Travelling to Kyoto’s attractions

I am planning to visit the following places in Kyoto on Sunday 11th May: first, Golden Temple ( I understand it opens at 9am), followed by Nijo Castle , then Imperial Palace Park & Sento Gosho Palace Gardens, finally Kyoto Handicarft Centre. Is this itinereray feasible in one day and what is the best way to get to each attraction, particularly between Golden Temple & Nijo Castle? My journey starts at Granvia Hotel Kyoto Station. Thank you

Both the Imperial Palace and Sento Palace require you to make advance reservations and join a tour. If you see the Golden Pavilion and Nijojo in the morning, your only options are the English tour of the Imperial Palace at 14:00 and the Japanese tour of Sento Palace at 13:30. Because the tours take more than 30 minutes, this is a conflict.

Instead of the English tour at 14:00, you could join a Japanese tour of the Imperial Palace at 15:00.

Note that there are no English tours of Sento Palace.

Furthermore, note that there are no tours of the Imperial Palace and Sento Palace are closed on Sundays!

We stayed at the Granvia in Kyoto this month. It sounds feasible, bus station is right in front, tourist station on 11th floor of Isetan (straight across station-other side of Granvia entrance). I suggest you call Granvia, they have a tourist desk that can make your plans for you :D they have nice tourist maps and might be able to give you the bus map (there's tourist buses "Raku bus" that go to certain areas). Have fun in a beautiful city! We loved it so much we went back to Kyoto our second week of vacation to spend more time.

skip the Imperial palace. It isn't an old amazing place and you wouldn't be able to seethe rooms the Imperial family use at any rate. Nijo is more interesting as it is truly an old palace.

If you have time, the gardens at Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) make it a great visit. Also Kiyomizu and Heian Jingu should not be missed. If travelling with kids, the eiga mura is perfect. Even if no kids, it is a great way to step back in time to imagine what it used to be like.

Thank you very much for your responses. I guess I wasn't clear regarding my visit to the Imperial Palace Park & Sento Gosho Palace Gardens. I am only planning to see the park and gardens, not the buildings themselves, as I am aware of the pre-booking required for those. Will the park and gardens be open on the Sunday? My main question is how to get from the Golden Pavilion to Ninjo Castle. Is there a bus & where does it leave from/arrive? Do I need to take a further bus for the other places (Imperial Palace Park & Sento Gosho Palace Gardens) & Kyoto Handicraft Centre or can I walk? Finally, is there a bus back to the station from the Handicraft Centre at the end of the visits? The easist way to answer all this of course would be to look at bus routes & timetables, but I understand they aren't avavilable online in English and I would like to plan it out now. Thanks again for your assistance folks!

Will the park and gardens be open on the Sunday?

Yes, it is open. But it is little more than a city park with walls behind which the palace buildings and gardens are hidden. Not much to see. But a nice park.

My main question is how to get from the Golden Pavilion to Ninjo Castle. Is there a bus & where does it leave from/arrive?

Yes, there is a bus:
http://www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/cmsfiles/contents/0000019/...

Do I need to take a further bus for the other places (Imperial Palace Park & Sento Gosho Palace Gardens) & Kyoto Handicraft Centre or can I walk?

If you are a good walker, you can walk. It is about 15 minutes from the gates of Nijo Castle to the southern tip of the Imperial Palace Park and about 20 minutes from there to the Handicraft Center. The Imperial Palace Park itself is huge (more than a kilometer long).

Finally, is there a bus back to the station from the Handicraft Centre at the end of the visits?

Yes. See above link.

The easist way to answer all this of course would be to look at bus routes & timetables, but I understand they aren't avavilable online in English and I would like to plan it out now.

The route netwok plan is available online in English. Most bus lines have buses every 10-20 minutes.

We were in Kyoto on April 3 and we used the taxi to get around from place to place. The traffic was terrible due to all the people viewing the sakura.

JR Kyoto Station to the Old Imperial Palace (900 JPY)

Imperial Palace to Kinkakuji (1200JPY) Bumper to bumper traffic

Kinkakuji to Ginkakuji (1500 JPY) Bumper to bumper traffic


Nanzenji Temple to Kiyomizu Temple (1000 JPY)

Kiyomizu Temple to JR Kyoto Station (1100JPY) Rush Hour?

We could have save a bunch by using the public transportation, for us, it was more convenient to use the taxis.
The distances from place to place was not far, it was mostly stop and go traffic everywhere we went. I think that during "normal" times the taxi fare would be a lot less.

I would go first to Nijo by taking the subway from Kyoto station to Nijo subway station (transfer at Karasuma-Oike). After Nijo take the subway back to Karasuma-Oike, transfer to the subway to Kitaoji, and than take bus 12 or 205 to Kinkakuji (Golden Paviljon). This will save you a lot of time because of the traffic jams and it's quite a distance from Kyoto station to Kinkakuji. After Kinkakuji maybe you can take bus 59 to another beautiful place: Ryoanji and/or Daikakuji. If you have time left, than you can take bus 59 back to downtown Kyoto, bus 59 also stops at the Imperial Palace, but without going inside the Imperial Palace, I don't think this is very interesting; the palace itself is surrounded by a big yellow wall and a very width gravel road, a park, a small visitorcenter with vending machines, and at the end the small pond with a nice bridge. From the Imperial Palace, you can go back to Kyoto station by subway

It is the first time, so I followed your post and I am still a little confused.
Is there any tourist information office in the Kyoto station? And if so, do they provide/sell English maps?...
Another question is: is there any of you or your firends visiting Kyoto those days? Maybe we can team up :) Thanks.

Is there any tourist information office in the Kyoto station? And if so, do they provide/sell English maps?

Yes, the tourist office distributes free city and bus network maps in English. The bus network map is also available online:
http://www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/cmsfiles/contents/0000019/...

First of all thank you Uji.
I did think of some places to visit according to the ratings on this website. I picked 7 major interests.
Nijo, Kyiomizudera, Sanjusangendo, the Golden and the Silver Pavilions, Katsuta Rikyu. I have printed out the data from the site. Now I will cross it with the map you have just given to me.
However, if you have any other recommendations... please do not hesitate to share them with me.