Kyoto, Japan

Kyoto – Japan’s former capital that lasted for a thousand years! It is probably one of the well known city in Japan, not only because of it’s rich history, but because it preserves it in almost every area in the city. From old temples, heritages, and beautiful parks – Kyoto is the one city you won’t have to remove in your Japan itinerary.

And if you need more history and lectures about Kyoto, my friend Google will help you for free! For now, let’s just jump in and behold the great city of Kyoto!

But before I forget, I would like to thank Quadro Camisa for my custom designed “Gio in Japan” shirt! For those who want to have custom shirts, build on a lot of artistically designed templates, or just inquire – you could visit their shop here.

Order you custom shirts here at Quadro Camisa!

IMPORTANT NOTES

For tourists visiting Japan, the first thing you could check out is having a Japan Rail Pass here. This will give you free access to almost any major train line in Japan.
The next thing to take note is this site (http://www.hyperdia.com/en/). This will give you exactly what time a train leaves and arrives at a certain station. With this, you could plan your trips and time your schedule depending on where you are at Japan. Alternatively, you could download the hyperdia application for Android users when you reach Japan (or use a Japan proxy and download it).
Secure a mobile wireless router at the airport. This will be the most vital tool during your trip as you would largely depend on the internet (hyperdia) if you aren’t familiar at Japan.
Bring a credit card, some establishments do not accept cash. And as you expect, it could save you in case you overextend your budget a little.

HOW TO GET THERE

Well, first things first – you have to reach Japan right? So if you followed my notes above, wherever airport you may be, there will always be a close by train station and use your hyperdia application to guide you. It’s not difficult, you just need not to be intimidated if you could not understand any signs at Japan. But it’s always good to ask whenever you’re really in a pinch.
Kyoto is easily reachable from main airports in Japan. If you are coming from Tokyo or Narita airport, just use your hyperdia app and plug-in the nearest station you are in as the source station and place Kyoto Station as your target.
More often than not, you would probably be traveling via Shinkansen bullet trains going to Kyoto Station. And from Kyoto Station, you would be traveling via subway trains and/or buses to your desired spots. In our case, we rented a bicycle at our hotel and fired up our lungs in exploring Kyoto!

WHERE TO STAY

Though there are lot of hotels and inns at Kyoto because it is a very accessible tourist destination, it is wise to book yours online beforehand. You don’t need to pay for reservation anyway since most inns here don’t require any payment for reservation.

To give you guys an idea, we stayed here at Guest Inn Kyoto. We reserved thru booking.com and contacted the hotel that we would be checking in late (but we ended up checking-in early). It’s all you could ask for a place to stay for a night and leave your things during the day. It’s clean, well-maintained, and the inn keeper is so polite and helpful. We rented our bicycles here and rode off exploring Kyoto. Though of course you could go to the bus stops and/or subway stations and purchase a 3 day unlimited pass or something like that.

TOURING KYOTO

Well, Kyoto is a quite a small city actually but of course you won’t be able to tour all of it in a day or two. But for you guys who wanted a glimpse of the old city (riding a bike), feel free to scroll down and rediscover Kyoto!

Kiyomizu Dera