Kyoto — Sights
Torii tunnels at dawn, lantern-lit Gion lanes by night.
- Okochi Sanso Villa — A film star’s hillside garden beyond the bamboo grove
- Fushimi Inari Taisha — Thousands of vermilion torii climbing a mountain
- Kiyomizu-dera — A nail-free wooden stage hanging over the trees
- Arashiyama Bamboo Grove & Togetsukyo Bridge — A bamboo tunnel and a long bridge under the hills
- Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion) — A gold-leaf pavilion mirrored in a pond
- Gion & Hanamikoji — Wooden teahouses on a stone lane at lantern time
- Ninenzaka & Sannenzaka — Stone-stepped lanes of wooden shops below a pagoda
- Philosopher's Path & Ginkaku-ji — A canal path under cherry trees ending at a sand garden
- Nishiki Market — A covered 400m lane of Kyoto pickles and snacks
- Yasaka Shrine — A vermilion gate at Shijo's end, lanterns by night
- Kyoto Tower — The white candle tower: 360° Kyoto from 100m
- Nijo Castle — The shogun's castle with singing floors
- Tenryu-ji — A pond garden that borrows the hills
- Sagano Romantic Train & Hozugawa River Boat — A 25-minute gorge train, then two hours back by boat
- Uji & Byodo-in — The temple on the 10-yen coin, in matcha country
- Nara day trip (Nara Park & Todai-ji) — Bowing deer and a giant bronze Buddha
- Sanjusangen-do — 1,001 Kannon in a 120 m wooden hall
- Tofuku-ji — Zen temple with a bridge over a maple valley
- Heian Jingu — Giant vermilion torii and a big shrine garden
- Kodai-ji — Zen temple with a bamboo grove and night lights
- Ryoan-ji — UNESCO's 15-stone dry rock garden
- Nanzen-ji — Big Zen temple with a brick aqueduct
- Shimogamo Shrine — UNESCO shrine at the end of an ancient forest path
- Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum — Sake tasting in a canal-side brewery
- Kyoto Imperial Palace (Kyoto Gyoen) — Former imperial home inside a big gravel-path park
- Toei Kyoto Studio Park — Samurai film-set town with ninja experiences