We emerged from our Hotel to find it lightly snowing.
Walking through the gentle snowfall, we made our way towards Karasuma subway station.
We rode the subway to Kyoto station.
Picking up an onigiri en route from a convenience store station, we eventually found our way to the JR office, and activated our JR pass.
We then used our pass to board a train bound for Arashiyama.
Within 20 minutes, we arrived at Arashiyama station.
We made our way south, walking through quiet streets.
As we headed south towards Katsura River, it began to snow lightly.
We headed east on Sanjo-Dori.
Turning left and heading south, we crossed Togetsu-kyō Bridge, beautiful vistas surrounding us in every direction.
We continued south, admiring the beauty of the rivers and mountains.
Following the coast, we made our way west towards the monkey park.
Last time I’d visited, it had been closed due to snow. Today however, it was open for business.
We decided to make our way up the mountain and have a look.
We continued up the mountain, beautiful aerial views of Arashiyama coming into view as we continued our climb.
As we approached the summit, we began to spot some monkeys.
We continued to the observation deck, offering beautiful, panoramic views.
We headed inside a nearby shed, where you could feed the monkeys.
We traced our way back toward Togetsu-kyō bridge.
On the way, we stopped in at a sourvenir shop, featuring some cute Shibe shaped purses.
After picking up a few souvenirs we departed, continuing over Togetsu-kyō.
We continued along the coast.
As we walked along the river, we could see some people who’d hired a canoe, trying to coordinate their rowing.
We made our way up towards Arashiyama Park’s observation deck.
When I’d made this climb just over 2 years ago, the icy conditions on the day had made it quite treacherous.
Thankfully, this time the weather was a bit more conducive to our footwear.
Before long, we made it to the Observation Deck.
After taking in the view, we headed back down the mountain.
We made our way down to the beautiful bamboo grove.
We continued through the bamboo grove.
As we reached the bottom of the mountain, we made our way through the small town.
Now well and truly lunch time, we made our way back to Arashiyama station, keen to get our ramen on.
A short trip later, we were back in Kyoto.
We wandered through the city, bound for the one and only Ichiran.
We gratefully arrived, and after a short wait, we received our ramen tickets from the familiar vending machine, and were seated at our private booth.
Ichiran
- ¥¥
- Price
- Ramen
- Restaurant
The rich, beautifully delicate broth lived up to our memories from our last Tokyo trip. It had been nearly a year since we last had Ichiran. It was worth the wait, and the trek.
After a wonderfully filling bowl of ramen, we left Ichiran.
As we wandered back down the main strip, I spotted some people with Blue Bottle bags.
On a whim, we decided to catch the subway to Blue Bottle in Higashiyama.
A short ride later, we arrived at Keage station.
Heading north through a tunnel, we made our way through Konchiin Temple garden.
We turned left on to Nanzenji Kusakawacho, and made our way to the Blue Bottle a little further down.
Blue Bottle
- ¥¥
- Price
- Coffee
- Place
We entered the Blue Bottle.
It was quite a popular destination. We lined up, and ordered our drinks.
After a little while, our drinks were ready.
We headed through to the front room gift store.
After drinking our coffees, we decided to check out the nearby Nanzen-ji temple, to our east.
We headed to our right, seeing a large brick aqueduct.
After exploring a little further up, we headed back down, and made our way back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel, we took a couple of hours to do some laundry, as we’d be departing for Tokyo the day after tomorrow.
After washing and drying our laundry, we decided to try the hotel bar for a quick cheeky drink.
After a cheeky drink, we decided to head out for dinner.
We made our way to a highly-rated Katsu place nearby in downtown Kyoto.
Katsukura
- ¥¥
- Price
- Katsu
- Restaurant
After a short wait, we were seated.
We ordered drinks, and were provided with mortars to grind sesame seeds, to add to the Tonkatsu sauce.
Soon, our Tonkatsu arrived.
The katsu crust was crisp, and the chicken fillet was tender.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel, for our final full day in Kyoto.