Itinerary help for Self Guided Walking Tour in Higashiyama, Kyoto

4:30/5:00 - Take a taxi to the manga museum

the reason we wanted to get done with Manga museum in the morning was not to miss the sunset lighting at Kiyomizudera. Does that make sense?

To OP: Kiyomizu-dera (and also Ryoan-ji) have season (spring/summer/...) tickets which you can re-use, i.e. you can re-enter the temple as many times as you want on the same ticket during one season.

Thanks a lot for the tip about the season tickets for re-use... That will be very useful!! Do the ticket windows have details written in english or should we plan to use translation there as well?

What details do you need? The regular tickets (not sure there are any others you can buy) are the season tickets. They have seasonal designs, e.g. for autumn, for winter

BTW (and this might change your plan altogether), the main hall, which is what most people come to see, is currently (and for years to come) completely covered up...

going to Kiyomizudera first thing in the morning (it opens at 6 a.m.). I realise that that is too early for most people, but it's the best light (the morning sun coming up from the east behind you will light up the temple)

Are you sure about this? I went there for the sunrise, but from what I remember the sun was behind the hills until late. Still liked going there that early to see the temple without crowds and locals doing morning excercises, etc.

@bamse: You might be right. I think the only times I have been there in the early morning has been in the summertime - I guess my late November it would probably be at least 8 am before the sun clears the hills behind the temple. Still, I prefer it in the morning when it is free from most tourists.

To the OP: If you haven't checked out the Kiyomizudera website, they do have a photo of the main hall under scaffolding. Also, I haven't been there in a while, but the last time I was there there was limited access to the rest of the grounds due to other construction work and vehicles. The light ups do last until 9 p.m., but again, with the main hall under scaffolding you won't really get the best part for your photos.

I visited Kiyomizudera quite recently, about 2 weeks ago. There was no construction going on around the temple when I visited, and the grounds were completely open.

The scaffolding covers up the main building, meaning that you don't get a very good look at it from the outside. You can still see the inside of the building though, which is nice, and you can still stand on the porch and get lovely views of the temple grounds. In addition to the main building, there are numerous other interesting buildings at the temple. It's one of the finest showcases of early Edo-era architecture in the city, only eclipsed, perhaps, by Nishi Hongan-ji. I absolutely think it's worth a visit still.

I can't help at all with questions about photographs though...

That's good to know Giora - the last few times I've been there it just wasn't worth the visit due to construction and the number of visitors crowded together in a limited space. However, as a photographer, for me the disappointing thing is not being able to photograph the main building without the scaffolding. Luckily I've done it in the past, and as I'll be in Kyoto for many years to come, I've got plenty of time to photograph it properly when the renovation is finally done.

I was a little disappointed about not seeing the building in its proper glory as well, but I suppose it serves me right for not visiting earlier. Even the crowds weren't that bad when I went, and I went in the middle of the day. Maybe I just got lucky, or maybe the scaffolding is causing many people to head elsewhere. There were certainly plenty of other people around, but it wasn't mayhem.

I think that's quite true of a lot of places - even Kinkakuji can be quite calm during the day. I guess a lot depends if you are there when all the tour groups hit, or happen to arrive at a lull. My other issue is since I work M-F I can really only visit places on the weekends, which means I'm always dealing with crowds. As the crowds have gotten worse every year that I've lived here, I find myself getting more and more annoyed with them* (as do many of the locals), so I tend to visit off-season during the winter months when you can often get whole temples (or sections thereof) to yourself.

*The downside to living in a heavily-touristed city means I often want to avoid those types of places when I travel to other countries too.

Well I work too - and not even in Kyoto! - so I can definitely only visit on the weekends. I absolutely avoid certain places - like Kinkaku-ji - because of the crowds. But there's so much lovely stuff in Kyoto that you can do, and avoid other tourists almost completely. My favourite temple in the city - Daigo-ji - is always quiet, at least on the two occasions that I've been there. I walked up the Hiezan in the rain a couple of weeks ago, and saw two other people in two hours. And there are so many nice day-trips you can do out of the city....

I can't avoid Kyoto Station when I come in and out though, and the crowds there can be a huge pain. But what can you do?

Have you been to the special exhibition at the National Museum, by the way? I plan on visiting soon, though I've heard it's very busy.

That's funny - Daigo-ji is also one of my favourite places. I visit it often, as it's pretty close to where I live. I haven't been to the National Museum exhibition yet, but it's definitely on my to-do list before it finishes.

One thing I have been doing, in spite of or because of my schedule, is exploring neighbourhoods in the evenings (usually after 8 p.m.). While it's not possible to visit any particular places, visiting the neighbourhoods and in some cases, temple grounds (like Nanzenji), is a great way to get a more serene, laid-back experience. In light of the OP's post, I would say that Higashiyama and the Philosopher's Path are two of my favourite places to go walking and exploring at night.

I've now booked my stay to visit the National Museum exhibition, I'll be there in about 3 weeks. You don't need to buy tickets in advance, or anything like that, do you? I'm hoping to get there before they open in the morning, and queue a bit if I have to.

Yes, Daigo-ji's lovely. Have you been up to the top part of the temple, way up the mountain? I agree that Nanzen-ji is lovely in the evenings. There are quite a few interesting temples and shrines in that area that never close - the Gion Shrine, for example - which make for a nice place to wander at night.

On a completely different note - I discovered a fascinating daimyo cemetery recently, maybe the most interesting in Kansai. It's at Choho-ji, just south of Wakayama. It's home to the final resting place of the daimyo of Wakayama, who descended directly from Tokugawa Ieyasu. It's a very atmospheric cemetery, with the graves of all the daimyo right up to the last one, who died during the Taisho era. Only two are missing: they became shogun, and are buried in Tokyo.

I don't know if you've been there before moose, but if not, I would certainly recommend it. You should be able to day-trip from Kyoto if you want.