🍁 Kyoto City Walk | Unveiling the Locals' Secret Maple Routes

On a day off in Kyoto, there's no sleeping in. If you want to take photos and check in early, you have to get going before most tourists are out and about to enjoy a private time exploring the city. (TL;DR) Route Guide (Total time: 4-5 hours): 🚃 Fushimi Inari → Fushimi Inari Taisha → Senbon Torii → Kōmyō-in → Tōfuku-ji → Tōgen Sky Bridge → Unryū-in → (Kinugasa-Myōjin) → Sanjūsan-gen-do → Kyoto National Museum (→ Toyokuni Shrine) 🚃 Fushimi Inari: Take the Keihan Railway to Fushimi Inari Station and walk for about 5 minutes to reach Fushimi Inari Taisha. 1⃣️ 📍 Fushimi Inari Taisha + 2⃣️ 📍 Senbon Torii ⛩ (Time spent: 1-1.5 hours): My experience living in Kyoto tells me that you must arrive at Fushimi Inari before 7 am to start your visit. From 8 to 8:30 am, tourists will swarm in, and it can get quite overwhelming. ⛩ As you enter the Senbon Torii, countless movie, Japanese drama, and anime scenes race through your mind, like little Sayuri running through here in "Memoirs of a Geisha". Walking up from the Senbon Torii to the midpoint of the mountain, you can overlook the city of Kyoto. 3⃣️ 📍 Kōmyō-in (Time spent: 30 minutes): A guest introduced this maple 🍁 viewing temple to me when I was working. He listed two: Kōmyō-in and Unryū-in, which are basically only visited by locals, offering a great experience 🐔. But Kōmyō-in is relatively small. 4⃣️ 📍 Tōfuku-ji & 5⃣️ 📍 Tōgen Sky Bridge (Time spent: 30 minutes to 1 hour): Both Kōmyō-in and Unryū-in are branch temples of Tōfuku-ji, which is also one of the best spots for maple 🍁 viewing. Especially the Tōgen Sky Bridge, where you often need to wait in line to take photos 📸. 🔟 Optional: 📍 Toyokuni Shrine (Time spent: 10-15 minutes): It is said to be the shrine of the famous Sengoku period general, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. #WeekendCityWalk #CityWalk #Travel #Trip #Strategy #TravelStrategy #Kyoto #KyotoTravel #KyotoMaple #Maple #Japan #JapanTravel #JapaneseTrip #JapaneseMapleSeason #FushimiInariTaisha #Postcard