Experience the HIDDEN GEMS of KYOTO in Just 3 Days!

Well, hello there! My name is Aril Bekya. I'm a travel cinematographer traveling around the globe. In the next coming three days we're going to be visiting Kyoto and I'll try to share my experiences and give tips for you to follow if you come to Kyoto. So, without further ado, let's start exploring this beautiful city of Japan. Let's go! The first place on our list is a bamboo forest called Takenomichi which is not the famous one Arashiyama. We're not going to go there because it's too crowded. I think it kind of feels like a tourist trap right now. But before we do that we need to get some energy. That's why we ordered these ramens and we're going to enjoy these and after that we're going to hit the road to see the beautiful bamboo forest. We are now heading to Takenomichi, the bamboo path. To get around easily in Kyoto you need to get a day pass which covers both subways and buses here. But make sure to get the right one because there's also another one which covers only the subways. We arrived in Takenomichi bamboo path. This is the entrance. Now we're going to go inside and check it out. Unlike Arashiyama, Takenomichi is much less crowded. So the nice thing about this place is that it's so peaceful. There is no one here except us and we are in high season here in Kyoto in April. Alright, so this was Takenomichi and I really like this place. It was so quiet and chill. So now we arrived in the famous gates of Kyoto which is called Fushimi Inari. Transportation to here is really easy. Train station is just next to here and we chose this time of the day to come here to enjoy it a bit more because I'm pretty sure it's more crowded during the day. And right now it looks amazing. As you can see we're going to head up and I'm going to try to show you as best as possible how this place looks like. So, let's go! So this is the map of Fushimi Inari. Right now we are here and as you go up you get to see those famous gates. Alright, so I thought this place would have beautiful lights on them during the evening but turns out they don't. They just have white LED lights which doesn't look so cool. So now I'm going to change the time and we're going to be visiting this place during the daylight. Alright, here we are back in the temple. This was exactly the reason why we didn't want to come during the day because it's too crowded. But if you come here during the sunrise I guess you won't have as many people as now so you can definitely try coming here after the sunrise early in the morning. We are heading up. You can take the stairs up to the mountain here. So there are resting places in between. You can rest here for a while and continue heading up. We get a quick break for ice cream. After that we're going to continue our journey here. This shrine is dedicated to the god of prosperity in Shinto belief and it is also famous for its thousands of gates that lead up to the mountain. If you come here definitely be prepared for a good hike because you would need at least an hour or two maybe to complete this journey. And one more tip here. The higher you go the less crowded it gets and right now there are not many people here around. It's just two of us. It looks like this. Behind every traveler there's a sad tripod. Well this is as far as we go so let's leave this place and head on to our next destination. Let's go. We are heading down from a different path. You can circle around the mountain and take different routes on the way down. There are also some beautiful shrines and coffee shops. She's in love with postcards. They look cute. Alright we left the shrine and now we are heading to Gion district. You can use the app Uber and Didi to book your taxi. If you're using it especially for short distances it's really affordable but if you're gonna go long distances it's a bit expensive. Now we are officially in the famous district of Kyoto. Gion. Well I think it's really beautiful but it's just too crowded. If you're okay with the crowd you can always come during the day. If not try coming here early in the morning. So before we came here we saved some spots to visit when we come here. This was one of them. It's a matcha dessert house and it looks really nice actually. We ordered some matcha desserts to try. Alright first time trying the matcha dessert. Not bad. Now I'm gonna try the other trimusu which is a green tea trimusu and see how it tastes like. This is better. Alright now we are entering the Ninenzaka path which is another famous path here. This is the iconic view of Ninenzaka street. This is YouTube and this is real life. And now we are leaving the Hokanji temple and heading to the other side of Gion district. Alright we took a walk in Gion district and ended up here. Kiyomizu temple. So after seeing the temple we decided to have dinner because we were so hungry and real tired. We decided to eat gyukatsu which is a famous dish in Japan. And this restaurant is kind of famous so we wanted to have our dinner here. That's why there is a line here by the way. We have our dishes and it looks absolutely amazing. This is Kyoto style curry. This is onsen egg. Here we have some rice and miso soup. This is citrus soy sauce with Japanese radish. If you like the meat, like this roll, it's okay to eat it. But if you don't, you can always cook it here and then eat it. Well, first time trying gyukatsu. Let's see how it tastes. I think one of the best meats that I've had ever in my life. I'm enjoying what I eat here. It's amazing. We had our gyukatsu. It was so delicious. If you come here, definitely try it out. And now we are heading to Asako shrine which is open 24 hours. So we're gonna go there, check it out. And then there is also another park there. We're gonna be visiting that too. And let's see how they look like. So we are now right next to Yakasu shrine. We are entering the Asako shrine. It is so crowded even though it is evening hours. There are so many street foods here in this shrine. And it's chaotic. Well, as we go inside, it gets less dense and more beautiful. The Asako shrine is really beautiful. If you come to Kyoto, definitely add this place to your list as well. So let's go deeper and visit Maruyama park which is inside this shrine as well. Well, this is Maruyama park and it looks so beautiful. It's really nice atmosphere. People are chilling here. It looks so beautiful right now especially with the sakuras. So we have seen Asako temple and Maruyama park which was amazing. And now we are heading back to our hotel because we got really tired. It's like 11pm right now. We're gonna get some rest for tomorrow and tomorrow we're gonna be seeing more of Kyoto. So I'll see you in the morning. If you come to Japan, you should definitely wait in the queue for the bus. I always see foreigners just cutting the line and entering the bus. While the Japanese people are just waiting here in the line. You should definitely respect the rules in the country you're traveling to. Good morning from Kyoto. The first place on our list today is Shirakawa lane which is a place famous for its sakura trees. And right now, the sakuras are in their best form. So we're gonna be seeing some amazing sceneries. Wow. This is one of the top destinations if you wanna see the sakura blossoms. As you see, couples are coming here to take photos and videos in this famous street. Again, different couple taking their wedding photos here. I mean, they're absolutely right. And these two sweet people are trying to draw the picture of this beautiful atmosphere. And now we're leaving Shirakawa lane and heading to Kiyomachi street which is also filled with sakura trees. People are resting over there, chilling and enjoying the atmosphere. While we're heading to Kiyomachi street, we came across with one of the streets that we're gonna come later on in the evening. It's called Pontoshi street. This street is famous for its diversity of restaurants and beautiful Japanese architecture. We're in Kiyomachi-dori. And here are the sakuras. And a little cute baby. People are taking a boat trip here on this river. Wow. In all over Japan, vending machines are a huge thing. You can pretty much find what you're gonna be drinking here in these vending machines. Right now we're leaving Kiyomachi street and heading to a coffee shop hidden in the woods. I wanna take you to that place because it looks so nice. It's one of the hidden gems of Kyoto, I think. We're using these tickets to get around here for transportation. So we got off the bus in Ginkakuji-michi station. I'm giving it a name because the park and the river just next to it is amazing. Check this place out. Alright, we're heading up behind these houses. I think it's there. That coffee shop over there. Here we are. Wow. Alright, let's go inside. We're gonna have to take off our shoes here. We were lucky to find this place but they told us you have to have a reservation to come. But they also said it's okay if you are okay to wait. They would also let you in without a reservation. So we are waiting. Alright, so now we are leaving the coffee shop. It was so peaceful and the cakes and the tea were so delicious. I loved it here. And it was forbidden to take video inside so I took this photo to show you how the place looks like. And now we are heading to Nishiki Marketplace to try out some local dishes of Kyoto. So let's continue our journey. Right now we are entering the Nishiki Market. This is a street filled with different types of restaurants and markets. So this is octopus? With egg inside. There is an egg inside this octopus. And it's already cooked by the way. Let's try it. Eat it all. I don't need the egg part. I just want to try octopus. So tasty. It's tasty, right? So now we are gonna try out deep fried Kyoto Yuba, wrapped shrimp and yam. This one. Alright. Let's try it now. It's really hot. Alright, this is my favorite so far. So one more tip. If you order something here, you should eat it in front of the restaurant or inside the restaurant. Because it's rude to eat and walk at the same time in Japan. So we are trying black soybean tea right now. Nice. This is Japanese chestnut. I'm in love with chestnuts in Turkey. So let's try it now here. Japanese chestnuts are softer I think. And they taste really nice. Now we are gonna try out the famous Wagyu beef. But in a sushi form. Let's try the famous Wagyu beef in a sushi form. Maybe not. Still got it. Alright. Let's try it. The meat is tasty. But the way they cook it, I think it's not the best way to cook it. Because I kind of felt the gas. Which is not cool I think. So I'm just gonna have to give 4 out of 10. Serin. Really? 7. Last but not the least. We are gonna try out tempura. We have 2 pieces of crab tempura. Tasty. My favorite. You liked it? I also like sushi with crab. So this is my favorite today. Alright, that was the last meal in the market. I enjoyed Japanese dishes. They looked so nice. And they are really tasty. Now we are heading to Pontocho street. And we are back in Kiamachi street. Pontocho street is just behind this street. And it looks absolutely amazing during the evening. Just look at this place. And here we are. Pontocho street. It's so beautiful, right? The streets are very narrow. But it looks really nice. We are gonna find a place to sit down and rest. So we came to one of the zakayas in Pontocho street. To have a meal and drinks. I think zakayas are my favorite thing in all over Japan. The atmosphere is usually very friendly. And people come here to have fun, drinks, meals. It's really nice. I would definitely recommend you to visit some of the zakayas. So we ordered sobameshi to try out. Well, of course, we are in Japan. And we are gonna be having osake here. So let's try out the sobameshi. Nice. The name of the zakaya was Sakunoma. And it was really nice. If you are looking for a zakaya here in Pontocho street, I would definitely recommend this place. And having seen this beautiful city, we have come to the end of this video. If you liked this video, please like, comment and subscribe to my channel for more contents. And I'll see you in my next video. Take care.