It was an early start as we were on the 9.12am Shinkansen Train from Hiroshima Station to Kyoto. We arrived in Kyoto at 11.30am and our first job was to find the office for our Airbnb. Unfortunately we could not check in until 4pm but the office (which was also a hotel reception and only a five minute walk from Kyoto Station) would take our bags and deliver them to the Airbnb for us.

By this point we were quite hungry so returned to the train station as there was a huge underground food court and we found a pizza place/bar which we liked the look of and ordered pizzas.

^{Pizza for lunch!}

Kinkaku-ji

We did not want to waste the afternoon so using both the train and the bus we headed to Kinkaku-ji – a Buddhist temple which is covered in gold leaf and set in gardens with a reflecting pond. When we arrived it was ridiculously hot (much hotter than Hiroshima) so we bought drinks from a vending machine outside the grounds. We entered the gardens and the first thing we saw was the temple from across the pond.

^{Kinkaku-ji Temple and reflecting pond}

There was a lovely walk around the pond and then a short forest trail that we followed which took us to the exit.

^{Kinkaku-ji Temple and grounds}

Arashiyama Bamboo Forest

We made our way back to the bus stop and got on a bus going in the wrong direction. We corrected ourselves, managed to return to the train station and caught the train to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. I had expected the forest to be really busy but I think because it was now 4pm most people had left so we were able to take some good photos.

^{Arashiyama Bamboo Forest}

It was only a short walking trail but by this point we were quite tired and it was very hot and humid. We returned to the train station and luckily there was a direct line back to Kyoto Station. We made our way to our Airbnb which was a traditional Japanese house – about a 15 minute walk from the station. The property was lovely but next to a stream so we knew there would be lots of mosquitos around. It was also close to a 7/11 so we were able to buy a selection of ready meals for dinner to make life easy!

^{Our Airbnb in Kyoto}