tenryuji temple

today we were going to do another walk tour. we were following this guide from insidekyoto (check it out here). when i was planning our holiday, i totally had no clue since i haven't been to arashiyama before. and the only thing that people kept posting was the bamboo grove and kimono forest, but i didn't see anything else. so at first i didn't know that tenryuji was in in arashiyama area. when i read the guide, i decided we could follow this one.

the pond filled with lotus at front

the main hall

the guide was pretty easy to follow because you can see the picture where you should go next. husband said we could do it, so we followed it. since we were from kyoto station and using JR line, we ended up at saga arashiyama station. outside the station was the scenic train station. if you wanted to just sit and watch, this is a good option to enjoy the scenery. we didn't ride it, but i guess the train would be similar to the one at peak hongkong, with clear glass window and roof so you could see your surrounding. the train only takes 20 minutes, and you could go back using the boat. the boat ride, however, is a different story. they said it could take up to 2 hours, so that's the reason why we skipped the train ride.

this is the main hall from the inside. you could take a peek

we walked for quite a bit before finding the main gate. according to the guide, there was another gate, so make sure you check the picture. the pictures were accurate, probably the difference was the plants. they grew of course, but all the signs were still the same. we then walk for a short bit and found the sign to the ticket office. first we chose to go to tenryuji and then after finding the ticket booth, we paid for the garden only. it costed 500 yen. you could also see the main hall, but the guide said it was okay to skip it, so we skipped it.

the garden was indeed very beautiful. though it was sunny, but the plants made a good cover from the sunlight so it was not as hot as fushimi inari. sometimes we could even feel the wind. the pond was very clear, and you could sit at the long bench to enjoy the view. oh, the ticket was for one time visit only, so made sure you enjoyed the garden before moving on. if you walked under the bigger trees, you should use bugs repellent because under the shade it was quite dark so mosquitoes were flying around happily.

the garden map
the red label was the north gate

the ground was pretty easy for kids and older people, but if you wanted to exit from the north exit, there were some stairs and it was quite slippery because of all the tiny stones covering the steps, so you might want to consider that. you can see in the video about the steps i was talking about. when you saw the map of the garden, you could see that the road was looping around, so no matter which one you chose, you might walking in circle. since we wanted to bypass the bamboo grove, we walked uphill and then straight toward the north gate. you could also walked from the bamboo grove then entered the garden from the north gate. i would say that this place is suitable for bringing kids and older people. the view was very good and the ambience was very serene. really a good place to relax and enjoy the nature. you could bring stroller, but you might have to fold it when you take the steps toward the north exit. i didn't go to the toilet, so i couldn't inform anything about it, but there were toilets available. we spent probably about 30 minutes in the garden and it was enough for us.