Kyoto Top 5 Gardens
Open map ↗Katsura Imperial Villa
Kaht-soo-rah ree-kyoo. A 17th-century imperial villa whose stroll garden Japan's garden experts rank second in the entire country, year after year. You can only see it on a guided tour, so book ahead on the Imperial Household Agency website and bring your passport; a small number of same-day tickets for Japanese-language tours are given out at the gate each morning.
Ryōan-ji
Ryoh-ahn-jee. Japan's most famous Zen rock garden: fifteen stones set in raked white gravel, placed so that from anywhere on the veranda at least one is always hidden. Get there right at opening to sit on the veranda before the tour groups arrive.
Saihōji (Kokedera) Temple
Sigh-hoh-jee. The Moss Temple, redesigned by the Zen monk Muso Soseki in 1339, where about 120 kinds of moss carpet the garden around a pond. Visits are by advance online booking only, and you copy a Buddhist sutra by hand in the main hall before you're let into the garden.
Tenryu-ji
Ten-ryoo-jee. A UNESCO World Heritage temple in Arashiyama whose pond garden, laid out by the same monk almost 700 years ago, "borrows" the forested hills behind it as part of the view. Its north gate opens straight onto the Arashiyama bamboo grove, so you can see both in one visit.
Tōfuku-ji Temple
Toh-foo-koo-jee. Kyoto's most famous fall-color spot: about 2,000 maples fill a valley beneath the wooden Tsutenkyo bridge. Its abbot's quarters also hold a modern classic, Mirei Shigemori's 1939 checkerboard moss garden; in November, arrive right at opening, before the bridge gets packed.