A Kyoto-based cherry blossom viewing Itinerary (with mobility issues)

This year I went on my first cherry blossom viewing trip, and probably my last. Well… cherry blossom season travel is an expensive privilege. But it is a very special time, but so thinks half the world, and you can expect larger than usual crowds. Especially in the prime tourist spots of Japan. Add to that the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, and we expected that it would be full everywhere.

However… I am glad I went. And should the chance arise, I would visit again, although I would seek out early and late-blooming cherries. So I would try for the less crowded season from late February to mid-March or late April before Golden Week. I would also try and book cheaper flights than the relative purse-buster where we nearly got bumped off, too.

If it is your first trip to Japan, I totally understand that you want to see Kyoto’s major sights including some UNESCO World Heritage sites. And of course, you would try see as many beautiful cherry blossoms as possible at the same time. I highly recommend that you mix famous places with not-so.famous ones, and group sites together by location, which is what I have done here. You can read more about relatively uncrowded Kyoto Cherry blossom spots here, too.

This may work well as a first-time itinerary, too. Especially if you are more into classic Kyoto sights and care less about Tokyo, although with the right train pass (JR West Hokuriku Arch), a two-day Tokyo trip is totally doable. And you can see plenty neon on a day trip to Osaka, too, which should calm down a bit once the World Expo is finished.

Getting to Japan

Since we live in Europe, we had to fly. Basically, from Germany, most flights will go to Tokyo, and only a handful of flights on Lufthansa, All Nippon Airways of Japan Airlines will go direct from a couple airports, but not Germany’s capital city.

With a base in Kyoto, it was better to fly to Kansai International, which has very few direct flights from Germany. So, we booked a KLM flight with a transfer at Amsterdam. Read my review here. In short: They were fine in the air, but on the ground, especially at Amsterdam, I felt like I was in a never ending nightmare.

Special Considerations

This was my mum’s first trip to Japan, and she is well into her Seventies and is mobility impaired. She can walk, but not that far, so a lot of moving around would have unnecessarily tired her. So, we decided to have a base in either Tokyo or Kyoto.

In general, I think there are more beautiful cherry blossom spots in Kyoto, and you know my penchant for Kansai. Also, Kyoto has lots of hotel rooms, which isn’t necessarily a good thing for its population – and they do book up in high season.

I get it – Kyoto is overtouristed. It’s all over town, and there are lots of statistics and reports, including this one. We decided to stay in Kyoto but stay in established hotels rather than short holiday lets. It is something I always do – no holiday let, always licensed guesthouses or hotels.

When I visit by myself, I tend to stay in smaller privately run places, often a bit outside the centre, but in this case, we stayed in Northern Gion and the Downtown area. I will list the places we stayed -all were very good, but not my favourites as I prefer much smaller guesthouses and ryokan.

Anyway. In this case, we quickly settled on Kyoto as a base since my mother wanted to see classic sights, we both love gardens, so the famous gardens of Kouraku-en (Okayama) and Kenroku-en (Kanazawa) would be in day trip reach, and flights to Kansai International happened to be cheaper.

The Mobility Issue

First of all, everyone is different considering their mobility, so let me explain briefly what our mobility issues are.

My own mobility issue is currently very mild. I can walk 20k steps in a day at present. Before I had surgery, I managed 10k in pain, but cycled wherever possible, and managed to cycle 25km a day on a mama-chari quite easily. So, my first post on Kyoto with limited Mobility was based on that.

My mother has severe Arthritis in some of her leg joints and struggles with steps and long distances, but a 5000 steps a day for her is comfortable, while 10000 steps will be pushing it. She is well into her Seventies and doesn’t feel that steady on a bicycle any more due to difficulties getting on and off the bike, and she did not want to brave left-hand traffic and Kyoto traffic in general on a bicycle. So I knew we would be using buses and taxis a lot, and I tried to minimize walking as much as I could, which, in Japan is nearly impossible. I therefore added step counts for each day.

Timing of the Cherry Blossom Season

It is almost impossible to time the full bloom of the cherry tree reliably. I used Kyoto Cherry blossom data from the previous year and just made an educated guess. Truth be told, we were about a week early for full bloom for many places. Okayama and Kanazawa were even a few days behind Kyoto as far as blossoms were concerned.

I kept a close eye on the Kyoto Cherry Blossom Forecast and chose sites that were showing trees in full bloom early, and a few secondary sites on the way.

Many sites will have a variety of cherry trees and therefore a long hanami season – Daigo-ji is a prime example, and so are large gardens like Kyoto Botanical Gardens or the Kyoto Imperial Palace Gardens and, of course, the gardens we visited in Kanazawa.

Since it was my mother’s first trip to Japan, I also mixed in some non-cherry blossom sites as well as some sites that are mostly popular with the Japanese, so I would say we did not encounter terrible crowds except at Kyoto Station.

Day 1+2: Berlin-Amsterdam-KIX-Kyoto

A very long, very exhausting travel day, not made better by the fact that we were not issued boarding passes when I checked us on the day before the flight and we had a bit of a wild goose chase trying to secure our seats on that very plane, the only one of the day.

The flight itself, once in the air, was okay, and we landed at KIX, picked up our train passes, got cash and another of those cute Hello Kitty ICOCA, outing ourselves as tourists right away. I also purchased the Haruka Express ticket and a Kansai Hokuriku Area Pass.

We took the “Haruka Airport Express” to Kyoto and the time we reached Kyoto Station we were greeted by a very long queue for the bus line we wanted to go on. Yes, the infamous Higashiyama- Gion bus queue. But the line for a traxi was almost as long, and since we had tiny cabin luggage, we queued and squeezed in, and were at our hotel within twenty-five minutes.

And then I was really ready to head out into Gion for some picture-perfect cherry blossoms steps from out hotel, but… oops… I was no longer travelling alone.

So, instead we went in search of a cup of good old 3 o’clock coffee, but not too far, since my mum was exhausted. I did spot Noen Coffee Shop, from the Makanai series, though!

This is where my reading of Japanese guidebooks came in handy, for we found this extremely retro and very quiet coffee shop in bustling Shijo-dori – that served a cup of coffee like German grannies like it.

We slowly strolled back along Shijo-dori and looked at some of the shops, which are all fairly touristy, sprinkled with some real gems like Eirakuya and Kazurasei.

In the evening, after a nice okonomiyaki dinner near our hotel, I took a long walk to Hanamikoji-dori and Yasaka Shrine which despite the late hour, were bustling with people.

Where we Stayed and Steps Walked

We had booked the Gion Shinmonso Hotel for three nights. It’s in a quieter area of Gion and in a perfect location for walking around Gion, and it’s about 400m from Sanjo Keihan Station, which is an excellent transport hub, letting you avoid the often crowded city buses. Very accessible for taxis, too. It’s Japanese style, so one should be comfortable sleeping on futon. The staff were lovely and called taxi for us several times.

Walking-wise, it was not too bad on both days: about 8000 steps, including changing terminal at Amsterdam and then some gentle walking near our Gion Hotel. I also did a walk on my own in Gion at night, so it was about 5000 steps for both of us.

Day 3: From one extreme to the next

With due respect for the jet lag, I managed to get both of us out of bed and to Kinkakuji by bus about twenty minutes before opening. Kinkakuji is one of those Kyoto highlights and a UNESCO World Heritage sight. So lo and behold, there was a queue of people when we arrived, but it moved fast.

The way Kinkaku-ji is laid out, you are directed past a number of nice photo spots around the Golden Pavilion before strolling through some middling gardens back to a few shops and cafes. So it’s like the one stunning view. I enjoyed it, but well – you are basically visiting for the view, it’s not possible to go inside any of the buildings.

Then, we went for the total opposite, a tiny Soto Zen Temple on the slopes of Hidari Daimonji, called Genko-an.

Peace and Tranquility, and even more so at the tea-house strewn Koetsu-ji we visited after that. We took the bus up the hill and I highly recommend mixing the heavy tourist sights with something so tranquil, because that’s Kyoto, too.

Then we had an early lunch at Komeda’s Coffee and went to Hokongo-in and Myoshin-ji. Both very quiet and great for a relaxed stroll without seeing many other visitors, but beautiful.

The Taizo-in sub-temple of Myoshin-ji has a famous weeping cherry that will get many admires once it flowers – but we were a bit early, with blossoms still at the partially opening bud stage.

We concluded the day with a failed attempt at drinking and buying tea at the famous Ippodo Tea Store, then bought loads of prepared food at the supermarket which we had in our room after a nice long bath in our hotel’s traditional bath.

Steps Walked

Admittedly, this day included a lot of walking. 16000 steps in total, for both of us. It only became a bit much after we pitched up at Ippodo, having hurried quite a bit, and being turned away at the cafe, and walking too much looking for a supermarket and then getting back to the hotel.

Day 4: Okayama and Kurashiki Day Trip

I walked through Gion in the morning – particularly Shirakawa Lane, a sight I never get bored of. At 06.30 a.m., it was quiet, and I could take photos of blossoming trees for as long as I wanted without disturbing any one. We made it out of the house early enough to avoid the beginning of tourist traffic, and travelled to Okayama by Shinkansen.

We visited the lovely Kourakuen, one of Japan’s “Top Three Gardens”. While it’s undoubtedly lovely, it is more reminiscent of an English strolling garden to me – you don’t get the dense design of some temple gardens.

However, it was a very leisurely day trip for us, no crowds, there is a nice castle (modern reproduction) for a back drop.

Okayama is a relaxed city with not a lot else to do – so we went to Kurashiki, where we strolled the compact Bikan Historical Quarter along a tree-lined canal. Undoubtedly touristy but not crowded, with some lovely denim and Bizen ceramics shopping in the picture-pretty Bikan area that also has lots of cafes for plenty of breaks.

It was a lovely mixture of shopping, strolling around the canal, and stopping at a cafe for zenzai – a red bean soup with a grilled rice cake.

And finally, we spotted some more cherry blossoms. There had been a good show of relatively early flowering cherry trees on Kyoto’s larger thoroughfares like Oike-dori and Horikawa-dori, with lots of people stopping for photos.

Instead of Okayama and Kurashiki, you could as well go to Okayama and Himeji, Kobe and Himeji, or Uji and Nara. Himeji, Nara and Osaka are perhaps the most popular day trips – Okayama was not busy at all, Kurashiki was moderately busy. The only annoyance was travelling back, trains were very full, so in retrospect, I should always try to reserve seats. It was included in our train pass, and I should have just made the effort to queue at the green ticket machines. Instead, we were packed like sardines on the Rapid Service back from Shin-Osaka. A very Japanese experience, I guess – but we were pretty knackered when we arrived at the hotel!

Steps Walked

Another big one clocking in at 17.000 Steps for me. This is including a longish Gion walk in the early morning, which clocked in at around 4000 steps, so it’s 13000 steps for us both.

Day 5: Ginkaku-ji and Kanazawa Arrival – with bad weather

Ginkakuji is one of those temples that open relatively early. So taking advantage of the jet lag, we rose around 7 a.m. and were at Ginkaku-ji shortly before the 08.30 opening time. It was not busy at all, and Ginkaku-ji is none of the prime cherry blossom viewing spots.

I took a quick glance at the Path of Philosophy where the cherry trees were in buds – we were not missing much. We had a bit more time and felt energetic, so took the longer route through Ginkaku-ji’s gardens, which may not be superlative, but are incredibly beautiful. Ginkaku-ji is a rather green, pared-down temple with an elegant subtle beauty.

We took the short walk to Honen-in  which is becoming more known, but there were maybe three other people- I always recommend the combo of Ginkaku-ji and Honen-in , and, if it’s open , Anraku-ji, then wander on to Otoyo-jinja (the “Mouse Shrine” and Eikando… a long stroll punctuated with nice coffee and tea stops.

We made it as far as Honen-in, then took a cab to our hotel then another can to Kyoto Station and quickly fled after I managed to get a quick reservation for the Thunderbird and Hokuriku Shinkansen from a fairly hidden machine inside the ticket gates.

Our ryokan was close to Omicho Market, a nice central location, so we had a seafood donburi at Omicho Market (Kaisendon Ichiba, I think) then walked on to our ryokan.

We’d already walked through the drizzle, and when after we’d settled in the ryokan, it just got worse, so we did another quick round of Omicho Market. Not a day for anything outside. Thankfully, there’s a couple decent malls and a large bookstore opposite, as well as plenty omiyage shops in the area.

But, instead, we got on a bus to the sticks, well outer suburbs. I really wanted to to go a humongous BookOff. Most large Book Off stores, called BookOff SuperBazaar, have kimono, but the Kanazawa one has a special kimono floor called KimonoOff.

First I picked up a huge Sumikko Gurashi Neko, then it was on to the finest kimono. I could have happily spent hours and hours there. And next time, I will. But my mother showed very obvious signs of boredom and there wasn’t a convenient cafe for her to wait.. .I still managed to try enough iromuji to find one I love, and a nagajuban.

Conveniently, there was a huge onsen next door. It was still drizzling, and we had nothing better to do. So we took a lovely hot bath. It was one of those “super sento” with huge capacity, and several baths including a natural spring one. The rainy afternoon was pretty much a trip out of the comfort zone and eye-opening to see a more everyday side of Japan. We loved the onsen, and although we were the only Westerners, everyone was friendly and no one really bat an eyelid about us being there.

Where we Stayed and Steps Walked

We stayed in an Economy Room at the Ryokan Yamamuro in a quiet side street close to Omicho Market for two nights. Higashi Chaya was also easily walkable. The ryokan is family-run with the younger generation speaking excellent English, the ryokan is very traditional in style. I really loved it, my mother struggled with the stairs and shared bathrooms a little – which, to be fair, were spotless.

We walked 14.000 steps which is not bad considering we walked along the Path of Philosophy a bit and used public transportation in Kanazawa, but used taxi to get to and from Ginkakui-ji.

Day 6: Kanazawa

Kanazawa weather forecast wasn’t the greatest, so when I spotted the sun out, I could barely wait to get going and re-visit Kenroku-en. That’s another early visit if you can, as it opens at 7 a.m. And finally, it was time for some good cherry blossoms, due to the different varieties grown here. We even got to see some lovely dark pink late plum blossom variety.

With my mom, I had to get used to moving much slower, and much later, so when we arrived after 9 a.m., it was relatively full, much more so than Kouraku-en, probably owed to some cherry blossoms and even some late-blooming plums at the garden and the neighbouring castle grounds.

But Kenroku-en is big and windy, and we took our time walking everywhere in the garden. There are only benches for a rest in a few spots, mainly the Saguraoka Entrance where the shops are.

We had an early not-bad soba noodle lunch at the touristy Edomachidori Avenue, then I went for a haircut and we had a relaxing mid-day break around cafes, Omicho Market and the M’ZA Mall.

We tried the Kanazawa specialty of Kagabocha, basically a fancy Hojicha made from the very first young stems of the tea shrub, in the form of a very lovely parfait.

After out middle of the day break, we headed out to the Higashi Chaya Geisha District in the afternoon since the weather was still good. It was the first time after Kinkaku-ji that we encountered some serious crowds here. It just confirmed the observation of some that Kanazawa – Hokuriku is the new “Golden Route” and while it’s lovely, it’s no longer a quiet place. I have been there twice now, and each time it was relatively busy.

We concluded our day at a tiny sushi restaurant. If there is a place to eat seafood in the region, it’s the Sea of Japan Coast, especially around Toyama Bay. Our ryokan helped with reservations and we had a pretty nice dinner from high quality sushi for about 10k JPY for two.

Steps Walked

Another moderate exercise day. Another 14.000 steps, including some fairly long walk around Kenroku-en.

Day 7: Let the Hanami Begin in earnest!

We woke up in the dark with some heavy rain, reason enough to call a taxi and head back to Kyoto as early as we could. Since it was a Sunday, we had a lovely quiet journey and were in Kyoto before 11 and even the taxi queue was still short, and we took our luggage to the hotel, then headed out to see some cherry blossom in earnest – lots of patches along Kamo River started showing impressive bloom.

We took an early lunch at Shimizu Ippoen, basically the daily (cheap) dish followed by their matcha dessert. And then strolled around Chishaku-in very leisurely and slowly. the temple was huge, with some impressive Momoyama art in a museum, and is a great temple to visit if you’re not into crowds.

From there it was just a short stroll to Sanjusangendo, where the 1000 Kannon Hall gets plenty of visitors – but the garden, full of great photo motifs with red torii and fluffy cherry blossoms – did not.

And then we completed the trio of temples with a bus ride to To-ji. To-ji is one of Kyoto’s oldest temples and a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the grounds so big, it is very easy to enjoy the cherry blossoms with relatively few crowds, even on a weekend.

I don’t know what got into us then because we rode the bus Downtown, mooched around Daimaru (very expensive clothes, cosmetics hall rather disappointing) and Hands (I love it) and got turned away at several restaurants before the lovely staff at the hotel booked us seats at an okay izakaya for dinner.

Where we Stayed and Steps Walked

We stayed at the Kyomachiya Ryokan Sakura Urushitei in Kyoto for three nights. We had the cheapest category, a Western Double Room, which still felt spacious enough and had room for our bags, a small wardrobe area, armchair, and a little desk! It’s a lovely place to stay with a variety of Western and Japanese and hybrid style rooms, clearly with tourists in mind, run by very competent multilingual staff.

The location isn’t much to shout about but convenient, not too busy, with lots of not-so-crowded bus routes nearby, and an easy walk to Downtown. Read my full review here.

We walked 16000 steps, with taxi to Kanazawa Station and to our hotel and to Chishaku-in, the rest on public bus. We could have made that a bit shorter by just not bothering mooching around the Downtown Kyoto Shops at the end of the day. I must have walked 1000 steps in Hands alone.

Day 8: Suburban Kyoto Hanami

This day contained a low point and a high point of our trip -and the sad realization that this trip would be coming to an end soon, probably before we’d see the cherry blossoms at peak bloom. But such is life, and I still managed to book us into hotels at very reasonable prices by booking 9 months in advance, and we’d seen a lot in a short time at a fairly leisurely pace.

But it’s not easy travelling with my mom, as we are very different in our interests. But I did it anyway. My mom was starting to get temple fatigue, whereas I will happily see temples for days, she is obviously a lot slower than me and takes longer breaks, preferably in a cafe or a department store, but cannot do anything with bookshops and Second Hand shops I could spend hours in… So things came to a bit of a blow when I took us on a bus ride to Daigo-ji ( a direct bus no less) and my mom hat underestimated the journey time and the moderate crowds we encountered… so in the end, we decided we’d take our time even more, take more breaks… and in return I would get some time to myself, especially when activities with a lot of walking were concerned.

Daigo-ji sits in very large grounds, and generally involves a fair bit of walking, and graciously swallowed up the weekday crowds – mostly Japanese visitors. There are about 1000 cherry trees all over the temple grounds, and many of them were in full bloom, making Daigo-ji one of my highlights.

We then had a break at a cafe in Yamashina before taking a taxi to Bishamon-do, where cherry blossoms were not out yet – but the small temple is beautiful and we were lucky to witness a couple of wedding photo shoots, and there were barely any visitors. So it was a pain to find a taxi back!

Then we went shopping – Tettodo at Shijo Omiya, and the Pontocho Jikko Knife store, aided by a generous taxi budget, before I sent my mom home in a cab and continued to roam the (very busy) Teramachi and Shinkyogoku Shopping Streets. They’re basically very touristy with drug stores, knife stores, 100 Yen Stores, but also contain gems like Sou-Sou and Nomura Tailor.

We finished our day in a brilliant Okonomiyaki place called Juju Teramachi and I did some very restrained 100Yen Store Shopping after loading up on fabric at Nomura Tailor and worrying a bit about carrying everything.

Where we Stayed and Steps Walked

We stayed at the Kyomachiya Ryokan Sakura Urushitei, a medium sized hotel between Kyoto Station and Downtown aimed at tourists with multilingual helpful staff and a choice of Western and Japanese style rooms with lovely touches of Japanese culture. The location isn’t much to shout about, but well… the bus connections were excellent, and there is a Komeda’s Coffee nearby. The hotel itself is stunning – a lot of value for the 100Euro-ish price tag per room per night.

Walking wise, it was about 8000 Steps for both of us. My mother got tired very quickly, so after our kitchenware and knife shopping, I sent her to our hotel in a taxi, then proceeded to walk to my favourite Downtown shops, then walked back to the hotel, totaling 15000 steps for me. There was a lot of walking involved round Daigo-ji. Bishamondo can be walked, but we took a taxi there and back. It’s easy to get there by taxi from Yamashina Station, difficult to get back, but the kind temple staff called a taxi, but it took 20 min to arrive. Once back in Kyoto, we used bus to Downtown, then taxi to help rest my mom’s leg to Pontocho and back to hotel.

Day 9: A bit everything and Miyako Odori

Our last full day in Kyoto had come. I asked my mom what she wanted to see and fully expected “not another temple”. We definitely agree on the fine quality of a Komeda’s Coffee breakfast, so we went here as soon as they opened, before my mum gave me carte blanche to visit anywhere “as long as it doesn’t involve walking”.

Now, that was going to be impossible. But I managed to locate minimal-walking bus route from outside Komeda’s to Ryoan-ji, and since we both like gardens…

There is a famous cherry tree hanging over that wall into Ryoanji’s famous Zen garden, but that was in early bud stage. I still love Ryoan-ji, since it’s a hit mostly with well-behaved middle-aged tour groups that don’t linger and it’s not a hanami hotspot, so we sat in the Zen Garden for a bit, wandered around the empty strolling garden before taking a direct bus to Hirano Shrine.

Now, Hirano Shrine a small somewhat scruffy shrine in Western Kyoto, doesn’t see loads of visitors except at peak sakura season. So it was just moderately busy, despite a good show of blossoms.

Then we took another bus Downtown and had a nice long sitdown at Tsukigase, one of my Kyoto Dessert restaurant favourites. The theme was hanami, of course.

We still had a little bit of time that we spent in Kyukyodo – bad idea, because you can easily spend hours in there… so that we had to hurry to Gion, where we had tickets for the Miyako Odori, the annual dance performance of the geiko of Gion Kobu.

As it got dark, we took a very short stroll to Yasui Konpira-gu before hailing a taxi to take us to out now default okonomiyaki place a short distance from the hotel. This concluded the day for mom, while I purposefully strode out for a trip to Ogaki Books and the supermarket.

Steps Walked

The distance we walked together was around 11.000 steps – while I grooved in at 15.000 steps a day which, at present, is a very comfortable distance for me.

Day 10: Last Push at big Kyoto sights and Osaka

Our last full day in Japan and one where we tried to tie up a few loose ends. This was becoming incredibly difficult as my mum struggled with her legs not being able to deal with the walking, whereas I had received some very sad news the night before and wanted to walk a lot, less so play the cheerful tour guide.

I am glad we went to see Kiyomizudera, that iconic Kyoto sight, on out last, day, and I am glad I was able to show the classic Kiyomizu-Sannenzaka-Ninenzaka area to my mom. It was one of the first places in Kyoto I visited twenty years ago, and I still love it, but it’s also notorious for huge crowds.

But as you can see… we rushed out Komeda’s visit a little so we were able to pitch up in a cab before 9 a.m. and were met with very light crowds. 

It definitely filled up when we came down again, so is best visited as close to 6am as you can manage. My mum’s legs were really and especially feet were hurting, but I managed to entice her via the Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka shops to Kodai-ji. Again, not one on the radar for cherry blossom viewing despite a real feature weeping cherry tree on its grounds and extremely light crowds

Kodai.ji is another of those all-around people-pleaser temples. There are cherry blossoms, colourful leaves and light-up events in autumn, tea houses… and a bamboo grove that hardly any one visits.

Definitely the place to come if you are into some scenic photo shooting, subject to permission. After this, we bade farewell to Kyoto and took a train to Osaka, doing quite well on the Osaka Underground but finally giving in when we surfaced at Namba, a huge station, and it was raining, so we took a taxi to our last hotel.

We finally managed to tick off another Japan cliche, the conveyor belt sushi, off our list. I chose a huge branch of Kura Sushi, which my mum loved. Then we wandered the Sennichimae Doguyasuji Shotengai, Osaka’s pendant to Kappabashi Kitchen Street, picking up a little souvenir or two… like the excellent ginger graters you see in this picture.

We had a drink in a very old fashioned cafe, and then I guided my mum back to our hotel and set off for Dotonbori. But to be honest, it’s not my thing. So crowded. Noisy, Queues everywhere. I took a quick glance at the Glico Man, then headed back.

I did like the back streets, though, but they were also filling up quickly, so I called it a day, too. I really want to like Osaka – it is a city known for its food, after all – but so far, I have had no success. Really coming down with a flu probably didn’t help, either.

Where we Stayed and Steps Walked

We stayed at the Fraser Residence Osaka Namba. I chose it for its proximity to Namba Station (100m) and access to the (regular) airport train to KIX. No hauling tons of luggage for miles before out flight. I am not a corporate girl and found the hotel interior a bit bland, but well, was it clean and comfy! It had a kitchenette and washer-dryer in our basic standard room. Also, they served a very good breakfast and staff were lovely. It was my mother’s second-favourite hotel.

To be honest, I don’t really have a favourite of all four places we stayed. All were very suitable for our purpose of being conveniently located, clean and comfortable. I would say I liked them all the same but they are not my favourite Kyoto places to stay – I normally prefer much smaller, and well, since I cycle, I don’t mind staying a bit off the beaten path – but I would say all were very solid, an 8-9/10 for me.

Visiting Kiyomizudera always involves some walking so that’s clocking in at about 14.000 steps. We had our usual Komeda’s Coffee breakfast, then hailed a taxi to Kiyomizudera where we got dropped off at the parking lot, the furthest the taxi can go. Since it was quite early, around 08.30am, it wasn’t that crowded, so we could walk easily. I did a long walk from our hotel to Dotonbori and back, so I managed 18.000 steps but also started getting quite annoying flu symptoms

Day 11: Flying back, Arrival at home (one long day)

I woke up on our last morning with a feeling of doom, feeling really sick with a flu-type illness and a message on my phone saying our flight would be delayed by several hours so we’d be stuck at AMS overnight.

Since we didn’t have to be at the airport early, we had a long leisurely breakfast, then I walked to Yasaka Namba Shine – the lion headed one.

I did not love the crowds of Dotonbori and found the whole Namba area quite featureless, but have always just used Osaka to travel through and stop to sleep. For someone who’s been around the Kansai region, I know very little of Osaka, and it doesn’t hold any special attractions for me, but I must give it a fair chance – one day.

We took a train to the airport, and flew home. On the train ride, I could see cherry trees in full bloom in the packed residential areas. I was feeling pretty sick on the plane so wore a mask the entire flight as to not spread my bugs around, then had to run to make our connection at AMS since the plane had caught up. That last leg of our trip was nothing but horrible for me, not a wonderful conclusion to the trip of a lifetime we hoped to have, but then, flights never are a great experience for me.

Where we Stayed and Steps Walked

About 5000 steps for us, which involved a very long AMS airport terminal change in a big hurry. If you have mobility issue, do not take a short connection at AMS. In fact, AMS was not traveller-friendly to us at all – more here. I walked solo about 4000 steps in the morning, knowing it would be a long travel day.

The Small Print

I visited Japan in March 2025 on a cherry blossom viewing trip with my mother, which was also my mother’s first trip to Japan.

As always, I was paying my own way, so nothing you see here was sponsored, and I did not receive compensation, discounts, or special treatment in exchange for writing it. All my own honest and unbiased opinion.

This post reflects my personal opinion and experience and is not a statement of fact about any places or accommodation mentioned in this post. This post contains affiliate links to Booking.com. If you book a hotel using my affiliate links, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please refer to my blog’s Terms and Conditions for further information.

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