Japan has always been a country we dreamed of visiting. It was simply a matter of time and opportunity. So when the time finally came we were absolutely ecstatic! Now looking back we are so proud of being able to visit and experience this amazing country as a family. It is one of the most important trips we ever did! Japan changes you in various ways. You get a different perspective on life, culture, and society.

We stayed for about two weeks. We landed in Tokyo. Stayed there for a few days and moved to Hakone for one night. Then to Kyoto from where we did various one-day trips. The final destination was Osaka from where we flew back home. This will be a summary of the entire trip. For more details on the specific locations click on the “read more” link next to it.

Tokyo

Hard to describe Tokyo in a few sentences. If we have to I would say that it is a magical city. We tried to explore it as much as we could and the crowds allowed. The streets were almost all the time full. The metro and train stations were an insane super organized madhouse! Everything just works. Everything is on time and life does not stop for a second. We stayed mainly in the Shinjuku District. That was the most optimal since the hotel was right next to the metro/train station which we utilized for every day trip we went on. / read more

Hakone

After the few day trips, we did from our hotel in Tokyo next on the list was Hakone. We stayed in a traditional Japanese ryokan hotel where the rooms were in their tatami style setup. We wanted to truly experience the culture and we absolutely loved it. The food was amazing and we never needed anything more than what we had in the room. We also had in the hotel one of the many hot springs (also known as onsen) on the island which we truly enjoyed. If you have a chance to experience it do it. It is a very similar experience to Iceland and its Blue Lagoon. / read more

Kyoto

Our second “base” was Kyoto and from here we did a series of day trips to various landmarks and must-see places. The city itself is beautiful and if you stay in a hotel close to the train station you can really visit a ton of places quickly. Everything in Japan is connected via the train line. Or at least almost everything. We visited here the famous Fushimi Inari shrine and many others. We also dressed in traditional Japanese clothing while exploring the city as many Japanese people do. It was tons of fun! / read more

Tsukushima aka Miyajima Island

Miyajima was a day trip from Kyoto and it is 30 mins ferry ride from Hiroshima. We spend most of our time that day in Miyajima and enjoyed the amazing views and food there. Island has so many traditional Japanese buildings, shrines, and little shops that even one day felt hard enough to see everything. / read more

There are many souvenir shops, tiny restaurants, and various attractions. Just offshore, you can see the giant orange Great Torii Gate. The gate marks the entrance to the Itsukushima Shrine, built in the 12th century.

Osaka

Another day trip we did from Kyoto made us realize that Osaka needed a lot more time than one day to be truly appreciated. Just exploring the amazing Osaka Castle requires more than half a day so we ended up spending most of ours there and around it :). / read more

Kobe

Our Kobe experience did not start great. The day we visited the city it was raining, windy and cold. We walked under the rain from the train station around the city until our reservation time was up for an authentic Kobe beef experience. After which no one cared about the weather, the wet clothes, or the cold. We thought we had an idea what a high-quality steak was but we were wrong. So … so … wrong. Nothing we have tasted before came close to this. Truly amazing! / read more.

Nara

Our last day trip was to Nara from Kyoto where we spent the majority of the day exploring the Kofuku-Ji Temple and the surrounding areas. This is also where we had the best shrimp udon soup by far. The temple was quite busy but its sheer size and layout make it a great place for pictures. There are deers everywhere in Nara. They are considered the “messengers of the gods” and if you visit Nara Park you can feed them and pet them as much as you like. / read more

Overall Japan was an adventure we will remember for the rest of our lives. We liked it so much that we are planning to visit again the first opportunity we get!

Here is our second video compilation of the trip. We hope you enjoy it:

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Lodging

Similar to what we did in our visit to Tokyo we made sure you are staying next to Kyoto train station. The station which by itself could be an attraction. It is filled with restaurants, stores, and beautifully architected. As we mentioned almost everything in Japan is connected via train or metro so staying next to a train station is a very good idea. Our hotel was about two minutes walking distance from it. We highly recommend it as a “hub” for daily trips around Kyoto. The hotel’s name is Hotel Gracery Kyoto Sanjo.

Cuisine

We usually either Yelp or ask locals when traveling and looking to experience the local cuisine. Most of the highly rated places in Kyoto were not accessible without crazy wait times. Very few of them accepted reservations or spoke English so have that in mind. We managed to visit a few of them and it was worth the hype and wait. We had the best udon soup and sushi in Kyoto and Nara. For Kyoto specifically read more bellow about the Nishiki Market and the Heart Bread Antique. Those two for us left a great impression.

Things to See & Do

We made reservations prior to the trip on a few things we really wanted to experience in Japan. One was to dress as samurai (something our son was really looking forward to). The other to visit Kyoto in the national Japanese kimonos. It had to be in Kyoto since we wanted to do it in the Fushimi Inari Shrine (the one with the hundreds of the orange gates). We did both reservations online and both were absolutely worth every penny. If you have the time do not think twice about it. We had people stopping us to take pictures and others saying “We should have done this!”. We reserved our kimonos from this web site (use google translate).

The samurai experience included a few sessions where you throw ninja stars and play with various weapons. A 30 minutes history lesson about the samurai and ninjas as well as a sword-fighting demonstration. Overall great experience. It ended up with a 30 minutes session where you can dress as a samurai and take family pictures. Note that you do not actually dress with the authentic samurai armor. Those (as shown below) cost tens of thousands of dollars. You end up dressing (as shown above) with a leather copy of the real ones.

Fushimi Inari Shrine

No other shrine in Kyoto dedicated to Inari is as famous and as beautiful as the Fushimi Inari Shrine with its close to one thousand torii gates up the Inari mountain. We really tried to reach the top but the kimonos we were wearing do not help when caring for stuff and climbing tons of stairs. You have to remember than the kimonos come with sandals, so the comfort level is quite different when it comes to climbing and moving a lot.

The shrine sits at the base of a mountain also named Inari which is 233 meters (764 ft) above sea level, and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines which span 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) and take approximately 2 hours to walk up.

Important Note – Look for the Hidden Bamboo Forest!

When you are in the Fushimi Inari Shrine at the beginning of the pathway keep your eyes open to the right side. There is a “hidden” walkway which leads to a small bamboo forest! It is a less known hidden gem we found about while doing research on the shrine. The main pathway is absolutely crazy the majority of the day and taking pictures alone or with your family is close to impossible. The best time is late afternoon or just go around like we did for most of our photos and look for other views.

Toji Temple

Toji temple is famous for a few things. Its five-story pagoda is the tallest in Japan and at one point it was the main headquarters of Shingon Buddhism. The temple is very well maintained and quite beautiful. We spend about half a day inside exploring it and we felt we needed more time to see everything. There is a very nice fish pond, various flowers, and more than enough benches for visitors to relax and enjoy. Also plenty of cherry blossoms along the pond 🙂

Nishiki Market

While in Kyoto and have a few hours to spare we also would recommend the Nishiki Market. Located one block north and parallel to Shijō Street and west of Teramachi StreetIt is quite a famous place for all kinds of local foods and sweets. It is very busy and quite a tight narrow corridor that you walk through, but other than that it is a must-see. You should also try some of the fresh food from there. We liked everything we tried.

Important Note – Look for the Heart Bread Antique!

If you want to take a break from the Japanese food and want to get some French bread and croissants head over to the Heart Bread Antique. It is right next to the market. Everything we tried there was absolutely delicious! We actually went back again the next day and had deserts after our second visit to the Nishiki Market.

Day Trips from Kyoto

As we mentioned in the beginning our plan was to have Kyoto a base city from which to do day trips via the Japan Rail. Since our hotel was walking distance from the train station that was a very convenient way to explore multiple cities quickly. Bellow are the day trips we did and links to larger and more detailed articles.

Itsukushima / Miyajima Island

We heard a lot of good things about Miyajima and they all were true. This island was a calm beautiful piece of heaven. With its huge tori gate right at its shore to the numerous deers welcoming you when you arrive. It was like a fairy tale. Tons of restaurants and small shops and very historic look and feel of Japan. / read more

Kobe

Although we knew Kobe has so much to offer and experience we wanted to make sure one thing we will do when we get there. Experience an authentic Kobe Beef! Our son is a very picky eater. We could not stop him from eating there and close his mouth from screaming “Oh my gosh this is so good!” It was … it was the best steak we ever tried. An experience that we think is an absolute must in Kobe. / read more

Nara

Nara is the capital of Japan’s Nara Prefecture, in south-central Honshu. It is famous for its beautiful temples and countless deers running around them. The temples and the combination of old and new Japan really made Nara one of the top places we recommend now for people to visit and experience. / read more

Other

Although we did not have a chance to visit these they are highly recommended attractions for our next trip. A few of them we missed on our trip due to unforeseen circumstances. The list includes Otagi Nenbutsu-ji, Tenryu-ji temple, Kinkaku-ji, Myoshin-ji, and others.

Conclusion

Kyoto is a must-see destination. It has everything you want to experience in Japan and more. Beautiful temples, shrines, parks, museums, and amazing food. Its location is perfect for day trips to close by cities and attractions. Do not miss Kyoto. Trust us it is that good!

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