick visit, but still worth the stop. The entire top two floors are covered in gold leaf and is stunning to see in person. Visitors are not allowed inside, but can walk around the grounds (which are also beautiful).
Nijo Castle
This castle was built in the early 1600’s and was the first residence of the shogun during the Edo Period. It’s now an UNESCO World Heritage sight and amazing to visit. The grounds around the palace are beautiful and the palace itself was interesting to see. No photos were allowed inside, but we were able to see painted sliding doors and learn more about how the shogun lived and worked. One interesting thing was that the floors were purposefully squeaky to protect against intruders. We spent several hours here and really enjoyed our visit.
Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and Tenryu-Ji Temple
The Bamboo forest itself was pretty short to explore. It’s very beautiful and we luckily came early enough again that we had the forest mostly to ourselves. That said, it’s definitely a quick visit and best paired with seeing the Tenryu-Ji Temple (accessible through the forest). The temple grounds were beautiful and we were able to see the beginnings of fall peeking through the trees.
Sagano Romantic Train and Hozu River Cruise
Was this touristy? Yes. Was it worth it and one of my favorite things that we did? Definitely! The train ride was an amazing way to see the beautiful nature along the Hozu River. We sat in the open air car 5. This can be reserved ahead of time when you purchase tickets online as the “rich car” (it doesn’t cost extra. It just needs to be reserved ahead of time). The entire ride is less than 30 minutes, but the views are fantastic! Once you arrive at Torokko Kameoka Station, there’s not much to do. You can either buy a train ticket back and ride again or do what we did and take a Hozu River cruise back to Arashiyama.
The river cruise was amazing! The boat ride takes closer to two hours and allows a unique view of the river and surrounding nature. The guides spoke in both Japanese and English and told stories and gave historical information about the area. It was impressive to see them push the boats through the water and navigate around small rapids at times. Towards the end, a “snack” boat came up to ours and guests had the opportunity to purchase snacks. Overall, I would highly recommend doing both the train and river cruise while in Kyoto.
Toji Temple
The Toji Temple was the last place we visited in Kyoto. It was so hot (we happened to be visiting in a record breaking heat wave in mid September), but we still enjoyed walking around the grounds and peeking into the temple at the several Buddha statues. Another quick visit, but well worth it to see this UNESCO heritage site.
Overall, I loved our time in Kyoto. It was the perfect introduction to Japan and all the wonderful history and culture that is there.
Daley Family Travels 