Fourth stop: Arashiyama
How to get there: Take the Hankyu Main Line to Katsura Station and transfer to the Hankyu Arashiyama Line for Arashiyama Station
Entrance Fee: Free
The moment we got off the station, we knew that there was something special about this place. Take a look at the station’s photo below:
It looks straight out of a movie, right? There are a lot of things to see at Arashiyama. Just a few minutes away from the station is the Arashiyama Park Nakanoshima Area, the place that made me fall in love with Kyoto. This is the first time that I experienced autumn and this place gave me what I wanted and expected from Japan. From this side of the park, you can rent a bicycle or take a stroll:
At this side of the park, the trees start to show its brilliant autumn colors:
From this view, you can get this colorful and amazing mountain view as your backdrop. None of the photos that I took can even justify just how gorgeous this place is. It’s nothing compared to anywhere else I’ve been to.
To the Togetsu-kyo Bridge:
This bridge connects Arashiyama Park to the famous Arashiyama Bamboo Grove:
Here, standing amidst these soaring stalks of bamboo is like being in another world.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcgEpYcjowI/?taken-by=normanmirasol
To this Kimono Forest of Arashiyama. This was not on our itinerary that day. In fact, it was already dark by the time we decided to leave the Bamboo Grove. We saw the sign “Randen Arashiyama Station” on our way back, hoping that we could take this line back to Kyoto Station instead of walking 15 more minutes to Hankyu Arashiyama Station. That’s when we decided to enter this place and take a look. Unfortunately, we couldn’t use this station to get back to Kyoto Station, BUT we did find this place:
The Kimono Forest is made up of cylinder-shaped pillars that light up at night to form this amazing pathway:
And that was it! Yes, we were not able to see everything that we wanted to see in Kyoto, but I can say that we had fun and it was a new experience for us to see such beautiful places.
Got any questions? Connect with me on Instagram: @kathleenktgbk if you have anything that you’d like to ask me or for directions or anything whatsoever. I’ll be happy to help! 😉