Kinkaku-ji
金閣寺
Kyoto’s Golden Pavilion: plan your visit with the temple’s current hours and admission.
Usual hours and prices, checked 2026-09-12 against the sources under “What this place is”. They can change for holidays and events — confirm before you go. Official site
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Our guide
Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, is the popular name of Rokuon-ji, a Zen temple in northern Kyoto. It began as the retirement villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and became a temple after his death in 1408. The sight is the three-storey pavilion, its upper floors covered in gold leaf, standing at the edge of a pond in a strolling garden. The building you see was rebuilt in 1955, after the original was burned down by an arsonist in 1950. The temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto”.
Our planning estimate for the visit itself is 45–60 minutes, which leaves room to see more of northwest Kyoto the same day. Ryōan-ji is about 1.1 km away in a straight line, Kitano Tenmangū about 1.2 km and Ninna-ji about 1.7 km. City buses serve the Kinkakuji-michi stop.
Written by japan-spots.com (2026-09-22) from the sources credited on this page. Distances are straight lines between map positions.
Photos
Photos from Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence — see credits
- Kinkaku-ji 2015 — Kakidai · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source · resized
- Kinkakuji side pond panorama — Fbjon (uploader on Commons) · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source · resized
- Kinkakuji Pond Frozen — Manish Prabhune · CC BY 4.0 · source · resized
- Kinkakuji Kyoto, Japan. (10795616574) — National Museum of Denmark from Denmark · No restrictions · source · resized
- Kinkakuji 2004-09-21 — Keith Pomakis · CC BY-SA 2.5 · source · resized
- Kinkakuji, 1893 — Ogawa Kazumasa · Public domain · source · resized
- KinkakuJiDetail — Markus Leupold-Löwenthal · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source · resized
- Kinkaku-ji reflection in pond — Jun from Sagamihara, JAPAN · CC BY 2.0 · source · resized
- Kinkaku-ji 04 — Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source · resized
What this place is
Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, is the popular name of Rokuon-ji, a Zen temple of the Shōkoku-ji branch of Rinzai Buddhism in northern Kyoto. It began as the retirement villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and became a temple after his death in 1408. The three-storey pavilion, its upper floors covered in gold leaf, stands at the edge of a pond in a strolling garden; the building seen today was rebuilt in 1955 after the original was burned down by arson in 1950. The temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto”.
Visitor information checked: 2026-09-12 · Kinkaku-ji official visitor information
What to expect at this type of place: Temple
Getting there by public transport
- Take a Kyoto City Bus serving Kinkakuji-michi, then walk to the entrance.
- Check the city bus route for your starting point.
Route checked: 2026-09-12 · Kinkaku-ji official visitor information · Timetables change — check the operator before you travel.
Where to stay nearby
Hotels near Kinkaku-ji on Agoda
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