Kurama

My itinery is filling up nicely now. One of the places I've decided to stop at is Kurama. This is a small little town just north of Kyoto which is famous for it's hot springs. I'll only be heading up there for the day but that should give me plenty of time to see the Kurama-dera (A buddist temple) and to visit the Kurama Onsen. The second part I'm very much looking forward to. They have both an indoor and outdoor hot spring bath which I think I'll try both of. The outdoor one is meant to be the most special of the two due to the lush location. I think I'll probably follow the trail as shown on the map above. I'll get a nice stroll through the Japanese country side, a nice bath and a nice meal :) The Kurama Onsen do a few special deals where you can chose which baths and meals you want. For ¥4800 which is around £25 you can use the indoor and outdoor bath and have a rather tasty traditional Japanese meal. One of those ones where you get a gazillion little dishes rather than 1 plate of nosh. Alternatively, if I'm feeling rather poor, I can pay just ¥1100 (£6) for use of the outdoor bath only (but its the best so thats cool) but you do get shampoo and coin lockers and hair dryers and all that jazz. You have to bring your own towel for the cheap one though...but that's no major hardship. So we'll see. £6 for a bath, £2 for the train, 50p donation at the temple to ride the train and £3 for a bento from 7/11. Bargain day out!