Time for a walk! Two walking routes inside of Kyoto City

Hello Everyone! Happy New Year! As 2021 brings in the hope for the new year, and hopes to be able to travel again, the Stay Home Ideal may have taken a toll on our bodies, has it not? I know that even through the cold weather of Kyoto’s winter, which well is not negative temperatures I have been spending time walking through different areas of Kyoto city keep my own fitness up as much as I can. Today with the Help of google maps, and a few photos I took myself, I will show you some routes of the city to help show you some great walking paths and destinations!

The first one is a National park that is protected by a special police force due to its significance to the Japanese Royal Family, but don’t worry! They will not get on your case. The Kyoto Gyoen National Garden. This is the garden that surrounds the Kyoto Imperial Palace, in which the emperor lived in until the Meiji Restoration in the mid 1860’s. To access the garden there are two main rail lines very close by with busses going around it too. The four-access point by train are here as shown.

(Taken from Google Maps 2021)

It is of course best to come from the closest train station. But if you have the chance, I recommend coming from Imadegawa station.

The most recent time I did just that, where you are greeted with a Japanese style gate. After this gate I recommend taking a sharp right into the forest that shows off some of the biodiversity that is kept inside of the garden.

(Kyoto Gyoen National Garden: January 29^th 2021)

Unfortunately, these photos are from the depth of winter, but then I’m not giving away all the spoils, am I? Hopefully you will also have a fun time finding other places inside of garden. As you will see, large swathes of the garden around the palace itself, you will find other small shrines for various other things that you may find interesting. And if you come at the right time of day, you may be able to afford entry to see what the inside of the imperial palace is like! Unfortunately, I have never had the time myself, but I am sure that you will find the time and take look at some of the ancient items that are housed there. There are also facilities on the west side of the park with a coffee shop and bathrooms. And you can even picnic inside the garden! Bring some food that you have either made, or bought at the convenience store, sit at one of the picnic tables and have a good bite to eat!

Next, another walk in the city would be along the Kamo River、It is only a couple hundred meters from the garden. The best place to start the river walk in my opinion is to start at Demachiyanagi.

(Photo of the Kamo River: January 30^th2021)

While currently, it is the dead of winter in Japan and the everything is wilted, when you come during the spring you will see this river covered with cherry blossoms. The Reason why I say this is because then you have three choices and you can always turn back and go somewhere else? Starting Kamo delta where the two rivers meet. The three directions that it is possible to go are northwest, towards the Kyoto Botanical Garden and Kamigamo Jinja Shrine, to the north-east into more outskirts Kyoto, or south into the city center. The Botanical gardens are a nice place to spend an afternoon, while going south towards the city center will be much better for the night life near Sanjo and the Kiyamachi area. Or if you want to dig in on some Ramen, at the Ichijoji Ramen street. All you must do is follow these rivers. And everything is withing 2 Kilometers of this one spot. Of course, you could also take some time to see a few other things around the delta. The delta itself is where you may hear some people practicing their instruments, playing music, and hanging out with their friends, but not only that, to the north of the delta is Shimogamo Shrine. Where you can spend time looking at breathtaking Japanese architecture, in which the traditional style uses no nails at all.

This will be all for this blog post, but if you have any comments or questions about what to eat or where to go, please feel free to let us know and we will get back to you!

Thank you for reading!