Kyoto’s western district Arashiyama is worthy of its own destination visit. Nestled in the lush hills along the Oi river, it is best known for its towering bamboo forest and the Tenryu-ji temple, while the imperial residence Katsura Villa and “Moss Temple” Kokedera (Saiho-ji) are nearby. You could easily spend two days here without stepping foot into Kyoto city. But if you’re short on time, here is a one day condensed itinerary.

Morning: Katsura Imperial Villa or Moss Temple and Tenryu-ji

Since Katsura Villa and Kokedera are located south of Arashiyama, I suggest tying in a visit to one of these places with a day spent in Arashiyama. I would probably prioritize a visit to Katsura Villa over Kokedera if you only have time for one. Tenryu-ji is the best known temple in Arashiyama, and a world heritage site, although I think it pales to Kyoto’s other major temples. So if you’re getting tired of visiting temples, it’s okay to skip a visit to Tenryu-ji, although I would recommend its Shigetsu restaurant for an interesting zen buddhist lunch experience. For more information on Katsura Villa, refer to my related blog (Katsura Villa link) and on Kokedera (Kokedera link).

Alternatively, if you have kids with you (Katsura Villa has a minimum age of 18 years old), you may want to visit the Iwatayama Monkey Park in Arashiyama. As I get my share of monkeys in Singapore’s golf courses (truly), I’ve not been and it’s not on my list of places to visit but reviews appear to be favorable on TripAdvisor.

Here is what the possible itinerary may look like if you secure approval to visit either Katsura Villa or Kokedera.

9 am: Visit Katsura Villa or Kokedera. It takes around 25 minutes by car to get to either of these places or around at least 30 minutes by train, which includes a 20 minute from the nearest train station. Buses take the longest as they make several stops. In both cases, it’s better to arrive early as it helps ensure that the visit starts on time (and the guards there do get a bit grumpy).

10 am:  Leave Katsura Villa or Kokedera and visit Tenryu-ji. Take a taxi, bus (you may have to make a transfer) or train to Arashiyama. If you are in a cab, you can go straight to Tenryu-ji and you should probably be there within twenty minutes. I arrived by train and it’s just a short walk to the temple – as you exit the station, turn right and walk up the main road. There are numerous signs pointing you to Tenryu-ji. If you are taking the train or bus, it may take around 40 minutes door to door because of the walk to the station (train) or the many stops along the way (bus).

Tenryu-ji is the largest temple in Arashiyama and possibly the most significant zen buddhist temple in Kyoto. Tenryu-ji was originally built in the 14th century but most of its current buildings date back around only 150 years, as older structures were destroyed over the years. However, its garden remains as it was several hundred years ago. The garden winds to the back of Tenryu-ji and has a famous stone feature as well as some bamboo groves. Because of its newer buildings, Tenryu-ji may pale a bit to Kyoto’s other main temples, although there are still enough unique features to make it an interesting visit.

I would allocate one and a half hours to see Tenryu-ji at a comfortable pace, which you could shorten by leaving out visits to side structures. I had to shorten my visit to less than one hour as we were running late.

Lunch: Zen vegetarian, grilled eel or traditional tea house kaiseki

If you want a relatively quick but fulfilling pit-stop, Tenryu-ji houses a “cafe/restaurant” called Shigetsu which serves a fantastic zen buddhist vegetarian lunch at a reasonable price (three choice sets). It’s a great experience. You’re led (shoeless of course) into what looks like a big empty hall in which you sit on the floor alongside the wall. You then get served the meal in traditional lacquer ware. I don’t recall lunch dragging on for more than 30-45 minutes so it’s a relatively good pitstop if you want to set off early in the afternoon. You may want to reserve a spot during peak seasons.

If you’re not eating in Shigetsu, I would recommend one of the following – lunch across the road from Tenryu-ji at grilled eel specialist Unagiya Hirokawa (Michelin one-starred) or a kaiseki meal at Hirano-ya, near where my recommended afternoon stroll starts. You can take a cab or bus to Hirano-ya. For both places, I highly recommend making reservations. Hirano-ya also serves a traditional mochi-like (called shinko dango) dessert with matcha tea that you can have on its own without the full kaiseki meal. So it’s also a nice tea spot.

For more information, you can refer to my related blog (three dining options in Arashiyama).

Afternoon: Strolling among the Bamboo

We started at Adashino Nembutsu temple, which meant that it was a nice downhill stroll back to Arashiyama’s main street. It was easier to take a cab here but you could also take the local bus. If you are eating in Hirano-ya, it will be a short stroll down the hill to Adashino Nembutsu.

Adashino Nembutsu temple is full of stone buddhas serving as gravestones (so photos of the buddhas are discouraged). The place is a burial ground to unknown dead dating back to the 8th century. The temple buildings themselves are small but the grounds are beautiful with a superb bamboo forest at the back. It was just nice to take photos of the bamboo without a lot of people lingering around, not like the more famous Bamboo Forest closer to Arashiyama’s main street.

After leaving Adashino Nembutsu temple, we followed the road for a while, passing a number of stores selling crafts. These are not bad places to drop in on if you’re looking for gifts or just things to use at home. We purchased some tea cups and a bamboo sake pitcher (you can fill the pitcher with sake and put the whole thing in the fridge for some nice cold sake).

We turned right a few minutes down following the signs for Arashiyama and Gio-ji temple. The entrance to Gio-ji is set back from the road, and up the hill along a narrow path. This is an even smaller temple but it’s got a nice moss garden although not nearly as impressive as Kokedura.  Nonetheless, worth a stroll into especially if you can’t make it to Kokedera.

There are a couple more small temples in the area but we bypassed these (maybe for my next trip) and continued to head toward Arashiyama and the Bamboo Forest. One option is to visit Nison-in temple but as I’m really into gardens, I would also suggest a visit to Okochi Sanso Villa. It’s a villa and five acre garden built by Denjiro Okochi, a famous actor in Japan. From the upper terrace of the garden, you can get a good view of the hills and Kyoto and if you crane your neck, you may also get the river. We opted to pay for entry that includes tea and cake (tea time!) but if you’re not into bean based sweets, skip the tea and cake.

And finally, just around the corner, is the famous Bamboo Forest (also pictured in the featured photo). Walking through here takes you back to the main street. Just to note, if you’re coming in winter, you may find that you’re running out of daylight. In which case, you may not have time to visit Okochi Sanso. By the time we got to the Bamboo Forest, it was already dusk.

If you do have more time, take a walk down towards the Oi river (which becomes the Katsura river). The Togetsu-kyo Bridge (Moon Crossing Bridge) is a pleasant evening walk and if you’re here in July and August, you may see the traditional cormorant fishing on moonless nights.

Evening/Dinner: Depending on your budget, you could dine at Kitcho Arashiyama (closed Wednesdays), one of the pinnacles of Kyoto kaiseki cuisine. This could set you back JPY60,000 per person (see my review). Kitcho is located north along the river on the Arashiyama side. Alternatively, if you did not go to Hirokawa for lunch, you could go for dinner (except on Monday’s when the restaurant is closed). Or you could simply go back to central Kyoto for dinner.