Hi y’all, I have one day in my Kyoto Itinerary that I’m torn over. The 2 things we want to do on this day is our Arashiyama activities and Kinkaku-ji.
However, I forgot the boat ride we want to do in Arashiyama adds 2 hours to our morning… after adjusting the times we won’t make it to Kinkaku-ji by close at 4pm. There is no room for either of these things on our other Kyoto days, so we need to choose between the two.
We are not seeing many temples or UNESCO heritage sites because I get a bit bored, but this one particularly interests me. On the other hand, I am much more of an “adventure” traveler than an “observe” type, so the boat/carriage/train ride would be more fun for me.
We will see the Arashiyama monkey park and bamboo forest no matter what. But what would your advice be on whether to choose the boat/carriage/train ride in Arashiyama before the bamboo forest or see Kinkaku-ji after the bamboo forest?
Also, if we do Kinkaku-ji first in the morning, is the monkey park and bamboo forest still good when it’s more crowded in the afternoon/evening? Or should we make it a point to go early?
Here is the layout of our day. The earliest train and boat ride is what I have. My whole day is unfortunately pushed back 2 hours
– 630am: Breakfast at hotel
– 7:30am: Bus to Arashiyama
– 9:00am: Sagano Scenic Train (see transportation notes)
– 9:35am: Horse drawn carriage (see notes)
– 10am: River cruise (see notes)
– 12:15pm: Begin bamboo forest hike (1.7 mile loop trail, 1 hour, free)
– 1:15pm: Tenryu-ji temple (10 min walk, 500-800¥)
– 2pm: Arashiyama Monkey Park. Snacks on Food Street, crossing of Togetsukyo bridge, and Ichitanimunakata shrine along the way (walk 18 mins, 550¥)
– 2:30pm: Arrive at park and hike. View of Kyoto, Arashiyama, Hozu River and Kyoto mountains. Get refreshments and feed the monkeys. (30 mins to 1 hour hike each way)
– 4:30pm: Head to Kinkaku-ji (UNESCO, 400¥) (Walk to Saga Arashiyama Line. Board JR Sagano Line train, exit at Emmachi. Walk to bus stop and board Kyoto City bus 205, exit and walk to temple. 1hr, 420¥.)
– 5:30pm: Arrive at Kinkaku-ji
NOTE: If we skip the scenic railway/boat/carriage we can see Ryoanji temple and various UNESCO sites near Kinkaku-ji.
13 comments
Is Kinkaku ji a must? Tbh I find it to be the most underwhelming temple to visit in Kyoto. You’re better off going to Tenryuji or something nearby and not having to rush. Just spend a bit more time locally and soak it in. I think your schedule assumes everything going exactly to plan and there’s no room at all for any kind of flex
Also, seems like Kinkakuji closes at 5pm
Hi OP, I’m on a holiday in Kyoto with my wife right now and the least impressive so far was kinkaku-ji. Definitely could have done without it, I would opt for the boat ride for sure
I took an Uber from my hotel which was right beside Kyoto station to Arashiyama when we went because we accidentally woke up late, it wasn’t that expensive. Could that be an option for you? It would cut out a lot of travel time to Arashiyama.
you are not doing Kiyomizu temple?!
We did Arashiyama area (bamboo grove, Tenryuji, Sagano train, the bridge, sit-down udon lunch) in the morning/early afternoon and made it to Kinkakuji for around 3:30-5. My husband didn’t care about the monkeys and the boat rides that day were cancelled because of bad weather, so the decision was made for us to do a round-trip train ride. 🙃
Kinkakuji looks pretty in pictures, but you can’t go in or up close so it doesn’t take very long to see. By contrast, we really enjoyed Tenryu-ji, especially the view of the mountain from the garden.
What month are you going?
I’m planning a Kyoto itinerary at the moment and we didn’t do the boat because I was keen to see the zen rock garden at Ryoan-Ji (it’s a 20 minute walk from Kinkagu-Ji).
This zen rock garden is one of my few clear memories from visiting Japan as a child and seeing as how I’m taking my family it’s a must see (at least for me).
RyoanJi garden opens at 8am most days (or 8:30am in Dec).
The bamboo forest isn’t really a hike, more like a stroll crowded with tons of other people. I’d skip the monkey park, it gets old fast. Also, I’m not sure about the timing on your itinerary but the monkey park is about a 15 min walk up a steep hill. If you go to Kinkakuji, Ryoanji is one of my favorite places in Kyoto.
I’d tend towards not skipping Kinkakuji. Kinkakuji is only in Kyoto. The boat ride is fun, but you can do other boat rides through other gorges at some point – not the same experience, but a similar experience at least.
That said I think the monkey park and bamboo forest are still perfectly fun even in the afternoon. The monkey park really is a very big, spacious place. It’s not gonna get packed full of people, even at the busiest time. The bamboo forest will be a bit more crowded in the afternoon, but I don’t think that’ll really lessen the experience all that much. So maybe you can do Kinkakuji in the morning, skip Ryoanji (you said you didn’t want to do *too* many temples in quick succession – Kinkakuji is the more important of the two), and then still do monkey park + bamboo forest + river cruise?
Why don’t people like going to Sanjusangendo? (I am just curious) coz it is one of my most favourite places to go here in Kyoto coz I get to learn stuff… am I weird? I honestly never see people suggesting or saying they are going there.
I could skip every temple and shrine in Kyoto. Seen one, seen them all.
Just left Kyoto a couple of days ago and your itinerary is not taking into account the crowds. During the day Arashiyama is packed. In certain areas it was even hard to walk. There’s almost no chance you will be able to keep that schedule.
We spent a good chunk of the day in Arashiyama – it was beautiful!
There are so many beautiful gardens, the shrines, streets to stroll… even the long and winding tram ride there was so beautiful!
I’d skip the boat ride, as you can get the same beautiful view just by strolling along the water.
We didn’t do the monkey park but there was still so much beauty to see around this area. There are even areas to walk through bamboo that aren’t nearly as crowded as the grove.
Also, we took a leisurely trip there, didn’t rush to get up early and it was still a great time and we didn’t feel rushed. Check out the Tenru-ji temple instead.
Just take a cab instead of your one hour complicated exploration of kyoto public transportation.