Visa just approved and headed to Kumamoto Japan to visit family. Will be traveling through Kyoto from Tokyo on our way south. Most of the trip is planned but having a difficult time planning Kyoto with limited time before I leave and would appreciate any help
Have 4 days for Kyoto; one for Nara. And would like to go to Osaka/Dotombori one evening. I could really use some help figuring out how to group the sights I want to see into 4 days. Here’s a very rough plan of what I want to see there, though they can be done in any order.
8/9 Taking early am train from Tokyo – Staying near Yasaka Shrine so maybe day one see Gion, Nishiki Market, Pontocho; Walk around, eat, shop, take pictures.
8/10 Arashiyama bamboo forest and monkey park; Togetsukyo Bridge, adagio nenbutsuji temple, kimono forest
8/11 Nara – stay for evening lantern festival
8/12 Ginkakuji, Philopsher’s path, Nanzenji, Osaka evening
8/13 Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizudera Temple; ?? open
Any tips appreciated. Hopefully I picked the top sights, I don’t want to plan too much; want to chill and visit, take pictures and have time for things we stumble upon. I realize there are many beautiful temples in Kyoto, but I’ve been warned not to get ‘templed out’; I have 5 weeks total in Japan and will be seeing many with less crowds throughout rural Japan ; if there’s one or two more you would recommend that are very close to my stops please let me know. I am a novice photographer so anything really unique for pictures would be great. Also, some good food stops along the way \~ thanks for your help! 🙂
11 comments
You have most of the main sights covered. The only one missing is Kinkaku-ji but it’s not close to your other plans. Depending on how early you arrive you could fit in Kiyomizudera on 8/9 and then go to Kinkaku-ji after Fushimi Inari in 8/13,
Also it’s good to go to Fushimi as early as you can. So if you are planning a late night in Osaka you might want to change your days around.
If you get to Kyoto relatively early, you could get lunch around Nishiki market, then you can save Gion and Pontocho for the end of about any day.
If you want to stay in the area of Yasaka-jinja for that day, then stay around Higashiyama on that day, so things like Kiyomizu-dera, Kodai-ji, ninenzaka, Yasaka pagoda, Yasaka shrine.
But you can also decide to continue a bit west of Nishiki market and check Nijo castle.
At first I was not too sure about Osaka after Philosopher’s path, but after Nanzen-ji, you can either take the subway at Keage station or just walk to Sanjo station and take the Keihan line to Osaka, so you would be there in less than 1h30.
The other option I would see is do Philosopher’s path and Higashiyama on the same day and do Fushimi Inari-Taisha and Osaka on the same day, in this case you are closer to a 1h train ride to Namba station.
Otherwise, you already grouped things by how they are close to each other.
If you can swing it, I would highly suggest visiting Uji
Are we talking this year?
8/9: You could conceivably fit Nishiki Market, Nijo-jo and Kiyomizu-dera, if you get to Tokyo before 11am.
8/11: If you stay in Nara for the evening, it might be a good idea to start early in the morning with Fushimi Inari and perhaps Byodo-in in Uji on your way to Nara
8/13: Kiyomizu-dera and Southern Higashiyama would make a sense with the plan
As far as plans in Kansai go: you could also conceivably stop in Himeji (castle, Koko-en) on the day you are going to Kumamoto and still end up reasonably early there.
When you applied for the family visa, did you have to send your actual passport in?
Here are some events in Kyoto during that time (just FYI, I am not sure if it’s interesting or not):
* wind chime festival at Heian Jingu shrine:
[http://www.heianjingu.or.jp/shrine/jingu_event.html#fu-lin](http://www.heianjingu.or.jp/shrine/jingu_event.html#fu-lin)
* Syoro Kuyou ceremony at Daigo-ji:
[https://www.daigoji.or.jp/event/detail4.html](https://www.daigoji.or.jp/event/detail4.html)
[https://www.daigoji.or.jp/events/events_detail4_e.html](https://www.daigoji.or.jp/events/events_detail4_e.html)
* Special night Illumination at Kodai-ji Zen Temple
[https://www.kodaiji.com/e_illumi.html](https://www.kodaiji.com/e_illumi.html)
[https://www.kodaiji.com/topic/207.html](https://www.kodaiji.com/topic/207.html)
We did fushimi Inari in the evening and it was splendid. Almost no one up there.
Beware of animals at night.
My biggest suggestion is skip the monkey park and combine Osaka and Nara into the same day. Will save you a day elsewhere.
What are people’s thoughts about the [Kyoto Handicraft Center](https://www.kyotohandicraftcenter.com)? I like them for buying souvenirs and gifts and recommend them to friends visiting Kyoto.
If you like gin, check out nokishita711, it’s super cool and unique.
If you’re going to Yasaka Shrine you should wander up to Higashi Otani Cemetery as well. It’s really cool.