Friday, September 19, 2014

Birthday Trip to Kyoto

Kyoto was a city that I really wanted to visit. It was my first time ever to visit Japan. Since we didn't get to travel in the summer vacation, we wanted to celebrate my husband's birthday somewhere nice and inexpensive to get to. Flying on Peach air was very affordable. My review of Peach air is coming soon in an upcoming post of the best and the worst airlines I flew with.



We flew to Osaka, Kansai airport and from there took the shuttle bus from outside the terminal and got off at the train station. We took JR rapid train to Kyoto central station. It takes around 80 minutes. A one-day pass is 25$ per person for foreigners, you must show your passport. You can buy the pass from the train station.

If you arrive at Kyoto station at night the tourist information booth will be closed. You can find a wifi spot and look up Google maps for the place you want to go to on your smart phone or tablet.

Shocking Things I Found in Kyoto:
1- Not all ATMs there accept international cards. Most of the machines didn't accept Mastercard. The post office has ATMs that accept all cards which was nice after wandering around for 40 minutes trying to withdraw cash. That was shocking because Kyoto is a popular destination for westerners.
2- Many places didn't have wifi, which isn't that important unless you need to look up directions, which happened in our case.

Sleeping in Kyoto:
There are a lot of hotels near Kyoto station with different prices. Some are expensive and some are affordable. Staying near the station is a smart thing, as you would be near everything: trains, subway and buses.
We stayed at Kyoto Garden Palace. It's a nice hotel, pricey, more than I would usually pay, but again it was my husband's birthday trip and it was nice to stay at a good hotel. The room was fantastic, the bed and pillows were comfortable, the bathroom had a bidet which I loved. The room was clean and the staff were helpful. The only thing that I didn't like was that the TV didn't have any English channels, they all were in Japanese.

Things To Do in Kyoto:
1- Dress up like a geisha or a samurai and have a photo shoot. There are studios everywhere for this kind of thing. We booked a package with Shiki studio. You can choose which package you want to have. They have different prices and some packages are expensive. The make-up artists are very nice and professional. However, there are a lot of hidden expenses that weren't mentioned in the website. For a example, I chose a stroll package which cost around 80$ that should include the Japanese socks. We went there and filled the form and there were a lot of extra stuff they wanted me to pay for after paying 80$ already.



2- Visit Gion neighborhood for some glances of the past and a walk through the old and beautiful buildings. You might get lucky and see a real geisha.

3- While in Gion you can stop by Gion Corner theater to watch a show about traditional Kyoto art and music. It costs 31$ but they had a special price for tourists of 25$ per ticket. They accept cash only. It worth watching the show. From Kyoto central bus terminal take bus 206 direct to Gion area, it takes about 15-20 minutes.

4- Go to Fushimi Inari Shrine, such a beautiful place, free admission and easy to get to. From Kyoto station take the subway and get off at Inari station.


5- Visit Kyoto Imperial palace. It closes on weekends, which we didn't know, so we didn't get a chance to enter the palace. However, we walked in the garden. It was beautiful and peaceful. From Kyoto station take the subway for 4 stops and get off at Marutamachi station and walk for about 5 minutes.

6- Universal studios in Osaka. You might think it's hard to get to but it wasn't. From Kyoto station take the rapid train to Osaka station and from there take the subway to Universal City station, a few minutes ride. I know many people would love to go there and that why I'm including it on my list. As for me I found the studios very disappointing and poorly managed. Most of the space was taken by restaurants/cafes/gift shops, the space for the rides and theme parks weren't as big, which meant very long lines for each ride. The entrance ticket cost 65$ and that amount of money doesn't save you from standing for an hour in a long line. They sell an express ticket which cost 50$ extra according to a worker. This super expensive ticket would actually save you from standing in unmoving line until your back hurts. I didn't buy it because it's stealing. You know, you pay a price and then you have two options - pay them more money or stand for hours.



Eating in Kyoto:
The first thing you need to know about traditional Japanese restaurants there is that most of them are hidden behind wooden doors and the signs are all written in Japanese so you wouldn't even recognize the place as a restaurant. Eating in Kyoto was harder than I expected. I'm not talking about Kyoto central area.
Do not eat at the Gion area if you are on a budget. The prices there are very expensive.
Two restaurants in the Shijo area in the back streets refused to let us in and I believe it had something to do with racism. It was around 7:00pm we had long day walking around and exploring places. We got hungry and we really wanted to have sushi. One restaurant was open. We tried to get in and the waiter, who was standing near the door, told us that the place was closed despite the fact that the lights were on, the tables were set and the menu was outside. At the second restaurant, which was a few doors past the first one, people were in eating. Once we stepped in two waiters started shouting at us saying “No, No.” We looked around and there were 6 available seats on the bar and 2 available tables, we pointed at the empty places and they answered that it was reserved but there was no sign whatsoever say those seats were reserved. I hope they weren't racist to foreigners but it sure seemed like it and unfortunately those two restaurants' names were written in Japanese only, so I don't their names. The second one had a Japanese title followed by the word Miki.

1- Musashi Sushi: eating there was a treat. The best sushi that I've ever had. Each plate had the price on it so you would know how much you're spending.

2- Eating in the Porta, which is underground in Kyoto station. It's a sort of food court. A lot of restaurant with different prices, you can pick affordable places or fast food places like a Subway branch there.




3- Cosme Kitchen Cafe in the Cube shopping mall, also in Kyoto station. I want to recommend this cafe with good coffee, good service.