About
What is Kinkakuji Today?
An English guide that answers three questions before you go to Kinkakuji (Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion): how busy it is likely to be, what the weather is doing, and how to get there on today's buses and subway.
Kinkakuji Today is an independent visitor guide and is not affiliated with Rokuon-ji Temple.
How is the crowd level worked out?
It is an estimate, not a count. We read the "Popular times" charts for Kinkakuji on Google Maps, hour by hour for each day of the week, and turn them into our own 0–100 values. We don't copy or show Google's charts. On peak-season days, and on weekday mornings in school-trip months, we raise the values, and we adjust for rain or snow in the Japan Meteorological Agency forecast. The table was last updated on 16 October 2026.
See the table and the adjustmentsWhere does the information come from?
Opening hours, admission and access details are checked against the temple's official site, Kyoto City Transportation Bureau and the Kyoto City Tourism Association, with the date we checked shown on each page. Weather data: Japan Meteorological Agency. We link to the temple's live camera; we don't copy or embed its images.
Who runs this site?
Kinkakuji Today is run by Kyoya Fujioka and operated by CofJC Inc., a company in Kyoto.
Sister sites:
Questions or a correction? Send us a message.
Send us a messageLast updated: