March 2025

My parents & I went on a trip together! It’s been 10 years since my travel bug started – I went on a trip with my parents to New York City in 2015 and you can read the blog here. What a full circle! It was a good trip with my parents. Cheers to more memories with them.

We were in Japan for 7 days total, well I guess 6.5 days if you want to count part of it for travel day. We went to Kyoto and Tokyo, and had a little bit more time in Kyoto. Ofcourse, 7 days is NOT enough in Japan. You definitely need 10 days minimum, or even 14 days minimum to see the “major” things.

I have listed the places of things to see and do, and places to eat in alphabetical order. I also added some photos & information below the list that I have experienced.

How to Get Around Kyoto (Japan in General)
Tons of walking and taking the local trains/subways! Bring good walking shoes, because you will walk sooooo much. The trains/subways are easy to navigate with Google Maps! Google Maps is very helpful, because it tells you what platform to go to and the train # to go into (so that you can exit out faster to your destination). It also tell you each stops and the numbers as well.

For the local trains/subways, they use the “Suica Card” which you can get a physical card from the machines – make sure to have cash. Or you can get the “Suica Card” on your Apple Wallet and add money in as you go. I personally thought the Apple Wallet method was really convenient to use. If you are not tech savvy or want the physical suica card as a souvenir, then yes, go that route 🙂

There are other types of transportation methods such as the Go Taxi App, Limousine Bus, and, Shinkansen (bullet train), and more!

We landed at Osaka Airport and used the limousine bus to get to Kyoto Station. It was about an hour and a half ride. Once you exit out of the airport, you go to the Bus area and I bought the tickets at the ticket booth. They have different limousine buses that go to different areas and since I was going to Kyoto station, it was stall #8. The limousine bus comes every 30 minutes. The workers will load your luggages and will give you a ticket number for you to keep so that you can claim your luggages once you are at your destination. They will also unload the luggages for you too.

To get from Kyoto to Tokyo, we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) and it was a little over a two hour ride…it was VERY fast. If you drive, it would take about six hours with no traffic. Japan’s transportation system is amazing and CLEAN too. We bought the tickets online here. Make sure to keep record of your Membership ID because you will need that to log in to get your tickets via Apple Wallet. I am sure there are other ways to get your ticket, but this is how we did it for ours. I will say, the website is not super clear, but I was able to get the hang of it. You can show up to the station maybe 20-30 minutes before boarding. We sat in “Car 3” and, on the left side to see the view of Mt. Fuji…however, I fell asleep and missed it 😦 I was very tired. That means I have to go back and see it! A thing to keep in mind is that, we only had two check in luggages and they were able to fit in the same row as us. There are ticket reservations for your luggages in the “oversize” area that you can book as well.

We used the Go Taxi App a few times and it was easy to use. It is like Uber or Lyft. You create your account, put your credit card information in, order the taxi and your credit card gets charged. Once the driver comes, you verify the license plate number (and you will know since the license plate are green), and you show them the number that displays on your phone and you are good to go!

Besides those transportations…it will be a lot of walking!

Where Did We Stay?
We stayed at Kyoto Cross Hotel and if you look it up on Google, it says 3 stars hotel…but no, I would rank this hotel a 4 or 5 star hotel. It was AMAZING. I would 1000% stay here again. The hotel was centrally located to everything and is a 5 minute walk to one of the local trains. When I booked this hotel, they asked me to pay prior to arriving, so I thought that was a bit different. We checked in through a monitor and you will need to scan your passport. There is a worker that is there if you need help, and he kindly upgraded our room to a bigger room, which was so nice. The only thing I needed to pay there was the tax. They also have free giveaway items for you to get if you need something such as: hairbrush, razor, hair ties, toothbrush/toothpaste, etc. They also have free coffee, water, tea down at the lobby too. And, they also have umbrellas for you to borrow if you need it!

In Japan, they have luggage services where you can ship your luggages from one city to another – that way you don’t need to lug it all around town! Some hotels do this too, and luckily, Cross Kyoto Hotel did! We were able to “ship” our other luggages from this hotel to our hotel stay in Tokyo. You go down to the front desk and tell them where you want the luggages shipped to and they will do it. They will measure the size of your luggages and then tell you the price. It cost us $34 USD for two check in luggages – totally worth in my opinion! The only thing is, they will need your luggage the day prior before 12pm, so if you decide to do this, pack a small bag so you can have something for overnight. This was a HUGE life saver, because imagine us traveling with four giant check in luggage from Kyoto to Tokyo…that is a lot of work haha!

The hotel was very clean and I was impressed with the service. Highly recommend this hotel if you are planning to visit Kyoto.

How was the weather?
We were here in mid-March and it was FREEZING. It was so cold! We had 3-4 layers on and were still very cold. It rained majority of the time we were there unfortunately. However, we did not let that stop us! When it did not rain, it was very cloudy. Also, we saw the beginning stages of the cherry blossoms and other flowers that were starting to bloom too. If you want to see the cherry blossoms, I would say go at the end of March or beginning of April.

What is the currency?
Japanese Yen! Make sure to have some cash with you because some places do not take card, especially the smaller shops/markets.

Things to Do/See
Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
Arashiyama Monkey Park
Day trip to Nara Deer Park
Fushimi Inari Taisha
Gion District
Hokanji Temple
Kimono Forest
Kimono Tea Ceremony
Kiyomizu-dera Temple
Otagi-Nembutsu-ji Temple
Night trip to Osaka/Dontonburi
Nishiki Market
Tenryu-ji Temple
Togetsukyō Bridge
Yasaka Kōshin-dō Temple

Things to Eat/Drink
7/11
10 Yen Pancake
Ippodo Tea Kyoto Main Store
Kamakura
Melon Bread
Omen – Shijo Ponto-cho Ramen
Wagyu Hokusai

Things to Do/See

Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
I would recommend to go very early in the morning so that you can enjoy this place in peace and quiet, without a lot of tourists. Also, so that you can get your photos without people being in the background. We arrived here around 8am and it was semi empty but there were a few people here and there. Once you pass the first part, turn left and keep going, there are more to the bamboo forest! We left about an hour later and it was really packed around 9am.

Arashiyama Monkey Park
There is a fee to go to this park, and it is about a 15-20 minute hike up to the monkey park. There are a lot of stairs and uphill, but take your time! There are a few benches along the way to sit if you get tired. Once you get up to the monkey park, you will see all of the monkeys roaming around freely. Do not crouch low to take pictures and if they show a certain face, it means that the monkey is either scared or angry. It was very cute to see the monkeys interact with one another and in their own element. You can also go inside the feeding area (extra fee) to feed the monkeys!

Day trip to Nara Deer Park
From our hotel, we took two different local subways to get to Nara Deer Park. Once you get off the station, you will walk a few blocks and you will start to see deers! There is a stall where you can buy crackers for 200 yen to feed the deers. We only saw one stall and hundreds of deers. It was a little scary at first to feed them, because they do come up to you, sniff you, and one of them even put their head to my mom’s back! Nonetheless, it was a fun experience.

If you have time after Nara Deer Park, stop by Todai-ji Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall) temple. It’s nearby and I wish we saw this place. It’s my fault for not researching thoroughly.

Fushimi Inari Taisha
This place is stunning!! The shrines are a lot bigger than I thought. I would recommend to come early in the morning. We got here around 8:30am and there was a small crowd of people. My mom and I hiked up to the mid-point and went back down. If you have a lot of time, you can go all the way up to see Mt. Inari. By the time we got back down around 10:00am, it was really crowded. I want to give my mom a shoutout, because she hiked up this place in converse and it rained a bit too! My mom is so strong 🙂

Gion District
We went here in the afternoon and it was crowded, but still enjoyable. There are a tons of stores, shops, etc. And it was nice to see the traditional Japanese houses. 

Hokanji Temple
We did not go inside, but we did see the temple at Gion district.

Kimono Forest
This is located at Arashiyama train/subway station (which also has food/stores too). We went during the day and there was two people here, so it was not crowded at all. It is free! It was pretty with all of the different colors and designs, and I am sure it looks more pretty at night when it lights up. There is also a “Pond of Dragon” and if you dip your hand in there, they say you will be filled with peace and happiness. The water was super cold (maybe cause of the cold weather that day too), but it felt nice. I hope that wish comes true for me!

Kimono Tea Ceremony
We did the Kimono Tea Ceremony Maikoya. My mom and I did not book in advance and showed up day of and luckily, there was an opening! However, since we got the last minute reservation, we did felt “rushed” to put on our kimonos. They rushed through the hair process as well. If you do not want to do the tea ceremony, there are other rental spots where they let you choose the design of your hair and all, and I am sure they will take their time. I did feel beautiful in the kimono though 🙂 You will put your items in a separate bag and they give you the bag number to remember, so you can claim it when you get back. Once you are done with the outfit change to the kimonos, there is a small little garden where you can take photos before the tea ceremony begins. The tea ceremony was insightful and fun. The real Japanese tea ceremony takes 4 hours! But ofcourse, this experience was 1.5 hours. It was insightful and fun! The matcha tea was very good too. After the tea ceremony, you can take more photos – I was not sure if we were able to walk around the block and take more photos, but we just stayed near the tea house. Then, you go back to the changing area and you are done.

Kiyomizu-dera Temple
This temple is all the way at the top/”end” of Gion District and it has a nice view that overlooks Kyoto. We visited this area towards the end of the day and the temple was going to close in 45 minutes so we did not pay to go inside the temple. This is a very crowded area so I guess go early if you want to see it “empty”.

Otagi-Nenbutsu-ji Temple
I would recommend to take a taxi to this temple because it is a bit further out of the Arashiyama neighborhood. It was not crowded at all and we went closer to lunchtime. The temple costs 500 yen. It was a calming temple and it was so cool to see all of the different statues. There are over a thousand of them! I really liked this temple a lot, it was unique!

Night trip to Osaka/Dotonburi
If you have time, you can do a day trip to Osaka! It was about a 1 hour train ride and it was a bit slower because we went at night. There are faster trains during the day. We went to Dotonburi and wow, I thought the other places in Kyoto was crowded…no, Osaka/Dotonburi is even more crowded. I was a little overwhelmed with how many people there were. But I guess, more people come out at night to see all of the city lights. There are a lot of shops and food places to eat at!

Nishiki Market
This place is a bit touristy and the prices are a bit high! We mainly browsed and tried one of the shrimp spots – it was good, but still haha.

Tenryu-ji Temple
This temple is located at the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and it costs 500 yen per person. This temple was nice because it had a big garden. This place will look VERY pretty during spring when all of the flowers are bloomed!

Togetsukyō Bridge
This is a nice viewspot of the bridge and the water. Feel free to walk over it to explore more – we did, to get to Arashiyama Monkey Park.

Yasaka Kōshin-dō Temple
We stumbled upon this temple walking through Gion District to go up to Kiyomizu-dera Temple. It is a very small temple and it was very crowded. I am not sure if people read the sign, but it said to pray first then take photos. Luckily, I saw the sign and did that 🙂 The colorful small balls of fabric makes this place popular for photos. The temple is dedicated to a warrior and three wise monkeys.

Things to Eat/Drink
7/11
I went to so many 7/11s to grab the famous egg sandwich, strawberry sandwich, Japanese rice balls, and many other snacks! The strawberry sandwich was my favorite besides the Japanese rice balls (tuna flavor, yum!). It was easy and convenient.

10 Yen Pancake
This was so tasty! We ordered two of the pancakes, one with cheese filling, and the other with matcha filling. Both were good, but if I had to pick one, I think the cheese filling was better. Ah, typing this out makes me want it again! 10/10! See what I did there? 😉

Ippodo Tea Kyoto Main Store
After the kimono tea ceremony, we wanted to try some matcha tea and this store is not a pick up and go. You have to sit down, enjoy the matcha and then you are free to go. If you do not want a matcha drink in that moment, you can also buy tea bags and other souvenirs and leave. The matcha drink was very good and we also got the matcha latte to try as well, and it was nice too. Service was good. For two of these drinks, it was $11 USD.

Kamakura
This is a ramen chain and I had this in Nara. It was so cheap! I think it was less than $8 for a big bowl! I sat at the bar facing the workers, and man, they work so hard! It was nice to see them cooking the food live. The ramen was a bit plain but it was good and filling! You pay at the machine after you’re done eatting. I’ve seen other chains, where you pay ahead of time on the machine and then go sit and eat.

Melon Bread
I had the melon bread in Osaka at Dontonburi and wow, this was soooo good. We had the melon bread with vanilla ice cream and wow, the texture was so soft and the flavor was so good. It was 500 yen. I want another one!

Omen – Shijo Ponto-cho
There was a long wait for this one, maybe about 30-45 minutes, which does not seem long, but the waiting area is only outside and it was cold for us…yeah, it was a long wait. I got the dipping udon and my parents got the regular udon set and we enjoyed the meal. Not sure if I would wait 30-45 minutes again for this place.

Wagyu Hokusai
This was my FAVORITE meal in Kyoto! Ugh, the meat was delicious! The meal comes in a box set and you get to choose the rice portion, I picked small, but wished I picked medium cause it was so good. We each got something different to try the different meats and the wagyu and kobe beef did not disappoint. We came at a good time because there was no wait. There seem to be only 1 server at the time we went. The menu is on the table and when you are ready to order, you can ring the bell, and they will take your order. Once you are done with the meal, you pay at the machine. By the time we left, there was a wait so we came at a perfect time.

Overall, Kyoto was amazing! I love how calm it is there and not as crowded (as Osaka or Tokyo). I want to add something here for my memory. I went to the local Family Mart twice and the first time I went, the cash register immediately asked me for my race and I told him I was Vietnamese and he said “Xin Chao” which means “Hello” and I was like aww! I don’t think the cash register was Japanese, since he told me he was in Japan to study. Then, I came back on another day, and he remembered me and I remembered him, and told him “Cam On” which is “Thank You” in Vietnamese and we smiled. It was a nice quick little interaction! It is good to know a lot of basic words in other languages. I miss meeting people all around the world!

After Kyoto, we went to Tokyo and you can read about that here. 

As always, thank you for visiting Vivian’s Ventures. Have you been to Kyoto? If so, tell me in the comments/reply section about your experience. What should I do if I go back? If you haven’t been, tell me what you are planning to do there. Any questions or comments, let me know. Let’s chat! #viviansventures