We may end up having another half day, but as our plans sit now we only have 1 day in Kyoto on our Honeymoon in late September. Let me know what you think and if I am missing something I can’t live without. I have heard that transport takes longer than you think and to consider cabs also.
Take earliest train from Osaka to Kyoto Station. We want to find a ryokan very close to the station so we can drop our packs and get started. I saw good reviews for Ryokan Shimizu- anyone heard of it?
Start Philosophers path at the North end, and work our way down (is this path worth it in non Cherry blossom season? too touristy?) Along the Path see… Higashiyama Jisho-ji, Honen-in,
Then off to Nanzen-ji, Shoren-in, Chion-in, Kōdai-ji, Kōdai-ji –> these all seem like they are walking distance from each other. Is that real?
Somewhere along this time we’ll grab lunch. I was planning on taking the train to Nishiki Market but then I read on here a lot of people saying it was not good at all. I thought it would be a good place to try small bites of a lot of different things but it seems like its bad quality and a tourist trap like Pikes Market in Seattle or something. Any thoughts?
Then after lunch we are going to tōfuku-ji and then to Fushimi Inari-Taisha. Hoping to catch Inari with the sun going in and maybe a little dark coming out since that seems to be a fun experience.
Then the train to Gion for dinner, hopefully Kaiseki, and late night fun.
I was hoping to fit in an onsen trip in here but as I am writing this, I feel like it’s not possible. We have one day of our honeymoon unplanned after the Suzuka race so we can take the train back to Osaka (we have 1.5 days here), Kyoto or someplace near there so maybe we can use that as an onsen day.
I also recognize we aren’t seeing any of Arishiyama or Northwest Kyoto but I just don’t know how we’d do it all. Should I cut out something and sub it for one of those instead?
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6 comments
Hello, I’m Japanese.
Your itinerary doesn’t look doable to me. It looks like you are attempting how many places you could arrive at, not even “visiting” each place. In addition, most temples/shrines open at 8-9am. If you take the earliest train to Kyoto, which leaving Osaka at 5am, you will be there before 6am. What will you be doing while all the businesses are closed?
You can definitely try. I won’t stop you. But after visiting a few places, you will soon realize how unrealistic your plans are.
That’s a pretty jam packed schedule, my planning style is similar I like to pack in as many sights as possible lol. I would just make sure you route the most efficient route to walk, most shrines are beautiful and nice to stay and soak it up a bit, but if you are looking to just check off the list and get a picture you can definitely hit all the spots….I will say that fushimi inari and kiyomizu are the most time consuming to get to and enjoy but are well worth it, so plan ahead for those taking the most time out of your day. Also idk where you read that about nishiki market, it’s awesome! Literally hundreds of stores and local snacks to try, I’ve also been to pikes and I would say the only thing comparable are the crowds lol, food is much better and so is variety and price at nishiki! Id definitely not miss it on a day trip to Kyoto.
Edit: forgot to address your question about arashiyama, it is a must visit and very beautiful place, however I don’t think you can make it here unless you cut half the things on your list to fit this in, it’s out of the way from everything and a trek up the mountain once you get there. Id save it for another trip.
The earliest train from Osaka is at like 5am, so you can’t start with Jishoji which opens at 9am for example. You could aim to be at Kiyomizudera right at opening (which is 6:30am) having walked up Sannenzaka/Ninenzaka or start at Fushimi Inari (which is obviously 24/7).
Nishiki Market basically exists to serve tourists these days so in this sense it is like Pike Place Market, Chelsea Market, Fanueil Hall etc. If you are also going to Kuromon Market or eating in Dotonbori or the streets outside Sensoji for example it’s entirely skippable.
Philosophers Path is not worth a detour outside cherry blossom season, it’s just a niceish part with green trees.
Finally I don’t understand why you would book a ryokan for a one night stay on an intense itinerary like this. Half the point of a ryokan is the customer service (/dinner/breakfast) whereas I would have thought that you’d want to be in and out as quickly as possible – so there is no time to “waste” on receiving the human touch from your place of lodging. So why not choose a regular hotel with a 24/7 front desk where you can show up guilt-free at 5:45am to drop off your bags and return for check-in at 11:30pm also guilt free.
I liked Nishiki market. Spend more time enjoying your Ryokan, that’s the whole point of a Ryokan. Also.. it’s hotter than you can even imagine there. FYI.
Not too relevant to this subreddit as I’ve never been to Nishiki but as someone who lives in Seattle, I really love going to Pike Place Market :’) so if you ever visit Seattle, I’d strongly recommend going. I disagree with it being a tourist trap as it’s legitimately fun and has lots of delicious food.
replying a little late and I have yet to read other comments, but here goes…
first, I am seeing “1 day in kyoto” – and honeymoon. I assume you will be longer in japan, and you will be spending time in tokyo.
so here is the first advice. if you only have one day to spend in kyoto and you would travel from tokyo, dont. usually the reason is, you have barely enough time to spend in tokyo / hakone / what haveya and are desperately trying to fit 3 weeks of japan into 5 days. if that is indeed the case and you have like a week in japan and you spend that time in tokyo, for one day I would not recommend you drive to kansai and back.
now I see you are in Osaka. So does that mean you are in Osaka, not Tokyo? If you spend like a week in Osaka, maybe there is room for more time in Kyoto yet…
anyway. to the meat of the post.
take earliest train –> you are not in kyoto and need to travel there. also, you will start your kyoto day at the train station. –> early is already not really early
philosophers path at the nord end = almost north east of kyoto (at ginkakuji)
you plan on seeing the philosophers path including some temples on your way down.
you then want to see nanzen-ji with its subtemples, then kodaiji. I am wondering why you are omitting kiyomizudera when you are there already, but… well, its okay. we come back to that later…
oh and yes, this is all walkable. you kinda sorta would have to walk this if you do it like you imagine.
okay, so you want to grab lunch along there. which means you estimate its past noon when you are done with kodaiji. a.. fair assessment.
but you contemplate getting to nishiki. well, indeed, the last few weeks, it has been brought up a few times how nishiki isnt 3 star gourmet food for free. On these occasions I have said much about nishiki, but for the sake of brevity, my summary is: yes, its a bit touristy and on average a bit more expensive and average quality, but it also is a lot in one spot. Its also not quick. but thats not your problem now…
getting there and back, as well as eating there, thats not a 15minute plan. I dont think it can be done in under an hour.
after lunch tofukiji and fushimi inari. okay. in the evening gion. you also mention an onsen, arashiyama and northwest (which is arashiyama)
you did not mention central north (nijojo, imperial castle, kinkakuji, ryoanji) – But actually, I think you meant, at least part of it, as “northwest”
so…
north higashiyama: 1/2 day, 1 full day with exploring
south higashiyama: 1/2 day if you skip and rush, normally 1 full day
nishiki, easily 2 hours if you hurry, can be half a day with browsing and exploring.
tofukuji, fushimi inari: half a day.
arashiyama: if you rush, half a day. with north kyoto can become a full day. can easily spend more than one day there
not mentioned rest, another full day
so. you get a feel now how overfull your current idea of what you will achieve is. it would not be possible if you could beam yourself. with travel time between each location, and plans not always working the way you imagine, thats half a week worth of kyoto you wanna do. granted, you did slim it down and we might have a discussion now if you for example not going into kiyomizudera, when you are literally walking by, is smart time management, or if my thinking, of course you should go in there and estimating higashiyama taking a day and not 2 hours is correct time management.
the truth may lie in the middle.
still. your plan. not possible.
so you are set to see kyoto. great
head to higashiyama. start with kiyomizudera, ninenzaka/sannenzaka/hokanji, head north (kodaiji, nanzenji, eikando) if you start REAL early (which is probably not doable when traveling from osaka) and you have a bike or taxi, you can travel along the philosophers path and manage ginkakuji as well.
further, you can enjoy gion, yasaka after 5,6pm
oh and onsens/sento in kyoto usually open at that time for the night, so you could, explore the whole day, sit in an onsen, then explore gion and yasaka and then head back to the hotel. just make sure to make it back in time, the trains and busses dont run all night.
of course you can also visit an onsen in osaka before or after kyoto.
good luck