Kyoto: can a local guidebook help me avoid the crowds?

★ I am rediscovering Kyoto with an intense tour schedule, connecting several great tourist spots and even some places I’ve never visited (despite living in Kyoto for two years previously!) ★

This is Travel like a Local: my travel series based on followed the recommendations and itineraries written in Japanese guide books and magazines.

I want to answer 3 questions:

1. Are the guides accurate?
2. Are the recommendations different than what is available in English to international travellers?
3. What are the pros and cons of following these guides for locals?

In this video, I go to Kyoto and follow a Japanese itinerary that encompasses: Yasaka Jinja (shrine), Ishibekoji, Ryozen Museum, Kodaiji Temple, Choraku-ji Temple, Maruyama Park, Chion-in Temple and Shoren-in Monzeki.

My maps link for this route: [https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/2/edit?mid=1_ymnDqKEG6kGxXzL97cNOfARVOOQLoY&usp=sharing](https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/2/edit?mid=12nPLOQPMhUO6csINjybRVmcUEujg8js&usp=sharing)

1. Yasaka Jinja / 八坂神社
https://maps.app.goo.gl/5xiomfxtKpf2H3eK8

2. Ishibekouji / 石塀小路
https://maps.app.goo.gl/CgKM7a2Xe2ftHovs6

3. Ryozen museum / 霊山歴史館
🏷️ 900
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ADfPuN7dB3G5j5q2A

4. Kōdaiji Tenmangū Shrine / 高台寺の天満宮
🏷️ 600
https://maps.app.goo.gl/DYnHWmSXiSb337x5A

5. Chōraku-ji Temple / 長楽寺
🏷️ 800
https://maps.app.goo.gl/96FnUYa9YscR2iEh9

6. Maruyama Park / 円山公園
https://maps.app.goo.gl/GRT1iXkwtHRcuw5Z7

7. Chion-in Temple / 知恩院
OPTIONAL:
🏷️ 400 for Hojo Teien / 方丈庭園
300 for Yuzen-en / 友禅苑
500 for both of the above gardens
https://maps.app.goo.gl/isaNhGrmwHiPaAkW7

8. Shoren-in Monzeki / 青蓮院門跡
🏷️ 600
https://maps.app.goo.gl/GFN6wEKAJd1WDhRX7

Chapters:
00:00 – Preview
00:29 – Introduction
02:19 – Yasaka Jinja
03:50 – Ishibekoji
04:51 – Ryozen Museum
06:00 – Kodaiji
08:32 – Maruyama Park
09:37 – Chorakuji
11:36 – Break time
12:14 – Chion-in
14:55 – Shoren-in
15:45 – Willow tree walkway
16:52 – Was the guide accurate?
18:42 – Highlights
19:19 – Downsides
20:47 – Japanese guides vs English guides
21:39 – What did you think?

Please subscribe for more vlogs (^_^)

welcome to travel like a local a travel series diving into the fascinating world of Japanese travel guides in Japan there are so many magazines and books aimed at helping Japanese people explore I grabbed some of the most interesting looking Japanese travel guides all aimed at domestic tourists we’re going to dive right into them and see what hidden gems we can uncover so whether you’re living in Japan a regular visitor or researching for your first trip make sure to hit that subscribe button to join me on new adventures each video today’s route is from this Kyoto walking guide I read on my Kindle there are 44 walking routes which I browsed through but couldn’t really decide so in the end I’m starting from number one again this route is for cordi and covers a major tourist Hotpot there are eight stops and according to this guide it takes around 4 hours walking 5.6 km 7,017 steps and spending 2,900 Yen after reading in these numbers I was a bit worried last time I followed one of these guides the steps and distance were totally wrong they were half when I ended up walking if you haven’t watched that video please check it out in the description below so when I realized it was 7,000 steps which could really be 14,000 steps I got a bit worried about my stamina but I’m always up for a challenge and was really interested by the eight stops let’s take a quick look at where we’re headed one yasaka Ginger two ishi be 3en Museum 4 K five 6 marama Park 7 eight Shin maniki the map is here on the next page so let’s just zoom in a little bit to take a good look at our rout for the day so we can get going so I took the bus to our starting point and walked a few minutes to the shrine when I first moved to Japan I lived in Kyoto for 2 years and yasaka ginger and the adjoined Park Maria mcoin are two of my favorite places in the city I think these stalls are here early for Spring Blossom season my husband and I went on one of our earliest dates for Hanami there and we both still feel really fondly about this place I love all these lanterns around the stage which is called buang the lanterns light up at night so if you’re in the area I definitely recommend coming to take look at the back of yasaka Ginger there is a smaller Shrine called be your sweet and I read in my guide book that if you put a few drops of this water on your face you’ll become beautiful inside and out now we’re going to exit via the East Gate which is different than the one we entered from and you can see just outside the gate there is a cherry blossom tree in bloom you’ll notice over the course of the day it is too early for cherry blossom so whenever there is a tree that is blooming there is a big crowd around it trying to take pictures with it anyway we are quickly approaching stop number two isi Bei now unfortunately this one is going to be a little bit antic climatic because you cannot record in this area now I have to say despite this sign there was a few people still doing photo shoots D aside this place was well worth a visit and surprisingly I’d never even been there before it’s one of the few places on this whole day where I manag to feel some peace probably because you’re not allowed to take pictures so now we continue walking to stop number three which is the ren Museum but on the way just take a little look this is the madness that is nen zaka I’m glad our tour itinery today has skipped that part so let’s continue up this hill to the diozen museum so here it is we made it to the museum but I have made the decision not to go inside we cannot record inside and According to some reviews on the internet there is little to no English signage so I don’t think this is a stop for international tourists so heading up the hill let’s head to our next stop on the way there is a lovely view of the city and then a massive flight of stairs to go down but even here halfway down you are rewarded with a beautiful view of the pagota but we’re going to head up now to Kodi Temple at the end of this road it’s back to Madness this is the really busy area you can see there’s a Peter Rabbit shop and a jibli shop it’s a really popular area for tourists and the tatami Starbucks is just up the road too there is an entrance charge pay your fee and head on inside now this was my first experience that started a bit of a pattern for the day construction work there was a lot of construction work going on throughout the course of the day now this was a bit of a strange visit to me because I have definitely been here before but I had absolutely no memory of any of it so it was like rediscovering a whole new place so let’s explore together as you may have heard in the background there were a lot of crowers in this Temple some of which were definitely fighting I saw one like dive bomb the other in a tree it was very strange but at the end of the pathway there is a small bamboo forest so for those of you who are coming and have a short amount of time or can’t make it to arashiyama for any reason just visit kordi you can still take the photo you want to take and it’s less crowded so it’s probably going to be much easier there is a small tea house at the end and that’s the temple so let’s keep moving on to our next Temple we will pass through mariama Park briefly and head to Chui chuji is another Temple that I’ve never never even heard of never mind visited so I’m really excited about this stop this area is really popular for people to rent kimonos for the day and take a lot of photos so wherever you go it feels like somebody’s doing a photo shoot for sure so we are making our first pass through mariama Park we’ll exit via the back to get to the next Temple but you can just see how crowded it is and it’s only going to get worse for cherry blossom season the further towards the back of the park you go generally the quieter it is the exception obviously is this one tree as I me mentioned earlier it’s early for cherry blossom so if there is a single tree blooming you can guarantee there will be a crowd so up we go through the back and up these stairs to Chui and on the way you can see this very wise photographer has taken her clients to take pictures here because there’s just so many less people so here we go it says on this sign that the entrance fee is 800 Yen and construction work again massive amounts of construction work here as you can see on the desk here it says you pay the entrance fee here if no one is here push the bell I pushed the Bell three times and waited for nearly 5 minutes but no one came so we will try again on the way out the whole back area was really Mossy and green and beautiful but there was still more stairs up the back so I decided we had to take a look right what’s up there more bamboo trees but less of a forest it’s just on the one side and we climbed all the way to the top shop to find a cemetery so obviously I didn’t spend a lot of time or film a lot here to be respectful I took a good look at the view and headed back down rang the doorbell twice more still no came so I just left my 800 Yen on the table and headed back down to marama park it seems like more people have figured out my secret and moved towards the back of the park to avoid the crowds and by now I was pretty tired actually so I decided to take a little break have my protein shake and enjoy a random magician doing magic in the park if you’re wondering my protein shake flavor is Sakura I’m obsessed with Sakura flavors I released a video showcasing some of the ones but I’ve still been eating them even since please check out the video if you haven’t already so let’s head over to chion in our next stop yet more stairs let’s climb all the stairs the little boy next to me was counting I think he said there were 70 but it felt like more and here we go ton in again a really wide space a bit like yasaka ginger but much bigger obviously but for that reason it didn’t really feel overcrowded which was quite nice feels more Grand than yasaka Ginger much bigger many more buildings and again we’re going to exit through a different gate than the one we entered from and actually I’ve been here before this is my favorite entrance if it’s possible to have a favorite entrance you’ll see what I mean when we get there but it’s really beautiful just the colors and the light and the view over the city I think it’s a really beautiful pathway down you can see all the moss on the wall and the trees oh and you can see another cherry blossom tree rest assured there was a photo shoot happening underneath so we are on to our final stop of the Day short in Mani this is another place that I don’t think I’ve been to before in fact I don’t even know where it is you can see here I’m looking at all the doorways and getting really confused but no we keep going and there is a much bigger entrance and through the doorway our favorite construction theme of the day now I have to admit that I messed up here I saw this sign that said no recording and I decided not to go inside because I thought it was just the building but it turns out once you go through the building there is a garden outside that I have seen online since that I totally should have entered and just didn’t I was getting confused it was the end of the day I was pretty tired by this point too now this one technically isn’t a stop but the path did specifically run this way and what I mean is we ended a bus stop and there was a bus stop much closer than the one we end at the path has perp led us down this walkway to enjoy the willow trees finally we make it to the end of the pathway and to the bus stop our final stop to get home for the day so let’s compare the numbers time I started at 950 and ended at 1:20 so it took me 3 and 1/2 half hours but I stopped for a 15minute protein shake break which wasn’t in the itinery so I need to Discount that so that’s 3 hours and 15 minutes then I skipped the museum and Shan in maniki which the guide allowed 1 hour and 15 minutes for in total so I need to add that back on for a fair comparison that comes to 4 and 1/2 hours which is 30 minutes longer than the guide estimation Honestly though I felt like I was rushing and going pretty quickly so I think if you was to stop for a proper lunch and take your time a little bit more this route could easily take much longer distance I forgot to record my starting kilm but checking the app it seems I’d done 0.4 km before starting the route and 8.74 km by the end which is a total of 8.3 km which is almost 3 km more than the guide steps my starting steps were 622 and ending steps were 11,000 8817 which makes a total of 11,195 for the route 4,178 more than the guide now money since I skipped out on some stops I spent way less than the guide price just 600 Yen for KI and 800 at Chui but I did check the entrance fees to the missing stops online and it seems the guide was accurate at 2,900 for the lot so yet again the numbers are way off and not to be relied upon I think the time is doable if for some reason you want to follow strictly the time allowances but I really don’t know how they can underestimate the distance and the step so much I really enjoyed the fact that this route highlighted some new places to me especially as someone who thinks they know Kyoto pretty well it also Incorporated my personal favorite spots such as marama Park yasaka ginja and the north gate of chin I think it was pretty well balanced avoiding some of the busiest areas and taking some quieter routes along the way like ishi Bei and the route back from the museum I also thought it was good to include Kodi which has a nice bamboo forested area which is much more convenient for time straped visitors to feel the arashiyama experience without the crowds the very first thing I would change about this route is the start and end points starting and ending at bus stops is such a bad idea in Kyoto I know they often often much better located for accessing the sites but the congestion is next level it’s worse than I’ve ever seen it before and if I’m totally honest it really ruined my starting mood I waited almost 30 minutes for the bus then to be squeezed in like sardines and have to ride 20 minutes before anyone started getting off with a little adjusting to make the route shorter in other places I’d probably start at gon shijo station and end at higashiyama station next I’d obviously take off the museum it’s probably a fantastic stop for fluent Japanese speakers but for most International tourists it’ll be a waste then in regards to the guide I was missing any kind of cafe or restaurant recommendations the root overview page mentions three places that you can eat dessert but other than that food recommendations are all but missing as a tourist overpriced poor quality food is something that really concerns me so I was really sorry that was missing one last thing I would like to say is that throughout the day I saw quite a lot of poor behavior from many tourists people would stand right next to no photography signs doing whole photo shoots and then in mariama park I even saw a woman instruct her young child to pee against a tree in the middle of the park when there are perfectly good public toilets at the entrance now as for the English recommendations available online yasaka Ginger chanin are both mentioned very regularly and kod is also some sometimes mentioned but shenin was mentioned on one website on that website he specifically recommends it for being quieter than other nearby temples so I’m really sad that I missed that one chuin is mentioned on no websites and I can kind of understand why it was an expensive visit for what it was it’s nice and quiet though and perhaps once the construction is done it will be much better as with the coob situation most itineries packed a l of places into a day and cut this whole area down into just a morning I think this could be just a recurring problem since time available is inherently different between International and domestic tourists so that’s about it for what I thought but please let me know what you thought in the comments where on this itinery would you like to go where would you have skipped is there anywhere missing and if there’s anywhere that you’d like to see me go in the future please let me know thank you so much for watching if you enjoyed this video please hit like and if you want to see more like this please subscribe for future videos see you in the next one