If you missed part 1 of this trip report, click here to catch up!

After leaving Miyajima Island, we took a train to Osaka on the JR Line and then transferred to Kyoto. We ate dinner at ‘Ramen Street’ which is on the 10th floor of Kyoto Station and is a corridor of different ramen shops. The meal was good and then we walked to our airbnb from there. The place was just outside of the Higashiyama Prefecture, a wonderful location and that we booked at a very good rate. I’d happily stay there again. We were pretty exhausted by that point so we went to bed and slept in a while!

Being back in Kyoto didn’t sink in until the following morning. I’ve never been shy about my praise for the city, being my favorite one I’ve ever visited in my life. There was some worry about it living up to my expectations from our previous trip and hoping that our friends would enjoy it as much as us. Not serious worry, mind you, but enough to make me question if my expectations were out of whack. Thankfully, they weren’t.

Starting a little bit later in the day, we walked to Nishiki Market in Kyoto for an early lunch. This is an open air market that stretches through several blocks of the city. There are food vendors and shops crammed into every space and the area might not be ideal for anyone claustrophobic. We didn’t go to Nishiki our first time around in Kyoto so I’m glad we came here for a stroll.

I wouldn’t put the market on my top things to do in Kyoto but if you want to walk around for an hour and try some different food as well as look at a few shops then this is an excellent choice. I liked the colorful ceiling and, as loyal readers know, I always love food. This is also a top notch spot to people watch.

Leaving Nishiki Market, we bussed for about 20 minutes to the Silver Pavilion (Ginkakuji) in Kyoto. We would spend the rest of the day alongside eastern Kyoto and the Higashiyama Mountains. For Melissa and I, most of that day was a repeat of what we did 5 years earlier but also one of our fondest memories.

The Silver Pavilion is not made of silver but it is one of the meticulously detailed temples (or places on the entire planet) that I’ve detailed. I’m not going to sit here and write that theme parks and temples are similar experiences. That’s just not true. But if you enjoy the design and little touches of theme parks that can go unnoticed, I do think the level of detail at a place like this will envelop you.

We’d planned much of our trip around hoping to see fall colors in Kyoto and starting in Ginkakuji really brought that into focus. It’s a gorgeous temple no matter what time of the year but climbing the little hillside and looking down on Kyoto and the temple was a beautiful sight.

The crowds weren’t too bad at the temple for it being midday and there’s a peacefulness that comes with the Silver Pavilion that other temples don’t have. I think being just a little bit farther away than some other places and having pretty expansive grounds that are all outside give it a certain aura. Here’s a few more photos from our time there.

The pathway ended near a gift shop, which probably sounds very familiar to theme park fans. I walked through the shop and then came back out, sitting for a minute while the rest of the group finished up. Outside of the gift shop was a vending machine with little figurines of memorable landmarks or symbols of Kyoto. The kids kept asking the different adults in the group if they could get something and eventually the adults relented. This led to the little boy inserting his 500 yen, the figurine rolling down in the little plastic ball and him holding it above his head while running in a circle all shouting out his prolonged excitement. His dad looked over at me, while I was laughing, and said, “He hasn’t even opened it yet.” Melissa preceded to give the vending machine ago and got a chicken, which none of us understood the significance of. She did not run around in a circle with excitement but it was no less funny.

We moved on from Ginkakuji, to the Philosopher’s Path, a short walk away. This trail follows along a canal bank with stepping stones on each side. The path is fairly long and goes past many temples. Last time, we were on the walk during cherry blossom season and it was gorgeous. When we started the walk this time, there was some color on trees but many of the leaves had fallen.

It was still beautiful and serene even in a slightly barren state but as we walked we started to see more and more color hanging over the water.

No matter what time of year it is, I’d recommend the Philosopher’s Path to anyone visiting Kyoto. It sits in a perfect spot, below the mountainside but perched above the middle of the city. Temples and shrines reside to one side while houses and every day life sits on the other. Yes, the walkway is best when the crowds are down but even if that’s not a reality the Philosopher’s Path is a simple pleasure that makes for a great daytrip route through the heart of Kyoto’s spirituality.

After stopping at a shrine or two along the way, we made it to Eikando Temple, home to some of the most vibrant colors I’ve ever seen. The temple was originally a villa in the 700’s before being converted to a temple in the 11th century. Inside of the temple are raised, wooden platforms to walk on. They’re delicately taken cared of and the structure is really astounding. There’s artwork to see inside of the buildings as well as some gardens to view. Outside of the paid entry is a beautiful pond to explore and a pagoda that sits high above the temple itself and gives a good view of Kyoto.

I’m not quite as taken by the inside of Eikando as I am the outside grounds. Entrance fees to all of these places are generally less than $10 so it’s not that I wouldn’t recommend going in if you’re there, it’s just that I found the pond and colors outside to be absolutely stunning. I do prefer the neighboring Nanzen-Ji (which I’ll talk about in the next installment) but if you’re in the area I’d recommend going to both temples, especially during autumn. Here’s a few more photos from Eikando!

We were fairly tired at that point and getting hungry so we decided to make more of a beeline toward dinner than our meandering afternoon itinerary. It was one of the only meals of the trip that we planned in advance and I think the photos I’d seen on the website were calling to me. The walk to dinner was fairly long though and did include going through Higashiyama so, naturally, there were a few sidetracks.

Highashiyama is lively; full of shops and restaurants. The district is built onto the hillside beneath Kiyomizu-dera, one of the most popular temples in Kyoto. I love the area and hitting it just as the evening begins adds a burst of energy to what can be a contemplative day. That is, if the crowds aren’t too overwhelming. It was a busy night, as this was the last night of Kiyomizu’s fall colors illumination. But we still really enjoyed that walk.

We ate dinner at Gyukatsu, which has several restaurants throughout Japan and a few in America now too! They offer deep fried beef cutlets. The beef is seared but then guests can cook them to their liking on the little heated pan at the table. There are different cuts of beef you can order and they are served with different sauces as well as rice and a few other sides. The meal was so fun and enjoyable. I think we were all happy to sit down for a while with delicious food in front of us!

From dinner, it was a short walk up the hill to Kiymoizu-dera. Being the last night of the illumination, this temple that was built in the 700’s was crowded! I think I should devise a graph with one axis being the wow factor of a place and the other being how (un)busy it is. You could rate every single thing you do in your life. Country Bear Jamboree would obviously be the peak of the graph because it is endless wows while not being crowded. Me writing this blog post? Not crowded at all but the wow factor is next to zero. Kiyomizu-dera was the inverse of that. Sorry for all of the math words in this paragraph.

This UNESCO World Heritage site is one of the most astounding places I’ve ever been in my life. The vermillion on all of the buildings intertwined with fiery leaves on the trees below is a snapshot I’ll keep in my mind’s eye for a very long time. The iconic view above is what Kiyomizu is most known for. I waded and waited through about 12 rows of people stretching across a platform for a chance to get this photo. If you’ve ever wondered what a mosh pit in Japan would feel like, I could tell you! But it was well worth it to see it through my own eyes and camera lens as opposed to picture I’ve seen on varying websites.

I wouldn’t say that Kiyomizu-dera is the best place for fall colors or the best place in Kyoto but it’s very close in both categories. The grounds are the biggest of any temple I’ve been to so much so that there are a few pockets of quiet even on the busiest of times. Every building is gorgeous and so meticulous. There’s grandiose but in a very inviting way. There’s not a single nail used in the entire temple grounds.

Needless to say, I recommend going. Whether it’s during the day or at an illumination, you won’t be disappointed in Kiyomizu. It’d be in my top 3 places to go in all of Kyoto and near the top of all the places in Japan, as well. Here’s a few more photos.

We walked back down from the illumination and tried to check out a well thought of bar in Gion (another cool and lively district of Kyoto) but found that the bar had a five hour wait so we decided to pass on that. Instead we opted for snacks and drinks from the nearest convenience store and took some time to relax late into the night at the airbnb after a beautiful day.

We slept in a little bit the next morning before having an early lunch at a small spot that I believe was called Benkei Udon near our rental. It was delicious! I had the beef curry udon and wish I had another bowl of it right now. This is right next to the Kiyomizu-Gojo subway station, for those interested.

From there we subwayed and trained our way to the northern mountain region of Kyoto, spending the day at Kurama-dera Temple and Kibune. To get there, we took the Eizan Railway which is famous for a maple tree tunnel but we were just a week or so late for that as many of the leaves had fallen off. It was still a pretty train ride though.

If the temples the previous day were built along the hillside, Kurama was definitely built on a mountain. Mount Kurama, in fact! The length of the temple took us roughly an hour to hike up, with plenty of stops along the way. There is a cable car that visitors can go up instead but we opted to keep our step counts much higher than our feet wanted.

There were many shrines and pretty features to stop and look at along the way up. The whole experience was very serene, even with the workout you’re getting in. Hiking up Kurama was pretty steady, it never felt like it got overly steep or that it was too much of a strain.

Some of that was because of our easy pace. If you’re going to go to Kurama-dera and Kibune then I wouldn’t recommend filling your day with many other activities outside of those. The train ride there and back takes a little over half and hour from north Kyoto and the climb plus stopping at different spots will take up at least a few hours, if not a whole afternoon.

Even with the time commitment, I would recommend Kurama. It wasn’t that the buildings wowed me, although they are certainly impressive and the history of the place, that started in the 700’s, is captivating. They just weren’t as grand as what we saw the previous day. Instead, I thought the whole experience was unique. The journey up the hill and reaching the peak, which is all inside of this one temple is wonderful. The views were just part of the enjoyment!

If you’re looking for something while traveling, whether reflection, prayer, contemplation or something else then Kyoto is a sensical city to visit and Kurama is the type of place you’re looking for. There aren’t many people there since it’s outside of the city and up a mountain. You can spend plenty of time doing what you need to do on that hike, not to mention the endorphins from exercising and elevation! I would visit Kurama fairly often if I was a local and found it to be quite enchanting.

After reaching the peak and enjoying some of the buildings and views offered there, we headed back down the other side of the mountain towards Kibune. The hike down was beautiful and fairly easy, taking us somewhere around 45 minutes with a few stops. Again, the walk was peaceful and void of crowds.

This whole day was full of new experiences and getting to Kibune was no exception. It’s a cute little town right along the river and is known for its Kawadoko dining in the summer. There’s also the Kifune Shrine in the town that is free to explore and includes some beautiful torii gates and lamps.

I enjoyed the shrine but my favorite part of the area was definitely relaxing by the river. There were steps down the bank so you could sit right by the water or, ya know, take photos. Here are some of mine!

There were some adorable shops in Kibune, as well. It seemed like a perfect little town to buy a house and just retire in. Unfortunately, I think I have another 30 plus years before that could come to fruition. I’m curious what Kibune would be like in a different season and would recommend hiking down from Kurama-dera to see the town no matter the time of year.

Once we were done exploring the area, we took the walk back to the train station. This was probably 20 minutes or so along the main road into town. It was in the dark but safe – the road was fairly narrow but cars were going slow enough to where there was always room.

Back at the train station, the leaves were illuminated brilliantly and made for a striking gold. Even along the trade ride, the Eizan Railway’s cars with big windows made for some fun sights in the dark. Before long we were back in Kyoto and found a Gyoza spot for dinner in Gion.

The restaurant was lively and the winner of the meal was the chocolate gyoza that we should have definitely ordered more of! It was a fun meal and a great day where we covered a lot of ground. We walked back to our airbnb after dinner, resting for the night before our last full day in Kyoto.

We’ll pick up on the next day in part 3 of this trip report! While this post didn’t have to do with Tokyo Disney Resort, we’ll get there soon and if you’re planning a trip there then check out our guide! If you enjoy what you’re reading please subscribe to the blog and like our social media pages which you can find on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!