The Early Bird Tour

The Early Bird Tour with Kyoto Fun

Nothing beats the Early Bird Tour when it comes to getting great photos and especially those of the Fushimi Inari shrine. And taking in the top two sights before most people finish breakfast is very satisfying too. We get to have the places to ourselves and get a lot more done in a short amount of time too. I hope that you really enjoyed this tour. Here is a little recap of the places we went. Note that depending on the pace of your tour and the interests of the group you are with that day, there may be slight variations but either way this can serve as a little memory for you of the day you had with Kyoto Fun Tours.

Places we discover on this tour

• Fushimi Inari Taisha: the shrine of 10,000 gates
• Kiyomizu Temple: an UNESCO World Heritage temple overlooking Kyoto City
• Kiyomizu-zaka: a slope leading to the temple lined with shops
• Sannen-zaka: a preserved district of cobble stoned streets
• Yasaka Pagoda: one of the postcard views of Kyoto

Recap

We started out at the famous Fushimi Inari Shrine which is dedicated to the Inari fox and a place to pray for a bountiful harvest. We first went to see the main shrine buildings and showed you how to make a shinto prayer and taught you a little about the customs of shintoism. Then we made our way to the real highlight, the amazing "sen-bon dori" with it's over one thousand gates resembling a red tunnel. We chatted about Shinto beliefs as well as some stories about the founding of the shrine. This is a truly magical place and We got some great photos along the way and then made our way back to where we met that morning to grab a taxi to the next stop.

We then made our way to the amazing Kiyomizu Temple. A place rich in heritage and with spectacular views of the temple complex itself as well as the city below. We could take in the place in a relative calm, making it hard to believe we were at the most famous temple in Japan. Then a chance to look out at the city below from the famous "kiyomizu platform" where surprisingly people used to take a "leap of faith" seeing if the gods favoured them or not. We could also look at the treasured deity of the temple the "Kannon" goddess of mercy.

After that we took a stroll down the stairs passing the famous falls where you can drink for health, wealth and wisdom then continued through the beautiful grounds until we reached the slope filled with many shops slowly starting to open. We then visited the areas of Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka in the Higashiyama district before concluding our tour. We covered a lot of ground and got to the most popular sightseeing places in Japan right before they got crowded. We hope you enjoyed your day with Kyoto Fun! 

Thank you!

Thanks again for sharing some of your precious time in Kyoto with us. We really hope you enjoyed the day and please do remember to write us a review either on facebook or tripadvisor! It means a lot for a little company like ours. http://www.kyotofun.com/thanks-for-the-review.html 

And if you got some great photos, please be sure to tag us on Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag #kyotofunphoto to enter a chance to win a prize as we pick a winner every year for best photo. Hope to see you in Kyoto again soon!