Leave Kyoto for the pastoral countryside of Miyama, an hour and a half into the hills. Roll up your sleeves for a half-day cooking class, turning local, seasonal ingredients into a traditional country meal. Then walk through Kayabuki-no-Sato, a village of thatched-roof farmhouses where a rural way of life carries on little changed. In the afternoon, transfer to Amanohashidate, one of the three great views of Japan, for a peaceful night by the water.