Mount Hiei — Local services in Kyoto

A lesser known spot in Kyoto, and is definitely worth the visit! My Hiei is the home of Japanese Buddhism and so is steeped in history, gorgeous temples and amazing nature.

Mt Hiei straddles the Kyoto and Shiga prefectures. The access from the Shiga prefecture offers stunning views of Lake Biwa, as well as the longest cable car in Japan, at over 2 kilometers.

🚃 Getting there: from Kyoto, take the Eizan railway, and if you're lucky, you can catch the Hiei special train that celebrates 100 years. From there you can walk or take the cable car + rope car.

🚠 The cable car + rope car is currently ¥2000 round trip for an adult. You need to walk about 300m between the two stops. You cannot pay with an IC card, but can use a credit card or cash at a kiosk machine.

🛕 To get to the temple complex from the Kyoto side, you can walk 30 minutes or take a bus (which does take an IC card and is about ¥280 each way). The Shiga side cable car is closer to the temples. Admission to the temple complex is currently ¥1000, ¥1500 if you want to do the temples and museum.

As the home of Japanese Buddhism, monks have been living here and establishing temples since the year 800! 😲

🏃 Mt Hiei is famous for its marathon monks, who would walk a marathon a day, sometimes for years.

🚻 Toilets at key areas

☕ Cafe and souvenir shop located near the temple complex.

🥾 So...

Decided to walk up and catch the cable car back.

I started the hike from the trailhead near sakamoto-hieizanguchi station and it was pretty nice. Not overly trafficked which added to the charm I think.

Took about 3ish hours.

The temples at the top are gorgeous, a little expensive to get in but I guess it was worth it, maybe it's just because I've been Kyoto for a bit but they all start to look the same after a while.

However trying to get back down was more trouble than it should have been. I wanted to catch the Eizan cable car so I could see the other side of the mountain but for the life of me I couldn't find it, I feel like I walked around for almost an hour and couldn't find it. So I settled on the Heizan on the same side of the mountain I walked up.

I'm probably just blind and it was right in front of me

I thoroughly enjoyed the...

I did this hike yesterday and it’s really nice and moderate. If you want to hike up and down (with a lunch break on top) you should start in the morning though to make it before sunset. The only challenge is to actually find the entrance to the trail. If you start from Shugakuin station, turn right to cross the rail and pass by 7/11, then turn left to the main road and walk until you get to canal. Then just walk along the canal (to the right, toward the mountain) to the end of the path; then you will see a bridge. Cross it, walk a little bit up and THEN! You will see a white/red sign, some fences and rusty gates, but there is also slightly visible entrance to the forest and trail. I marked it for you; then you will see some arrows pointing the way and once you get on the trail it will lead...