The Best Day Trips from Kyoto

The 9 best day trips, ranked

Ordered by how well they repay a full day - factoring travel time, what you can actually see, and how easy they are without a car.

1. 
   1

   Nara

   The one unmissable trip

   40 km south · ~35–45 min by train

   Japan's first permanent capital, with the Todai-ji Great Buddha in one of the largest wooden buildings on earth, the lantern paths of Kasuga Taisha, and over a thousand sacred deer that bow for crackers in the park. It is the highest sight-per-hour trip in the region, and a half day covers the core of it.

   Getting there: Two railways compete and both work. The Kintetsu line from Kyoto Station reaches Kintetsu-Nara, the station nearer the sights, in about 35 minutes by limited express at 1,280 yen or 45 minutes by express at 760. The JR Miyakoji rapid takes 45 minutes at 720 yen to JR Nara, a slightly longer walk in. Kintetsu wins on arrival position; JR wins if you hold a JR pass.

   confirmation_numberFind Nara toursGuided day trips and skip-the-line ticketsarrow_forward

   • check_circleInstant confirmation
   • check_circleFree cancellation on most tours
   • Prices on Trip.com
2. 
   2

   Uji

   Tea, one perfect temple, and quiet

   15 km south · ~20–30 min by train

   The home of Japanese green tea and of Byodo-in, the phoenix-hall temple on the ten-yen coin, floating over its pond. The riverside is calm, the tea houses roast their own matcha, and the whole town runs at a fraction of Kyoto's visitor pressure. The most underrated half day in Kansai.

   Getting there: The JR Nara line stops at Uji on its way south, roughly twenty minutes from Kyoto Station on a rapid, for a few hundred yen. The Keihan line serves its own Uji station across the river. It slots neatly onto the front or back of a Nara day.

3. 
   3

   Osaka

   The evening trip, not the day trip

   43 km southwest · 29 min by JR special rapid

   Japan's kitchen and its loudest night out: the neon canyon of Dotonbori, street food eaten standing up, the rebuilt castle if you want a daytime anchor. The honest play is to treat it as an evening trip, leaving Kyoto mid-afternoon when the temples crowd out and coming back on a late train fed and happy.

   Getting there: The JR special rapid runs Kyoto Station to Osaka Station in 29 minutes for 580 yen, several times an hour. The Hankyu and Keihan private lines do the same job for less from the city-centre end of Kyoto. The full comparison is below, because which line wins depends on where in each city you start and finish.

   confirmation_numberFind Osaka toursGuided day trips and skip-the-line ticketsarrow_forward

   • check_circleInstant confirmation
   • check_circleFree cancellation on most tours
   • Prices on Trip.com
4. 
   4

   Himeji

   The castle Japan's other castles imitate

   130 km west · ~55 min by Hikari shinkansen

   The finest original castle in Japan, a six-storey white keep that survived the wars and the demolitions that took nearly every other one. You climb it barefoot on the original timber stairs. Half a day covers the castle and the neighbouring Koko-en gardens before the ride back.

   Getting there: Direct Hikari shinkansen services reach Himeji in about 55 minutes, and the castle is a straight fifteen-minute walk up the main boulevard from the station. The cheaper JR special rapid does it in around ninety minutes with no seat reservation needed.

   confirmation_numberFind Himeji toursGuided day trips and skip-the-line ticketsarrow_forward

   • check_circleInstant confirmation
   • check_circleFree cancellation on most tours
   • Prices on Trip.com
5. 
   5

   Kurama and Kibune

   A mountain morning without leaving Kyoto

   12 km north, in the mountains · ~30 min on the Eizan railway

   Technically inside Kyoto's city limits and completely outside its atmosphere: cedar forest, a mountainside temple, and in summer the famous kawadoko platforms where restaurants seat you on decks over the river. The cheapest full change of scenery on this list, and the only one that is also a hike.

   Getting there: The little Eizan railway leaves from Demachiyanagi in northern Kyoto and winds up the valley to Kurama for 420 yen. Walk over the forested mountain past Kurama-dera temple to the shrine village of Kibune, about ninety minutes of trail, and ride back from Kibune-guchi.

6. 
   6

   Kobe

   Harbour air and the famous lunch

   75 km southwest · ~55 min by JR special rapid

   A harbour city squeezed between mountains and sea, with the Kitano district's Meiji-era foreign mansions, a proper Chinatown, and the beef that carries its name, which costs less at lunch than dinner everywhere in town. Pairs naturally with an Osaka evening on the way back.

   Getting there: The same JR special rapid that serves Osaka continues to Kobe's Sannomiya station, just under an hour from Kyoto. No reservations, several trains an hour.

   confirmation_numberFind Kobe toursGuided day trips and skip-the-line ticketsarrow_forward

   • check_circleInstant confirmation
   • check_circleFree cancellation on most tours
   • Prices on Trip.com
7. 
   7

   Hikone and Lake Biwa

   An original castle without the crowds

   60 km northeast · ~50 min by JR Biwako line

   Hikone Castle is one of only a handful of original-keep castles left in Japan, sitting above the country's largest lake, and it sees a fraction of Himeji's visitors. The lakeside Genkyu-en garden borrows the keep into its view. The quiet-castle alternative when Himeji feels like a production.

   Getting there: JR Biwako line trains run northeast along the lakeshore to Hikone in about fifty minutes, no reservation needed. The castle is a fifteen-minute walk from the station.

8. 
   8

   Amanohashidate

   The classic view, for repeat visitors

   120 km north, on the Sea of Japan · ~2 hr by Hashidate limited express

   One of Japan's official Three Scenic Views: a pine-covered sandbar stretching three kilometres across a bay, viewed upside down through your own legs from the hilltop, as tradition insists. You can walk or cycle the sandbar itself. A long day, and a genuinely different Japan from the temple circuit.

   Getting there: Direct Hashidate limited express trains run a few times a day from Kyoto Station, taking about two hours at roughly 4,800 to 5,400 yen each way. Check the return times before committing to the outbound; the service is infrequent.

9. 
   9

   Hiroshima and Miyajima

   A profound day, at a real cost in hours

   360 km west · ~1 hr 40 min each way by Nozomi shinkansen

   The Peace Memorial Park and Museum are among the most important places in Japan, and the floating torii of Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima is one of its most beautiful. Both in one day from Kyoto is real but relentless: seven-plus hours of travel wrapped around two sights that deserve unhurried attention. If your route allows an overnight, give it one.

   Getting there: Nozomi shinkansen services reach Hiroshima in roughly an hour and 35 to 45 minutes. For Miyajima, continue by local train to Miyajimaguchi and the short ferry. Note that the national JR Pass does not cover Nozomi trains without a supplement, so price the return honestly before assuming the pass makes it cheap.

   confirmation_numberFind Hiroshima and Miyajima toursGuided day trips and skip-the-line ticketsarrow_forward

   • check_circleInstant confirmation
   • check_circleFree cancellation on most tours
   • Prices on Trip.com

Day trips from other cities