Arashiyama with preschoolers (4–6) 3 spots
Kyoto's Arashiyama runs flat along its river, with the bamboo grove and riverbank both in easy stroller reach.
A 400-meter path walled on both sides by tended bamboo, from a shrine to a villa.
Stroller OK · checked Aug ’26
A Zen temple from 1339 around a pond garden, Japan's first Special Place of Scenic Beauty.
Stroller OK · Changing table · Family restroom · checked Aug ’26
A restaurant serving Kyoto home-style obanzai for about thirty years, with eighty seats.
checked Aug ’26
This is a path with a name at each end. You set off from Nonomiya Shrine, tied to The Tale of Genji, and come out at Okochi Sanso, the villa built by Denjiro Okochi, a great star of period films. That is how Kyoto City itself describes the road. Four hundred meters, 800 there and back, is a distance they can walk the whole way themselves. Tenryuji's north gate opens straight off this path into its garden (Sogenchi and Hyakkaen).Since there is no toilet at all on the path, use the station or "Burari Arashiyama" (10:00-17:00, free) first. The garden entered through Tenryuji's north gate (Sogenchi and Hyakkaen) is open 8:30-17:00, last entry 16:50, at 500 yen for high school age and up, 300 yen for elementary and junior high, and free for preschoolers. The temple halls cost 300 yen more. The special opening of the "Cloud Dragon" painting in the Dharma Hall is 500 yen per person and is shown on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays only (Tenryuji also notes there are spring and autumn periods when it opens daily).
The ceiling of the Dharma Hall carries the Cloud Dragon painting, made in 1997 by the painter Kayama Matazo, for children to look up and find. Straight ahead of Sogen Pond as seen from the abbot's hall is the Dragon Gate Waterfall, built from two great upright stones. On the second Sunday of every month a one-hour zazen sitting starts at 9:00 a.m. at Yuunan, open to the public, free, and with no reservation.The Cloud Dragon in the Dharma Hall is shown only on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays (with daily-viewing periods in spring and autumn). It costs 500 yen per person on top of the normal admission, 9:00-16:30 (last entry 16:20). Photography is not allowed inside the Dharma Hall. The halls (Great Abbot's Hall, Shoin, Tahoden) cost 300 yen more than garden admission, and events close them on some days. Garden admission is 500 yen for high school age and up, 300 yen for elementary and junior high students, and free for preschoolers.
Every box seat has a hand-drawn illustration from the owner on display. The lattice ceiling, shaped after clouds, has been the restaurant's symbol since it opened. On 2F there are counter seats looking out over the Arashiyama street (there are only a few, so the times they can be offered are limited).Bookings up to the day before are taken online only, not by phone. You book a date, not a time, and if the restaurant is full you get a queue ticket that puts you at the head of the line as soon as a table opens. On the day, take a same-day queue ticket at the shopfront from 10:00, and wait in front of the shop once you are five groups away. Among the Kyo komusubi, the soy-meat yangnyeom style, Kujo-negi miso, and obanzai kinpira are vegetarian, and there is an English menu.