Thursday, July 27, 2017

Day 2 - Osaka/Kyoto/Kobe Trip 2017 - Kiyomizudera (清水寺, literally "Pure Water Temple") - How to go to Kiyomizudera Temple from Kyoto Station by public bus.

Day 2, we started our sightseeing with the famous Kiyomizudera Temple. Kiyomizudera is best known for its wooden stage that juts out from its main hall, 13 meters above the hillside below. But we came at a bad time, the temple was undergoing a renovation of the roof, so the temple was covered up and we could not take a nice photo of the temple. The renovation will be completed in 2020.

Opposite our hotel (Hotel New Hankyu Kyoto), was the bus terminal, we took Bus 100 from the bus terminal to Kiyomizudera Temple. The bus fare was 230 yen. The bus ride was about 10 minutes away.

The map I collected from the tourism board in Singapore prior to my departure was so useful. I can alight either at Gojozaka Bus Stop or Kiyomizumichi Bus Stop and crossed over to the temple. We can use our ICOCA (IC)card or buy a one day bus pass, so do some calculations before purchase one day pass.

There's is a screen and announcement in the bus to annouce the bus stop in Japanese, Mandarin and English so no problem. Need to get up the bus from the back door and exit from the front door to pay fare. No worry if you are using IC Card without sufficient money, can always top up the difference in cash and slot into the box.

Lots of tourists and students visit the famous temple, unsure where to go, just follow the crowd, I use the above map as my guide. Is only short walk from the main road, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Admission fee of 400 yen to the temple is required.

So sad, the temple is covered up for renovation, could not take nice photo of the temple.

Nice view from the top of the temple, could even see Kyoto Tower.

After temple visit, we walked back the same route as we earlier took but dont walked all the way to the main road, halfway through, turn right to a small lane(see map), visit many old shophouses where there's a lot of nice souvenirs and food. Free tea and food samples too. Nice atmosphere. This is the place to buy all your Kyoto souvenirs, I bought quite a number of beautiful fans from here.

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