Asia · Japan
Kyoto
Temple mornings, bamboo light and a thousand years of quiet craft.
Kyoto rewards slowness. We build the week around early temple hours, long lunches in Nishiki, and afternoons in the hills of Arashiyama where the crowds thin out and the bamboo does the talking.
Highlights
- Sunrise walk through the Arashiyama bamboo grove before the gates open
- Private tea ceremony with a ninth-generation Uji tea house
- Kaiseki dinner in a Gion machiya townhouse
- Day trip to Nara's deer park and Todai-ji
Gallery
Day by day
- Day 1
Arrival & Higashiyama dusk
Settle into a machiya near Gion, then walk the lantern-lit lanes of Higashiyama as the shops close.
- Day 2
Southern shrines
Fushimi Inari at first light, then a slow afternoon at Tofuku-ji's moss gardens.
- Day 3
Arashiyama
Bamboo grove before opening hours, river boat, and an evening soak at an onsen ryokan.
- Day 4
Craft day
Indigo dyeing and knife-forging workshops in the northern districts, plus Nishiki market tasting.
- Day 5
Nara
Train to Nara for Todai-ji, the deer park, and a temple-kitchen lunch.
- Day 6
Tea country
Uji tea fields, a matcha grinding session, and a private ceremony.
- Day 7
Golden hour temples
Kinkaku-ji, Ryoan-ji's rock garden and a final kaiseki dinner in Gion.
- Day 8
Departure
Morning market run for knives and ceramics, then transfer to Kansai.