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One or two interesting train rides in the Kyoto area? Any suggestions?

gmat

By gmat
in Travel: Tips, Planning & Memories

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gmat

gmat

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My Mom and Aunt are visiting Kyoto and the surrounding area for about 10 days. I'll be going down to spend a day and a half with them. Mostly I'll be doing what they want to do, but my Aunt said that they could do a short train trip with me. I don't know if I'll take them up on this offer, but wonder what people here might suggest? They are in their 80s and my Mom had knee surgery recently. If I were alone, I'd probably stay at a spot and shoot what comes by. I'll take the Sunrise Seto to Himeji and when doubling back to Kyoto, ride the Thunderbird. I'll take the cheap trains back to Tokyo. 16:00 to 23:45. Another day opened up, so I might stay the night at Nagoya Station and ride the Utsube Line like BikkuriBahn, and ride the local trains back to Tokyo.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thank you,

Grant

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miyakoji

miyakoji

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gmat, I think you have got a lot of options for both riding and photographing.  What's your preference?  Do you prefer JR or private railways?  Some places, the Kyoto Municipal Subway is above ground, you could photograph that.  Also, there's the Randen, Eizan, and not far away in Otsu, the Keihan Keishin Line and Ishiyama Sakamoto Line.

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gmat

gmat

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BikkuriBahn, that might be a very good option. They should enjoy the scenery.

 

Miyakoji, when I went to Kyoto with Kinuko many years ago, I liked the old trams with the wooden interiors, but I'm sure that I'll be riding the trams to get around. In Tokyo, JR or private, it depends on what station I can get to. If my Mom and Aunt will be along, it should be somewhere close to Kyoto, if it is a line, then it shouldn't be too long and older style trains might be more interesting than newer models. Or maybe a furturistic looking one.

 

They are former high school history teachers. They went back and got an MA in Japanese. They visited art museums and craft fairs with my uncle when he traveled Europe and the East Coast and upper Midwest.

I used to buy old bottles and small bottles for my Aunt till she kind of ran out of room to display them.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

Grant

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Eisenbahn

Eisenbahn

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Hi Gmat,

 

If your mother and aunt only want a "short" trip, then the JR line from Kyoto to Nara has some nice scenery on the early part of the trip. You wind your way through sharp radius curves on hillsides overlooking a flowing stream/creek. There are traditional Japanese houses on the hillsides. The latter part of the trip is not particularly interesting. Depending how long  a trip your mom/aunt wanted , you could just go part of the way and come back. www.Hyperdia.com will have all the details.  I went on this run last year after some rain and the vegetation was very green and the creeks were running fast.  If the trip time was not too long for them and you all go to Nara, the big wooden temple at Nara in the Deer Park is quite spectacular. I just came back on JR but there is also the other private Kintetsu line back to Kyoto.

 

At the new JR Kyoto station, amongst other things, in the tower about half way up there is a very posh coffee shop/tea house of the kind your mother and aunt might enjoy.

On the day I was there the patrons seemed to be well to do local Japanese ( of all ages), mainly women in designer clothes.

 

The really important bit of advice for Kyoto is to get the big bus map before you go to Kyoto and spend time working out what combination of buses to use to get where you want to go.

 

I am sure there are many exotic lines to travel on from Kyoto if your mother and aunt wanted to spend the time.

 

cheers....Eisenbahn

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Ochanomizu

Ochanomizu

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Hello Everybody,

 

I have one suggestion for a short train trip in Kyoto.  I would recommend using the City Bus from Kyoto Station to visit the three famous temples in the north of Kyoto: Daitokuji, Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) and Ryoanji.  From Ryoanji, it is an easy 10 minute down-hill walk to the Keifuku Railway. These are the trains of the private railway.  These are the trains of one car only and the quite old.  Walking to the station you will find several quaint restaurants where you can take lunch, but the menu is in Japanese.

 

You can take the Keifuku from Ryoanji Station to the Arashiyama Station.  It takes about 20 minutes.  Above the Arashiyama station you will find several restaurants with soba and tempura.  The price is about 1200 to 1500 each for a meal set.  The Arashiyama Station is right at another famous temple called Tenryuji Temple where you can enjoy the afternoon in the casual.  My tip: when you reach the end of the temple garden at another ticket office continue out and walk through the bamboo garden in the lazy.  You will find your way to JR Arashiyama where you can travel directly to Kyoto.

 

This trip makes a pleasant day especially in the warmer weather.  You will enjoy in the November? It is the season of autumn leaves.

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tantousha

tantousha

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Hello Everybody,

 

I have one suggestion for a short train trip in Kyoto.  I would recommend using the City Bus from Kyoto Station to visit the three famous temples in the north of Kyoto: Daitokuji, Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) and Ryoanji.  From Ryoanji, it is an easy 10 minute down-hill walk to the Keifuku Railway. These are the trains of the private railway.  These are the trains of one car only and the quite old.  Walking to the station you will find several quaint restaurants where you can take lunch, but the menu is in Japanese.

 

You can take the Keifuku from Ryoanji Station to the Arashiyama Station.  It takes about 20 minutes.  Above the Arashiyama station you will find several restaurants with soba and tempura.  The price is about 1200 to 1500 each for a meal set.  The Arashiyama Station is right at another famous temple called Tenryuji Temple where you can enjoy the afternoon in the casual.  My tip: when you reach the end of the temple garden at another ticket office continue out and walk through the bamboo garden in the lazy.  You will find your way to JR Arashiyama where you can travel directly to Kyoto.

 

This trip makes a pleasant day especially in the warmer weather.  You will enjoy in the November? It is the season of autumn leaves.

 

 

 

This. I recommend this wholeheartedly!

 

A Japanese friend took us on this root (though inverted it) and we loved it so much we subsequently took our friends from home on it when they came to visit us.

 

One of the truly unique features of the station at Arashiyama is a 'foot onsen' where for a couple hundred yen you can rest your tired feet in hot water literally on the station platform... and the souvenir towel you get with a smiling anime tram logo just completes the package IMHO. Anyone visiting Japan will love the oddity of soaking their feet in hot mineral water in the middle of a train station while the trains come and go...

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gmat

gmat

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Thank you, Ochanomizu and Tantousha, the Keifuku Railway sounds interesting. I think that by the time that I meet them, they'd have visited the Big three Temples, but I'll see about riding the tram.

I'm not to sure if my Mom and Aunt are the type to seek out the mini onsen in the station, unless I were going to do it. I'll ask them, though.

 

Way back in the 30s, Mom's family did live in for a short time near Hiroshima and my Aunt was born in what is now Pyongyang, before they moved back to Hawaii. They also visited Japan in the 80s.

 

Thanks and best wishes,

Grant

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gmat

gmat

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Thank you, bikkuri bahn and others for your suggestions.

   I got back yesterday. We ended taking the Sagano Kanko Tetsudo and my Mom and Aunt said that they enjoyed the ride. I originally said that I would be happy to do go with them as they did their own thing in Kyoto, but my Mom told my Aunt that we should do something that I'd be interested in. The trip so far had not been successful for them as before I joined them, the trips to Nagoya and Osaka had been a complete bust. Because of my Mom's recent knee surgery, walking was a problem, so they tried to go by taxi from the nearest station. Sometimes their Japanese wasn't good enough, sometimes there was another place with a similar name, and sometimes different people gave conflicting directions on how to get to the same place. Four different people for the same place, in one instance. Mostly it was that they wanted to get to lesser known places.

   I got to see an example of their luck. On the first day that I traveled with them, the very first place we visited, The Kyoto National Museum, was closed for renovations. The pottery shop that we visited next was thankfully still in business and we spent the rest of the day shopping in the middle of Kyoto.

   The next day we took the first train ride on the Sango. It started to get crowded from the next run. I asked for my Aunt's camera and took photos of the ride as well as of my Aunt and Mom. Some of the pics might turn out nice.

   The next place was to look for 'bargain' ceramic goods along the Kiyomizuzaka. That's the line of shops leading to Kiyomizu Temple. My Aunt who visited Japan many many years ago, remembered that there were many shops selling pottery wares. Any of you recently visiting famous temples know that the selection has diversified to cater to the young female tourists. So when the taxi driver heard that we wanted to go to Kiyomizuzaka and wanted to shop for pottery, he suggested we get off at the row of shops near the bottom of the hill. The shops were fine, but the bargain prices that my Aunt remembered were long gone and the best things were quite dear. The cheap things were also cheap looking and made in China. Then to get up to Kiyomizuzaka, we ended walking 610 meters up the hill. I felt very bad.

   I rode the Sunrise Seto to Kyoto. Mostly I was too tired and slept the first few hours of the ride but after I got up, the view outside was excellent. The trip back to Tokyo was less successful. I thought they said 'end of the line' at Nagoya, but should have gotten off at Toyohashi and faced spending five hours at Gotemba in the middle of nowhere. So I rode the local as far as I could and then transferred to the Shinkansen at Shizuoka and got back to Omori by 10:30. It only cost about 2400 yen more.

   I took the overnight bus with Kinuko to Kyoto the next day and returned by Shinkansen that night. The bus may be cheaper, but not as smooth. The first trip was really to spend time with my Mom and Aunt and the second was to spend time with Kinuko, so rail fanning was secondary. Not many photos were taken. Shin-Osaka Station looked very good for shooting trains and near Maibara, there seemed to be a testing facility for Shikansen prototypes? I saw several parked under an open shed.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

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CaptOblivious

CaptOblivious

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How about the Sagano Kanko Tetsudo?  I'm not one for tourist trains usually, but this is one I'd like to ride, mainly because it uses the ROW of the old Sanin Line:

http://www.sagano-kanko.co.jp/

 

http://www.sagano-kanko.co.jp/eng/index.htm

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagano_Scenic_Railway

 

Second this. I missed my chance when I was there this time last year, but this is the perfect train for fall color viewing!

 

Also second Randen and especially the Eizan. But the earlier comments about taking the Randen (Keifuku) to Arashiyama are dead on!

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gmat

gmat

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CaptOblivious, we were just a tad too early for the autumn foliage. My Mom commented that the leaves were just starting to turn. Miyakoji, thanks for the info. The bad part about something so great is that everyone and his uncle will be doing the same thing. We are back in Tokyo right now. Kinuko and I went to see the special opening of the old Imperial Palace in Kyoto. We were 7 and 8 in line but line started to fill up rather quickly after that. It will be hell this weekend when more people have time off.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

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miyakoji

miyakoji

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gmat, how are the leaves in the Tokyo area?  If you go out in western Tokyo-to you can probably find some place that's not too crowded.  Maybe  :grin

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gmat

gmat

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Miyakoji,

Sorry that this response is late. I haven't travelled outside the city so I haven't noticed much difference. Kinuko and I went to Inokashita Park yesterday and although the acorn nuts have fallen, the leaves are still green. At Inokashira Koen Station, the tracks are elevated and you can get some nice shots of the trains, interspersed between trees, as they leave the station.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

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