- Overview
- How come? なんでやねん
- Parking lot for bike 駐輪場
- 1-Day parking pass 一日駐輪券
- Itinerary on bike プラン
- Put your wheels running! いくでしかし
Overview
We have many ways to visit landmarks in Kyoto. Bus, train, taxi, and bicycle. Bike is the easiest and fastest way to get places we want.
With taking advantage of it, we visit many places but it’s not good idea to go any places we want to go because we have some problems. Let us learn about them in the next chapter.
WARING: We are not responsible of any loss or other detriments as a result of the data or printed contents printed in this blog.
How come? なんでやねん
Kyoto bike map
Take a look at the map above. The lines are the ways we take. The blue annotations are places to visit by bike. The red aliens are places not to visit by bike.
The places to visit by bike is divided into four zones and we discuss about each of them.
Landmarks to visit by bike
The blue annotations stand for landmarks to visit by bike;
The purple zone
Kyoto Imperial Palace, Shimogamo shrine and others.
The yellow zone
Ginkakuji temple, Nanzenji temple, Eikando temple, Heian Jingu shrine, and others.
The green zone
Yasaka shrine, Kiyomizu-dera temple, Kodaiji temple, Ken-ninji temples, Gion district, and others.
The blue zone
Higashi-honganji temple, Nishi-honganji temple, and Sanju sangendo temple, JR Kyoto sta., and others.
Landmarks not to visit by bike
The aliens stand for landmarks not to visit by bike;
Arashiyama area, Ryoanji temple, Ninnaji temple, Nijo castle, Toji temple, Fushimi Inari Taisham and Tofukuji temple, Daitokuji temple, Kinkakuji temple, and Kitano tennmangu shrine.
The reasons are as follows;
Arashiyama area
Outside of Arashiyama area
Arashiyama area is located far from the center of Kyoto city and it takes time to get there by bike. In addition to it, the way to get Arashiyama is not easy to understand. I’m afraid you might be at a loss in the middle of nowhere.
Inside of Arashiyana area
In Arashiyama area, many landmarks are located close to each other and we cannot take advantage of bike. Stroll around the area and admire good views!
Kamigamo shrine
Kamigamo shrine has the same reason as Arashiyama has: far from the center of the city.
Ryoanji and Ninnaji temple
These landmarks have the same reason as Arashiyama has: far from the center of the city.
Nijo castle
Nijo castle has a poor parking lot system. The way to use it is hard to understand. I asked it in Japanese language and could not understand it though I’m a Japanese goat.
Toji temple
To get to Toji temple, we pass through a very narrow street and tunnel. For our safety, let us go Toji by bus or taxi.
Fushimi Inari Taisha and Tofukuji Temple
Fushimi Inari Taisha and Tofukuj temple have the same reason as Arashiyama has: It is hard to understand the route to get there.
Daitokuji temple, Kinkakuji temple, and Kitano tennmangu shrine.
These landmarks have the same reason as Arashiyama has: far from the center of the city.
Parking lot for bike 駐輪場
General information
There are two kinds of parking lots in Kyoto city.
Parking lots 1-Day parking pass is available
This article recommend the parking lots where we can use 1-Day parking pass (See the next chapter);
Kiyomuzuzaka (the green P), Pontocho (the red P), Tominokojirokkaku (the blue P), Misayama parking (the purple P), and Ginkakuji parking(the brown P). There are other parking lots but this article do not recommend them.
1-Day parking pass is valid for a day. It costs us 200 yen we can use it without a limit on the day at the parking lots where it is available.
Other parking lots
In other parking lots, total amount of parking fee depends on the hours we park our bike.
When using them, be sure the way the fee is charged and open hours of the parking.
1-Day parking pass 一日駐輪券
What is 1-Day parking pass?
This is a 1-Day parking pass. We can have it in the first use of a parking lot. A staff gives it to you. Be sure there is a stamp on it (indicated in the red circle).
The first parking of the day
ATTENTION: We can have 1-Day pass at Kiyomizuzaka and Ginkakuji parking. There are other parking lots where we can have it but this article do not recommend them.
When a staff spot us, they come to us and lead us to a place to park space for bike.
Ask them 1-Day parking pass, or show them the sentence below.
一日駐輪券ください。
When leave there with our bike, show a staff 1-Day parking pass.
After the first parking
Pontocho and Tominokojirokkaku parking have ticket vending machine at the entrance.
DO NOT TAKE A TICKET at vending machine.
Before entering parking lot, show 1-Day pass to a staff.
They open the gate without a ticket.
When leave there with our bike, show a staff 1-Day parking pass.
Itinerary on bike プラン
As we discussed before, we visit places in the four zones by bike. If we want to go to the places indicated by the aliens in the map, we take bus or train, i.e. we may use not only bike but bus and train to visit places we want to get.
For example, if we go to Kiyomizu-dera and Kinkakuji temple, we park bike at Kiyomizu parking, and go to Kiyomizu-dera. After Kiyomizu-dera, we walk to bus stop and go to Kinkakuji by bus. After Kinkakuji, we come back to the parking.
When we visit places on the bike and bus or train basis, we use the parking lots where 1-Day parking pass is available.
If you understand Japanese language, see the link below. In the article, the way to take and train on landmark to landmark basis. I will write the English edition in near future.
Put your wheels running! いくでしかし
Kyoto Imperial Palace and Shimogamo shrine
Kyoto Imperial palace
Kyoto Imperial Palace is located in Kyoto Gyoen park. The blue Aliens indicate the entrances of the park. In side the park, there are Kyoto imperial place and Sento Gosyo.
The entrance of the palace is indicated by the red alien in the map. The red arrow indicates “de facto” parking place.
In Kyoto Gyoen park, we have another Gosho named Sento Gosho. It is indicated by the red annotation.
Shimogamo shrine
At the blue alien
We face east on Imadegawa St.
At the green alien
We face north. In the direction the arrow indicates, we find a bridge.
At the red alien
We face west. The lower arrow indicates a way to Shimigamo shrine.
At the grey alien
We face north. Pass through the Torii gate.
At the yellow alien
We face north at the entrance of Shimogamo shrine. We can’t enter it on bike. Turn left.
At the purple alien
We face west. The lower arrow indicates the way to the parking.
The blue P
The Red P
The grey P
Higashi yama area
General information
Higashiyama area has the most popular one in Kyoto. It has famous landmarks like Kiyomizu-dera temple, Yasaka shrine, Kodaiji, Kenninji, and so on. Near Higashiyama, Gion district (the green polygon) is located.
It seems to be very easy to ride on bike on landmark to landmark basis because we have some difficulties;
1) Most of all land marks has no parking place.
2) The area is always crowded with many tourists and it is not safe to ride on bike there.
3) Most of all streets in the area are very narrow and some of them are steep.
So, we park bike at Kiyomizuzaka parking (indicated by “P” in the map).
The way to Kiyomizuzaka parking
Let us know the route with photos
Detour Ahead
We take a detour to get to the parking because we don’t take Higashi oji St. (indicated in vermilion line).
The street has always heavy traffic and it is dangerous to ride bike there. It is not easy to understand the route on map, so we make a small inspection with photos. The aliens on the map indicate crossroads.
At the blue alien
We are on Goji St. and face south. Find the post office 東山郵便局.
At the red alien
We face north. In the direction the arrow indicates, we can find a chimney.
Ar the vermilion alien
We face east. We turn left, we can find Rokuhara-mitsuji temple.
At the green alien
We face north.
At the purple alien
We face east and the fire engine heads for the same direction.
At the grey alien
We face east. We turn right and climb down the hill.
The entrnce of Kiyomizuzaka parking
We can use 1-Day parking pass.
Around the Philosopher’s path
Nanzenji temple
At the front gate, we can park bikes for free.
Eikando temple
We are at the entrance gate. The red arrow indicates the parking place for free.
Ginkakuji temple
It takes some 5 minutes walk to get to Ginkakuji temple. We can use 1-Day parking pass.
Heian Jingu shrine
We are in front of the entrance of Heian Jingu shrine. The red arrow indicates the parking place for free.
Around JR Kyoto sta.
Around JR Kyoto station
We use the Yodobashi camera parking. It is not only for Yodobashi customers. Indicated by red P in the map. It is not for free. The fee depends on hours we use it.
Higashi Honganji temple
Higashi honganji has free parking. At the green P in the map, there is a gate (the entrance of parking place). Ask a security guard where to park.
Nishi Honganji temple
On the other hand, Nishi Honganji has a parking for free.
Sanjusangendo
Inside of the entrance gate, there is a parking. We can’t take photo near there. At the front gate, ask security guards where the parking is.
