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You canīt miss Kyoto Tower. It is standing tall above the city, opposite the Kyoto station. I t is built in 1964 and is 131 m high. The observationdeck is 100 m high. The admission fee is like the tower: skyhigh!
If you go to the top of Kyoto station there is a free observation deck. And the views from the skywalk in Kyoto station are also great! Leave a Comment
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 | |  |  | Tojian guesthouse: don't be deceived by website | Tip Rating:    |  |  | |  |
OK. I first heard about a guesthouse called Toji-an from a tip on VT. Then I saw the website - very cheap and looks nice. But when we arrived there, it was not like what I saw on the website... First impression: the noren (the cloth hung up in front of the door) was torn and dirty. The toilet stinks and the smell reached the hallway where the rooms are located. There is no key, so the room cannot be locked. When we entered "our" room, there is a used towel on the hanger. The bed wasn't made and the blanket was not neatly folded--I think they didn't clean the room and changed the sheets and blankets; they didn't even removed the used towel. The guesthouse was a small wooden house and the rooms were seperated by thin wooden walls so we could hear the people in the next room giggling... In their web site they said they had free shower. What they meant was: they didn't have any shower, so guests must go to a public bath nearby, pay 100 yen and they will reimburse. Anyway, we never spent a night there.
So you were still curious and checked in???? (Should I say "I told you"?) Always have a list of alternetives. Do as we did. With your mobile phone, call other accommodations that have good ratings or that are listed in your guide book. If you cannot find an available room yet or you don't have any functioning mobile phone: * Prepare your day pack with clothes for the night and the next day, leave your big packs if you can't endure carrying them any longer (for the sake of your shoulder and waist) but don't leave any valuables, because the room cannot be locked. * Walk 2 blocks North to JR Kyoto Station--it will be your base. Find a public phone, open your guide book and try to call the accommodations listed there, book a room. (If money is not a problem, there is Granvia Hotel upstairs JR Kyoto Station.) * Have a good sleep at the other accommodation. * The next morning, go back to Tojian, get your other bags and check out.
Find accommodations with acceptable guest ratings. All accommodations we stayed at in Japan were listed and rated in sites such as Rakuten and Hostelworld, except Tojian (we only saw their website without checking other sites for ratings).... and look what we got. Leave a Comment
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| | | | Location, Location, Location - and Price | Tip Rating: | | | | |
For people who visit a lot of tourist spots, this may go without saying, but I'll remind you any way. Prices close to major tourist spots, especially shrines and temples, are considerably higher than the prices for the same goods elsewhere in the city. For example a "soft cream" (soft-serve ice cream) costs about 300 yen in the tourist shops in front of Ginkakuji; the same soft cream is 120 yen at the bottom of the hill, about a kilometer from the temple.
Buy softdrinks, bottled water, bento, etc. in downtown areas such as shijo and carry them with you to the tourist areas such as Yasaka Jinja or Nanzenji. Those sights are eminently worth seeing (and entry to the shrines is free!), but are not the best places to buy lunch.
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