Kyoto Day Trip plans

Hi,

I am planning to go to Kyoto from Osaka for a day trip. Here is my planned itinerary:
Taking train from Osaka to Kyoto and alighting at Tofukuji and walk around the area. After which, walk to Fushimi Inari Shrine. Next visiting Arashiyama and probably slot in Nishiki Market? Lastly, to visit Gion.

Would want to visit Nishiki Market very much but have no idea where should I slot in. Can someone give me advices on where I should head to first, based on the places I would want to visit? Thank you! Would appreciate if someone could let me know what are the food I would need to try in Kyoto and the more famous temples/places I should visit. Thank you! It's my first time to Japan, will head there in May! :)

Fushimi Inari, Tofujuki, Gion and the market are all within 10 minutes train ride of each other.

Arashiyama is 45ish minutes away on the other side of town.

If coming from Osaka, I would take the Keihan line to Fushi Inari and aim to arrive at 7am to beat the crowd.
Then again the Keihan line to Tofujuki, 2 minutes for Tofujuki.
Then Keihan line to Gion-Shijo, 6 minutes for Gion and markets.
Then Hankyu line to Shijo-Omiya and tranfer to Keifuku "Randen" line, arriving at Arashiyama for Arashiyama.
Then Hankyu line to Osaka.

All these can easily be viewed on google maps. A Kansai thru pass would best suit this itinerary.

This itineray can also be done in reverse...

Actually, I just did some calculations, A Kansai Thru pass does not pay off for this day. There is not 1733/2000 yen worth of travel.

Hi Gina,

I agree with Hakata's posts above... just wanted to chime to say personally I would start with Arashiyama, then stop at Nishiki market on your way across town to Gion. You can reach Arashiyama easily from Osaka on the Hankyu line (changing at Katsura), and also use Hankyu line from Arashiyama to get to Nishiki (changing at Katsura again). From Nishiki you walk over the river to Gion (I'd make a little detour to check out Pontocho alley too); then from Gion, take Keihan line to Tofukuji and do your walk as planned from Tofukuji to Fushimi Inari. Finally, from Fushimi Inari you can easily return to Osaka on either JR or Keihan.

The reason I'd do it this way around is simply that I love Fushimi Inari in the evening, and also it doesn't close so you don't have to worry about rushing there before a certain time (whereas temples in Arashiyama generally do close in the evening)

Hope this helps!

Hi everyone, thank you so much!! :-)

I will read into all of you guys' comments and plan my route. I have heard of a route around gion which I can visit the Yakaza shrine? Any idea what is that? Also, will there be any recommended passes to use from in Osaka to Kyoto?

Thanks in advance!

Hi again Gina,

I think you mean the Yasaka shrine, and yes you can easily include that on a walking tour of Gion, as well as Kinninji temple, Maruyama Park, and Kodaiji temple. In fact, if you like walking you could walk from Nishiki market to Gion, include all these spots, and eventually walk all the way to Kiyomizu temple. In fact, I think I'd like to make a map for you! Check back here in a few hours / tomorrow, and I'll share a link to a walking map for the above suggestion.

Regarding passes, as mentioned above there's a Kansai Thru Pass, but it doesn't look like it would be good value for what you intend to do.

Hi Gina,

So I had some fun playing around on google maps yesterday, and ended up making a full blog post based on it! You can see it here: http://www.4corners7seas.com/gion-walking-tour/

So for your day trip, you could take Hankyu line from Osaka to Arashiyama, then Hankyu from Arashiyama to central Kyoto, visit Nishiki and do the walking tour i've described in that post, and then take the Keihan line to Fushimi Inari. Finally, you can return to Osaka on either of the Keihan or JR lines.

That's a long day, but a great one!

Have a great time in Kyoto, cheers