Arashiyama: Scenic Beauty

Arashiyama is a touristy area set in the western outskirts of Kyoto. When WJ and I went there in late November, the trees were starting to turn yellow and red.

We exited the Hankyu Arashiyama Station and were greeted with nature in its finest glory. And people. Lots of people. First things first, we had a little snack!

After roaming around for awhile, WJ and I decided to take a ‘romantic boat ride‘ after seeing others on it. They looked so serene on the water against the sunlight! We paid 3,000JPY (S$35.29) for the both of us. The ride was about 30 minutes long, and we shared the long boat with another Japanese couple. At certain places, the boatman pointed out spots and commented in Japanese. But, of course, we had no idea what he was saying so we just took in the scenery!

One of the main must-sees in Arashiyama is the bamboo grove. And, as usual, it was packed full of people. I’d thought it would be a longer walk with the bamboo trees all around us, but it was a smaller area than expected. We walked the pathway for less than 10 minutes from the start to finish, and that was with us taking some photos.

Too bad there was a huge crowd walking through, if not we’d have stayed a little longer to take in the tall bamboo trees! The awe-factor was a bit lost with the heaving crowd.

Another of the must-dos in Arashiyama is to take the Sagano Romantic Train (Sagano Scenic Railway). We managed to snag tickets before sunset even though we bought them at the station quite late! Thank goodness for the 2 people who decided to return their tickets, if not we’d have been so disappointed! We paid 2,520JPY (S$29.65) for both our train tickets, which departs from Arashiyama and returns to the same station.

You can purchase standing or seating tickets. Unless you manage to get good seats next to each other on the train, or both seats right next to the window, standing tickets are probably a better choice. Because we had 1 standing ticket (aisle) and 1 seating ticket, it was quite difficult to angle our cameras to get good shots. The train was extremely crowded!

We left Arashiyama feeling as if we hadn’t explored enough. A day trip is just too short! I’ll definitely leave at least 2 whole days for Arashiyama the next time we visit!