Hi! I’m writing another post in continuation from my previous post here. Still in Kyoto, there are a lot of beautiful places to see the fall foliage and this time I’ll take you to see Kyoto in Autumn: Arashiyama area. This area is really famous, touristy, and therefore I guarantee you it’s going to be really crowded. I suggest you to go really early in the morning to avoid crowd.
First stop: Jojakkoji (常寂光寺)
Jojakkoji might be one of the famous temple for its fall foliage. The temple is located at Arashiyama area and was founded on 1596.
English address: 3 Saga Ogurayama-cho, Ukyo-ku
Japanese address: 右京区嵯峨小倉山町3
Opening hours: 9:00am-5:00pm, last entry 4:30pm
Admission: ¥400
You’ll need to walk around 15-20 minutes from Arashiyama station to reach this temple.
The most famous spot of this temple is the 12-m high pagoda which is surrounded by the trees in Arashiyama mountain. Also, Jojakkouji is located at the mountain slope, so you can see most of Arashiyama area from this temple.
This temple get pretty crowded during autumn, so you might want to go early in the morning.
Kyoto in Autumn: Arashiyama
From Jojakkoji, I walked to Arashiyama Togetsukyo area by foot. It was around 20 minutes walk, but it was not too hot or too cold, so I was fine. Togetsukyo (the area with the river and the bridge) is the most crowded area in Arashiyama, but it’s also were the food street is, so I walked there to get some snack and snapped some pictures.
Second stop: Hogonin 宝厳院
I stumbled across this temple when I passed through Tenryuuji Temple in Arashiyama. Tenryuuji temple is one of the UNESCO temple and it’s always crowded with tourist. I went there once and therefore I’m not going there again. So I passed the temple and I found out about Hogon-in. This temple is the sub-temple of Tenryuuji temple and located just right behind Tenryuuji temple. If you check on your google maps, you’ll find it right away.
Address: 36 sagatenryujisusukinobaba-cho, ukyo-ku, kyouto-shi, kyouto 616-8385
京都府京都市右京区嵯峨天龍寺芒ノ馬場町36
The temple is famous for its garden called Shishiku no Niwa which literally means garden of Lion’s roar. This garden cleverly use Arashiyama as its background. You can find a lot of trees, moss-covered ground, and different types of rock in this garden. You’ll need to pay 600¥ to get access to the temple and the garden
The temple opens from 9:00 to 17:00, however, during the autumn season, they light-up their garden and you can see it until 20:30.
This temple is way quieter and less people compared to Tenryuuji and Arashiyama bamboo forest. I suggest you come here instead if you want to avoid people and still enjoy the autumn’s beauty.
That wraps up my first day in Kyoto last year. I spent 2 days in Kyoto last year and on the next post, I’ll take you to Eastern part of Kyoto. It was also beautiful and I’ll introduce some places to you too.
See you at the next post and your comments are always loved <3