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Cluster · Kyoto

Kinkaku-ji / Ryōan-ji (north-west)

Morning cluster far from the centre: Kinkaku-ji at opening, walk the Kinukake road to Ryōan-ji; 3 hours; buses are slow and crowded — taxi out, bus or taxi back.

Key facts

28″ bags
forbidden
Time budget
half
Rescue coverage
99% ≤7′
max p90 6.7′
Places
2
Kinkaku-ji
Kinkaku-jiPhoto: Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0
Rules in force · 8Large suitcases on Kyoto city buses
  • East Asia ↗Every border in East Asia is a full international border, Hong Kong and Macau included: an entry permission for one never covers the next.
  • East Asia ↗Ferries between Korea, Japan and China cancel in rough seas and typhoons; keep a flight or a spare day behind every sea leg.
  • Japan ↗IC cards (ICOCA/Suica) are topped up with cash at station machines.
  • Japan ↗Smoking while walking is banned in most city centres; use designated areas.
  • Japan ↗Shinkansen bags 160–250 cm (L+W+H) need a seat reserved with the oversized-baggage area.
  • Kansai ↗ICOCA is the default IC card; Suica works too.
  • Kyoto ↗Large suitcases on Kyoto city buses: do not. Buses are crowded and oversized bags are refused or block aisles.
  • Kyoto ↗Kyoto accommodation tax is often collected in cash at the front desk.
More
Map to the centre
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Directions
From where I am

Add your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.

Kinkaku-ji
Kinkaku-jiPhoto: Manish Prabhune, CC BY 4.0
Kinkaku-ji
Kinkaku-jiPhoto: DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0

Walking weather, next 5 days

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Forecast: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), model data for this point.

Plan

How the ground walks, and what is here

Bound and physics

Kinkaku-ji south along the Kinukake-no-michi road to Ryōan-ji and Ninna-ji — not the whole of Kita ward.

Slope
gentle
Stairs
Few; gravel paths inside temples
Shade
medium
Surface
pavement + gravel
Sleep here or visit
visit

On the ground

Where to rest, how to leave, where to sleep nearby

Rescue anchors

6 places to rest · checked on a 40 m (130 ft) grid

A rescue anchor is a spot where you can stop and recover if the walk goes wrong: a bench, a café, a toilet. Every letter on the map is one anchor, and each has a card below. We check that any point in the cluster is within about 7 minutes’ walk of one, so you are never far from somewhere to sit down.

ABCDEF
Map © OpenStreetMap contributors. Lettered circles: rescue anchors (green works in any conditions, amber only on hot days). Dashed outline: the cluster. Red dots: spots more than 7 min from any anchor (none if you see no red). North is up; not for navigation.

Kinkaku-ji gate area (WC, benches)

Toilet · Place to sit · works in any conditions

Kinkakuji-michi bus stop (convenience store, field-verify)

Food & drink · ac · works in any conditions

Kinukake road midpoint (café, field-verify)

Place to sit · Food & drink · works in any conditions

Ryōan-ji gate (WC, pond benches)

Toilet · Place to sit · works in any conditions

Ninna-ji Niōmon gate (WC)

Toilet · Place to sit · works in any conditions

Kinukake road north

Place to sit · works in any conditions

99% of the cluster is within 7 min of an anchor in any conditions (slowest walker, worst cell 7.1 min) · 99% on hot days

Nodes in this cluster

  1. Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion)

    Be at the gate at opening: the one-way loop takes 30–40 minutes and fills with tour groups by 10:00; you see the pavilion from across the pond only.

  2. Ryōan-ji

    The rock garden is a sit, not a walk: 30–45 minutes on the veranda, shoes off; quieter than Kinkaku-ji before 10:00.

Edges out

directed
ToHowp50Climb
ArashiyamaRanden from Omuro-Ninnaji~25 minflat
Downtown (Nishiki / Pontochō)Taxi or bus 205~35 minflat

Red lines here

  • Kinkaku-ji: one-way route; no stopping on the narrow pond path when crowded.

Deep dive

Around this cluster

Straight-line distance; walk time adds 30% for streets.