My first plan was to join Kyoto from Tokyo. I’m arrive at Tokyo Haneda airport and i had to link Shinagawa station. In fact there are three stations in Tokyo to link Kyoto : Shinagawa station, Tokyo central station, and Ueno station. So i took a skinkansen train, wich is a high speed train, thanks to my japanese rail pass. There is around 500 km between Tokyo and Kyoto but with the shinkansen i linked Kyoto in just 2h15. It was very fast. At this moment the sunset arrived and i had my first preview of the countryside in Japan, watching by the window.. Like you will be able to see on the pictures, i was very lucky to have a perfect sunny weather during all my trip in Kyoto.

Like many people who travel in Japan, i chose to stay few days in Kyoto because the city is the perfect mixed between old and new Japan, and we can have a preview of all Japan just in this city. There are plenty things to do here, temples, tower, station, old city, river, modern city, restaurant, public garden, nature just beside, bamboo forest….

I’m stayed four night at the same hostel, just near the city center and the central station. My room was great for the price, i paid no more than 40 euros every  night for a small appartement of 20m2 with room,  kitchen, private bathroom and a computer. Moreover this place was a nice starting point to visit the city.

First day i visited Nara with its beautiful park, that i will introduce in an other article, one full day was the time to spend to visit Nara.

The Kyoto station is a place of interest and a real attraction on its owns. There we can find everything, this station is like a city. There are many floor with specificities, for example many shops at the underground, coffees on the first floor, many restaurant on an other floor, workers for societies in an other, and on a roof a garden with big views on the rest of the city. Kyoto station is very impressive and very cool at the same time. You will be sure to find what you want in this place.T he Skyway tunnel allows visitors to walk the length of Kyoto Station, 45 meters above the central hall.

I visited the old city one afternoon, and it was beautiful, not easy to find at the beginning because i made everything walking around the center. Fortunately i had my GPS with my phone.The old city collects a number of small streets, preserved like it was in the past, few centuries ago. It is a very cute place, there are many shops of souvenir and shops for traditionnal japanese items. Moreover it is the area where we can find the Geisha, these typical girls with a special way of life.

An other day, i walk up the Kyoto tower. Kyoto Tower stands at 131 meters high from its base to the tip of its spire, it is the tallest structure in Kyoto. As you can dominate the city there is a great  sightseeing on the locations around the city. It is a symbol of modern Kyoto. Like that we can observe that the the city is surrounded by hills and forests.

Morever Kyoto collects a big number of temples and shrines like the golden pavilion or the silver pavilion. But you will find beautiful small temples in all the city.

The other interest to stay in Kyoto is to visit the surroundings just beside the city. Arashiyama was a very great area with a nice place along a river and the forest. It is here that i saw the bamboo forest also. It was perfect for a stroll along the river, looking the traditionnal boat floated on the water.

On the south, Fushimi Inari is an other unavoidable place to see.. It is famous for its thousands of red torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the shrine grounds. You can easily stay an half day on this location walking on the paths.