Kyoto Full Day Tour Fushimi Inari Kinkakuji and Bamboo Grove

Kiyomizu-dera Temple

Kiyomizu-dera sits on the wooded hillside of Higashiyama and is among the most famous temples in Japan, part of the UNESCO-listed monuments of ancient Kyoto. Its main hall has a huge wooden veranda, held up by pillars without nails, that looks out over the city, and the view is especially striking in cherry blossom season and in autumn.

Your guide explains the temple's history and the Otowa waterfall, where visitors queue for its three streams of water. Many people search for a Kiyomizu-dera tour because the temple is crowded and the story behind it is easier to follow with a guide. Allow about one hour here.

Sanjusangendo Temple

Sanjusangendo is known for its very long wooden hall, which houses 1,001 gilded statues of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. A large seated Kannon sits at the centre, and rows of standing statues stretch away on both sides, guarded by wooden figures of fierce protectors.

Photography is not permitted inside, so the visit is about looking and listening. The guide explains the architecture, the story of the statues and the annual archery tradition held here. The stop takes about 40 minutes and is a calm contrast to the busier sights.

Arashiyama, the Sagano Bamboo Grove and Tenryu-ji

Arashiyama is a scenic district in western Kyoto with a river, hills and the long Togetsukyo Bridge. The tour includes a Kyoto bamboo grove walk in the Sagano Bamboo Forest, where tall green stalks close in over the path and the light turns soft and green, a favourite photo stop.

Tenryu-ji is a UNESCO-listed Zen temple with a pond garden that changes with each season, and the entry ticket is included. If you chose the lunch option, the Arashiyama break also includes a Japanese buffet lunch. Otherwise you have free time to eat or shop here. Allow around 50 minutes for lunch and time for the grove.

Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion

Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, is a three-storey Zen pavilion covered in gold leaf and reflected in a still pond. It began as a retreat for a shogun in the late 14th century, later became a temple, and the present building is a faithful reconstruction after a fire in 1950.

The path leads round the pond, with garden viewpoints where every tour photo is taken. The visit lasts about 40 minutes, and it is one of the best-known attractions in Kyoto, so it is busiest around midday. The tour passes Nijo Castle on the way but does not stop to go inside.

Fushimi Inari Taisha

Fushimi Inari Taisha is the head shrine of the god Inari, patron of rice and business. Thousands of vermilion torii gates, donated by companies and individuals, form tunnels up the wooded slope of Mount Inari, and the Senbon Torii section is the most photographed.

You have about one hour here, enough to walk the lower gates and reach the first viewpoints. Climbing the whole mountain takes several hours, so it is not part of this Fushimi Inari tour. The shrine is free to enter, and it makes a fitting last stop before the coach returns to Kyoto Station.