Best Temples in Kyoto: Fees, Hours and How to Avoid the Crowds

Fushimi Inari-taisha (free, open 24 hours) is the head shrine of Inari, god of rice and business, and its 10,000-odd vermilion torii climb Mount Inari in tunnels. The famous double row (Senbon Torii) is 5 minutes from the main hall and always packed; the crowds thin after the Yotsutsuji intersection about 40 minutes up, where there is a view over the city. The full loop to the 233 m summit takes 2 to 3 hours. Take the JR Nara Line to Inari (5 minutes from Kyoto Station) and arrive before 8am or after dark, when the lanterns are lit.

Kiyomizu-dera (500 yen, from 6am, closing between 5:30pm and 6:30pm by season) stands on the eastern hillside with a wooden stage jutting 13 m above the trees on a lattice of pillars joined without nails. Come at 6am opening; by 10am the approach up Gojo-zaka and Matsubara-dori is shoulder to shoulder. Buses 100, 206 and EX100 stop at Gojo-zaka or Kiyomizu-michi, a 10-minute climb.

Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion (500 yen, 9am to 5pm), is a gold-leafed three-storey pavilion over a pond. You see it from the shore only, on a one-way path that takes 30 to 40 minutes. Arrive at 9am or after 4pm; buses 101 and 205 to Kinkakuji-michi, or 12 from downtown.

Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion (500 yen, 8:30am to 5pm, 9am to 4:30pm December to February), was never silvered; it is loved for its raked sand cone and a moss-garden hill path. It sits at the north end of the Philosopher’s Path (bus 100 or EX100 to Ginkakuji-michi).

Tenryu-ji (garden 500 yen, halls 300 yen extra, 8:30am to 5pm) in Arashiyama has a 14th-century pond garden by Muso Soseki that borrows the mountains behind it. Its north gate opens straight into the Sagano bamboo grove (free, always open). The grove path is only about 400 m, and by 9am it is a slow queue; at 7am it is close to empty. JR Sagano Line to Saga-Arashiyama or the Randen to Arashiyama.

Ryoan-ji (600 yen, 8am to 5pm, 8:30am to 4:30pm in winter) holds Japan’s most famous rock garden: 15 stones on raked gravel, placed so you can never see all of them from the veranda at once. Sit for ten minutes and the crowd usually clears. It is a 20-minute walk or bus 59 from Kinkaku-ji, or the Randen to Ryoanji station; Ninna-ji, with its five-storey pagoda and late-blooming Omuro cherries, is 10 minutes further west.

Sanjusangen-do (600 yen, 8:30am to 5pm, 9am to 4pm from mid-November to March) is a 120 m wooden hall holding 1,000 standing gilded statues of Kannon around a giant seated one, a sight no photo prepares you for; photography inside is banned. It is a 10-minute walk from Keihan Shichijo, or bus 100 or 206 to Hakubutsukan Sanjusangendo-mae, opposite the Kyoto National Museum.

Nanzen-ji (grounds free; Sanmon gate 600 yen, Hojo garden 600 yen, 8:40am to 5pm) is a huge Zen complex with a climbable gate, a red-brick Meiji-era aqueduct running through the grounds and a tiger-leaping rock garden. Ten minutes’ walk north, Eikan-do (600 yen, 1,000 yen in the autumn special season, 9am to 5pm) is Kyoto’s top maple temple, with a hillside pagoda and a famous statue of Amida looking back over his shoulder. Tozai Line to Keage, 10 minutes’ walk.

Tofuku-ji (Tsutenkyo bridge and Kaisando 600 yen, 1,000 yen during autumn colours; Hojo gardens 500 yen; roughly 9am to 4pm) has the most dramatic autumn view in the city: a covered wooden bridge over a valley of 2,000 maples. Photography on the bridge is banned in the autumn peak to keep people moving. The Hojo’s checkerboard moss garden by Shigemori Mirei is quiet even then. JR or Keihan to Tofukuji, 10 minutes’ walk.

Kodai-ji (600 yen, 9am to 5:30pm) was built by Hideyoshi’s widow Nene, with a bamboo grove, two hillside teahouses attributed to the tea master Sen no Rikyu and the city’s best-known night illuminations (to 10pm in spring, summer and autumn). It sits between Kiyomizu-dera and Gion above Nene-no-michi. Yasaka Shrine (free, 24 hours) is Gion’s shrine at the top of Shijo-dori and the home of the July Gion Matsuri; its hundreds of lanterns are lit nightly, and Maruyama Park behind it is the city’s party spot in cherry season. Next door, Chion-in has Japan’s largest wooden main gate.

Near the station, Higashi Hongan-ji and Nishi Hongan-ji (both free, roughly 5:30am to 5pm) are the twin headquarters of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. Higashi’s Goei-do is one of the largest wooden buildings in the world, and you can sit in on morning services. They make a good first or last stop of a trip: Higashi is 5 minutes’ walk north of Kyoto Station.

To-ji (grounds free; Kondo and Kodo halls 500 yen, more when the pagoda interior opens; 8am to 5pm) has Japan’s tallest wooden pagoda (55 m) and a hall of 21 Esoteric Buddhist statues arranged as a three-dimensional mandala. On the 21st of every month the grounds fill with the Kobo-san flea market from dawn. Kintetsu to Toji station or a 15-minute walk from Kyoto Station.

Daitoku-ji (grounds free, sub-temples 350 to 400 yen each) is a walled village of 20-odd Zen sub-temples where you can walk the lanes for free and pick three or four to enter. Daisen-in’s dry landscape of rock “waterfalls” and Zuiho-in’s cross-shaped garden are the best; Ryogen-in has Japan’s smallest rock garden. Buses 205 and 206 to Daitokuji-mae. It is the antidote to Kinkaku-ji’s queues, 15 minutes away by bus.

Shimogamo Shrine (free, roughly 6:30am to 5pm) sits in the Tadasu-no-Mori, a primeval forest at the fork of the Kamo and Takano rivers, 10 minutes from Keihan Demachiyanagi. It and Kamigamo Shrine upriver are older than Kyoto itself. Heian Shrine (grounds free; Shin-en garden 600 yen, 8:30am to about 5pm) is a 1895 replica of the old imperial palace, with a giant torii over the Okazaki museum district and a stroll garden known for weeping cherries in early April.

Byodo-in in Uji (700 yen, 8:30am to 5:30pm; Phoenix Hall interior 300 yen extra by timed ticket) is the hall on the back of every 10-yen coin, an 11th-century Amida hall spread like a bird with its wings over a pond. Take the JR Nara Line to Uji (about 20 minutes), walk 10 minutes down the tea-shop street, and add Ujigami Shrine across the river.

Saiho-ji, the moss temple (Kokedera), can only be visited by advance reservation through its official booking system, usually at least a week or two ahead, and the fee of roughly 3,000 to 4,000 yen is Kyoto’s highest; check the current price when you book. Visits begin with sutra copying before you walk among some 120 kinds of moss. Take Kyoto Bus 73 from Kyoto Station to the Kokedera stop.

Fees and hours change, and special openings add separate tickets; check each temple’s site before you go.

At a shrine (jinja, marked by a torii gate): bow once at the torii and walk to the side of the central path, which belongs to the god. At the water basin, rinse your left hand, then your right, pour a little into your cupped left hand to rinse your mouth, and spit it beside the basin, not back in. At the hall, drop a coin (5 yen is lucky) in the box, ring the bell if there is one, then bow twice, clap twice, pray and bow once.

At a temple (tera, ji or in): no clapping; place your palms together and bow. Light incense if you like (about 100 to 500 yen) and waft the smoke over yourself. Shoes come off whenever you step onto tatami or wooden floors; wear socks without holes and slip-on shoes. Photography is banned inside most halls and of most statues. Hats off inside. There is no formal dress code, but shoulders and knees covered is respectful.

Goshuin (calligraphy stamps) cost 300 to 500 yen and go in a dedicated book, not a scrap of paper. Do not touch moss, raked gravel or garden stones, keep off tatami with bags and tripods, and do not eat while walking through the grounds.

Kyoto’s crowds follow a predictable curve: light before 8:30am, heavy 10am to 3pm, light again after 4pm. Peaks are the cherry blossom weeks (late March to early April), Golden Week (29 April to 5 May) and autumn colours (mid November to early December, when Eikan-do and Tofuku-ji see their biggest crowds). The rules that work: do the big five at opening time, one per morning; spend the middle of the day in Daitoku-ji’s sub-temples, Sanjusangen-do or a museum; visit on weekdays; and swap a headline for a quieter equivalent (Daigo-ji or Kozan-ji for maples, Ninna-ji for late cherries, Kurama for mountain temples).

Night illuminations (light-ups) run in spring and from early November to early December at Kiyomizu-dera, Kodai-ji, Eikan-do and Shoren-in, usually from about 5:30pm to 9:30pm, with a separate ticket of 600 to 1,000 yen. In March the Higashiyama Hanatouro lines the lanes from Kiyomizu-dera to Shoren-in with lanterns; in December the Arashiyama Hanatouro lights the bamboo grove.

Zazen: several temples run sitting meditation for visitors. Shunko-in, a sub-temple of Myoshin-ji, teaches zazen in English most mornings by reservation; Ryosoku-in at Kennin-ji in Gion runs regular sessions. Expect 60 to 90 minutes and 2,000 to 3,000 yen.

One day (east and south): JR to Inari for Fushimi Inari at 7am (2 hours on the mountain); JR one stop to Tofuku-ji at 9am; JR or Keihan to Shichijo for Sanjusangen-do; walk or take bus 206 up to Kiyomizu-dera by noon; walk down Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka to Kodai-ji and Yasaka Shrine; Gion at dusk. About 15,000 steps and 1,700 yen in fees plus about 800 yen in fares.

Day two (north and west): bus 101 or 205 to Kinkaku-ji at 9am; bus 59 or walk 20 minutes to Ryoan-ji; Randen from Ryoanji to Arashiyama (one change at Katabiranotsuji) for Tenryu-ji and the bamboo grove in the afternoon, when the morning crowd has gone to lunch; JR Sagano Line back to Kyoto Station. Swap in Daitoku-ji instead of Ryoan-ji if you want a garden to yourself. For more days, see our Kyoto itineraries and the Japan itineraries.

Kyoto travel guide · Getting Around · Itineraries