Hiking Mt. Inari in Kyoto is a memorable Experience. Imagine a 3-4 hours Hike through ~1.000 orange Torii Gates that spread across the whole mountain. A photographers delight, but impressive for everyone.
Of course this place is very crowded, even at 8:00 in the morning. The good news: A majority of visitors do not go for the full hike but only stay around the Main Shrine and the first Torii-Gates. The full hike takes quite a while but the higher up you get, the lesser crowded it will be.
So don't worry if you want to take photos - just Hike the full route and you will get enough chances for photos empty of people.
Tipps:
-Go early and dont waste too much time at the first gates - it will be impossible to get some good shots there as its just too crowded
-The Mountain is covered by a Forest, so it can be quite dark at times. prepare your less frequently used Settings (eg. ISO-Limit!) in order to avoid unsharp results due to long exposure times
-Go early or very late to get some atmospheric and warm light
-Bring your wide-Angle Lens
-Look back on your way
