(Decided to post this as I had difficulty finding a nice itinerary)

• 9 am – had breakfast at Hoshino coffee at Kyoto station 京都駅 600 yen for toast with coffee. It’s near the 八条東口

• 9:48am – took JR Tokaido-Sanyo line 東海道・山陽線 from Kyoto 京都

• 10:03am – reached Hieizan-Sakamoto 比叡山坂本 station.

• 10:10am – I used the toilet and missed the bus which departed at 10:08 am. So I took a taxi which cost 690 yen to cable Sakamoto Eki busstop ケーブル坂本駅 That’s still manageable especially if you have 3 or more people. If you take bus, the bus ride would be about 10 mins (but the next one would be at 10:38 am). Bus stop is really easy to locate.

• 10:30am – Hieizan-Sakamoto cable car to cable enryakuji station ケーブル延暦寺駅 which is the other end of the cable. Cable car departs every 30 minutes. Cost 1620 yen for a 2 way return ticket. This is the longest cable rope way.

• Ride up was about 10 minutes. Mom and I took a really slow walk – stopping to take pictures of random trees – to enryakuji. 延暦寺

• once you arrive, you could hear the temple bell ring from a distance. You know you are in the right area. Since the temple is a sprawling one, we decided to take it slow and stay in the east side where the main hall Konpon Chu do 根本中堂 was. It’s under major refurbishment. There’s entry fee. I forgot how much.

• 11:30am – we were hungry so went to the kaikan 延暦寺会館 that is nearby to have a vegetarian meal. Cost was 2,200 yen per person. Tel: 077 579 4180. Hall was big so we didn’t have to make any reservation. View of biwako 琵琶湖 was great but cherry blossoms not yet in bloom.

• In the todo area 東堂 we saw a few places including the daikodo 大講堂 where you could ring the bell. Also went to see the todo 東堂 and amidado 阿弥陀堂

• 12:43 pm Next, we took bus from enryakuji bus centre 延暦寺バースセンターto the summit 比叡山頂. Using your pasmo or suica card, you can tap in and tap out. It’s 160 yen per person.

• Went into the garden. 1,200 yen per person. I think we came too early, give it another 2 weeks the sakuras at the temple will bloom and the garden will have prettier scenes. Nevertheless, you can enjoy the view of biwako and kyoto.

• 2:30 pm – took bus back to todo area 東堂

• 3 pm – took cable car back from the same cable enryakuji station ケーブル延暦寺駅 to cable sakamoto station ケーブル坂本駅

• 3:20 pm – bus to Hieizan-Sakamoto 比叡山坂本 station

• 3:42 pm – train to sannomiya station 三ノ宮 (JR湖西線新快速 姫路行)

• 4:52 pm – Teppanyaki Dinner with Kobe beef

• 6:22 pm – train to Kyoto 京都 (JR神戸線新快速 草津行)

~ End of day ~

Comments: This was a pretty relaxed itinerary. If you like something more, you could try the eizen ropeway or visit the other areas on hiei or take the boat rides in the lake. For me this let me fully utilize my jr pass!