Trip Plan
2025年11月29日, 日本 ⋅ 🌙 54 °F
Trip plan for hiking the Kyoto Trail and sightseeing Kyoto as well as Nara, Hikone and Uji
To-ji Temple
2025年11月30日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 59 °F
When I arrived at Kyoto Station via Airport Bus, it was too early to check into my hotel, so I took a short walk south to visit To-ji Temple.
Kitano Tenmangu Shrine
2025年11月30日, 日本 ⋅ 🌙 54 °F
Took a bus to this shrine. Illumination was lively and well attended with some striking foliage.
Hotel Hokke Club Kyoto
2025年11月30日, 日本 ⋅ 🌙 52 °F
Located next to Kyoto Tower, this hotel proved to be a great location. The room was tiny and had no view window, but...
It was located across the street from the bus and train station.
Had an izakaya,もっと詳しく
Fushimi Inari Shrine
2025年12月1日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 48 °F
Kyoto Trail Higashiyama Route 1 starts at Fushimi Inari Shrine and ends at Keage Station, going through residential areas and a few mountain trails.
It was early enough so the shrine wasn't tooもっと詳しく
Kiyomizu-dera Temple
2025年12月1日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 55 °F
The Kyoto Trail passed by Kiyomizu-dera and a back entrance allowed easy entry. As usual, the temple was crazy busy so I stayed away from the balcony but the momiji below the balcony was stunning.
Nijo-jo Castle
2025年12月1日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F
After finishing up the hike at Keage Subway Station, it was a quick subway trip to Nijo-jo. The beautiful Karamon Gate, singing nightingale floors of the Ninomaru Palace, and the Ninomaru Garden wereもっと詳しく
Nanzen-ji Temple / Aqueduct
2025年12月2日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 50 °F
The second day of the Kyoto Trail Higashiyama Route is a climb from Nanzen-ji Temple to the peak of Daimonjiyama, then a descent to the "大" bonfire pit, then to Ginkaku-ju Temple.
From Keage Subwayもっと詳しく
Daimonjiyama
2025年12月2日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 57 °F
The view from Daimonjiyama should have been spectacular but Kyoto smog obscured it, but the hike down to the bonfire site had the best view.
Ginkaku-ji Temple
2025年12月2日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 61 °F
Today's hike finished at Ginkaku-ji which (behind only Kiyomizu-dera) is my second favorite Kyoto location. And in autumn it was even more beautiful.
Umekoji Park / Suzaku Garden
2025年12月2日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F
It was difficult finding Suzaku Garden, a small area of the large public Umekoji Park. There were no lights or banners or music to mark it. And it was sparsely attended and very mellow. But it didもっと詳しく
Cable car ride to Hieizan
2025年12月3日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 48 °F
The previous days of hiking left me sore and tired. The third day of the Higashiyama Route was the hardest with a long, totally uphill climb to the top of Hieizan. So I decided to skip the hike and doもっと詳しく
TeamLab Biovortex
2025年12月3日, 日本 ⋅ 🌙 43 °F
A short walk east from my hotel was the warehouse of the newest TeamLab installation, Biovortex. It was in a residential area and unmarked by any lights or signs so I had to walk around the hugeもっと詳しく
Winter hike
2025年12月4日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 36 °F
Recovered after a rest day, I committed to hiking Kitayama East Route 1 even though weather reports indicated snow in the morning.
Since the trail followed the mountain ridge and I would be taking theもっと詳しく
Nijo-jo Castle Moon Viewing
2025年12月4日, 日本 ⋅ 🌙 45 °F
Back to Nijo-jo for a lighting and special effects event, but my expectations exceeded what was actually presented. It was a lot of walking around the grounds with very little special effects.
Kurama-dera Temple
2025年12月5日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 41 °F
I decided to skip the first part of the Kitayama East Route 2 as it followed a road and adjacent towns and just went directly to the end with the Kurama-dera and Kifune Shrine.
With clear skies,もっと詳しく
Kifune Shrine
2025年12月5日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 41 °F
Kifune Shrine was very crowded due to its small size, but still interesting. And the walk down the road to the train station was beautiful, following the river with its many waterfalls.
Kodai-ji Temple
2025年12月5日, 日本 ⋅ 🌙 45 °F
The Kodai-ji illumination event included a special effect on its gate, typically stunning momiji light up with reflecting pond, and a light up of its bamboo forest. All together an amazing event.
Day trip to Nara
2025年12月6日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 37 °F
Got to Nara early, to both avoid the crowds and to catch the morning light on a beautiful day. My primary goal was to visit Kasuga Taisha Shrine, one of my favorite shrines. After this I hiked up theもっと詳しく
Kitayama West / Nishiyama Route
2025年12月7日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 43 °F
Back to hiking the Kyoto Trail. This was a combo of the end of the Kitayama West Route and the Nishiyama Route 1 and followed the Kiyotaki River. It was the most scenic part of the trail with crystalもっと詳しく
Temple Crawl
2025年12月7日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 52 °F
At the end of the Nishiyama Route 1 was Saga Arashiyama and a series of smaller temples to visit. I decided to visit Otagi Nenbutsu-ji, Gio-ji, and Jojakko-ji as I walked towards the train station.
Nishiyama Route 2
2025年12月8日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 45 °F
The final section of the Kyoto Trail. This was a strange hike as it started in the most touristy part of Arashiyama, then took an abrupt turn up the mountain where no one was. The trail wasもっと詳しく
Saiho-ji (Kokedera) Temple
2025年12月8日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 54 °F
Several interesting practices for this temple. To protect its garden, it requires reservations to control the number of visitors. To make you appreciate its garden, it requires you to copy sutras, toもっと詳しく
Kyoto Station at night
2025年12月8日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F
Very modern and vibrant train station. I spent most of my time ground level or lower (Porta shopping, subway and train access) but for dinner I ventured to the heights of Kyoto Station.
Day trip to Hikone Castle
2025年12月9日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 50 °F
I have a stamp rally book of the 24 best Japanese Castles. I find these castles, especially the original structures, fascinating. It's also a prompt to visit more regions of Japan.
Hikone Castle wasもっと詳しく