Places to explore around Kyoto

Hello everyone!

Me and my partner are going to Japan mid-November and spending a week in Kyoto. I know it will likely be very busy during the day time in Kyoto so we are planning on exploring popular sites in the early morning. Hence, I am looking for recommendations of interesting things around Kyoto (within 1-1.5hrs) that are a bit more off the track and away from the hustle and bustle of city.

So far we are already seeing Nara, Himeji and Kanazawa/Shirakawa Go.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated :)

mrfroggreen

Uji is nice for a visit, and Hikone is very nice, we really like the castle and grounds.

We might bump into you lol, we are in Nara from the 17th, Arashiyama from the 21st then Gion a few nights then Hikone a few nights.

To add to the PP:
Miho museum
Nagahama
Omi Hachiman
—> all around Biwako
http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/search/label/Shiga?m=1

- Miyama a bit difficult to access but you could replace Shirakawago with it.

A bit off the beaten track are these gardens

http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2023/05/gw2023-d5-exploring-gar...


Btw Kanazawa and Shirakawago are not a daytrip but a 2 day trip at minimum.

Thanks for the responses so far! Exactly the type of suggestions I was looking for.

Should of clarified, but we are in Kanazawa Shirakawa-go for a few days before coming to Kyoto.

Hi! A lot of the places I wanted to suggest in mind have already been mentioned by some of the other posters above, so I'd like to suggest some alternatives. I do strongly recommend Hikone and Uji, among those mentioned by them.

If you have time, you may consider dropping by Kobe and Osaka – no need to spend too much time if they're not in your priority list, but a good to visit. Kobe's famous for its Chinatown and Sannomiya area, whereas Osaka is famous for Namba-Dotonbori, Tennoji, and Umeda-Osaka areas. You can also consider visiting places like Sumiyoshi Taisha and Minoo Falls in Osaka Prefecture.

Hope that helps :))

Lots more possibilities.... Minoo Park, MIyama, Otsu, Kobe, etc.