Day trip to Kyoto - NCT went here for NCT Life (How to go, where to go, and where to eat)

We weren’t able to go around Kyoto before as it was raining and we arrived late we went there a few years ago.

I told my dad that we should head to Kyoto early so that we can go to a lot of places (spoiler alert: we weren’t able to visit all the places on my list, but at least we have a reason to go back!)

Places we went to around Kyoto (in order)

1. Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
2. Iwatayama Monkey Park
3. Fushimi Inari Taisha
4. Nishiki Market
5. Downtown Kyoto

*2023 update*

I’m adding a new place that we were able to go to in Kyoto – Ninenzaka Street! It was raining when we went there so I definitely have to go back to explore more about the place! I’ll write about Ninenzaka Street below after Downtown Kyoto!

So for our first location around Kyoto, I decided to go to the famous Arashiyama Bamboo Forest since it was the farthest one from the list.

You can ride the subway all the way to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest but the walk is very far. Upon doing some research, you can ride a local bus that will take you directly to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest.

How to go to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest :

1. Get down at Saiin station (HK-83)
2. Exit North Gate

you will see the bus that will arrive, ride BUS 28! **BUS 28**. We made a mistake by riding an alternative bus number and it took us forever to arrive

yes, you can use your Suica card here as well!

and there is an alley with the Snoopy cafe on your left

This is one of the destinations for NCT Life in Osaka (episode 18) :

After spending some time at Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, we walked towards Iwatayama Monkey Park. We wanted to see some Japanese macaque monkeys!!

entrance only cost 550 yen for adults and 250 yen for children

the hike and walk to the area WAS SO TIRING

DSCF5465 — ALL THAT TIRED FEELING WENT AWAY AS SOON AS I SAW THE MONKEYS!!

DSCF5470 — We were in time for their feeding time !! I’ll show you a part of it in my travel film!

I wish my mom saw these Japanese macaque monkeys as well, she was the one who introduced me to them. She was in Vancouver with my brother at the time. Hopefully, I can take her to a place where she can see them as well.

After spending some time with the Japanese macaque monkeys, we decided to have lunch in town.

I forgot to take a photo of what the restaurant looked like (sorry we were really hungry), but this is what was displayed!

While I got the Katsu-donburi ( SO GOOD!!!)

After having lunch, we proceeded to Fushimi Inari Taisha. We rode bus 28, but this time heading to Kyoto Station.

How to go to Fushimi Inari :
1. Ride JR Nara Line heading to Nara from Kyoto
2. Get down at Inari Station

after seeing so many fox statues, I remembered Hotarubi no Mori e even if the setting was not an Inari shrine. I saw a lot of people wear the fox mask so I was reminded of the movie.

We wanted to climb the whole Fushimi Inari but our energy got drained from the Monkey Park, but hopefully next time!

After taking some photos, we decided to go have some grilled Quail. We discovered this restaurant while looking for a place to eat way back! The restaurant’s name is Hinoya(日野家)!

THIS PLACE DIDN’T EVEN CHANGE! It looked exactly the same, 7 years ago

DSCF5514 — YUM!!! DEFINITELY ONE OF MY FAVORITES

After having some grilled Quail meat, we decided to head to Nishiki Market!! I am OBSESSED with the Tofu Doughnuts I ate before!! I told my dad that we have to go back for some Tofu Doughnuts.

How to go to Nishiki Market Market:
(The station and the exit were a bit far from Nishiki Market so I will recommend a better one below. I will be using Google Maps with “showing” you on how you can get there)

1. Get down at Karasuma Station
2. Exit 16

Screen Shot 2020-01-25 at 11.54.24 PM — when you get out of exit 16, you’ll see the apple store in front of you

Screen Shot 2020-01-25 at 11.54.44 PM — face left and walk towards the alley

Screen Shot 2020-01-25 at 11.55.00 PM — and just keep walking straight

Screen Shot 2020-01-25 at 11.55.20 PM — you will suddenly notice an alley on your right

Screen Shot 2020-01-25 at 11.55.35 PM — you’ve already arrived at Nishi Market

There are a lot of food in Nishiki Market

BUT WE (I) DECIDED TO JUST HEAD OVER AND FIND MY FAVORITE TOFU DOUGHNUTS

They also serve some soft served ice cream! I should probably try this next time!

DSCF5523 — I JUST CHOSE THEIR ORDINARY TOFU DOUGHNUTS

DSCF5517 — CLOUD 9 MOMENT!! I WAITED FOR SO LONG TO EAT THOSE TOFU DOUGHNUTS

After fulfilling my Tofu Doughnut cravings, we went back to Downtown Kyoto to meet up with my friend, Enzo for dinner. He’s taking up his master’s in Kyoto!

He recommended a good katsu place to us, so we headed there for dinner. The place is called Katsukura and this is how the place looked like from outside.

We ordered the Sangen pork tenderloin cutlet set meal

After dinner, he took us to a place where everything was priced at 270 yen! This was the only photo I was able to take, as we were busy catching up! He mentioned that there are a lot of branches of this place around Kyoto.

all photos taken using an iPhone / Fujifilm X-T20 18-55 mm

And that’s how we ended our day trip to Kyoto!

Ninenzaka Street :

During my trip in 2023, I wanted to somewhere new so we didn’t go to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest anymore. We rode the bus heading there. It was raining so much so it was difficult for me to take photos 😭. I’ll definitely update this post if I get the chance to head back!

I honestly just followed Google Maps, and had difficulties taking photos since it was raining 😭

you know you’re at the right place if you see the pagoda (the temple at the middle)

look at all the umbrellas, can you imagine being small (my height) and not being able to see anything 🤣

I didn’t know where to go during that time because I could not see where we were going. I was just going with the flow with the crowd. I decided to hide in Starbucks instead while waiting for the rain to stop. (Spoiler alert it did not stop and it continued to rain until we went home)