Got Four Days in Kyoto? Here’s the Best Way to Spend Them.

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We think four full days is the minimum time you need to see all of Kyoto’s best sights without rushing around too much – so how should you break that down? Our four-day Kyoto itinerary makes it easy.

Article by Helen Foster. Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links. See our Affiliate Disclosure.

This plan is four whole days, so you’ll need to arrive in Kyoto early in the morning, or ideally, the night before, to hit the ground running. This is because this plan not only sends you around Kyoto but also tries to do it in a way that beats the crowds, which can be ridiculous at Kyoto’s biggest sights.

Day One – Arashiyama

Start your itinerary in this area packed with things to do while your feet are still in good shape! Arashiyama is in west Kyoto and easily reached by train. There are two central stations, Saga-Arashiyama and Arashiyama station, on the Randen line, and you can arrive at either of them for this plan.

Start at Arashiyama Bamboo Forest

As I explained in my post on how long to spend in Kyoto, one reason I suggest four days in Kyoto is to allow you to get to the big sights early and beat the crowds – and, if you want to visit the Instagram-famous Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, and have a remote chance of getting a picture like the one below, you’ll want to go here first – ideally before 8 am.

The forest isn’t that big, so if you do get here early and want to spend some time before the next stop on this plan, take a walk around Arashiyama Park at the end of the forest and the Observation Deck which gives you a look over the pretty Okochi Sanso Gorge. This is stunning in autumn – don’t miss it.

Japlanease Favorite: Otagi Nenbutsu-Ji

If the Bamboo Forest is not in your plans, start your day from this point. Find the closest bus stop to your station and jump on the 94 bus north for about 12-14 minutes to a shrine called Otagi Nenbutsu Ji.

This is my absolute favorite place in Kyoto.

Otagi-Nenbutsu Ji is a shrine full of tiny stone statues carved to look like tiny people – and every single one is different. Some are serious, but there are also statues with tennis rackets; one looks like it’s carrying a puppy, and there’s even one carrying a teddy bear if you look hard enough; they have different facial expressions and hand positions, and every time I visit, I spot something new. It’s wonderful. Do not miss it.

Once you’ve finished admiring the statues, walk south on the small road outside the temple.

Optional Stop: Adashino Nenbutsuji

After about 8 minutes of walking, you’ll reach a set of steps on your right. There is no sign, and you’ll just see a small gravel area, some bike parking, and a railing.

These steps lead you up to Adashino Nenbutsuji Temple. This temple contains 8000 carved statues that are dedicated to people who died without any relatives, and it is the burial place of over 1000 bodies. For this reason, they ask that you don’t take any pictures once inside the memorial area.

It’s also for that reason that I don’t really want to tell you the other thing that’s hidden in Adashino Nenbutsuji, but if I don’t, and you read about this on another blog, you’re going to think I don’t know what I’m talking about, so here goes.

There’s a bamboo forest in Adashino Nenbutsuji that’s much quieter than the one in Arashiyama.

If you visit, though, remember that Adashino Nenbutsuji is a spiritual place dedicated to the souls of people who died alone. So, see the bamboo; take a picture – but to respect the temple’s history, keep any full-on Instagram photo shoots for the other forest.

If you miss the steps to the temple, don’t worry; there’s another more obvious entrance a bit further down on the right. You also use this set of steps to head out of the shrine.

Keep Your Eyes Peeled

Now, keep going South, heading toward the point marked Saga Toriimoto Preserved Street on the map. Keep your eye out for a display case on your right-hand side – it contains a mini scene of tiny ‘egg’ people – the ‘eggs’ are silk cocoons, and the shop Adashino Mayumura nearby sells the figures.

You can see more about their designs, check opening hours, and find the location of their other store on the main street of Arashiyama on the Mayumura website.

There is also a most beautiful house down this street – the garden is stunning. Unfortunately, they now have signs outside asking you not to take photographs but to keep an eye out for it.

Optional Stop: Gio-ji

There are two moss temples in Kyoto – one of them, Kokedera, requires booking in advance, but the one close to where you are right now, Gioji is open to anyone.

The mossy carpet is beautiful year-round, but this is also a popular spot to see cherry blossoms and autumn leaves.

See more about opening hours and other details of Gioji temple.

If you’re not in a rush, you can visit many of the smaller shrines and temples scattered around this area for another hour or two.

Lunch Stop

If you’re hungry, there are a few restaurants in this area. I picked Tsure Zure, which has affordable soba dishes. It opens at 11am, if you feel like an early lunch.

Optional Stop: The Hair Shrine

Follow the road south and pass a small, unobtrusive shrine called Mikami-jinja. Its slightly dilapidated appearance is ironic as it’s a beauty shrine – people go there to pray for good hair!

This has probably taken up most of the morning, so when it comes to the afternoon, you have a couple of options on where to go next – trains, shops, or monkeys! You’re unlikely to get all three of these done – but you can probably fit in two of them.

The Train Option

Close to this point is Torokko Arashiyama Station – where you can board the Sagano Romantic Train.

This gives your feet a rest while you travel past a pretty gorge – in Autumn, the blue of the gorge and the red and yellow leaves make for a stunning scene.

The train becomes a Kyoto Must-See this time of year, and you must book train seats well in advance.

Try to snag seats on the right-hand side of the train going out, which have better views.

See more tips in our guide to going on the Sagano Romantic Train.

It doesn’t always get as booked out the rest of the time, but I’d still suggest booking the train in advance at other times, too, just so you don’t end up missing out – with this itinerary, I’d pick the departure around 1pm so you’re not rushing all of the above. If you get there early, you can walk through the park, where there’s an observation deck over the river, or grab some lunch.

The train takes about 25 minutes one way; at this point, you can take a boat back into Kyoto (on the Hozugawa River trip) or return on the train and get off at Saga Arashiyama to pick up the ‘shopping’ part of this plan.

The Monkey Option

If you have children, they might be looking for something less templey to do right now – and one answer would be the Itawaya Monkey Forest, which is about a 20-minute walk from where you’re standing.

To get here, you can either brave the crowds through the famous Bamboo Forest to get to the main street from which you can jump on the 92 bus, or walk to the Monkey Park. Or, to avoid the Bamboo crowds, follow the path through the park and head to the Togetsu-Kyoto Bridge. Cross the bridge, and you’ll find the monkey park.

While Japanese animal parks don’t always score highly for ethics, the monkeys aren’t caged in this park. The humans are – you walk in their natural habitat.

The park closes at 4 pm so ensure you arrive by 3 pm. If you need more advice, head to the Itawaya Monkey Park website.

The Main Street Option

Arashiyama ‘s main street has a lot to offer – shops, cute cafes, more shrines and temples. You can easily spend 1-2 hours wandering up and down. Some of the highlights not to miss include Tenryu-ji temple, the pretty Kimono Forest art installation, and the Miffy Bakery, or Rilakkuma Tea House, for adorable snacks.

You might also want to try the Instagrammable cloud cakes at Kumonocha Cafe – note these do sell out by mid-afternoon, so if this is a must-see for you, shuffle things around to go as close to their 10 am opening time as possible.

Japlanease Pick: Station Footbath

By now, chances are your feet could do with a little TLC – and bizarrely, Arashiyama Station is the perfect place for this. It has a footbath on the platform – you buy your ticket at the ticket office, and they’ll give you a souvenir towel so you can dry off before you head back on your way.

There’s something really fun about sitting on the side of the bath, feet in the warm water, watching the trains come and go.

Evening Plans: Menbaka Fire Ramen

It’s an easy bus ride (take the no93)from Arashiyama to one of the most fun dining experiences in Kyoto – Menbaka Fire Ramen, so I’d suggest heading here once you’ve finished sightseeing. You can’t book here, so the earlier you arrive, the better.

As the name suggests, this combines fire and ramen – why would you not want to do that? They do vegetarian and vegan versions, too.

Here’s where to find more details about Menbaka Fire Ramen. Their address is 757-2, Minamiiseyacho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto-Shi, Kyoto.

Day Two – Higashiyama

My second favorite place in Kyoto; this area frustrates me when it’s crowded and delights me when I find one of the less busy spots away from everyone – and there are many of them.

There are two ways to start this part of the itinerary. If you want pictures of the pretty streets of Higashiyama without hundreds of people on them, you need to be in position before 8am.

The picture everyone wants (above) with the Pagoda in the background and the stone street leading down to it can be taken in the area by the Campton Kiyomizu Hotel. If you want it to look like that, you must be early – note that the street lighting is still on in the shot below!!!

After you’ve snapped your pics, head to our next stop…

Start at Kiyomizu-dera

One of Kyoto’s most important temples, this is famous for its expansive deck that looks over the city – and the fact that it was built completely without nails.

It opens at 6 am, and while you might not need to get there quite that early to beat the crowds, I strongly suggest getting here by 8 am to beat most people. It gets immensely crowded.

There are a lot of fun little touches at Kiyomizu dera, including a completely dark room containing a stone. The idea is that you walk through the dark to the stone – if you manage to touch it, your wishes will be granted.

Also, look for the Jishu shrine – two stones that predict the success of your love life depending on whether you manage to walk between them with your eyes closed, and the Otowa Waterfall, a spring that is said to make you live longer, give you success, or help you find love, if you drink from one of its three streams – make sure you pick the right one and note it’s not the done thing to drink from all three!

As you look at the waterfall in this picture, the one on the left is for success at school, the middle is for longevity, and the right is for success in love. You walk behind the stream to drink, so if you want success, go to the furthest stream; for longevity, go to the middle and, for love, pick the one closest to you when you enter the drinking area.

Higashiyama Wandering

Kiyomizudera ticked off; you can now spend the rest of the day wandering Higashiyama. Some of the sights to see include …

Sanneizaka and Nineizaka slopes – these streets are lined with shops in pretty wooden buildings. They do get very busy as the day goes on, so take your time and go with it – some of the shops you might want to stop in include the tatami mat Starbucks, Donguri Kyowakoku, which is a great place to stock up on Ghibli-souvenirs, Kumonocha for those viral cloud cakes (if you missed them yesterday) and Kameyama for pretty chopsticks. Here are some other great shop suggestions.

Hokan-ji Gojunoto – aka Yasaka Pagoda – an iconic Kyoto photo stop. If you’ve seen the ice cream covered in noodle-like chestnut paste on Instagram, you can buy one on the corner of the square to the left of the pagoda.

Kodaji: Home to a small bamboo forest and some pretty buildings.

Nene-no-Michi – a road lined with cute old wooden buildings.

And a whole load of other things I haven’t highlighted here. The joy of walking around Hagashiyama is taking it slow, letting the crowds wash over you, poking your nose into small shrines and gardens, and seeing what’s in shops. If you rush, rush, rush, you’ll end up over it very soon – not least, as there are a lot of hills, steps, and cobbles that can take it out of you!

Japlanease Picks

As well as the above, here are a few places in Higashiyama that I love… and that you might want to stop by as you wander.

Yasaka Koshindo – aka the pom pom temple. Look how cute it is – if you’re collecting the temple stamps called goshuin, the one here contains an image of the three monkeys that guard the temple.

You can also buy a pom pom, write your wishes on it, and hang it on the shrine – and maybe, just maybe, one of the monkeys might grant your wish.

Ryozen Kannon: I had had enough of crowds by the time I got to this quiet temple, but it completely revived me. It’s dedicated to fallen soldiers, and the giant Kannon is a sight to behold – but it also has a moving area for lost children, some giant Buddha footprints, and a power stone that, if you walk around it three times while touching it is said to grant the wish you make (just in case the monkeys don’t come up with the goods).

Koda-ji Tenmangu: Just before you enter Kodaji, you’ll spot these cute little figures: Hideyoshi and Nene. They were a couple in the 17th century, and while Hideyoshi was incredibly powerful, it’s Nene we’re interested in as, when her husband died, to keep her family safe, she went to his sworn enemy and said she was going to retire to Kyoto and be a nun – and she built Kodaji Temple to do so!

Hideyoshi and Nene are another of the power stones in Kyoto; you are supposed to touch them with your right hand or both hands to make merit.

Here’s where to find our full guide to finding all of the lucky statues around Higashiyama.

Day Three: Fushimi Inari and Gion

Today, it is time to explore some more famous Kyoto sights and try some of Kyoto’s fantastic food.

Start at Fushimi Inari

Fushimi Inari is another Kyoto show stopper – the temple with the thousands of scarlet torii gates. It’s about a 20-minute train ride out of Kyoto – and again, you’ll want to get here early to try and beat the crowds.

It’s open 24 hours, so go as early as you can.

It takes 2-3 hours to walk to the top of Fushimi Inari and back down again, but you don’t need to go right to the top or spend that long here to get a feel for the place.

It’s easy to combine a day trip to Nara with a trip to Fushimi-Inari, or, if you want to keep with Kyoto, jump on the Keihan Line line back to Gojo Shijo station and take a short walk to Nishiki Market.

Top 10 Sight: Nishiki Market

Food stalls line both sides of the narrow 400-metre pathway that makes up Nishiki Market, and you can sample everything from freshly cooked shellfish to tiny cakes shaped like hedgehogs.

The market’s ‘do you dare eat this’ dish is a tiny octopus coated in sweet sauce on the stick – whose head is filled with a quail egg. The octopus was fine, but as I hate boiled eggs, the inside bit was more taxing.

You can try all sorts of dishes here – but remember it’s not the done thing to eat and walk in Japan so once you purchase an item, stay by the stall at which you bought it to consume it – some of them have little seating areas for you to stop at while you eat.

You can also buy foodie gifts or souvenirs like knives or chopsticks here.

Japlanease Pick: (This is) Shizen

Close to Nishiki Market (about a 10-minute walk away) is Kyoto’s current must-visit foodie place (This is) Shizen.

This is a flower shop, but they also have a cafe that sells ice creams – these are the most beautifully decorated creations you’ve ever seen. They’re almost too pretty to eat.

Image by (This is) Shizen, used with permission.

Called the Ice Bouquet, you order them by color – with the different colored flowers being made from different types of fruits and vegetables, from red bean paste to sweet potato, pumpkin, or strawberry.

They also offer a vegan version.

Find their opening times and full location details at the (This is) Shizen website. Their address is Japan, 〒604-8172 Kyoto, Nakagyo Ward, Banocho, 586-2 新風館 1階 THISIS)SHIZEN.

Top 10 Sight: Gion

Gion is the Geisha District of Kyoto, so you ideally want to head here around 6pm to maximize your chance of seeing a geisha or maiko on their way to work. Remember not to bother them or take pictures if you do.

Note – from April, some areas around Gion are going to be off-limits to tourists – check out our guide to what’s happening, and why.

Some of the main sights around here include Shirakawa Dori, named Kyoto’s Prettiest Road, and the Yasaka Shrine, which is best seen at dusk as this is when the many lanterns in the shrine are lit.

Also, look out for the Utsukushigozen Shrine in the complex; the water here is said to give you beautiful skin if you rub it on.

Japlanease Picks

Take a Geisha Tour: If you want to learn more about geisha culture, you might want to take one of the evening tours – I did the Gion Night Walk, which takes just under two hours – and is extremely wallet-friendly – and I learned a lot.

Visit a Quirky Restaurant: There are plenty of places to eat around Gion, but for something a bit out of the ordinary, visit Issen Yoshoku, aka the Doll Restaurant.

They serve just one dish, a kind of pancake filled with beef, egg, shrimp, and green onions, but you’ll dine at your table with a life-sized geisha doll. No, I have no idea why, either!

Climb through the Love Stone: Tucked away in the southern part of Gion, is the Yasui Kompira shrine – and this strange-looking stone which is said to bless your relationships if you climb through the hole in the middle.

If you come here during the day, you’ll likely find a queue of people trying to climb through it, but in the evening, few people are around. Just ensure you go through it the right way – front to back is to bless a relationship, back to front is to say goodbye to one.

Oh, and watch out, the tunnel is quite small – I sent my friend Kendall through it on our trip, or I might still be stuck in there.

Day Four: Temples and Tea

You still have two of Kyoto’s must-see experiences to tick off, and this is the day you can do them – and a few other less well-known things if you have the energy – after all, you’ve packed in a lot so far!

Start at: Kinkaku-ji Temple

Also known as the Golden Pavilion, the two tiers of this pretty shrine on a lake are covered in gold leaf. You can’t go inside the building; you walk around outside – for that reason, in my (possibly controversial) opinion, if you don’t have time to see all of Kyoto’s must-see sights, this is the one I’d drop purely because it’s a bit out of the way and it just looks like the pictures!

However, the rest of this day’s plan does make the most of coming out here.

From here, you can decide on two options.

The Traditional Plan

This covers some of the other main Kyoto sights. From Kinkaku-ji, you can walk in 20 minutes to the Zen Garden temple Ryoan-ji. Then, jump on a bus – the 15 or 50 both do this journey- and stop at Nijo Castle.

The Fun Plan!

This is what I would do with the rest of the morning…

Yokai Street

The first time I came to Kyoto, this was one of the main reasons for doing so – and if you have children, they’ll love it.

Yokai Street is a local shopping street lined with small statues of monsters. The story goes that this area was once haunted by the spirits of thrown-away objects that caused chaos, and it was only when some priests intervened that the problems stopped – and now those who live and work, on the street display models of the monsters to pay tribute.

The real name for Yokai Street is Taishogun Street, and it’s a 25-minute walk or a 12-15-minute bus ride from Kinkuku-ji. Make sure you go here when the shops are open as the statues are not outside 24-7 – some of the restaurants also do monster-themed foods like black dumplings.

For more details, take a look at Japlanease’s sister blog, Differentville, where we have a whole post on the monsters of Yokai Street.

Daruma Temple

A 10-minute walk or bus ride from Taishogun Street is another of my favorite places in Kyoto – Darumadera, aka the Daruma Shrine.

Daruma are dolls given for good luck; this tiny shrine contains hundreds of them.

Daruma are sold with two white eyes. You make a wish and color in one of the eyes – and, if your wish comes true, you then color in the second eye – judging by the large number of double-eyed Daruma at the temple, they are pretty good at the wish-granting here.

If you’re collecting goshuin, the one here is also very cool – they don’t draw it in your book; you get a printed sheet, but it’s super cute.

Take a Tea Ceremony

I think mid-afternoon on your last day is the perfect time to take in the Kyoto tradition of a tea ceremony.

The job of the tea ceremony is to relax you, to take your mind off the worries of the world and, I think it’s better to do one at the end of your trip as you’re not sitting there thinking ‘but we’ve still got five temples and a market to visit’ instead of relaxing.

With everything ticked off your list -and probably aching feet, you’ll appreciate sitting down and chilling out a lot more than if you did this first thing on your trip.

There are tea ceremonies all over Kyoto, so choose one near your hotel, where you want to spend the evening, or anywhere you still have a few other sights to see.

I tried the Ju An Tea Ceremony at Jotokuji Temple, which mixes learning about the ceremony with the chance to make your own cup of matcha – which is harder than you might think (see our post on the tea ceremony for more details). I enjoyed it because it wasn’t too formal and was also on the budget end of the spectrum.

Evening: Pontocho

Spend your last night in Kyoto in this dining district. Either make a reservation to viral sensation Kichi Kichi Omurice or see what takes your fancy from one of the many other bars and restaurants that line this pretty road.

Are You in Kyoto in Cherry Blossom Season?

In that case, you will want to add the Philosopher’s Path to this plan. The rest of the year, it’s a peaceful walk along a stream with some interesting shrines along the way – it’s nice, but if you only have four days, it’s also something you might not have time to do.

However, in cherry blossom season, it’s a pretty walk teaming with pink blossoms, although it’s perhaps a little less peaceful at this point.

The best point to add this to your itinerary is either the afternoon of day four or if you don’t mind, a long day; add it as part of exploring Higashiyama.

So, there you have it, our suggestion on the best way to spend four days in Kyoto. If you have any questions, head over to our Facebook Group and I, or one of the other members, can help you out.