Kyoto is a charming city with a great public transportation system and we had a great time exploring in the 3 days we were there. What stood out to us the most were the amazing temples and the delicious food. Here are some of our favorites:

Our Favorite Kyoto Temples

Kiyomizu-dera Temple was a short walk from our Airbnb and offered some of the best views of the city. The fall foliage was especially vibrant here which made for an extra special experience.

Fushimi-Inari Shrine is probably the most iconic of Kyoto’s temples with it’s bright orange gates. This was definitely our favorite because it was so unique. It’s crowded, but the shrine is huge and the gates lead through the woods and up a mountain. As we hiked further and further we noticed that most of the other tourists disappeared and we were able to have a really peaceful hike and get some great crowd-free pictures of the gates.

Tenryu-ji Temple was a bit further from the center of the city. When we arrived it was swarming with crowds. It wasn’t until later we realized it was a national holiday (“Labor Thanksgiving Day”) when we were visiting so many folks had off work. We didn’t go in the temple or gardens because the lines were ridiculously long but we did walk through the adjacent bamboo forest which looked magical.

Kinkaku-ji Temple is best known for it’s vibrant golden pavilion, which we were lucky enough to catch on a bright sunny day. Again, it was swamped with people visiting on the holiday but we loved getting to see this really unique building.

Our Favorite Kyoto Food

Sushi was of course our favorite meal of the trip. We found a great place down the street from our apartment and tried the chef’s special, which the first time we were brave enough to put our dinner someone else’s hands. We loved it – it gave us the opportunity to try new fish we wouldn’t have thought to order on our own. It inspired us to order this way again in Fukuoka.

 

Okonomiyaki was a hit on our first night in Kyoto. This “Japanese Pizza” is made of flour, yam, eggs, and shredded cabbage and is customized with your preferred toppings. It’s definitely nothing like the pizza we’re used to at home, but it was delicious. We loved that it was served on a hot stove on our table which was practical, unique, and fun.

We loved the ramen in Kyoto, which is nothing like the college dorm room staple. Our favorite ramen experience was at a well-known and highly-recommended place called Ippudo Ramen where we both got the bowls of noodle soup and some amazing dumplings. We also had some hole-in-the-wall ramen from a place by our apartment where there was no menu and we simply held up 2 fingers to indicate we wanted 2 bowls. Equally delicious.

We also tried some street food which was always a gamble but turned out to be fun. Some standouts were fried octopus balls, fish-shaped waffled filled with sweet red bean paste, and a potato croquette.

For dessert, we were delighted to find that many stores selling these sweet crepe-like treats offered free samples so we did our best to try as many flavors as we could for free. We still don’t quite know what we ate, but we loved them!

Overall, we had a great time in Kyoto and it was one of our favorite spots so far. There were so many really unique temples scattered around the city and we were thrilled about seeing the amazing autumn colors.