Day 7 ~ Arashiyama

Arashiyama is one of Kyoto's most visited attractions.  

We took Bus No. 63 from Kawaramachi Sanjo bus stop (located just outside of our Kyoto hotel) and alighted at Kokedera Suzumusidera bus stop. 

As expected, crowds of tourists and locals were already flocking the streets of Arashiyama.  We decided to head fast to the Bamboo Groove before the crowd starts pouring in some more.

The Bamboo Groove (aka., Sagano Bamboo forest) gives out a dreamy vibe, but the volume of visitors ruins the moment.  I would love to go back, with less tourists in sight to simply enjoy the moment.   

Despite the crowd, still all that green is such a pleasure to our eyes!

From the Bamboo Groove we made way to Tenryu-Ji Temple which was built in the 1300s.  The temple's status was elevated to a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.  

The temple looks out to a garden and a pond.  

We had lunch at one of the restaurants lining the main street of Arashiyama before heading to the Monkey Park to see some Japanese Macaques.   

Togetsu-kyo Bridge located in the center of Arashiyama.  It is a wooden bridge with 400 years of history behind it.  It crosses the Katsura River. 

We crossed the bridge and started our ascend to the Monkey Park.

Note: 

The entrance to the Monkey Park is near the bridge, but the ascend takes about 30-minutes and requires a bit of stamina and will power.  The way up is not for the faint of heart and I would not recommend for senior adults as the steps are steep and there are slippery portions without many railings to hold onto. 

Can you guess, which of my boys enjoyed this experience the most?

The workout going up was worth it.  Though I don't think I would want to walk up again anytime soon.

We went back to base (at the Cross Hotel in Kyoto) to relax and refresh a bit before heading out again to watch a theatre show, "GEAR".   It is a non-verbal show, so there were no issues not knowing how to speak Japanese.  The Gear theater is about 3 mins walk from our hotel.

We had dinner first, before heading to the Gear Theater.

For more of the show, check out Gear's website by clicking this link: Gear

After the show, we grabbed sweets, before heading back to our hotel.

This ends Day 7 of our Nagoya-Kyoto adventure.

Planning a trip to Kyoto-Nagoya? Check our Day 1 to 6  itinerary, links below:

Day 1 and 2 ~ Nagoya, Takayama and Shirakawa-go

Day 3 ~ Nagoya City Tour

Day 4 ~ Inuyama Day Tour

Day 5 ~ Off to Kyoto (Part 1)

Day 5 ~ Kiyomizu dera

Day 6 ~ Fushi Inari and Toei Studio Theme park

Day 6 ~ Fushi Inari & Toie Studio, Kyoto Japan

Today's itinerary is a quick trip to Fushi Inari and playing Samurais at Toei Kyoto Studio Park.

We were hoping for an early day's start.  The plan was to reach Fushi Inari early to beat the crowd. Well, that did not happen though. It was already so crowded when we got there, it wasn't really fun anymore.  

At Fushi Inari Shrine ~ there were so many people an ascend is unlikely. We managed to steal a few shots but decided to proceed to our next agenda soon after.

Toei Kyoto Studio Park is trip to Japan's Edo Era.  We have visited an Edo Period theme park during 2016 Nikko visit and my boys all had a blast!  So, I am pretty hyped for our today's agenda.

Here is the link to my blog on Edo Wonderland, if you are also interest in ~ Edo Wonderland Nikko.

Edo is the former name of Tokyo and the seat of power from 1603 to 1868.  To us Edo is the old mystical Japan ~ the world of Ninjas, Geishas and Samurai. 

Hubby and I went crazy over the variety of costumes choices and with an Edo town as a backdrop.  We were like children let loosed in Disneyland, but in character!

Honestly, this is the most fun we have had so far in Japan.  If you are planning to dress up in tradition Japanese attire, we highly recommend Toei Studio.

There were plenty of other things to do at Toie Studio.  While there try to catch the Ninja/Samurai Show and see the impressive collection of life-sized anime superheroes at Super Sentai x Kamen Rider Gallery.  There is something for everyone.

Ninja/Samurai Show

Super Sentai x Kamen Rider Gallery

Check the Toei Studio website here for theme park details: Toei Studio Themepark.

TIPS: 

• The park is easy to reach.  We took Bus No. 63 from Kawaramachi Sanjo bus stop (located just outside of our Kyoto hotel) and alighted at Uzumasa Eigamura Mae bus stop.  It is about a 40 mins ride by bus at Y230 each.     

• Drop by their souvenir shops. There are so many "kawaii" trinkets and even Kyoto sweets sold at competitive prices compared to those in Nagoya. Buy Yatsuhashi (sweets made of a sweet bean paste sandwiched in soft dough shaped into a triangle; they come in all sorts of flavors, such as green tea, chocolate, strawberry, banana, etc.).   Our personal favorite of course is the matcha favored ones.

• All the walking around the park will leave you hungry.  There are plenty of themed restaurants inside the park.  For lunch we opted for Chanbara Restaurant located at the Padios.

A quick stop at Kawaramachi Shopping Center

This is a gem, found many of this in Japan (this one located at Kawaramachi Shopping Center) ~ change your local bills into Yen.  

It is so easy to use and with English translation too.   We tried it on loose USD bills, rates comparable to ATM withdrawals and over the counter exchange transactions.

Planning a trip to Kyoto-Nagoya? Check our Day 1 to 5 itinerary, links below:

Day 1 and 2 ~ Nagoya, Takayama and Shirakawa-go

Day 3 ~ Nagoya City Tour

Day 4 ~ Inuyama Day Tour

Day 5 ~ Off to Kyoto (Part 1)

Day 5 ~ Kiyomizu dera

DAY 5 ~ OFF TO KYOTO

Kyoto, I would say is where you should go if you want to experience the "real" traditional Japan.

We took an early Shinkansen from Nagoya to Kyoto (Booked via Smart -Ex website). We wanted to reach Kyoto early to maximize our vacation.

   

Tip:  You can save a bit of cash by booking at least 2 weeks in advance and choose the Kodama trains (which offers discounted tickets by as much as Y500/pax on ordinary seats and Y2000/pax on green seats).  The Kodama trains have more stops, compared to the other trains, "Hikari and Nozomi (but only by about 20 minutes Nagoya-Kyoto route)".

Riding the Kodama Train 

 

From Kyoto Station, we used the Karasuma Line, alighted at Oike Station then transferred to Tozai Line going to Sanjo Keihan Station.  Cross Hotel our home in Kyoto is about 400 meters walk from the station.  It was a bit of walking, but this hotel is very convenient when taking the bus (which we will be using for the majority of our Kyoto adventure).   

This stream is just outside our hotel...

We love Cross Hotel Kyoto.  It is very near the Nishi Market for some serious shopping, Potoncho alley lined with restaurants and the beautiful Kamo river.

The peaceful Kamo River, you would want to jump in and wade through its clean-clean water. 

At Cross Hotel Kyoto's lobby-lounge, enjoying complimentary coffee while we rest our tired feet from the day's walk.

More of Kamo River... I can spend hours here just chillaxing and watching the birds while sipping some freshly brewed coffee.

 

 Part 1 of our Day 1 in Kyoto ends here.

Follow Part 2 ~ as we head to Kiyomizu-dera

and all things matcha (drinks, snacks and desserts).

If you missed our Day 1-4, check the links below:

Day 1 and 2 ~ Nagoya, Takayama and Shirakawa-go

Day 3 ~ Nagoya City Tour

Day 4 ~ Inuyama Day Tour