「そうだ京都、行こう。」Souda Kyoto, ikou – Let’s go to Kyoto is a campaign started by Japan Railways in 1993, celebrating 25 years old this year, having the main purpose of promoting tourism in Kyoto. I love Kyoto and although living in Tokyo is great, Kyoto will always have a special place in my heart. It was the first place where I attempted solo traveling three years ago and this year I decided to come back during my favorite season, autumn. Check the places I’ve seen three years ago in Kyoto during autumn here, here & here. This trip was again scheduled as a solo trip, but in the end, I had friends coming along, which made the experience even better because we could share the beauty of Kyoto.

I went back to some of my favorite places but also visited some new ones. I will share my 4-day itinerary with you below 🙂

How to get there?

This time I went to Kyoto from Tokyo by Shinkansen for the first time. I discovered I can get a student discount for the tickets so I decided to use it and it was a bit cheaper than usual. And it was super fast and comfortable (compared to night bus),  I took the Nozomi train (the fastest Shinkansen) and reached Kyoto in 2 hours and 20 minutes. If you are traveling around Japan, you can get the Japan Rail Pass and travel around for a good price rather than buying separate train tickets for every trip. If you are on a budget, I recommend taking the night bus, companies like Willer Express have very good conditions and an easy-to-understand website and reservations system. However, I warn you it can be quite exhausting.

 

Accommodation

Accommodation in Kyoto can be quite expensive and hard to find during peak seasons (autumn and spring). I recommend reserving a place to stay at least one month in advance. I like to stay around Gion/Higashiyama area because it is easy to access the main points and I can stalk geishas at night haha. This time I stayed at a ryokan in Kyoto for the first time, it was a budget ryokan (because I already spent so much on Shinkansen tickets, had to spend less for accommodation and also I don’t usually spend too much time in the room). It is called Gion Ryokan Q-beh and besides the excellent location in, well, Gion (hence the name), the staff was super friendly, everything was nice and clean and I loved their bath!  It was great to relax there after a tiring day.

Day 1

Kyoto Station – Shoren-in Temple – Kyo-Hayashiya – Pontocho – L’EscaMoteur – Gion

Left Tokyo quite late, at around 1 PM and arrived in Kyoto at 3 PM. Met with one of my good friends from Kyoto and had a late lunch at Kyoto Station. As it already got dark outside, we headed to one of the temples with a special light-up schedule, Shoren-in. The entrance fee for this temple was a bit on the expensive side, 800 yen, however, it was worth it as there were many things to see. The light-up was not spectacular but it was nice. I especially liked the light-up of the small bamboo forest there.

After visiting the temple, we went for a sweet break to Kyo-Hayashiya, cafe famous for matcha green tea and the birthplace of the famous matcha parfait. Kyoto is a sweet tooth’s and matcha lover’s paradise, so many nice cafes to try! But this one is one of the most important ones so make sure to pay a visit if you visit Kyoto and love sweets and matcha and matcha sweets haha. I tried their famous parfait before so this time I went for warabi mochi and oshiruko. All very good choices!

After satisfying our sweet cravings, we went for a walk around Pontocho and also found a famous bar that my friend wanted to visit: L’EscaMoteur. It was the first time for me to experience the nightlife of Kyoto, otherwise known as a quiet city, I wasn’t expecting it to be so fun at night!

And the day ended with a walk around Gion, the place famous for geishas and maikos! And I was so lucky to see very many on that night.

Day 2

Fushimi Inari-Taisha – Daigo-ji

Woke up really early in order to go to Fushimi Inari-Taisha before the crowds. It is one of the main tourist attractions of Kyoto so it can get super crowded. We arrived there at around 7 AM and there were already some people, some coming for photos, some for their morning jogging routine and so on. However, it was definitely better compared to 10 AM when you could barely walk around. Considering the way too many photo stops I had (oops haha) it took us around 3 hours to complete the whole trail around Fushimi mountain (233 meters).

After lunch, we headed to Daigo-ji temple which is quite far from the main touristic area and we had quite some trouble getting there because we couldn’t find the bus stop for a bus who went there. We eventually got there by train. The complex is huge and included three main places, two temples and one museum and the entrance fee was quite pricey as well, 1, 500 yen. However, it was my dream to see Daigo-ji in autumn, it was so beautiful! And since not many people go so far for it, it can be enjoyed without the crowds, even on a weekend. I definitely recommend it, either in autumn or in winter if you are lucky to go there when it snows.

Day 3

Higashiyama – Eikando Temple

Started this day at the famous Arabica Kyoto in Higashiyama. It was one of the best coffees I had in a while! After that, I found a cheap kimono rental place so decided to do again the most touristy thing one can do when in Kyoto: wear a kimono! Okay, it is touristy, but kimonos are so pretty and colorful and it will surely be a nice experience wearing it. There were not many other non-Asian foreigners wearing a kimono around so I got many many compliments and requests to take photos together. All of this was part of the great kimono experience 🙂

I walked around Higashiyama area in Kimono, had the best matcha tiramisu at Maccha House and after that, went to visit another temple that was on my list for autumn temples to visit in Kyoto: Eikando! It was a bit far and hard to get there in a kimono but it was totally worth it, very beautiful autumn foliage could be admired there. And I ended my kimono day with a walk in beautiful Gion.

 

Day 4

Higashiyama – Gion – Arashiyama

I went back to Higashiyama as it was close to the ryokan where I stayed and I found a yummy dessert from Rocca and Friends Truck. Then I continued my walk in Gion, chasing maikos again, and although it was around afternoon time I was to see a few. And finally, my last stop for this trip was Arashiyama and the autumn colors there were at their peak, the landscape was simply gorgeous. I will let the photos below speak for themselves.

This is it, my 4-day itinerary for Kyoto in autumn. After visiting Kyoto in both autumn and spring, I decided that autumn is my favorite (maybe because autumn is my favorite in general but nevermind). I really recommend visiting Kyoto in autumn! Happy traveling everyone 🙂