Beijing to Kyoto

Cara Brown
Mar 4, 2018
4 min read

After 72 hours in Beijing (my visa-free time was up...) I flew with AirChina again to Tokyo Haneda. My original plan was to arrive in Tokyo early afternoon, pick up my Japan Rail Pass (a must have for travelling around Japan) and get the next train to Kyoto. I realise it seems a bit of a backwards plan but it worked out cheaper than flying direct to Kyoto as the train was included in the price of my rail pass. Anyway. As travelling goes, things don't always go to plan. My flight was delayed, I couldn't work out the Tokyo metro and therefore got on the wrong train what felt like 245 times before I finally arrived at the counter to pick up my rail pass. With 10 minutes left before the counter was due to close, I joined the queue and waited. Only for the lady to tell me there were no more trains left to Kyoto that evening. It felt like the universe was against me, especially after a long day of travelling!

As I started to think that I was going to lose my money for the Airbnb I had booked to stay in and wonder where I was going to go for the night, the (very helpful) lady behind the kiosk offered another alternative. An over night train to Kyoto. I'd been on over night trains before in Europe so I sort of knew what to expect. The ticket was included in the price of my rail pass and I would arrive in Kyoto early morning so I wasn't going to miss any exploring time! As I walked down the platform to get on the train, I noticed the cabins looked clean and spacious! Not like the over night trains I had experienced before. They even had blue and white striped pyjamas folded neatly on each bed! This wasn't going to be so bad...until I realised that the cabins were first class (obviously!) and I didn't have a first class ticket (obviously!). Instead, my cabin was shared with around 40 others in a big 'bunk bed'. I arrived in Kyoto around 5am, feeling like I hadn't slept at all.

After checking in to the Airbnb and freshening up, I decided to head straight to Nara. Nara is about 1hr 20mins on the train (this is why you need a Japan Rail Pass!) from Kyoto. It was the first permanent capital in the year 710 so is full of historical treasures including some of the largest and oldest temples. The highlight from the day was feeding the deer in Nara Park. For a small fee you can buy wafer-style biscuits from the street sellers which the deer LOVE. Rumour had it that the deer would bow to you before taking the wafer from your hand, some of them did and some were less polite!

Nara Park

Over the next two days, I met up with my uncles and their friends. We spent the days walking and exploring Kyoto, visiting as many temples as we could! Kiyomizudera, Ginkakuji, Nanzenji, Kinkakuji were some of the most beautiful. We visited the Fushimi Inari Shrine, which is famous for its thousands of torri gates (around 10,000 apparently!). Nishiki market ('Kyoto's kitchen) showed us some culinary delights. In the evening we wandered the streets of the Gion district which is known for geishas. We did catch a glimpse of two geishas although they disappeared as quickly as they appeared! Gion was also where I had the tastiest beef cutlet served with yam, a must try in Kyoto! If we weren't already lucky enough, we saw lots of sakura (cherry blossom) as we were visiting during blossoming season.

Fushimi Inari Shrine

Cherry blossom along the Path of Philosophy

The Golden Temple (Kinkakuji)

Nishiki Market

Hiroshima

On our final day in Kyoto we took the bullet train to Hiroshima. Hiroshima was largely destroyed by an atomic bomb during WW2 and had since been rebuilt. It was a beautiful day when we arrived after our 90 min journey. We made our to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. Here we saw lots of school children showing their respects and protesting for peace. We continued to the Memorial Park and museum before moving on to the Children's Peace Monument. It was all very moving and the bright sunny day really added to the atmosphere. We then made our way towards the ferry terminal so we could get to Miyajima (the ferry was also included in the Japan Rail Pass!) for the afternoon. The ferry crossing was smooth and made for great photographs of the Itsukushima Shine (also known as the floating torri gate). We ate our sushi lunch by the sea before making our way past the five storied podoga to the gondola (return trip 1800 yen) which would take us to the summit of Mount Misen.