Walking from Kiyomizudera to Ginkakuji

On our third day in Kyoto, we would be walking from Kiyomizudera to Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) through Kyoto’s streets, past temples and along the Philosopher’s Path. This 1-day Kyoto itinerary was for our family of two adults and our 1.5-year-old toddler.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Purchasing through them earns us a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

Getting to Kiyomizudera

 We left our hotel at around 9 am and walked to Kiyomizudera Temple in about 25 minutes. The temple is set atop a hill, so there’s an uphill walk to the entrance. This means it offers a fantastic view out over Kyoto. The narrow street that approaches the temple is lined with souvenir and gift shops as well as some food stores. Some of the buildings have beautiful traditional Japanese-style roofs.

Sightseeing Kyoto with a toddler

This Kyoto trip was with our 1.5-year-old toddler. We used the stroller to walk to Kiyomizudera and then to Ginkakuji. We folded it up and put our son in the carrier upon arriving at the steep steps leading to Kiyomizudera.

By this stage of our holiday, little Mr “Shy” had worked out that acting this way got him more attention, and he played on it. While I was paying for our entry tickets, a group of school girls gathered around to say hello. He was burying his head into Tim and smiling every time they went “aww”, or “kawaii”. 

Kiyomizu-dera 

Kiyomizu-dera in English means Pure Water Temple. It got its name because it was founded on the site of Kyoto’s Otowa waterfall. The water flows into three streams below the main hall. Visitors can use cups with long handles to catch and drink the water. Each stream is said to grant the drinker a different benefit, it’s considered greedy to drink from all three streams.

The entrance fee for Kiyomizu-dera is ¥500 for adults and ¥200 for school students.

We stepped onto the wooden stage of the main hall. Both were built without the use of nails, which is quite remarkable when seeing the structure. After taking in the views over the temple we followed a path that led us down to the waterfall and looped back around to the entrance. 

Renovations

In the photo below, the renovations that were taking place are visible. Kiyomizudera is being renovated in stages and this is what was happening during our visit in late 2013. We were still able to access the outside of the building that was being renovated and enjoy the views. Update: all renovations were completed in 2020. 

Kyoto views from Kiyomizu-dera

As Kiyomizu-dera is built on a hill it offers wonderful views over Kyoto. After walking uphill to the Niomon Gate, turning around gives you a view of the streets below and out over Kyoto. From other buildings within the temple grounds, you get fantastic views of Kiyomizu-dera’s main hall. This spot also looks far out over the city to the Kyoto Tower.

Japanese school groups

During this Japan trip, we found the sights were often full of Japanese school groups. They were all super friendly and would say hello and ask where we were from. On the main stage, we had a small group of students approach us and ask if they could interview us for their school project. They asked us questions in English and I had to sign their workbook. The teacher took a photo of us with them and I wish I had asked for one too. 

Walking from Kiyomizudera to Ginkakuji

We wanted to walk along the Philosopher’s path and decided to walk the entire way from Kiyomizudera to Ginkakuji. The walking distance between the two is 5.3km. We entered the directions into Google Maps but didn’t strictly follow the route. We walked down both main roads and narrow residential back streets. Walking around is always a great way to view a new place. We loved strolling the streets of Kyoto. Along the way, we stopped to view other sights.

 Maruyama Park

Our walk took us straight through Maruyama Park, which is extremely popular in Kyoto during the spring cherry blossom season. It was still attractive when we visited at the start of autumn. We got drinks from a vending machine and had a quick look around the park. Our toddler had just fallen asleep in the stroller, so we didn’t want to stop and disturb him

Chion-in Temple

Soon after exiting Maruyama Park, we came across the large Sanmon Gate at the entrance of Chionin Temple, a large Buddhist complex. The main gate of Chion-in is the largest wooden gate in Japan and is very impressive. 

Keage Incline

Along the way, we passed the old railroad of Keage Incline. The railroad was once used to connect channels. These days it is a popular cherry blossom viewing spot in Kyoto, due to the trees lining the tracks. During spring, many people walk along the tracks enjoying the Sakura.

Nanzenji Temple

We made it to Nanzenji Temple which is near where we would begin walking the Philosopher’s Path. After entering and walking to the left, we came across the large brick aqueduct that was built to carry goods and water between Lake Biwa and Kyoto. We didn’t enter any of Nanzenji Temple’s buildings, opting to walk around the free grounds.

Upon exiting the grounds we came across the large Sanmon entrance gate. I’m not sure why we didn’t come to the entrance gate first, we must have entered through a different way. You can up to the top level of the gate for a fee. There are also separate entry fees for the temple and the gardens.

Kyoto Autumn Leaves

After leaving Nanzenji, we walked past an entrance gate and saw people taking photos of the early autumn colours. We popped in for a look. It was the entrance to Eikan-do Temple which is famous for its autumn colours.

Walking The Philosopher’s Path to Ginkakuji

We were then at the start (or end) of the Philosopher’s Path, a narrow stone footpath following a canal. From here it was about a 2 km walk to Ginkakuji. The path was named after one of Japan’s famous philosophers who followed it daily on his way to Kyoto University. It is said that he would practise meditation during his walk along the path. At the beginning of our walk, we were taken past the back of buildings and saw a lot of cats.

The Philosopher’s Path is at its best during springtime when cherry blossom trees lining the canal and path are blooming. It is also at its busiest. One benefit of coming here in the off-season was that it was quiet. 

The Philosopher’s Path with a Toddler

The Philosopher’s Path was a great place to let our toddler roam free. Along the way, he carried stones and played peek-a-boo through the trees with a friendly woman walking on the other side. He was also entertained by bright orange cones that we counted as he ran along touching each one.

Once he had worn off enough energy we put him back in the stroller, which was now a lot harder to push as the path had turned to loose gravel. We decided we wouldn’t miss much by getting off the path, so we walked along the parallel street.

We enjoyed looking at the houses and found it interesting to see the different cars. Most people in Japan drive small or even micro cars due to the narrow roads and limited space. While walking we noticed a few larger cars that didn’t fit in the garage. We found it amusing to see how some people had closed the garage door down to the car boot and stuffed blankets in between for protection.

Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion)

We arrived at Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion), which despite its name is not actually silver. It was built as a retirement villa by a shogun whose grandfather’s retirement villa was Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion). After the shogun’s death, the villa became a zen temple.

Entry fee for Ginkakuji is ¥500 for adults (high school +) and ¥300 for school-aged children

The path at Ginkakuji takes you in a loop from the entrance, uphill to a viewpoint and then downhill to the exit. From the top, you get a great view of the grounds with the city behind it. The manicured trees in the garden were incredible.

Getting a bus from Ginkakuji to Kyoto

This was our first time catching a bus in Kyoto and we had no idea what we were doing. There was a bus stop marked on our map from Ginkakuji but we couldn’t find it. We searched for the number bus we needed to get to our hotel and tried using Google Maps to locate the bus stop but weren’t successful. We eventually came to a bus stop that listed Kyoto Station, but the bus number we had didn’t stop there. A very kind lady came and asked us in broken English where we wanted to go. I replied Kyoto Station and she pointed at a bus stop on the other side of the road and told us the bus number.

How did we not notice the buses were going in the wrong direction? Our bus arrived in about 10 minutes and took us to Kyoto Station. We probably could have gotten a bus to the door of the Citadines, but like I said we were clueless.

Kyoto bus tip: get a bus map from the info centre at Kyoto Station.

Ending a great day in Kyoto as a family

We ate the Kyo-Machiya cake I bought near Kiyomizu-dera for afternoon tea. It had layers of cake, a black bean ganache and I’m not sure what the chewy layers were, maybe mochi. Each layer had flavours of Matcha.

That night I made use of the kitchenette in our hotel room and cooked dinner. From nearby Fresco and bought prawns, noodles and veggies for a stir-fry. We also got bananas, drinks and bread to toast for breakfast. 

We had a great day out and were able to see a lot of Kyoto by walking from Kiyomizudera to Ginkakuji. Our toddler enjoyed running along the path and picking up stones, the simple things that entertain a 1.5-year-old.

Read: 12-day Japan itinerary with a 1-year-old.

Read: Kyoto with kids