Kyoto, Japan

November 25 – 29, 2025

Kyoto is a beautiful city with loads of historical sites, temples, and shrines. We spent our days here exploring and biking around the city to view the famous Golden Temple (Kinkakujicho), the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and the shrine walk with hundreds of gates to hike through.

We stumbled upon new temples at every turn while out and about:

One night we went for a quick dinner and ended up meeting Peter, a freighter pilot, who frequently travels to Japan on his time off. He insisted we try the various sashimi he ordered as well as the fish head!

He also wanted to try the different sake the restaurant offered, so we had a sake tasting with our new friend!

The next day we visited the Golden Temple – the shimmer on the building in the sun is incredible:

Many pit stops at 7-Eleven for rice balls and egg sandwiches:

Rock garden at a temple:

The Imperial Palace in Kyoto is massive!

Crazy fresh flower arrangements:

Different layers of the Emperor’s robes:

There were hundreds of gates on this hike through the woods:

We were lucky to be hiking while there was a ceremony – we watched from afar:

It was pretty cold, but we biked through Kyoto to get around when it was faster than the metro:

A huge bamboo forest:

Bear attacks are a concern in Japan right now, so there are many signs like this around:

A retro metro 🙂

Our last day in Kyoto – beautiful weather and crazy temple grounds:

These three streams are said to have sacred water that grant wishes for longevity, academic success, and fortune – many people lined up for their chance to sip the water: