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Walk the torii tunnel at Fushimi Inari before the tour buses arrive

A place: Japan

The first gate is not what you expect: vermillion paint still tacky at the edges, and beneath it, stencilled in white, the name of a noodle company you have never heard of. Climb before the crowds and you catch the drift of turpentine, as though the shrine were quietly touching up its own paintwork overnight. The path bends through a thousand more gates, each proclaiming another donor, until it reaches the one that never matches: gate four hundred and seventeen, its paint crooked and never straightened.

Practical

Cost
Free
Best time
Any time of year; spring and autumn give the mildest walking weather
Difficulty
Moderate
Time it takes
2-3 hours for the full loop; go at dawn to beat the crowds
What people get wrong
Most visitors only walk the first ten minutes of gates near the entrance, assume that's the whole shrine, then complain about the crowds — the quiet part is further up and earlier in the day. Arriving after 9am is the mistake that ruins it.
With
Alone

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