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Mid-range · 6-hour walk · Kyoto

Kinkaku-ji and the northern temples in six hours

The Golden Pavilion, the rock garden of Ryōan-ji, Ninna-ji's late cherries, the shrine of scholars at Kitano, and the Zen gardens of Daitoku-ji with grilled rice cakes at its gate.

On foot

2.3 km

Walking

31 min

At stops

240 min

Total

4h 31m

Stops

The temples of north-west Kyoto stand in a line along the foot of the hills, joined by a road called the Kinukake-no-michi. This route walks it from the Golden Pavilion to Ninna-ji, then takes the bus east to the Kitano Tenmangū shrine and the walled temples of Daitoku-ji. Kinkaku-ji is busiest in the middle of the morning; go at opening.

The route, stop by stop

Kinkaku-ji

The Golden Pavilion, its top two floors covered in gold leaf and reflected in its pond. The original was burned down by a monk in 1950; this is the rebuilding of 1955.

40 min here Walk here →
Ryōan-ji

The garden of fifteen stones on raked gravel, placed so that from wherever you sit one of them is always hidden.

40 min here Walk here →
Ninna-ji

A temple founded by an emperor in 888 and headed by imperial princes for centuries, with a five-storey pagoda and cherry trees that flower late.

45 min here Walk here →
Kitano Tenmangū

Arrive by bus from the previous stop

The shrine of Sugawara no Michizane, worshipped as the patron of learning, where students pray before exams. A flea market fills it on the 25th of every month.

40 min here Walk here →
Daitoku-ji

Arrive by bus from the previous stop

A walled Zen complex of more than twenty sub-temples. Daisen-in, one of those open, has one of the finest dry gardens in Kyoto.

50 min here Walk here →
Imamiya Shrine

Behind Daitoku-ji. At its east gate, Ichiwa has been selling aburi-mochi, small rice cakes grilled and dipped in sweet miso, for about a thousand years.

25 min here Walk here →