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Best experiences:

Cherry blossom in Kyoto

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

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Bucket List Experience
Walkway through blossom

The blossoms of ornamental cherry trees – Japan’s national flower – beguile and dazzle, both visitor and local alike – when the spring wave turns Japan pink.

Best for ages 13+

Duration: 2 months

When: March & April

Frequency: annually

Geishas in Gion

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

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Bucket List Experience
Geisha women

The place to see Japan’s mysterious and enigmatic geisha – colourful kimonos, elaborate hairstyles and oshiroi make-up.

Best for ages 10+

Kinkakuji Temple

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

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Bucket List Experience
Temple surrounded by trees

The stunning, gilded temple of Kinkakuji, casting its golden reflection onto an islet-studded pond, is the iconic Kyoto image. A UNESCO World Heritage site.

Best for ages 13+

Kyoto’s must-see temples & shrines

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

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Bucket List Experience
Incense burns in large earn

Kyoto’s unique, historic (Buddhist) temples and (Shinto) shrines are breathtakingly beautiful to the visitor, and play a pivotal role in local life – from birth to death.

Best for ages 13+

Ride the Bullet Train, Kyoto

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

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Bucket List Experience
Bullet train speeding in front of Mount Fuji

Reaching speeds of up to 320 km/h, Japan’s iconic bullet train revolutionised high-speed train travel and remains a must-do experience.

Adult price: £90

Best for ages 4+

Duration: 2+ hours

Fushimi Inari Shrine

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

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Bucket List Experience
Shrine entrance external view

One of Japan’s most sacred shrines, Fushimi Inari’s thousands of torii gateways also make it one of the country’s most Instagrammable sights.

Adult price: £2

Best for ages 6+

Kaiseki-ryori dinners in Kyoto

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

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Bucket List Experience
Breakfast table at a ryokan

The pinnacle of Japanese cuisine, this traditional dinner features a succession of up to 12 dishes, artfully presented and culinarily sublime. Tastes range from the familiar to the wonderfully indecipherable.

Adult price: £100

Best for ages 18+

Duration: 3-4 hours

Traditional Japanese tea ceremony in Kyoto

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

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Bucket List Experience
Traditional green matcha in bowl

The traditional tea ceremony, practiced for centuries, combines all the formality and ritual of traditional Japan, capped by a cup of thick green tea.

Adult price: £20

Best for ages 13+

Duration: Up to 4 hours

When: On request

Frequency: daily

Stay at a ryokan in Kyoto

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

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Bucket List Experience
Inside traditional room

Japan oozes tradition and there’s no better way to immerse yourself in it than a night at a ryokan, a traditional inn.

Adult price: £-

Best for ages 18+

Duration: 1 night

Day trip to Nara

Nara, Kansai, Japan

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Bucket List Experience
Exterior red temple

Nara was Japan’s first permanent capital, from 710 to 794. Today, it’s revered for eight locations making up the ‘Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara’ World Heritage site.

Best for ages 18+

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

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Bucket List Experience
Bamboo grove greenery

The towering stalks and soft light of Arashiyama’s much-photographed bamboo grove make this iconic Kyoto sight an almost otherworldly experience.

Adult price: £3

Best for ages 4+

Yasaka Shrine

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

Yasaka Shrine

The shrine that protects the Gion geisha district is one of Kyoto’s most distinctive sights. Entered through a roofed gateway painted a vivid vermillion, its grounds include a striking dance stage – used for performances during festivals – that’s adorned with several hundred lanterns lit each evening.

Best for ages 13+

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Gion Matsuri

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

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Bucket List Experience
Gion Matsuri

One of Japan’s biggest festivals, the traditional parades and rites of the Gion Matsuri have been held for more than 1,000 years.

Best for ages 10+

Duration: 1 month

When: July

Frequency: annually

Nishiki Market

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

Busy covered market

Stretching along five shop-lined blocks, Kyoto’s oldest food market immerses visitors in Kyoto’s culinary heritage. Over 100 stalls and restaurants offer all and anything food related.

Best for ages 13+

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Shodo calligraphy in Kyoto

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

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Bucket List Experience
Kanji painted in ink on paper

One of Japan’s oldest art forms, shodo calligraphy is part aesthetic pursuit, part mindfulness. Experience and appreciate the art form for yourself in a special calligraphy workshop.

Adult price: £32

Best for ages 13+

Duration: 1-2 hours

Kenninji Temple

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

Sunrise on tempe between trees

Established in 1202, this temple at the southern end of Hanami-koji has traditional Zen gardens and incredible ceiling murals of dragons (added in 2002). It claims to be the oldest temple in Kyoto.

Best for ages 13+

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Tofukuji Temple Gardens

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

Temple rooftops over autumnal trees

Founded in 1236, this large Zen temple (one of the so-called five great Zen temples of Kyoto) is famed for the spectacular autumn colours of its trees, viewed from the Tsutenkyo Bridge. Less-known are its four small gardens built around the temple’s main hall, that are a study in Japanese landscaping.

Best for ages 13+

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Saihoji Temple

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

Trees in garden clearing

A Buddhist Zen temple and UNESCO World Heritage Site best known for its unusual, atmospheric moss garden that circles a symbolically-shaped golden pond. Just getting in is an experience – you’re given a written sutra to copy it out onto another piece of paper to ensure you are pure enough to enter!

Best for ages 13+

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Ryoanji Temple

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

Spring cherry blossom seen from temple

Translating as The Temple of the Dragon at Peace, this Zen temple’s cryptically designed rock garden is considered one of the finest surviving examples of ‘dry landscape’ Japanese Zen temple garden design featuring distinctive larger rock formations arranged amidst a sweep of smooth pebbles. A UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Adult price: £3

Best for ages 13+

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Ginkakuji Temple

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

Temple in day among trees

Originally built as a shogun’s retirement villa in 1482, the ‘Silver Pavilion’ is a rare 15th-century Zen temple and garden that blend beautifully into the natural surroundings. Walk around the circular route.

Best for ages 13+

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Tenryu-ji Temple

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

Japanese house by lake

This temple near the famous bamboo grove in Arashiyama is worth admission for its 700-year-old Zen garden. Although built around a central pond, it’s also a classic example of a garden that employs shakkei (borrowed scenery), with the surrounding mountains adding depth to each scenic point.

Adult price: £3

Best for ages 13+

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Kiyomizu-dera Temple

Kyoto, Kansai, Japan

Kiyomizu-dera Temple

Founded in the late 700s, this World Heritage temple in the Higashiyama area is best known for its five-story pagoda and main hall, the latter of which features a photogenic veranda jutting out over a maple-covered hillside.

Adult price: £3

Best for ages 13+

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