One Week in Kyoto: Highlights and Travel Tips

We spent a week in Kyoto — here’s a overview of some of the highlights!

Fushimi Inari — Senbon Torii

This is the “Thousand Torii Gates” shrine that you’ll see in many pictures if you spend any time researching Kyoto, you’ll see pictures of this and it was a priority for us to get here early and not be rushed through the experience. We got here at about 5:40 in the morning, to try to have some areas where we were able to walk through the gates and appreciate the beauty of it all without loads of people, and we were very successful.

There were some people there, but it’s such a big area, people space out as you move through the shrines. We had loads of areas where we were either the only ones or had only a few people around.

To be honest, I’m not sure if we made it all the way to the top — it goes for a long way and there are some areas that fork off. But we got to a point with a really good view and that was our turnaround point. Maybe about an hour of walking with lots of picture stops.

On the way down there was a fork and we took a different route back that had fewer Torii gates, and more stonework and stone shrines.

We were too early for any services (food, etc.) to be open, but there are some vending machines.

**If you have time for just one thing in Kyoto — this would be our choice. Below we will share a sample 6 day itinerary and then details about many of the things we did! **

Example Itinerary

• Day 1: Arrival - Gion - Teramachi
  • Arrive via Train (AM), walk to Nishi Hongan-ji Temple while waiting for hotel check in
  • Lunch Teramachi food stalls, wonder Teramachi shopping area
  • Cross river to Gion Area - Yasaka Shrine & Yasaka Pagoda
  • Explore Gion after dark - very pretty in evening
• Day 2: Lots of Shrines and Temples
  • Fushimi Inari as early as you can. Taking a Taxi there (use the GO app) will save some time in transit
  • Kiyomizu-dera Temple is a few stops north of there on the Keihan line.
  • Ryozn Kannon Temple is walking distance from Kiyomizu-dera and much less crowded
  • Kodai-ji Temple is also in this general area if 3 isn’t too much in a day
• Day 3: Day Trip 1: Uji
  • Choose either Nara or Uji - We did Uji partly because the weather was a little rainy.
  • We were able to do Uji in a half day including lunch, coming back to Kyoto around 2 or 3 PM
  • See separate post here - Check out our day trip to Uji
• Day 4: Day Trip 2 - Hiroshima / Miyajima
  • If you’re ambitious, a trip to Hiroshima / Miyajima is possible
  • This is possible if you book a very early bullet train out of Kyoto (book a bit in advance, as some train times sell out early)
  • This is a longer day away from Kyoto, we returned for a late dinner in Kyoto around 8PM
  • Will update this as a separate blog post
• Day 5: Arashiyama / Katsura river gorge
  • Arashiyama Bamboo Forest (early start again) - 7AM - we took a taxi on the way there to save some time
  • Explore Arashiyama park and surrounding town after the forest
  • Choose one of : Sagano Romantic Train through the gorge or one of the two options for the Hozugawa Boat Ride
  • Dinner in Arashiyama or Kameoka or JR train back to Kyoto
• Day 6: Philosophers path and more temples
  • Higashiyama Jisho-ji when it opens (8:30 I think)
  • Walk Philosophers Path to Nazen-ji (there are a few smaller temples you will pass on the way)
  • Afternoon - Open - We chose to go back to Teramachi for more food / shopping.

Arashiyama Bamboo Forest

This is a popular area near to Kyoto — it’s a park where you can walk through very tall bamboo. It’s a very photogenic area, especially in the early morning or evening light. It’s very pretty, but also a bit crowded.

To be honest, you can get some pretty pictures like the following if you try:

Here’s the picture that you’ll see on instagram

But most of it looks more like this:

It’s not bad, it’s just not large enough that you can walk to where there’s less people and we got there pretty early — we were in the bamboo forest by 7 am and we were there about 20 minutes. However, definitely continue on to Arashiyama park on the far side of the bamboo forest. The park as a whole is a much larger area where you’ll lose most of the crowds — and there’s a beautiful overlook of the Katsura river gorge, and you can walk down to the river itself and see the boats.

This view is a short walk from where you leave the Bamboo - walk uphill towards the river.

There’s two different boat rides you can book — one of them starts on this side of the river, and these boats do a lazy circle a short way up the gorge and back down again. The boats have a roof over them for some shade and don’t do the rapids, so this is a shorter more calm boat ride. We didn’t do this, it didn’t look like you booked this in advance — it seemed like a walk-up-and-get-in-line sort of activity.

Hozugawa Katsura River Boat Tour

We did instead book the Katsura River Boat tour which starts upstream from this area. To get there, take the JR train on the Sanin Main Line to the other side of the gorge to Kameoka Station. From Kameoka, it’s a short walk to the Hozugawa River Boat Ride (Hozugawa Kudari on Google Maps).

This was a really fun experience — you’re in these long wooden boats seating about 20–30 people sitting in rows 4 across. There are three crew members — one person at the front with a long pole to push off rocks, one person sitting at the front pulling a big oar, and one at the back steering with a rudder.

I’ve done some whitewater in the USA in a standard rubber raft, and this was about class 2½. It’s a little exciting, you might get a little wet. We did it in normal street clothes and mostly stayed dry.

As all good rafting guides do, they entertain you with a mix of jokes, history, and facts about the area you are traveling through. The gorge is beautiful. Wear a hat — it can get hot and sunny. It’s about a 90-minute ride and finishes where the other boat tour starts. There’s also a snack boat that pulls alongside before you finish where you can buy cold drinks and snacks.

Sagano Romantic Train

Once we got through the gorge by boat, we went back to the train station to take the Sagano River Train. We booked this pretty far in advance to get a seat on the open “romantic” train car. It’s a cool retro train that takes a more winding route through the Katsura river gorge than the fast JR train does.

Maybe three times through the gorge we weren’t quite as excited for the novelty, but this was a very nice and scenic ride. From here, we took the JR train back to Kyoto proper. (Fourth time through the gorge today!)

Other Temples / Shrines

There’s a lot of other Temples and Shrines we went to in Kyoto, and we don’t want to rank them, as they were all a bit different and we were happy to see all of them. Mostly including some pictures so you can prioritize what interests you:

Yasaka Shrine & Yasaka Pagoda

Hard not to see both if you spend any time in the Gion / Temple area. Yasaka Shrine is at the end of a main thoroughfare and close to a metro station (Gion-Shijo).

The nearby Yasaka Pagoda (Hokan-ji) is one of the most iconic images of Kyoto. This area gets very crowded of people getting tha perfect shot for instagram -

Our tip - take the time to walk around the area a bit - there’s also great and less crowded and equally spectacular views from both downhill -
As well as from the other direction - (Walk uphill towards the Ryozen Museum and you’ll get this perspective with no-one in it and the city in the background)

Nazen-ji Temple

A few unique features here:

• A large brick Aqueduct built in the Meiji period
• A climbable Pagoda where you can walk around the balcony

Kiyomizu-dera

Beautiful temple complex with city views from the hillside.

Ryozn Kannon Temple

Very near Yasaka Shrine and Pagoda but surprisingly quiet — features a large concrete Buddha statue. You pay a small fee and receive incense to make an offering.

Nishi Hongan-ji Temple

Close to Kyoto Station. Worth visiting if you’re nearby.

Higashiyama Jisho-ji

Pretty temple with a small pond and a large Zen rock garden (didn’t get a picture of that).

Kyoto Food Scene

The food scene in Kyoto is very nice — loads of small storefronts, street food, and a wide variety of cuisine.

Teramachi — Food / Shopping

This should be on your list! We went several times. Teramachi is west of the river near Kyoto-Kawaramachi Station. Great spot for snacks or escaping the rain/sun.

Other Food Recommendations

We aren’t experts, but here are some favorites:

Obenkei — Sushi

Sushi - Probably our favorite sushi in all of Japan - this was Obenkei (located in Gion area) - we didn’t do any very fancy omakase style sushi as there are some pieces that I avoid like Umi. This was ala-carte sushi but everything was very very fresh. Probably our favorite sushi in Japan — fresh and à la carte. Google Maps Link - located in Gion District

Matsuanga Wagyu Yakiniku

Grill-your-own wagyu beef or shabu-shabu. This was on the same street as Obenkei - we walked by there and gave it a try. You get a sort of private room where you can do both wagyu beef over a little grill as well more fondue style in oil.

Gyukatsu Kyoto Katsugyu — Wagyu

Fried wagyu beef. Ponto-cho Main Shop - Wagyu - this featured fried Wagyu Beef - was very nice and tender. It felt a little touristy, but the food was really nice. Even if you don’t eat here, definately walk the street around Ponto-Cho park - it’s very quaint and has many other restaurants. Google Maps Link

Yasubee — Okonomiyaki

Yasubee - Okonomiyaki - Unfortunately didn’t take pictures here, as it’s a very small place inside. Here you can try three different style of Okonomiyaki (sort of like a japanese frittata) - We thought the traditional okonomiyaki with scallop was really good. No reservations, the line can be a bit long. Yasubee is also in the Ponto-Cho area by the river. Google Maps Link

Mughal — Indian Food

Delicious. We just had lunch here but might have gone back again for dinner if we had more time, it was that good! Great change of pace from Japanese!

Stars ’n Cacio — Upscale Italian

Nice patio, great drinks, very pretty. This is closer to the Teramachi area.

Lodging

We stayed in the Gion district — splurged on a traditional Japanese house via Machiya Residence Inn. We booked via AirBNB but might have been able to book direct with Machiya - one of the nice things about these guys is they had a storefront checkin location near the train station, and they will store luggage and deliver to your accomodation for a small fee. The location was great - it was awesome to be able to be walking distance to Yasaka Shrine and able to see some of Gion while walking around at night

Kitchen and Dining Area Living room and japanese garden

There’s loads to do in Kyoto, 6 days and we felt like there was much more to see and do!