Welcome back to the channel! Today we are looking at some of our favourite shrines and Temples in Kyoto. This is to give you some ideas on where to start when you are planning your trip to Kyoto . I did a lot of research before my very recent trip and I want to share with you what I found and what we got up to in Kyoto.
If you have anything to add that might help a fellow traveler, please do add it to the comments!
Here is my saved google map to help you start your own Kyoto itinerary:
Kyoto: https://maps.app.goo.gl/16sShxXE2Dp43eie6
Here is a link to the Bike tour from the video:
Check these videos out for some of the spots in Japan!
5 great places to visit on your first Tokyo trip: https://youtu.be/vHA03l-MPgM
8 Must Know Tips for Traveling to Japan: https://youtu.be/P1iMcnGRESY
Sega Joypolis: https://youtu.be/BHX34X8ugec
Daiba Game Hall : https://youtu.be/0qqklAihVuE
Tokyo Disney Resort: https://youtu.be/5xhMpQIqKI8
Editing and terrible thumbnail by me.
Intro music : Loophole – The Weekender
background: Eva – Relaizations – @RoyaltyFreePlanet
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hard welcome back to the channel my name
is Dan and this is Dan’s out and about
today I want to talk to you a bit about
Kyoto on our recent trip to Japan we
visited Kyoto for 4 days uh during those
four days we basically visited as many
temples shrines and historical locations
as we possibly could was the capital
city of Japan from
794 all the way through to 1868 so as
you can imagine it is jam-packed full of
historical sites it was fun learning
about all of the historical sites and
seeing some of the weird and wonderful
things located around Kyoto when I think
about Kyoto I think about the guon
district which I will say side note is
now there’s new rules in place for
tourists where you can’t take photos in
certain areas while we were there
certain back streets you you weren’t
able to take photos in but now that’s
extended through so really do check
before you start sort of snapping pics
what I want to show you is some of our
favorite spots some of them are quite
popular and when you go they’ll be they
will be busy whatever time of the day
you go and some of them you might be the
only people there um which is always
nice it’s always nice when you’re
visiting shrines and temples and you can
you can get a feel for the place without
having hundreds of people taking photos
around you hopefully there’s something
in there that you can take on your trip
and you can include in your itinerary
right let’s have a look
the golden Pavilion is a Zen Buddhist
temple and it is probably the most
popular and well-known temple in Koto
attached to the temple is a Zen
strolling Garden which is designed to
walk around in a circle like seemingly
most historic sites in Japan the temple
was burnt down multiple times and it’s
been rebuilt uh this seems to be a
running theme through Kyoto and the
different temples and shes everything
seems to get burnt down so we visited
the gold Pavilion as part of a cycle
tour run by noru Kyoto cycle tours we’
visited with a guide called UTA who was
absolutely brilliant and he talks us
through the story of the golden Pavilion
and the history and everything
surrounding that there was even a pop
quiz at the end which was quite funny if
you like cycling and you want to head
out to a few different spots some really
quiet and some busy like the gold
Pavilion then these bik tours are
fantastic and really good fun it was an
excellent morning um he was a really
good guide and had a great time so I’ll
put I’ll put all the links in the
description so if you fancy having a
look that’s there for you so the gold
pavilion’s well worth of it will be busy
when you go there but you know it’s it’s
a huge tourist attraction so there’s
going to be lots of
tourists the next spot I want to talk to
you about is the fimi anari shrine uh
this is the shrine really famous Shrine
with lots and lots of gates running up
the side of the mountain the fimi andari
shrine is another hot spot for tourists
so it will be busy when you go there no
matter what time of the day but if you
time it right it can be less busy it’s
famous for the huge amount of Tori or
Gates that have been donated by
different businesses that line the path
up to the sh shy it’s a really
incredible place to visit and it some
really you can get some really dramatic
views through the gate there are also
some beautiful statues of the foxes who
were the Guardians and Messengers for
the shrine historically images of foxes
are very important in Japanese culture
so you can see some really beautiful
examples here so it will be busy but
planning your visit can really help with
this so we decided to go later on in the
day so we went at sundown so we got some
really dramatic and cool views and we
also got to experience it at night so
all of the all of the gates and the
temple are all lit up at night and it
looks fantastic it’s really worth
visiting at night time as well as in the
day it was a little bit quieter as well
uh we actually managed to get some
pictures where it looks like we’re the
only people there it’s like an optical
illusion like one of those Instagram
reality yeah we got the Instagram shot
so you reality this shrine’s open
24 hours so you can go you can go in the
middle of the night if you want if you
want to experience it lit up and
probably have no one around the closest
subway station is the anari station and
that’s on the Jr Nar line the next two
spots they’re a little bit quieter and
they’re very close together they’re like
a 7 minute walk apart so if you’re going
to go to one it’s definitely worth going
to the next one the first one I want to
talk about is the adashino nebat suji
temple this Temple is an 8th Century
Temple dedicated to the people who have
passed away without families it does
feel a little bit strange but it’s a
fantastic Temple to visit and extremely
peaceful and very and it was very quiet
on Sunday afternoon when we went when we
were expecting everywhere to be really
busy so there’s plenty of other temples
shrines and places of interest close
including the famous bamboo forest but
the temple here does have a bamboo Grove
just behind it so we went through
through and had a look at the Bamboo
Grove there and there was literally one
other person there when we walked around
later on in the day to the bamboo forest
it was packed so really so if
you want that dramatic bamboo feel then
it’s definitely worth visiting the
shrine even just for that it was really
nice to sort of wander around on our own
and we felt quite special being able to
be in there when it was so quiet so
7even minutes walk away to the other
Temple the otagi nimbut sui Temple so
the temple is surrounded by statues so
these statues have been created by
amateur sculptors uh who are followers
of Buddha rather than what I thought
were professional um they’re not
actually that old but because they’re
covered in Moss they look really old and
sort of gnarly when you look closer uh
you can see all all of the statues is
kind of made in like fun and Whimsical
poses and it’s super impressive when you
walk in there and you see all of these
statues together we spent quite a while
wandering around looking for friends and
family see if we could pick any out that
look like people we do so I sent a
couple through to people that I know who
probably tell me to piss off so this
particular Temple is a little bit remote
it is further up into the hills but we
decided to get a cab up to that Temple
and make our way down visiting different
temples and shrines on the way down the
Hills uh which was a great way to spend
Sunday afternoon this one is definitely
worth a visit as you can see it was very
quiet there’s lot to say and appreciate
and I think it was like 300 Yen to get
in the kizu temple is probably the most
celebrated Shrine in Japan it’s super
super famous and it’s built on the
Ottawa waterfall there are multiple
parts to visit here there the temple
Shrine the waterfall there’s tons of
other things to take part in as well
there was just loads going on but it was
packed it was this was probably
the busiest Shrine we went to including
the golden Pavilion there was a lot
going on there there was a lot of cues
but do you know what it wasn’t so bad
it’s it’s not like a busy place in
London or in the US where everyone’s
just walking into each other everyone’s
polite and courteous everything moves
smoothly so even if you got a que a it
ain’t that bad there was also an art
installation when we visited which
included a big giant cat in a
space suit which was very cool obviously
we got some photos with that as well so
the temple itself is absolutely
phenomenal it’s built on this giant
wooden platform sticking out the side of
the mountain and we’ve come to learn
that there’s not a single nail been used
to build this which is absolutely
incredible the history of it is
fantastic it’s well worth a visit to to
just learn something about the structure
and the architecture that’s behind it
and also obviously everything else that
that goes with it as we walk back down
towards town there’s loads to do and see
the there’s tea houses there’s souvenir
shops there’s there’s everything in that
area that you could want as a tourist
it’s definitely worth a visit even even
though it’s busy it’s definitely worth a
visit the aaka shrine is in the guon
district so if you’re visiting gon
anyway you can pop in there as part of
your visit is attached to a park in the
park on one of the days that we visited
there was a food market and there was
loads going on we were very lucky we
visited during the day and during the
evening during the day we saw the end of
a wedding ceremony which was very
beautiful in the procession that led out
and when we went in the evening
everything was lit up and it looked
fantastic so this Shrine is Center in
gon it is surrounded by the restaurants
shops tea houses everything around that
area I think if you’re visiting guon
then this is a defin definitely a place
to go and it’s definitely worth checking
out and if you’re in the area in the
evening it’s definitely worth popping in
to see the illuminated
Lantern so that’s it so that was just a
quick video to give you some ideas of
the different shrines and you know where
to go what’s busy what’s not busy a
couple of little hidden ones that
absolutely tons of places to go it’s
well beyond the scope of this video if
you’re visiting Kyoto it’s definitely
worth doing a little bit of extra
research just to see and find some of
these little hidden plac I’ll attach my
Google map below in the description so
you can see where everything is
everything’s marked on there so
hopefully that will go some way to help
you towards planning your trip to Kyoto
so thanks for watching give us a like
And subscribe drop us a comment let me
know how your trip to Kyoto went let me
know what you’re planning on doing when
you go to Kyoto so we’re heading back to
Japan at the end of the year so if
you’ve got anywhere that you can suggest
to us please drop it in comments below
I’d love to read them anyway thanks for
watching and I will see you in the next
one