Background
In July 2023, our family visited Kyoto and Osaka! This has been at the top of our family wish list for a few years. We visited in late July and combined this trip with a Hawaii visit and 3 days in Seoul. We visited Asia previously (Tokyo 2017) but this was the first time Ellie came and the first time we visited the Kyoto/Osaka area.
This post covers our fun day in the Arashiyama area including a boat cruise, monkey park, and bamboo gardens!
Read all of our 2023 Korea/Japan posts at the following links:
- Seoul, South Korea: Flights, Logistics, and Hotel Info
- Seoul Day 1: Myeongdong, Namsangol Hanok, Seoul Tower
- Seoul Day 2: Hanbok rental, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Gwanham square, Hongdae
- Seoul Day 3: Gangnam Area, COEX Aquarium, Myeongdong Night Market
- Kyoto, Japan: Flights, Logistics, and Hotel Info
- Kyoto Day 1: Higashiyama Temples: Maruyama Park, Yasaka Shrine, Kiyozdemeru
- Osaka: Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan and Osaka Dotonbori
- Kyoto Day 2: Arashiyama River Cruise, Monkey Park, Bamboo Gardens,
- Kyoto Day 3:Aeon Mall, Nishiki Market, Pokemon Center,Gion Matsuri Gallery
- Kyoto Day 4: East Kyoto Temples: Philosophers Path, Nanzeji Temple
Day 3: Arashiyama River Cruise, Monkey Park, Bamboo Gardens, Gion
Hozugawa River Boat: This was a highlight of our trip! A common recommended route for people visiting the Arashiyama area is to take a train west to Kameoka station and then a riverboat back. We went straight to the Kameoka station from our hotel to start our day. This area itself was really cute with a huge soccer stadium and some small shops nearby. The boat ride was about $50 for adults. From my reading of reviews, I thought this would be a relaxing picturesque ride. It was so much more! Parts were peaceful, but parts were rapids-ey with bamboo poles pushing us within inches of rocks. As I was writing this blog post, I also saw that there have been capsize accidents in the past. A good reminder to do research ahead of time. We would do this tour again. There were cool animals to see and really fun sights. Towards the end of the ride, a small motorboat pulled up with snacks! So fun!
Lunch: Per the recommendations of several blogs, we stopped at Arashiyama Yoshimura, a really yummy tempura and soba spot. We were able to get a window seat and relax. The food was delicious! A little pricier than other spots we went to throughout the week but it was great. Although the boys said give them ramen over soba anyday.
Iwatayma Monkey Park: This park has Japanese Macaques living all over the park. There is a steep 20 minute climb to the top of the hill and a small entrance fee. At the top there are monkeys swimming, monkeys playing, monkeys being mean to other monkeys. So many monkeys! There was a small area where humans could get in a room/cage and feed the monkeys. It was very silly 🙂 The area also has nice views of the city including all the way towards Kyoto city.
Bamboo Gardens: By this point, we were kinda tired but we wanted to see the famous bamboo grove. It was really cool to see the tall stalks moving in the wind. It was really hot during our visit and we didn’t do this full hike as the kids were exhausted.
Hotel time: With most of our itineraries, we try to plan lots for the morning, take a break after lunch (used to be nap time but it’s a little more flexible now) and then head out for dinner and maybe one more activity. While we were in Kyoto, we set the kids up in their own room and hooked up the switch to the TV.
Dinner: Conveyor Sushi: Near the Kawaramachi area, we planned on doing some shopping and eating dinner. We were pretty exhausted and did some wandering around the Pontocho alleys and decided on conveyor belt sushi at Morimori. Around this part of town there are also fun spots like Kiddyland toy store, Takashimaya department store and other cool spots. We also stopped at a grocery store to grab some drinks so we would stop stopping at every vending machine
More Asia 2023 Posts
Read all of our 2023 Korea/Japan posts at the following links:
- Seoul, South Korea: Flights, Logistics, and Hotel Info
- Seoul Day 1: Myeongdong, Namsangol Hanok, Seoul Tower
- Seoul Day 2: Hanbok rental, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Gwanham square, Hongdae
- Seoul Day 3: Gangnam Area, COEX Aquarium, Myeongdong Night Market
- Kyoto, Japan: Flights, Logistics, and Hotel Info
- Kyoto Day 1: Higashiyama Temples: Maruyama Park, Yasaka Shrine, Kiyozdemeru
- Osaka: Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan and Osaka Dotonbori
- Kyoto Day 2: Arashiyama River Cruise, Monkey Park, Bamboo Gardens,
- Kyoto Day 3:Aeon Mall, Nishiki Market, Pokemon Center,Gion Matsuri Gallery
- Kyoto Day 4: East Kyoto Temples: Philosophers Path, Nanzeji Temple
