Every nature video worth watching in Kyoto — in one place

Kyoto’s nature is inseparable from its temple architecture — the Arashiyama bamboo grove runs alongside Tenryu-ji, the Philosopher’s Path follows a canal under cherry trees, and the forest on Mount Inari frames the Fushimi Inari torii tunnels — which means treating “nature” and “temples” as separate categories misses the compound experience the city offers. The most underrated nature spot by multiple creator accounts is the Philosopher’s Path, which one creator calls a genuine pleasure to walk in a way the bamboo grove (crowded, brief) is not: a 2-kilometre canal path lined with cherry trees, best experienced in early morning or late evening when the tourist pressure lifts. The Monkey Park above Arashiyama — where Japanese macaques roam in a forested enclosure — is a secondary stop that some creators find genuinely worthwhile and others recommend skipping if you’re not an animal person; the view over Kyoto from the summit is the stronger argument for going [via 38 Tips I Wish I Knew].

The “10 Most Beautiful Places to Visit in Kyoto” video maps the nature-temple intersection more completely than any of the standalone nature or temple videos — it’s the right single watch for understanding how Kyoto’s natural and built environments work together. The “Secret Kyoto: 105 Points Ignored by the Crowds” video takes the most specific contrarian angle on the city’s lesser-visited natural spaces, covering spots that standard tourist lists never reach. Pair these two for the known and the obscure. The “Kyoto in the Rain: Visiting Temples, Gardens and Cosy Cafes” video is specifically useful for planning around weather — the honest take on which experiences hold up and which collapse under grey skies.