Die Kyoto-Ausgabe
Kyoto Autumn Leaves 2026: Late-Season Peak Dates, Temples and Night Light-Ups
A few Kyoto temples are worth giving up an evening for, and the best gardens need booking weeks in advance. The famous bridge photograph goes to whoever arrives before the crowds.
Von Tomas AlmeidaKyoto's temples, backstreets and slow mornings
The picture everyone comes for is taken from a covered wooden bridge, high over a ravine where the maple crowns sit below the handrail. To get near it you need to be at the gate by 8:30. Most of Kyoto's special autumn openings finish on 6 December, and a handful run on to 13 December.
The early bridge at Tofukuji
Tofukuji, in the south-east of the city, runs its autumn period from 14 November to 6 December. The Tsutenkyo bridge opens at 8:30 in those weeks, the Hojo garden at 9:00, and last entry is 16:00. Adults pay ¥1,000 for the bridge and the Kaisando, children ¥500. The Hojo garden is a separate ¥600.
Go at opening or don't go at all. This is the most congested foliage site in Kyoto, and you may be asked not to take photographs while you're standing on the bridge. Tripods aren't allowed anywhere. From Kyoto Station the JR Nara Line takes three minutes to JR Tofukuji, then it's a 10-minute walk. Bus 88 or 208 takes about 15 minutes to the Tofukuji stop.
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Higashiyama after dark
Eikando is the best night temple in the Higashiyama hills. The maples climb a steep wooded slope behind the halls, and after dark the Amida Hall and the pond garden are lit from below. The night session runs from 20 November to 6 December. Reception is 17:30 to 20:30 and the gates close at 21:00. It costs ¥1,000 from junior high age up, and daytime viewing is a separate ticket at ¥1,500 for adults. Don't come by car. Coaches are barred from the grounds, and cars and scooters can't enter during the special viewing. The nearest car park is at Okazaki Park, a 20-minute walk away.
Kiyomizu-dera has the signature Kyoto autumn image. The huge wooden stage is floodlit above the maples, and a single blue beam of light is fired out over the rooftops of the old capital. Night entry runs from 21 to 30 November only, starting at 17:30, with reception closing at 21:00. There's no booking, so the narrow lanes up the hill get very tight on those 10 nights. The Jojuin garden, normally closed, opens on the same dates. Last season adults paid ¥500 at night, with the Jojuin garden ¥600 on top.
Kodaiji is lit for longer than any other big Kyoto temple, from 23 October to 13 December. The grounds light up at 17:00, entry closes at 21:30 and the gates shut at 22:00. Adults pay ¥800 and school students ¥400, the same by day or night. A dark pond in front of a thatched tea house doubles the maples, and the ticket covers the lit bamboo grove on the slope behind. You can't re-enter once you've passed the exit, so do the circuit in one go. If your dates sit either side of the late-November peak, this is the night viewing to plan around.
Nights away from the hills
Toji is about 15 minutes' walk from the Hachijo exit of Kyoto Station, which makes it the easy evening if your bags are in a locker. Japan's tallest wooden pagoda is lit against a black sky and reflected whole in a pond. The light-up runs nightly from 31 October to 13 December, 18:00 to 21:30, with last entry at 21:00. Adults pay ¥1,000 and under junior-high age ¥500. The Kondo and Kodo halls open at night too, and the back of the Kodo altar platform is unlocked, so you can walk right round the carved mandala.
If you're templed out by day three, the Kyoto Botanical Gardens light the maples around a big pond from 14 November to 13 December. The route is one-way and flat, and the evening opening is 18:00 to 21:30 with last entry at 20:30. Adults pay ¥1,100 on weekdays and ¥1,500 at weekends and on holidays, children ¥600. The glasshouse opens in the evening at weekends and on holidays only. It runs in the rain.
Gardens you have to book
Enkoji has the best moss-and-maple garden in the northern hills, and you look at it from inside an open temple room, framed by dark posts and a lintel. The autumn viewing runs 10 November to 10 December, 9:00 to 17:00. Every entry is a dated, timed reservation, and booking opened on 20 October, so few same-day slots are left. Adults pay ¥1,500 and school pupils ¥800, and an hour is about right. The car park is shut for the whole period. Walk the 15 minutes from Ichijoji station on the Eizan line, or take bus 5 to the Ichijoji Sagarimatsucho stop.
Rurikoin is the floor-maples photograph. Upstairs in a bare tatami room, the maples outside reflect upside-down across a black lacquered desk. It's open from 1 October to 13 December, 10:00 to 17:00, at ¥2,000 for adults and ¥1,000 for students with a card. The catch is 13 November to 6 December, when entry was allocated by a ballot that closed in August. Without a place you won't get in on those dates, so come in the fortnight either side or leave it out. It's a 12-minute walk from Yase-Hieizanguchi, at the top of the Eizan line.
Arashiyama into the evening
Hogonin is the Arashiyama garden worth paying for, and you can see it by day and again at night. The strolling garden sits at the foot of the hills and keeps a dry waterfall built from stacked rocks. Daytime viewing runs 3 October to 6 December, 9:00 to 17:00, at ¥700 for adults and ¥300 for children. The evening light-up runs 13 November to 6 December, 17:30 to 20:30, at ¥1,000 for adults and ¥300 for children. Neither needs booking. The temple is next to the Arashiyama Tenryujimae bus stop, five minutes' walk from Randen Arashiyama.
Seeing it from a train
The cheapest good thing in the Kyoto autumn is an ordinary train. On the Eizan line's Kurama branch, the Momiji Tunnel between Ichihara and Ninose is an arch of maple branches that meet overhead. From 7 November to 6 December the trees are lit from dusk until 21:00, the carriage lights go off and the train slows right down. It's 20 minutes from Demachiyanagi on a Kurama-bound train, for the normal fare, and the lighting may run longer if the colour holds.
The Sagano Romantic Train is the other way to watch from a seat. The carriages have open sides and no glass, and the line runs high above the Hozu river gorge, with the trackside trees lit from 16:30. It runs from 24 October to 29 December, with no service on 16 December. Adults pay ¥880 and children ¥440. Every seat is reserved for a specific train. Tickets go on sale online at midnight one month before you travel, and autumn dates sell out that day. These carriages retire on 29 December, so this is the last autumn for them.
Takao and Komyoji
In the first half of November the city temples are still green and Jingoji is not. Up at Takao the colour usually peaks from early to late November, and what you come for is the forested gorge below the clifftop clearing. It's open daily 9:00 to 16:00, at ¥1,000 for adults and ¥500 for primary-school children, and there's no night opening. The way in from the river bridge is a long maple-lined stone staircase up to the Romon gate, so wear shoes with grip. Give it a miss if you have mobility limits or small children. The JR bus from Kyoto Station towards Takao and Keihoku takes about 50 minutes to the Takao stop, then it's a 20-minute walk. Timetables changed during 2026, so check departures on the day.
Komyoji has the best maple avenue in the Kyoto area, and far fewer people, because it takes a train and a bus to reach. The approach is a wide stone path climbing under old maples, and the paving ends up carpeted with fallen leaves. Special entry runs 14 November to 6 December, 9:00 to 16:00. Adults pay ¥1,000 and students ¥500. The colour normally starts in mid-November. There's no car park during the foliage period, so take Hankyu bus 20 or 22 from JR Nagaokakyo, about 20 minutes to the Asahigaoka Homu-mae stop.
Before you go
Book Enkoji before you travel, and buy Sagano seats the day they're released. Leave the car at the hotel, as Eikando, Enkoji and Komyoji all have nowhere to put one.
See the Kyoto guide and the Kyoto hotel search.
Vor der Reise
When do Kyoto's autumn leaves peak in 2026?
The city temples run their special openings from mid-November, and most of them finish on 6 December. At Komyoji the maples were still green on 10 November, and colour there normally starts in mid-November. Up at Takao, Jingoji usually peaks from early to late November, ahead of the centre.
Which night light-ups run latest in the season?
Kodaiji is lit from 23 October to 13 December, Toji nightly from 31 October to 13 December, and the Kyoto Botanical Gardens from 14 November to 13 December. Eikando, Hogonin and Kiyomizu-dera all stop on or before 6 December, so late dates push you towards the first three.
What do I have to book in advance?
Enkoji takes dated, timed reservations only, from 10 November to 10 December, and a ballot that closed in August handed out Rurikoin's 13 November to 6 December dates. Sagano Romantic Train seats are all reserved and go on sale one month ahead. Kiyomizu-dera, Toji, Kodaiji and Hogonin you can simply walk up to.
If I only have one evening, which temple should it be?
Eikando, in the Higashiyama hills, from 20 November to 6 December. If you're tied to Kyoto Station by luggage or a train, Toji is about 15 minutes' walk away and open nightly from 31 October to 13 December.
How do I see Tofukuji without the scrum?
Be at the gate for the 8:30 opening between 14 November and 6 December, and expect to be asked not to photograph from the bridge itself. For a calmer day, Komyoji's maple avenue is a train and a bus out of the city, and Jingoji at Takao spreads people over a mountainside.
