The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto

Pontocho Alley, located along the west bank of the Kamogawa River between Sanjo and Shijo, is considered by many to be the most beautiful street in the city. It’s lined with traditional shops and offering a wide range of dining options. Most of the restaurants along the eastern side of the alley overlook the Kamogawa River.

This beautiful shrine is dedicated to Inari, the god of rice and sake, by the Hata clan in the 8th century. Nowadays Inari is popular among businessmen, who come to his shrines to pray for prosperity. Inari is a very popular god, with some 32,000 sub-shrines built in his honor all over Japan. Fushimi Inari Shrine is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii, which straddle a network of trails behind the main buildings. The trails wind through the wooded forest of the sacred 233-meter Mount Inari, part of the shrine grounds.

This Zen Buddhist temple, reflected in its adjoining “mirror pond” with its small islands of rock and pine, is perhaps the most widely recognized image of Kyoto. Kinkaku-ji Temple, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, is a breathtaking sight, and a must-see for visitors to Kyoto. The golden pavilion itself is a reliquary hall, destroyed by arson in 1950 and rebuilt in 1955. The grounds depict the Western Paradise of the Buddha Amida, and illustrate the harmony between heaven and earth; the island in the middle of the pond represents Japan.

Tofuku-ji temple, built in 1236, is the head temple of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism. The gardens are together a magnificent achievement in Buddhist landscape architecture. The north garden has an unusual checkerboard pattern, while the main garden on the south side is a dry garden that centers around several jagged rocks. The east garden has several stone cylinders in a moss field, while the west one is a gentle landscape of moss and azaleas.

The banks of the Kamogawa river have been prosperous with tourism attractions since the Edo period (1603-1868) when show tents and kabuki dance theaters congregated its banks. The Kamogawa River is a perfect spot for a daytime or nighttime stroll or cycle.

Kiyomizu-dera temple is the most popular temple in Kyoto and is world-famous for its magnificent veranda, which juts out from a mountainside, supported by 13-meter-high wooden columns. The views over the city are simply breathtaking. Beneath the main building is the Otowa Waterfall, whose water grants wishes, and in an adjacent building is a pair of “love stones” -- if you walk between them with your eyes closed, you will find true love (it is said). Kiyomizu-dera is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.