Gion, Kyoto

WHAT IS GION: Gion is an old and important district of Kyoto, situated north east of the central station, between the Yasaka Shrine and the Kennin-ji Buddhist temple. The main attraction is represented by the houses situated along the main streets, called machiya, built with the typical architecture of Kyoto, and the ochaya, or tea houses, where people can spend their time while enjoying the exhibitions of the Geisha women. Infact, Gion, togheter with Pontocho, is recognized as one of the easiest places to spot a Geisha walking on the streets, although from what i have heared, it seems like some of them are just “fake” models to let people enjoying taking some pictures togheter.

WHAT TO DO IN GION: i really enjoyed the streets with their well preserved buildings. I also enjoyed to see Geisha women walking along them and the atmosphere of this place in the evening, with the little lanterns turned on just outside the restaurants. Apart from this there are still 2 interesting places to visit, the Buddhist temple of Kennin-ji situated on the south edge of Gion (picture below), and the Shinto Shrine of Yasaka, situated on the north east corner of Gion.

HOW TO ARRIVE TO GION: from the central station of Kyoto, i took the bus number 206 and got off at the stop immediately after the entrance of the huge Yasaka Shrine, visible on the right of the bus window. Moreover, recognizing the stop has been easy since lot of tourists got off there. To get back to the central station, i did the same by taking bus 206 in the other direction, this time at the bus stop which was on the same side of the street of the Yasaka Shrine (it was on the right of Yasaka Shrine, looking at it from front).

from

http://earthincolors.com/2015/03/04/kyoto-in-autumn-my-favourite-places-faqs/