Nov 2, 2007
At around $1,200 per person, including airfare from the west coast, a winter trip to uncrowded Kyoto is a top opportunity
Kyoto of the 2,000 temples and shrines, quiet canals, and wooden houses is the most gorgeous of Japanese cities. It is also celebrating winter this year with some tantalizing incentives for visitors from December through March (see www.kyotowinterspecial.com).
Chief among these, from January 12 to March 18, the city will throw open the doors to ten heritage site temples that are usually restricted to the monks, an unparalleled opportunity to see some of the gorgeous and glorious Buddhist sites normally not open to the public.
Wintertime visitors will be able to enjoy some of the special events that will take place around Kyoto, including festivals of lights and cherry blossoms, nighttime candle-lit tea ceremonies, and various Buddhist traditions from the New Year's Eve ringing of every temple bell 108 times to the February 2-4 Setsubun, acrobatic rites to exorcise demons from shrines and temples.
There are also special rates or room upgrade offers at about a dozen major hotels and ryokan inns. However, you might want to consider the "Kyoto at its Best" package from Go-Today.com (www.go-today.com), which includes roundtrip airfare and five nights' lodging. Prices on this deal aren't yet set for the winter season (the company is still waiting to hear from the Kyoto hotels), but they should be within 10 percent of the current rate of $1,109 (that's for departures from most major West Coast cities plus Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix, and Tucson; other cities in the Midwest or on the East Coast cost $110-$160 more).
Winter in Kyoto will be cool (usual average of 41 degrees, and damp), but the chance to participate in wintertime rituals, see the city without hordes of summer tourists, and get into those normally closed sights, make it more than worthwhile.
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Chief among these, from January 12 to March 18, the city will throw open the doors to ten heritage site temples that are usually restricted to the monks, an unparalleled opportunity to see some of the gorgeous and glorious Buddhist sites normally not open to the public.
Wintertime visitors will be able to enjoy some of the special events that will take place around Kyoto, including festivals of lights and cherry blossoms, nighttime candle-lit tea ceremonies, and various Buddhist traditions from the New Year's Eve ringing of every temple bell 108 times to the February 2-4 Setsubun, acrobatic rites to exorcise demons from shrines and temples.
There are also special rates or room upgrade offers at about a dozen major hotels and ryokan inns. However, you might want to consider the "Kyoto at its Best" package from Go-Today.com (www.go-today.com), which includes roundtrip airfare and five nights' lodging. Prices on this deal aren't yet set for the winter season (the company is still waiting to hear from the Kyoto hotels), but they should be within 10 percent of the current rate of $1,109 (that's for departures from most major West Coast cities plus Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix, and Tucson; other cities in the Midwest or on the East Coast cost $110-$160 more).
Winter in Kyoto will be cool (usual average of 41 degrees, and damp), but the chance to participate in wintertime rituals, see the city without hordes of summer tourists, and get into those normally closed sights, make it more than worthwhile.
Write and read comments about this post.
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
