For our last day in Kyoto, I wanted to visit Fushimi Inari Shrine in southern Kyoto. The beautiful orange colors of the torri gates in the midst of the bamboo forest really caught my attention when I first started reading about traveling in Kyoto. I was also eager to spend sometime outside hiking after almost one week of walking around in the city.

The orange gates of Fushimi Inari

The shrine is very easy to get to with a JR pass. It is located in southern Kyoto, along the JR Nara line. From the Kyoto station, it is a 5 minute ride to the Inari station.The entrance of the shrine is right out of the train station, the orange color really does make an excellent landmark. 

Visitors cleansing their hands and saying a prayer before worshiping a shrine.

Map at the entrance of the Fushimi Inari Shrine

Some of the torri gates are marked with the names of the donors and their donation dates.

As the hike gets higher, the souvenir and drinks get more expensive.

Cemetery within the shrine. It is covered with foxes because they are considered as a lucky symbol to the Inari God.

The hike to the top takes about 2 hours. The +200 meter ascend really brought up our heart rate and gave us a good work out!