This is part one of my ongoing series on Mr. Physics and my 2-week trip to Japan.

Mr. Physics and I recently returned from a 2-week long trip to Japan. It was an amazing experience and we came back wanting to share what we did in hopes that if you ever go to Japan some of our experiences, thoughts, and advice will be helpful for you. (also because I am crazy about organizing itineraries and did so much research ahead of time it felt silly not to share it!).

Some sites put these temples in the list of northern Kyoto locations, some put them in the west. Therefore I am calling this the Northwest Kyoto Itinerary. This takes up most of a day with time in the evening to explore somewhere else.

3 Temples: Kinkakuji, Ryoanji, and Ninnaji – all World Heritage Sites!
Time we spent total (including travel between temples, not including lunch): 3 hours and 30 minutes
Walking Distance: 2.4 km (1.49 miles) – map here

This was our itinerary for our first day in Kyoto and it was quite pleasant. I was waiting for the jet lag, but it did not come with the crazy vengeance I had been warned about. Maybe it was because we did two things:

1. We arrived in Tokyo on the afternoon and stayed awake until we finished traveling to Kyoto in the evening. We then went to sleep (with the help of melatonin – I always take this the first two nights I am traveling to help get me over the hump) at 21:00;
2. We then got up early the next morning, made sure we had a good breakfast, and immediately got out and about in the sun.

Our original plan was to get to Kinkaku-ji at 9:00. This is when it opens and in my research I found multiple warnings that it got busy and to go early. Now I say original plan because we accidentally got on the wrong bus, realized it at the next stop, got off, then proceeded to be unable to figure out exactly what bus we should be getting on for the next 30 minutes…

Traveling in general was easy in Kyoto. Buses aren’t especially difficult to use, but it was our first day (maybe there was jet lag?) and we made a few mistakes.  I plan to do an informational post which goes over traveling in Kyoto in general and what this incident taught us.

Itinerary In Detail:

Kinkaku (Golden Pavilion)/Rokuon-Ji Temple – 9:00 to 17:00, 400 yen per person

We arrived at Kinkaku-ji around 10:00 for the start of our Kyoto adventure!

This was the top place to visit on Mr. Physics’s Kyoto bucket list, and for good reason. It is a World Cultural Heritage Site and it is beautiful. A must see for sure.

It is also VERY busy. Even at 10:00 it was packed with people. The grounds are laid out nicely though and we managed to get photos of the pavilion and the pond of Kyōko-chi without any other tourists (noticeably) in them (this became my goal and, dare I say, super power, of the trip). In the above picture there are 30 or so other tourists behind and next to me also taking pictures and even more walking behind the pavilion itself, but you can’t tell!

The grounds have a set walking path you follow to see all of the locations in the precinct. This path is packed with visitors so you kind of have to go with the flow but it leads you around to other nice areas to look at including a waterfall, a coin toss at statues for good luck (Mr. Physics got it on his first try of course), the pond of An-min-taku, and Fudo-do (Fudo Hall). There is also a teahouse for visitors on the premises. We did not stop at the teahouse, nor do I think I would recommend that you do. It did not have a great view on the grounds and it was right by where all the tourists passed. It would not have been as relaxing as many other options we saw throughout Kyoto.

The Ryūmon Taki

Heron Hunting at the pond of An-min-taku

As this was our first temple, we arrived late, maybe had jet lag, and it was busy we did not spend as much time exploring the shops and food outside. I think I was a little overwhelmed with the number of people and since we had other temples on our list I wanted to get out of there faster than I maybe should have. Later in the trip I learned to take my time and find my own escape in these places, even with the crowds.

That being said, the Golden Pavilion itself is lovely but I wouldn’t linger too long here. There are many quieter, more expansive temple garden complexes in other locations in Kyoto. This might have been the most single picturesque location but there wasn’t a lot to see outside of the pavilion itself.

Ryoanji – 8:00 to 17:00, 500 yen per person

Take a nice 20-minute (1.4 km) walk to the west from Kinkaku-ji and you arrive at Ryoanji Temple. There isn’t a good bus option between these two locations so if you don’t walk, you will need to take a cab. I highly recommend the walk though.

Ryoanji is another World Heritage Site famous for its rock garden comprised of 15 rocks and white gravel. The walls are made of oiled clay which has led to a pretty cool design. I enjoy rock gardens, and it was nice to sit and look at this one, but be prepared to have lots of other tourists sitting and enjoying with you. Just around the corner of the Hojo from the rock garden is a small moss garden. I almost enjoyed this garden more as it was so cooling and I was one of two people sitting taking it in.

Steps up to the Kuri

Taking in the moss garden by the Hojo

What we really enjoyed about Ryoanji was the fact that the whole area was full of shaded flowing gravel paths (It was hot…and who knew this was the coolest of the days we would be site seeing -_-). There was a suggested route direction, and we stuck to it, but we also veered off to walk down optional paths and see the additional gardens and buildings. In many of these instances we were alone and it was magical.

At this point it was 11:45 and lunch time! There is a vegetarian (tofu) restaurant on the Ryoanji grounds called Seigeiin (some also call it Ryoanji Yudofu but that just means hot tofu in Ryoanji I believe – tripadvisor, tablelog). We had other lunch plans and did not go in but I found a blogger who talked about it here.

We had previously searched out an okonomiyaki and yakisoba place nearby called Okonomiyaki Katsu. (tripadvisor, tablelog) It was a 5-minute walk from the front gate of Ryoanji on a cute little street with flags crossing back and forth. I LOVED walking down the side streets in Kyoto, especially in the slightly less populated in the west of the city. I highly recommend this restaurant and I will have a more detailed write up on it and all the food places we went in the future.

Okonomiyaki Katsu, hard to find but amazing food

Side streets of West Kyoto are beautiful

If you don’t want okonomiyaki or yakisoba there also seemed to be more food options over near the next stop, Ninnaji Temple. There is actually a restaurant inside the Ninnaji Temple grounds itself called BON (tripadvisor).

Ninnaji – 9:00 to 17:00, grounds free (japan-guide says except during cherry blossom season), Goten Palace 500 yen per person

Ninnaji is a nice, straight forward, 12-minute (900 m) walk from Ryoanji. If you don’t want to walk there is the Ryoanjimae Bus Stop right next to Ryonaji. Get off two stops later at the Omuroninnaji Bus Stop. The buses seem to arrive ever 5 to 10 minutes and the ride is only a couple minutes. That being said, given that in Kyoto every bus ride is ¥230 no matter the distance you travel, I would suggest walking especially if you are getting food on the way. I would actually suggest not sticking to Kimikage Road (きぬかけの路) and instead doing a little longer of a walk through the side streets. For instance like this, which only adds 300m and a few minutes to your walk.

When you arrive at Ninnaji you are greeted by a steep set of steps and a huge Nio-mon Gate. Ninnaji is another World Heritage Site with many different gates, halls, shrines, and an amazing five-storied pagoda. Most of these are free to visit. You can walk around the halls, shrines, and pagoda for free. Those were amazing to see but the star of the show was the Goten Palace.

5-Storied Pagoda

Ninnaji Temple

The Goten Palace was the first really quiet place we visited. The inside of the building had many rooms with different paintings on fusuma (sliding doors). The outside was surrounded by many different amazing gardens. We sat outside of the Shinden looking at the Five-Storied Pagoda from the cool shade in the rōka (correct me if I am wrong for the term use here, it is the area “outside” but still covered by the roof) with only a couple other groups around us. It was one of my favorite views of the trip.

Sitting and looking at the gardens of the Goten Palace

Walkways in the Goten Palace

As a side, according to the brochure we received, the Reiho-kan Hall is opened twice a year, from April 1^st and from October 1^st for approximately 50 days. During that time you can view various treasures at the Meiho-ten exhibition. As we went in July, we did not see them.

To head on your way after an amazing temple day, the Omuroninnaji Bus Stop is just to the right when you leave the gate. We grabbed the 26 bus, which ran every 20 minutes, back to where we were staying. Ask Google, your bus app, or consult your bus pdf for the best way to get to where you are going next.

What we missed (possible add in):

Daitoku-ji – 9:00 to 17:00, the different subtemples have different entry fees

We skipped this temple because japan-guide.com said that one of the subtemples was closed for renovation. Looking back though I wish we had gone because, no shocker, I like Zen gardens. The different garden designs really interested me and I found myself much happier at locations with beautiful, quiet gardens, and less people then at other locations. This temple is supposed to have some really great examples of rock gardens and doing this post right now makes me sad that I missed them.

It has a bus stop right outside of it and it is only at 15-minute bus ride, or 25 minute (1.9 km) walk from Kinkaku-ji. If you are willing to extend your day it would be a nice additional hour and a half (or more, there are so many temples in that complex!) to add on before continuing with the itinerary above. Start with it at 9:00 and you will still be done with your day around 15:00 to 16:00 depending on your speed at the temples and where you eat lunch.

Our itinerary was influenced by:
japan-guide’s suggested Northern Kyoto Half Day schedule