My last morning in Kyoto, I woke up to the sound of rain pounding on my window. After running into friends the night before, they had given me the short list of things to see in Osaka, and that my last full day in Japan tomorrow would be better spent making the day trip out to Koyasan. That meant getting to Osaka early today, seeing what i wanted to see, and then hopefully figuring out how to get to Koyasan early the next morning. If I wanted to see it all, I had to get moving. I packed my bags, handed back the keys, and trekked off into the rain, but before heading to Osaka, there was one last part of Kyoto I wanted to see.

Kinkaku-ji – The Golden Pavilion

There’s certain places, cities, landscapes and temples that I have on my list as “come hell or high water, I get to it.” This was one of them. This place I’d had as a wallpaper in university for years, and for that reason, I felt compelled to see it. Not because it was a wallpaper, but because I’d seen it for so long, and always throught, I have to go there one day. It was sort of ‘close the loop’ sort of deal.

Worth Seeing: 4 bus rides wondering “is this my stop, ahh i really hope this is my stop” out of 5. Definitely worth the trek to get to. Beautiful area, but you’ll only spend at most an hour here.

Getting There: Depends on where you’re coming from, this is a little out of the heart of Kyoto, although there are a number of buses that can get you here.

It’s located a bit of a hike from Kyoto Station, I was lucky enough having my Guesthouse in the northern end of town, it was easier to get to. Walking in to the grounds, you come up on the temple right away. but not before coming up on a very good explanation of the history on a copper engraved plate at the entrance to the area. The grounds aren’t terribly large, but they are certainly peaceful to be among.

Continuing on, there is set of paths that take you up and around for maybe 10 minutes. Its a nice walk, and was definitely peaceful with the rain and overcast.

Having checked off the last thing that I wanted to do in Kyoto, it was off to Osaka, which meant figuring out how to get to Osaka. Again, having a rail pass, it was as easy as walking into a train station to the English speaking booth and asking “I would like to get to Osaka”. And with that, I was on my way.