Kinkakuji at nine, Arashiyama in the afternoon. The day finishes outdoors.
Kinkakuji opens at nine and is busiest by ten. The west of Kyoto ends in a bamboo grove and a river, so the day finishes outdoors.
09:00 Kinkakuji, at opening · 10:30 Ryoanji — fifteen stones and white gravel · 12:00 lunch near Ninnaji · 14:00 Arashiyama — the bamboo grove · 15:00 Tenryuji garden · 16:30 the river at Togetsukyo, or the monkeys on the hill
A pavilion covered in gold leaf, standing at the edge of a pond that reflects it. Twenty minutes away is a garden with nothing in it but fifteen stones.
Two floors in gold leaf. The pond is placed to double it.
Fifteen stones, and from no single place can you see all fifteen.
A five-storey pagoda, and late cherry trees that flower after the rest have gone.
The garden is meant to be looked at from the veranda, sitting. Ten minutes on the boards is the whole visit.
A path through bamboo tall enough to close over your head. It is short — four hundred metres — and the garden beside it is the older thing.
Kinkakuji to Arashiyama is about forty minutes. Buses run from the temple; trains run from Emmachi on the JR line. A day pass covers either.
A place can be better known than the prefecture it sits in. Use the prefecture pages below to work out where to eat, where to stay, how to get around and who to call.
