We crossed two big metropolis in Japan from Kyushu to Kansai in our trip. After taking the Hankyu Ferry, we arrived Osaka early in the morning. Taking the JR Railway to Kyoto subsequently.
Day 5 Itinerary: City Tour of Kyoto
We mostly tour around on foot except the way from the hotel to of subway.
- Hoshino Coffee
- Yasaka-jinja Shrine
- Gionmachi Minamigawa
- Okutan Tofu
- Ten – Matcha Tea Room
- Kiyomizu Temple
1st stop： Kyoto Sakura Terrace hotel Check-in
The hotel is very modern with artistic design. It really attracted us with the dark grey art theme. It costs around 10000 Japanese Yen for tonight. We arrived very early in the morning. Therefore, there is no room for us yet. We store our luggage at the concierge and went to have our first breakfast. 。
2nd Stop： Hoshino Coffee
We originally planned to eat pancake for our breakfast. Therefore, we took 5 mins walk went to the Hoshino Coffee which is in the JR station. There was a short queue already even it was 9am. We were very disappointed as we realised no pancake were provided during breakfast. Therefore, we ordered a toast instead.
The below picture is the pancake which we ordered when we revisited the restaurant again in the afternoon。If you like the toast, please go during the morning. If you like the pancake, please go anytime after the breakfast session.
Restaurant information ：
Address： 600-8214 Kyoto, Shimogyo Ward, Higashishiokoji Takakuracho, 8−3 JR東海京都駅構内 日本
Phone： +81-75-748/8656
Opening Hours： Everyday 07:00 – 22:15
3rd Stop： Yasaka-jinja Shrine
According to the legend of the shrine, its history may go back as far as AC656.
Yasaka-jinja Shrine is located near the Gion. We took the Hankyu Railway to 河原町站 (Kyoto-Kawaramachi Station) and then waledk to the Yasaka-jinja Shrine. Since there were rain that day, we bought a transparent umbrella.
We were fortunate that there was still red leaves in Kyoto. Since we arrived very early, the road was pretty empty with only a few people walking. We can set camera stand and take photos without being rushed by others. There were also another cameraman taking wedding pictures for the new married couple.
We then went to the main entrance of Yasaka-jinja Shrine. It was noticeable that there were way more tourists, thus longer time to queue for photos. We had waited quite a long time for the below shot…
Information：
Address：625 Gionmachi Kitagawa, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0073 Japan
Entry fee：Free entry
Opening hours：Daily, all day round
Official site: http://www.yasaka-jinja.or.jp/en/
Transportation information：
– A 5-minute walk from Keihan Gion Shijo Station
– An 8-minute walk from Hankyu Kawaramachi Station
– A 15-minute drive from JR Kyoto Station.
– A short walk from the bus stop for the city municipal bus on route 206.
4th Stop： Gionmachi Minamigawa
If it is possible, we two always prefer to travel on foot instead of taking transportation. It gives us the opportunity to walk more local Japanese street and reduce the travel cost. We walked to the Gionmachi Minamigawa. This road is not easy to find. There were a photo taking spot with a Tower which we were not able to find!
Hope reappeared when we gave up to find the photo spot.
Information：
Address：Gionmachi Minamigawa, Kyoto, 600-8340, Japan
Ticket：Free
Open for every day
Transportation：
– 10 mins walk from Kawaramachi station 河原町站 (Kyōto Railway京都本線) – 5 mins walk from Gion-Shijo Station (Keihan Railway 京阪本線)
– 1 min walk from Yasaka-jinja Shrine(Kyoto Bus 206 or 100)
5th Stop： Okutan Tofu 奧丹豆腐
Since we both are Tofu lovers, we have to visit the Okutan restaurant which specialise in making Japanese Tofu dishes since 385 years ago. All dishes are Tofu related and the most famous fish would be Tofu Soup. The restaurant is designed as a traditional Japense garden setting (Nihon Teien) which is great for taking pictures as well. However, we were too focused on the great food.
Restaurant Information：
Address：3 Chome-340 Kiyomizu, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0826日本
Phone： +81 75-525-2051
Opening Hours：
Mon to Wed, Friday：11:00 – 16:30
Thursday：Closed
Saturday and Sunday：11:00 – 17:30
6th Stop： 「Ten」Matcha Tea Shop
This was also the Big’s birthday today. Eating cake is a must so we went to a Matcha Tea Shop for coffee and cakes.
This Japanese tea shop is located in Matsubara-dori (松原通) , where it is closed to the iconic Kiyomizu with various number of souvenir shops and restaurant. Our favourite dessert is the matcha cheesecake. There are also Japanese Pottery that you can purchase at the tea shop.
Information:
Address： 208-10 Kiyomizu, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0862日本
Phone： +81 75-533-6252
Opening Hours： Everyday from 11:00 – 17:00
7th Stop： Kiyomizu Temple
Our stay in Kyoto was in Decemeber of 2019, which was unfortunately still 3 month aways from the end of re-construction of the Kiyomizu. However, we still managed to get into and explore the inside the attraction. It was still worth going for experiencing the Japanese tradition.
Even though we did not manage to take most iconic photo, there are still a lot of areas inside the Kiyomizu that worth exploring!
8th Stop： Yakiniku of the Shogun (天下の焼肉大将軍)
As mentioned before, this is the birthday of my girlfriend. Therefore, I have to take her to her favourite food – Japanese Meat BBQ. As we did not have any booking prior, we found and “walk-in” in this clean and comfy restaurant
Even though the design and environment is not as good as the restaurant we went in Kyoto, the BBQ meat is very tasty. We ordered a set with different types of meat and one gigantic steak. It was a very great and full dinner!
Information：
Address： 日本〒600-8216 Kyoto, Shimogyo Ward, Higashishiokojicho, 577 2・4F 大将軍駅前ビル
Phone： +81 50-3469-1118
Opening Hours： Everyday from 11:30 – 22:00
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