Half-Day Kyoto Bicycle Tour: Fushimi Inari and Sanjusangendo Temple
Overview
Hop on some wheels and zip around on a Kyoto bicycle tour, to see two of the city’s most fascinating monuments. Fushimi Inari Shrine is famous for the thousands of vermillion torii gates that wind up the mountainside, while the iconic temple Rengeoin Sanjusangendo boasts 1,001 statues of the deity Kannon.
Highlights
- Explore two of Kyoto’s most striking and venerated monuments
- Learn as you go from a knowledgeable English-speaking guide
- Marvel at the endless sights of sacred statues and shrine gateways
- Find out why a Kyoto bicycle tour is the best way to explore the ancient city!
- Follow a special sightseeing route popular with locals
Key Information
Description
On this half-day cycling tour of Kyoto, the ancient former capital of Japan, you’ll explore two of the city’s most incredible religious monuments: Fushimi-Inari Shrine, with its countless colorful torii gates, and Sanjusangen-do Temple, with 1,001 statues of Kannon, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. After meeting your guide near Kyoto Station, you’ll adjust your rental bicycle included with the tour, and be ready to set off. An experienced English-speaking host leads the way, so you’ll be zipping from spot to spot in next to no time. At each destination, as well as the marvelous sights to behold, your guide will impart their knowledge of each site’s historic and religious significance. At Sanjusangen-do Temple, the main attraction is the famous collection of 1,000 life-sized wooden statues of Kannon that accompany another oversized, 1,000-armed sculpture of the same. Its main hall is also the longest wooden building in Japan, at around 120 meters in length. At Fushimi-Inari Shrine, more than 5,000 brightly-colored wooden archways line the path up the mountainside, making it one of the most famous (and Instagrammable) attractions in Kyoto. It also happens to be one of the most sacred sites in Japan, as the head shrine of all the 30,000 or so Inari shrines across the country. Lastly, we’ll walk the shopping streets that have sprung up around Fushimi-Inari. The approach to the shrine is lined with shops and stalls selling food, charms, and other souvenirs like fox masks and tiny torii gates. Enjoy some tasty local specialties or pick up a memento as you enjoy a stroll around the area before riding back to the start point.