4 1/2 days in kyoto - Help required

Most probably i will reach kyoto on a friday at 1 pm. After checking into matsubaya inn, i will start the rest of my day for kyoto.

Reach kyoto on 20 Mar (PM)

Leaving kyoto on 25 Mar (Noon)

Day 1(Fri) : Half a day left in kyoto

Day 2(Sat) : 1 day trip to Nara (from kyoto)

Day 3(Sun): One full day in kyoto

Day 4(Mon): 1 day trip to Himeji %26amp; Osaka

Day 5(Tue): One full day in kyoto

Places i would like to cover in kyoto:

Shopping/Entertainment/Food:

Gion area

Shijo area

Pontocho area

(For these above area, feasible to split among the 5 evenings i had in kyoto), maybe for those day trip to nara and osaka, i would have my evening/night free for kyoto.

Places of interest:

Ryoanji Temple

Golden Pavilion

Silver Pavilion / Philosopher walk

Sanjusangendo

Kiyomizu

Kodaiji Temple (optional)

Heian Shrine (optional)

Yasaka Shrine (optional)

Can anyone help to split the above places for me in terms of accessibilty etc.

Thank you very much!

4 1/2 days in kyoto - Help required

Day1 would be spent on your trip to the Gion/Okazaki area: Yasaka, Kodaiji, Heian Shrine and Chion-in. FYI, if you are into Japanese gardens, Kodaiji and Heian Shrine are a must.

Day3 would be for Golden Pavilion and Ryoanji, Day5 for Silver Pavilion, P.Walk, Nanzenji and (a bit far from there) Kiyomizu. The reason I put Golden Pavilion and Kiyomizu in the above order is just like the way it is, in IMHO, when you have your dinner, starting with aperitif and ending with dissert, not the other way around...

4 1/2 days in kyoto - Help required

Thank you, Shot!

How abt Sanjusangendo ?

Day5 above would be a helluva busy day but you may like to visit Sanjusangendo en route from Kiyomizu.

Let me sidetrack here by way of introducing what I got from the links below since it may arouse your interest: aside from 1000 statues displayed in there, the temple is well known as a venue for a time-honored archery competition: under Tokugawa Shogunate, samurais dispatched from various parts of the country gathered together here in Sanjusangendo, vying with each other for the national championship, where they took aim at a mark that was placed at one end of the temple corridor running right outside the wooden building, from a distance of 120meters, which distance btw you could pace off if you so liked. That was a whole night and day event, it is said, and there was this young samurai, who was just a lad of 17 or 18 by today%26#39;s standard, from Kishu/Wakayama, the territory directly under control by one of the Tokugawas, making an unbreakable a record in the year 1688: 8132 shots were right in the mark out of 13053, a 62% success rate, where mathematically every shot was made in a 6.6 second interval on average. That sure was, and still is, a tremendous feat, and I think he was relieved of his burden he was supposed to have; the honor of Kishu was obviously at stake...

The language is Japanese only, but you could have a feel to it seeing pics.

http://www.a-rchery.com/sanjyusan.htm

鈥ivedoor.jp/matsukaze1/鈥?0335873.html

http://miyako.bufsiz.jp/toosiya/toosiya.html

Hope you鈥檒l have a great time in Kyoto.

Hi Shot, I%26#39;ve have decided to give up siliver pavilion %26amp; P. Walk due to the time constraints. Wanted something more relax. I have divided into 3 days, wonder if you can help me on the following?

Yasaka Shrine

Kodaiji Temple

Heian Shrine

Chion-in Temple

Gion area

Help required : If i started fr kyoto station, where should i go first and what is the order of the sequence? Can the above be done all using by walking from one to another?

Golden Pavilion

Ryoanji Temple

Help required: Taking bus 100, but do i take the same bus back to kyoto station ?

Sanjusangen-do

Kiyomizu-dera Temple

Pontocho

Shijo kawaramachi shopping district

Help required: Any idea how to go to kawaramachi shopping st from kiyomizu ?

I would appreciate yr help on the transportation! By the way, i%26#39;m holding JR pass. Do you think it would be good for me to buy the one day city bus at 500 yen daily ?

%26lt;%26lt;Help required : If i started fr kyoto station, where should i go first and what is the order of the sequence? Can the above be done all using by walking from one to another? %26gt;%26gt;

The below are all within walking distance; first you take bus100 or 206 from JR Kyoto and then get off at Gion, from where you walk to:

1)Yasaka Shrine to 2)Kodaiji Temple to 3)Chion-in Temple to 4)Gion area and finally to 5) Heian Shrine. Golden Pavilion and Ryoanji Temple should be better saved for another day.

BTW, I kind of always visit Nionmon Street by the canal and the garden in Heian Shrine as well somewhere around late March, scouting for delicate petals of sakura. If by any chance you catch a guy standing under a sakura tree, hell-bent on taking digital photos, please don%26#39;t hesitate to holler my name, lol.

%26lt;%26lt;Help required: Taking bus 100, but do i take the same bus back to kyoto station ?%26gt;%26gt;

There鈥檚 a bus stop right near the gigantic red torii gate about 200meters away from the shrine and that鈥檚 where you locate Municipal Art Museum on your left if you walk down to that torii gate from Heian Shrine. Remember the bus station you have in mind is on Kyoto Municipal Art Museum side, not on the National Museum side, and from there take bus 5, 57 or 100 all bound for JR Kyoto.

%26lt;%26lt;Help required: Any idea how to go to kawaramachi shopping st from kiyomizu ?%26gt;%26gt;

There鈥檚 two bus stations at the foot of the hill where Kiyomizu is located. Either will do when you head for Kawaramachi. Hop on bus100, 202, or 206 from either one of the above stations down Kiyomizu and get off at the bus stop called Higashiyama Sanjo, which is one stop away from Gion. From here you could walk to the bus stop on line5 and thus hit Kawaramachi Sanjo on board bus5, but that鈥檇 possibly involve effort made. So let me suggest walking on Sanjo Boulevard to Sanjo Bridge and cross it so you can come down easily to the Sanjo-Kawaramachi area. In the evening/night hours this is a killer vibe downtown area where you can sit back and relax at an open caf茅.

If you walk down on Kawaramachi Avenue in the direction of Shijo, maybe you like to go into Kiyamachi Street and then to Pontocho Alleyways.

%26lt;%26lt;By the way, i%26#39;m holding JR pass. Do you think it would be good for me to buy the one day city bus at 500 yen daily ?%26gt;%26gt;

Yes, go buy one at a vending machine located at almost every bus station in JR Kyoto Bus Terminal. That won鈥檛 save you much, though. Yet, the pass will spare you the trouble of finding small changes.

Really grateful to you (shot)! Finally i feel much relieved with all the info above. At least i know i won%26#39;t get lost for my kyoto trip for the above itinerary.

Next move of mine : Planning day trips to himeji and nara!

Can anyone tell me how do i get back to kyoto station from ryoanji temple ? Another alternative will be heading to Shijo-kawaramachi shopping district / or Gion.

I will need to know which bus to take and where to stop.

Thanks in advance!

You need to bus it back from Ryoanji-mae bus stop to Kinkakuji-michi and then here switch to bus101/205 bound for JR Kyoto. A word of caution: hopping off at Kinkakuji-mae, you have to cross the avenue to the opposite side so you can wait at the right bus stop, another Kinkakuji-mae: the buses on the same line run in the opposite direction. But in this case, you%26#39;d be fine taking the wrong one, as it gets you to Subway Kitaoji Station, from which JR Kyoto is only 7stops away.

I just found this map online for bus routes to popular tourist spots, hopefully it can help you:

鈥yoto.lg.jp/kotsu/鈥us_navi_en200801.pdf

Thank you, shot, for your help. And the other forumer for your online map.

Shot,

Can you clarify this for me. I am wondering whether am i too retarded to understand but till todate, i%26#39;m still puzzled:

If i%26#39;m taking a train to himeji from kyoto %26gt; from himeji to osaka %26gt; osaka back to kyoto

I understand that people are taking special rapid train from himeji to osaka, but why can%26#39;t i find the timetable for these trains? I can only find timetable for shinkansen tokaido and sanyo.

And the last shinkansen train from osaka to kyoto ends quite early. Any alternative ways to come back to kyoto ?

I%26#39;m really confused. Hope you can help.