[Trip Report] – 15 full days Kyoto-Tottori-Tokyo

**Who:** two adult females mid-30s

**When:** 2-18.10.2023

**General plan:** we mostly slept in Kyoto, doing day trips to places around, with one night trip to Tottori in the middle and one night in Tokyo before our flight home. We walked a lot, doing idle sightseeing instead of rushing from place to place to squeeze as much as possible in a short time. We usually spent 3-4h at one place.

**Money:** we went fully cash taking advantage of the good exchange rate few weeks before our trip. Each of us took 100k yens + souvenir budget (we wanted to buy specific things so we did some research). In most touristy places it is possible to pay by card, but when we strayed a little we were often met with “cash only” signs. Having it with us allowed us to buy some awesome souvenirs and food in strange places.

**Food:** we both aren’t fans of Japanese cuisine (yes, shocker), so we mostly ate ready meals and salads from combinis, cafes and random westernised bistros. Our room in Kyoto came with breakfast in Doutor Coffee, which was a life saver on many occasions. I truly recommend this chain. On the other hand, we fell in love with sweets and no sweets stand was left unvisited.

**Transportation:** we bought JRPass via a travel agency prior price increase. We planned a lot of trips that in the end didn’t happen, but we still don’t regret it – it gave us a freedom to move around and we could change plans in the middle of transit and hop in and out of trains. We planned to stay 14 days as it is the duration of the JRP, but our flight got changed so we travelled to Tokyo on it’s last day. For local transportation, we went with Welcome Suica cards. We loaded 3k at the beginning and it lasted us nearly till the very end of our stay in Kyoto. We added another 2k in Tokyo as it is so much bigger and our time there was short. Again, Suica worked great in big cities, but it was a useless in Tottori.

**Navigation: f**or public transportation we used combination of Google Maps and Japan Travel by Navitime. Google Maps had a tendency to not show some connections or wanted us to take some strange routes, while JTN doesn’t see all the stations (eg. no station in Hokuei). So sometimes I had to check both or simply use normal map. For walking around Google Maps got us where we needed.

**Visit Japan Web:** we registered the day before. It was very short and easy. We printed our QR codes and saved a copy on smartphones. Thanks to that customs and immigration were a breeze.

**Language:** I know some Japanese, since I took classes a few years back and tried to learn more by myself. Not enough to hold a full conversation or read a newspaper but enough for the most basic things. While in the more touristy places you can get by not knowing a word, even my limited knowledge helped A LOT. And it was a very useful in some cases. For writing Google pic translation worked well enough for us.

**Earthquakes:** I installed Yurekuru Call, which gave me a heartattack the first time I got notification, but it ended up being some minor tremble somewhere far away. I tweaked the settings and in the end we went earthquake free.

​

Day-by-day short report:

2-3.10

We travelled with Air France from Warsaw with a stop in Paris, where we changed smaller airplane for a big one. The flight to Haneda was nearly 14h over middle Asia. For most of the flight, it was a daytime, so I could pass the time looking out of the window. We arrived early in the morning, went through customs, immigrations, got our luggagr from the carousel and went to the main hall.

We got our internet SIM card from one of two open dedicated shops without prior order. It was Wi-Ho! Prepaid SIM card with unlimited data valid for 16 days for 7k. The nice ladies at shop changed our cards and helped with settings. The card worked perfectly even during the train ride under mountains.

The machines for Suica cards were close to JR office, and getting them was easy. Exchanging JRPass on the other hand was a pain because the line was nearly 2h of waiting. If you land during crowded times better be prepared for this.

After that we took the monorail route to Tokyo station, got our seat reservations from green ticket machines, bought our 1st ekibens and got on board of Hikari Shinkansen to Kyoto. In Kyoto, we went straight to the hotel to rest a little and refresh and in the evening went for a short walk along the river and to hunt supper, which we found in Lawson. We stayed in Pocket Hotel in Karasuma.

4.10

In the morning, after blessed toast and coffee in Doutor we went back to Pontocho which was completely empty in the morning. Then went for a walk around Gion, visited Yasaka Shrine and the park behind it, took a selfie at the gates of Chion-in Temple (didn’t enter at that time), scouted the nearby kimono secondhand shop, went back to Gion, visited Kennin-ji Temple (where I got my stamp book), Sannenzaka and the pagoda. After that, we went back to the hotel to eat supper and took a walk around Nishiki market and Teramachi street.

5.10

We wanted to start with the Kyoto Museum, but they were changing exhibition that was to open on 7th so we decided to wait (in the end we didn’t visit it at all…). We went to see the main Imperial Palace, making a short stop at Manga Museum to see gift shop but didn’t enter. We also wanted to make a stop at Gallery of Traditional Arts and Crafts, but it was closed due to renovation. We took a walk around the park, visited Katsura no Miya Residence and Imperial Palace. Unfortunately, it was a time my sister felt very badly and we went back to the hotel. In the end she got sick with fever and had to stay in the room for the next two days and I didn’t want to do any sightseeing without her.

6.10

I mostly stayed close to the hotel, going up and down Shijo, Nishiki, Teramachi and Shinkyogoku streets going back every few hours to the hotel to check up on my sister and to bring her food and drink. I used that time to look for a kimono I wanted to buy anyway. I found a perfect one in Ochikochiya shop – I fully recommend it.

7.10

After two days I knew every shop, stand and display around the hotel. In the evening Sis felt good enough, so we went to see Nijio Castle at night and got our dinner at Nishiki street.

8.10

We were back in business – well, mostly, Sis was still not 100%. We took a short walk around some streets in Gion we missed before and visited Chion-in where we stumbled upon a mass which on itself was interesting for us. We had to wait for it to end to look inside the temple, but it was so worth it. We also browsed the gift shop – it amazes me the way religion and commerce work in Japan. After that we went to look for food and shopping spree for souvenirs to bring back home.

9.10

Arashiyama day. We started earlier than usual. It was the 1st day we took a bus which ended up being CROWDED. Arashiyama was packed with people even early in the morning. We visited Tenryu-ji, Nonomiya Shrine, Bamboo Grove, Togetsu-kyo Bridge, walked around along the river, did some small shopping for food (matcha and sakura ice cream are to die for and raindrop cake was an amazing experience) and gifts, walked through kimono forest. Since we already were so far west we visited one of the highlights of the trip – the Golden Pavillon. Shame it was a cloudy day but what are pic enhancement apps for 😛

10.10

Trip to Tottori. We packed food and a change of clothes to backpacks and took Super Hokuto train to Tottori. Most of the ride is covered by JRPass but we had to pay an additional fee between Kamigori and Chizu. Here is also where the flawless custom service failed since nobody was able to explain to us how and when we should pay (and I’m not talking about language barrier) and we were not able to reserve seats in the machine. In the end, we missed two trains before we finally told we have to pay on the train itself to the onboard staff.

The ride itself was amazing, we got to see how the view changes from one coast to another. I also discovered that going full sped into a tunnel under the mountain hurts my ears….

In Tottori we visited Sand Museum and sand dunes. We wanted to stay longer on the beach, but the wind on that day was so strong we evacuated after a little more than an hour. Grabbed some dinner and checked in the hotel.

11.10

Trip to Hokuei. Tottori wasn’t our main destination, just a stop on the way. We checked out of the hotel at the disgusting early hour to grab a train to Hokuei to visit the Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory since we are both big fans. After the shopping spree in the gift shop and lunch in Poirot Cafe, we went on a walk around town – which is not that big to be honest. We got some nashi sweets (OMG you have to try them if you are in the area), we took a local train to Kurayoshi (where we just missed the Twilight Train, shame), and from there another Super Hokuto back to Kyoto.

12.10

First metro ride and a visit to Fushimi Inari Shrine. The crowds at the beginning of torii trail was horrible, but the higher we got the thinner it was and at some point we were able to take few pictures without any people. After SO MANY STAIRS we got to the viewing point to see a nice few of Kyoto. On the way up and down, there are many small shops, but all are cash only, so if you want to buy some drink, food or souvenir, make sure you have some coins or bills with you. This is also where I tried daifuku mochi – I overestimated how much I can eat at once, to Sis great entertaiment….

After that, we visited Tofuku-ji to take a picture of the famous bridge. In the end, the place for the best shoot happened to be outside of the temple and was fully free, but oh well. The last stop that day was Nijio Castle, this time we went inside. On the way home, we walked by Chiso shop to salivate over the absolute amazing kimono on the display worth the equivalent of a small flat in Warsaw.

13.10

Kiyomizu dera day. After getting out of the station, there is no point looking for directions – simply follow the masses of people. Worth every yen paid and every person squeezing next to you for a perfect shoot. After the temple we ended up on Sennenzaka street again, got some souvenirs we saw the 1st time, hopped on a bus and went to see Silver Pavillon. Last stop on that day was the Kyoto Museum of Crafts and Design, where we were able to see some amazing arts and craftsmen at work.

14.10

The day started with Toei Studio Park with whole set-ups for shooting historical movies – they were preparing for a new one, we were able to see half done street. In the afternoon we were able to get on the last group entering the Sento Imperial Palace. The security here was much more strict than the main Palace, they took our names and data from passport. We walked as a group with a guide and security guard, we got equipped with audioguide in English (tho mine died in the middle).

15.10

Castle day. We planned to visit firstly Himeji Castle and then Osaka Castle but missed shinkansen and got on some more local train that was going to take ages to reach Himeji. In the end we started with Osaka. Got out of the station and went on foot to the castle which took ca. 1h. The castle itself was amazing, tho it was a shame the interior was fully modern.

This time we got to the station on time, hopped on the shinkansen without reservation, got to Himeji and walked to the castle – which was easy since it is right in front of the station. The castle was absolutely the highlight of the day and one of the best things during the whole trip.

In the evening we took the shinkansen to Kobe where we visited our consulate to take a part in parliamentary elections that were happening on that day.

16.10

Last shopping trip in the morning before our train to Tokyo. When reserving seats, AGAIN we reserved wrong side of the train so no Fuji pics, damn.

In Tokyo, we checked into the hotel in Ginza, and after some refreshments we walked around Ginza and went on foot from Tokyo station to Shibuya Crossing. Got some obligatory pics on the crossing and from the station above and rode back to the hotel using Yamanote Line.

17.11

We started the day with checkout but left the luggage at the hotel. We tried to get on a tour of the Imperial Palace but got loo late and all the spots were taken. So we decided to skip it altogether and visited Japan Traditional Crafts Center in Aoyama Square, lost some time getting to Edo Museum which ended up being closed, saw sumo ring close by, visited Tokyo National Museum and Science Museum next to it (which was AWSOME).

In the evening we got back to the hotel, took our luggage and reversed monorail route to Haneda Airport to wait for our flight home.