Kyoto Higashiyama Self-Guided Audio Walk: Kiyomizu-dera, Sannenzaka and Yasaka Shrine
1 hour and 15 minutes
About this experience
Higashiyama's lanes look as if they survived by luck. They did not. This walk shows, stop by stop, how fire, city rules and the neighbors themselves chose to keep this hillside. Start at Kiyomizu-dera's red-lead Niomon, which came through the fire of 1629, and go down the stone steps of Sannenzaka, protected by the city since 1972. See the Yasaka Pagoda, rebuilt three times on the same foundation stone, and the tiny temple hung with bound cloth monkeys. Walk Ninenzaka, Nene's Path below Kodai-ji, the temple Nene built for Hideyoshi, and the stone lane of Ishibe-koji, then enter Yasaka Shrine by its main gate to the lantern-hung dance hall, ending at its oldest gate at the head of Shijo-dori. Nine stops, about 1.9 km and 60 minutes, mostly downhill on stone steps, at your own pace, in English. Entry to Kiyomizu-dera's stage and Kodai-ji is not included.
- Experience type
- Day tour or activity
- Duration
- 1 hour and 15 minutes
- Guide
- English
- Audio guide
- English
- Categories
- Walking tour · Cultural and theme tours · City tours
What's included
Self-guided audio tour in English: 9 stops, 1.9 km, 75 minutes Stops at Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka, Yasaka Pagoda, bound-monkey temple GPS map and walking directions in your phone browser, no app needed Lifetime access: start any day, at any hour, and replay it
What's not included
A live guide: you set the pace and the pauses A fixed start time: begin whenever you arrive Museum and monument tickets, all optional extras Tip or gratuity Food and drinks Entry or admission fee
Please note
To start the tour, enter the booking number from your confirmation on the Roamer redemption page linked there. Do this before you set off, while you still have signal. The tour then opens in your phone browser, with no app to download. Bring a charged phone and earphones. Mobile data helps; if you have none, open the tour on wifi before you set off. Best time: Early morning: Kiyomizu-dera opens its gates at 6:00 and the lanes are packed by midday, worst at weekends, in the cherry season and in November. A weekday start before 9:00 is far quieter; Yasaka Koshin-do opens at 9:00. An afternoon start works too: Kiyomizu closes at 18:00 (18:30 in July and August), Koshin-do at 17:00 and Kodai-ji's last entry is 17:00, and the Maidono lanterns at Yasaka Shrine are lit every night. Checked 16 October 2026. Getting to the start: the city's tourist express bus (EX100 and EX101, 500 JPY) runs from Kyoto Station to Gojo-zaka; from there walk up Kiyomizu-zaka to the Niomon. Kiyomizu-dera says there are only two ways into its grounds, up Kiyomizu-zaka or up Chawan-zaka, and that map apps sometimes show routes that do not work. Timetables change (a revision took effect 20 March 2026), so check on the day. Checked 16 October 2026. Kiyomizu-dera (stop 1): gates open 6:00 to 18:00, to 18:30 from 1 July to 13 August and 17 to 31 August, and to 21:30 (last entry 21:00) during the night openings of 27 March to 5 April, 14 to 16 August and 21 to 30 November. A special night visit is listed for Tuesday 20 October 2026, 18:45 to 21:30. Whether the forecourt can be reached after the gates close is not published, so start in gate hours. Checked 16 October 2026. Yasaka Pagoda (stop 3): the interior opens irregularly, roughly 10:00 to 15:00 and mostly at weekends in season, closes in bad weather, and costs about 400 JPY according to travel guides; there is no official timetable. The street view is free at any hour. Checked 16 October 2026. Yasaka Koshin-do (stop 4): free, open 9:00 to 17:00 every day. The next Koshin day is Saturday 12 December 2026, with goma fire rituals at 11:00, 15:00 and 20:00 and konnyaku served from 9:00 to about 21:00. Checked 16 October 2026. Kodai-ji (stop 6): 9:00 to 17:30, last entry 17:00, with evening openings in season; adults 800 JPY. Its sub-temple Entoku-in, across Nene-no-michi, is 500 JPY, cash only, last entry 17:00, and closed all day on 11 and 12 December 2026. The two temples' own pages disagree on combined tickets, so check at the gate. Checked 16 October 2026. Yasaka Shrine (stops 8 and 9): free and open 24 hours; the shrine office keeps 9:00 to 17:00. Ending at dusk lets you see the Maidono lanterns lit. Checked 16 October 2026. The Starbucks on Ninenzaka (stop 5) limits entry when busy and does not allow queueing outside. The stone steps of Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka and the sloping stone lanes are slippery when wet. Take them slowly, and use the edges when the steps are crowded. The route has about a hundred steps, all stone: Sannenzaka's long flight (about 46), Ninenzaka's 17, and three short flights inside Yasaka Shrine (14, 7 and 19), of which only the 14 have a handrail. We cannot recommend a step-free way round Sannenzaka. The shrine's flights can be avoided by going back out through the South Gate and crossing Higashioji-dori and then Shijo-dori at the lights to reach stop 9. Sannenzaka, Ninenzaka and the Kiyomizu-dera forecourt are very crowded from late morning, at weekends and in the cherry and autumn-leaf seasons. Stop to the side, never in the middle of the steps. Kiyomizu-dera counts the forecourt and the street below the Niomon as temple grounds: no smoking, no eating or eating while walking, no tripods, monopods, drones or long photo sessions that block the steps (temple notice, June 2024). Between stops 3 and 4 the route goes down the lane past the pagoda to Koshin-do and comes back up the same way: a short climb, about 110 m each way. Ishibe-koji (stop 7) is a lived-in residential lane: keep voices low, stay on the paving and do not photograph into doorways or gardens. Several lanes on this walk have no pavement and are shared with taxis and delivery vans, normal in Kyoto's old lanes: Yasaka-dori by Koshin-do, lower Ninenzaka, Nene-no-michi and Shimogawara-dori below Ishibe-koji. Kiyomizu-zaka is open to vehicles from 7 in the evening to 8 in the morning. Keep to the side. Yasaka Shrine's photography rules (7 March 2024): snapshots are fine, but no tripods, stepladders, selfie sticks or drones, no blocking gates, torii or paths, no shooting from the exact center in front of a hall, and no photos of priests, shrine maidens or worshippers without permission. Between stops 8 and 9 the route goes down three flights of steps inside the shrine (the last two without handrails), then crosses Higashioji-dori, a four-lane road, at the signal crossing just north of the West Gate steps. Stop 9 is on the far pavement at the head of Shijo-dori; do not stand in the road for a photo. The Gion Matsuri fills Yasaka Shrine and the streets around it through July, above all on 17 and 24 July, when the portable shrines go out and come back. The temples and the shrine are places of worship: keep quiet at the gates and halls, and leave the bound monkeys at Koshin-do where they hang. Public transportation nearby
Itinerary
- 1Day 0
Kiyomizu-dera Niomon: Through the Fire
Kiyomizu-dera temple, at the foot of the Niomon gate steps, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
The temple's red-lead main gate came through the great fire of 1629. It stands at the top of Kiyomizu-zaka, in the free forecourt, outside the ticketed stage area.
- 2Day 0
Sannenzaka: Three Names, One Slope
Top of the Sannenzaka steps, off Kiyomizu-zaka, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
Stone steps drop between townhouses built to Kyoto City's rulebook. The city began protecting this slope in 1972, before national law provided for it.
- 3Day 0
Yasaka Pagoda: Rebuilt on the Same Stone
Sannenzaka lane, view of the Yasaka pagoda (Hokan-ji), Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
The five-story Yasaka Pagoda rises 46 m above this lane. It burned three times and was rebuilt each time over its 7th-century foundation stone.
- 4Day 0
Yasaka Koshin-do: Bound Monkeys
Yasaka-dori at Shimogawara-dori, by Yasaka Koshin-do, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
This tiny temple is hung with bright cloth monkeys, their hands and feet tied. Its legend says its founder straightened the leaning pagoda above.
- 5Day 0
Ninenzaka: Coffee Behind a Protected Wall
Ninenzaka, by the Starbucks machiya, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
Teahouse-style townhouses of the 1910s and later line this stone lane. A Starbucks hides in one, a protected rental house more than a century old.
- 6Day 0
Nene-no-michi: A Street Without Wires
Nene-no-michi, below Kodai-ji temple, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
Nene's Path runs below the temple Nene founded for Hideyoshi in 1606. Residents asked for a finer street, and its power poles came down from 1995.
- 7Day 0
Ishibe-koji: The Stone Lane
Ishibe-koji lane, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
This stone-walled residential lane began as rental housing about 1910. Its residents asked for its protection in 1995.
- 8Day 0
Yasaka Shrine: South Gate and Lantern Hall
Yasaka Shrine, inside the South Gate by the Maidono, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
Enter Yasaka Shrine by its formal main gate, the South Gate. Ahead stands the Maidono, hung with lanterns given by the geiko houses.
- 9Day 0
Yasaka Shrine West Gate: Moved to Be Seen
Shijo-dori north pavement, facing Yasaka Shrine's West Gate, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
The shrine's oldest building faces straight down Shijo-dori. Rebuilt in 1497, it was moved a few meters in 1913 to sit in the center of the widened street.
Meeting point
Kiyomizu-dera Niomon, Kyoto Kiyomizu-dera temple, at the foot of the Niomon gate steps, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, JP
Pick up
Pickup is not provided.
Cancellation policy · Kyoto Higashiyama Self-Guided Audio Walk: Kiyomizu-dera, Sannenzaka and Yasaka Shrine
Standard Viator policy
- Cancellation 0–24 hours before departure: 100% cancellation fee.
- Cancellation 24–24000 hours before departure: 0% cancellation fee.
Good to know
Operated by Roamer and sold by AGORA. Your voucher and booking reference arrive by email straight after payment.