There is soo much to do and see in Kyoto, and we had no idea how we were gonna fit it all in. We saw the option of doing a bike tour around Kyoto, but were honestly a bit nervous at first because we’d never been there before and well.. they drive on the opposite side of the road haha. It was so much fun though - definitely the best day of our whole trip. It was just crazy hot though; we were dripping in sweat the entire time!
We subway’d as close as we could get to the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, which was going to be our first stop of the day. After getting to the start of the bamboo grove, we decided to switch it up and grab bikes to tour other parts of the area before ending the day back at Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. The bicycle rental place was between the subway and bamboo grove, so it made sense to make it our last stop.
So our real first stop was to see the Togetsu-kyō Bridge. This is where it was the scariest to bike because there were a lot of cars, and soo many people. The views around the bridge were so pretty, and we even stopped for some Sawawa Japanese Matcha Sweets mochi. It was delicious!
After the sweet treat we headed straight to Arashiyama Monkey Park. It was a long and hot hike to the top. I needed some breaks during the hike, and luckily there was the odd bench. We didn’t expect it to be that long of a hike, but we kept at it! (there was a girl doing it in high heels (?!) and a really cute elderly couple doing it too) Once getting to the top, we fed some monkeys, re-hydrated, and headed back down. As tiring as the hike was, I always love seeing really cool trees.
We then biked to Otagi Nenbutsu-ji temple. Google says it’s a 10 minute drive between the two places, but we obviously biked it. And it was almost all uphill. I. Was. Wrecked. I had a wet mark on my bum and honestly didn’t know if was pee or sweat hahaha. (it was sweat what am i, a freak?) The temple was one of the cooler ones we saw on our trip because of all the statues, called rakan, that were everywhere.
After the temple, we biked back down to the bamboo grove. It was a really nice ride back because a lot of it was downhill. We reached the “grove” part of the bamboo grove and were actually surprised at how cool it was. There were SO many people, but hey, we added to the number of people there so I can’t complain. We tried to get photos without anyone else in it, but it was tough.
Biking around was a bit scary because of the whole driving on opposite sides of the road thing, but it was a really nice way to experience Kyoto. We would definitely do it again if (when) we go back!
Have you done a biking tour before? If so, where!?
x Melissa