After our fun-filled week in Kyoto, we packed our suitcases and took the Shinkansen to Kyoto! It was a short (15 minute train ride) and smooth journey, and I’m sure my dad was secretly very impressed with the excellent train system of Japan. 😏
We booked a 2 bedroom Airbnb in Kyoto that was very conveniently located within walking distance to many popular spots, like the Nishiki Market. We dropped our bags off right around lunch time and hurried over to the market to save our hungry tummies. With so many stalls of delicious snacks and food, it’s always very difficult to make decisions, but the great thing about traveling with a group is that we can share everything!
Kyoto is a special place year round, but it is definitely extra special during the spring and autumn seasons. There’s so much history and culture to this city, and we probably could spend an entire month there and still not run out of things to see and do. With just a few days this time, we had to be very selective on what spots to hit. Alan and I had been to Kyoto before, but it was Bridge, my parents, and uncle James’ first visit. We decided to start off our first full day in the Gion district, specifically at the famous Starbucks that’s housed in one of the traditional wooden machiya merchant houses that Gion is known for. Unfortunately for us, this popular destination was fully packed even early in the morning, and we weren’t able to find a seat so we abandoned the idea and found a cute little shop/restaurant nearby where we had Japanese curry rice for breakfast instead!
With so few people on the streets in the early morning, Bridge and I also did an impromptu photoshoot!
Lunch that day was a special meal I had booked to pre-celebrate my mom’s birthday together. We dined at Mouriya Gion restaurant, a kobe beef steakhouse that is well known in Kyoto. We sat at the bar and watched in absolute fascination as the chefs prepared the perfect piece of beef in front of us, teppanyaki style. It was a wonderful dining experience, and I’d definitely recommend this to all beef lovers!
Kiyomizu-zaka is the street that leads up to the Kiyomizudera, the famous Buddhist temple that’s also known for its magnificent autumn foliage. It’s a fun street to stroll through, with its many shops selling souvenirs, sweets, and cute trinkets. But beware, it gets SUPER crowded with many large tour groups all around. The autumn foliage was just in its beginning stages, but it was still so beautiful!
We also took a day trip to famous Arashiyama Bamboo Grove and lucked out with very minimal crowds. We passed by the Tenryu-ji temple on the way and I’m so glad we took a detour to walk the grounds because the autumn foliage there was spectacular!
Just a few more pics of our fam bam in Kyoto….
We rented a minivan on the last day and drove my parents and Uncle James back to Osaka for their flight to Hong Kong, then spent an extra two days in Kyoto which I’ll blog about in the next post!
