Kyoto
Kyoto is where more of the old country survives than anywhere else in Japan, and the one city where the sights outrank the food. Three days cover the highlights, a week covers the city.
Kyoto in a nutshell
Kyoto: what to expect
This is what 73,000+ planned stops in the city on Stippl say about Kyoto.
Kyoto is worth visiting, and three nights is what most travellers give it. The city was Japan's capital for a thousand years and escaped the wartime bombing, so what you walk through is the real thing rather than a rebuild, with 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites inside the city limits and temples on the wooded hillsides all around the basin. The short list almost everyone does is Fushimi Inari's torii tunnels, the Golden Pavilion, Kiyomizu-dera and the bamboo grove at Arashiyama. Most travellers plan 3 nights on Stippl.
You cannot fly into Kyoto, and that changes the trip. The city has no airport, and it shows: only 0.6% of the trips that pass through Kyoto have it as their only Japanese stop. Tokyo is the door into the country. Kyoto is usually the reason people came.
The catch is the crowds, and the fix is the clock. The temples sit on the hillsides rather than in the centre, so you sleep in the middle and head out early, and anything famous is worth doing at opening or after dark. Give yourself a fourth night if you also want Nara, the day trip most tied to Kyoto anywhere in Japan. If crowds are what ruin a place for you, avoid blossom season and the November colour window, and come in winter instead.
Plan Kyoto in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
Download the appWho Kyoto is for
History and culture travellers
Kyoto is the one Japanese city where the sights outrank the food, and there is more of the old country inside its limits than anywhere else.
First-timers in Japan
Kyoto is on 65.2% of Japan trips on Stippl, paired with Tokyo as the two halves of a first visit: the modern half and the traditional one.
Slow travellers
Three days covers the highlights and four to seven covers the city, and the difference is the part people come back for.
Photographers
Every temple district photographs, but a few forbid it outright, including parts of Gion, so check the signs before the lens comes out.
Walkers and cyclists
The centre is flat and the favourite Kyoto day is a bike day, from the Philosopher's Path down to the river in an afternoon.
Maybe not for you: anyone allergic to crowds who will not get up early; nightlife travellers, since Osaka is fifteen minutes away and does it better; and budget travellers who need cheap beds, because Osaka undercuts Kyoto on every head-to-head.
The best time to visit Kyoto
Autumn colour
late October to early December
Peak foliage from mid to late November, lingering into December, and the single strongest recommendation anyone makes for the city. As full as blossom season in its peak fortnight.
Blossom and green season
late March to early June
Blossom opens about a week after Tokyo and the fortnight is the busiest of the Kyoto year, every stay area booked months ahead. After Golden Week the temples empty and the moss gardens are at their best.
Rainy season and summer
June to early September
The wettest weeks of the year, then a basin with no coastal breeze that holds the heat; the uphill temple walks are punishing in it, and it is the emptiest warm stretch.
Winter
mid December to February
Cold, quiet and the cheapest beds of the year, with occasional snow on the temple roofs.
- Gion Matsuri runs the whole of July, with the main float procession on 17 July. Yasaka Shrine's festival draws millions and it is the one Kyoto date to plan around rather than into; the city is full for the week either side.
- October is the month most travellers plan Kyoto for on Stippl, about 111 days ahead. Only 8.3% of Kyoto plans are made inside a fortnight, the lowest share of the three big cities, and the colour weeks are why.
- Blossom and colour each hold for about a week per tree line. The Philosopher's Path, Maruyama and the Higashiyama lanes in late March to mid April; the same lanes in the second half of November. Book the stay area first and the dates second.
- Golden Week concentrates harder in Kyoto than almost anywhere. 29 April to 5 May is the national holiday cluster, and Kyoto is one of the two cities where the whole country goes; Obon in mid-August is the second, in the stickiest week of the year.
Add your Kyoto dates and we'll flag the weather
Stippl shows the season, crowds and prices for every stop on your route.
Describe your trip, get a Kyoto itinerary in seconds
Everything in this guide is already in Stippl. Tell the planner how long you have and what you like: it builds the route, the days and the travel times, and you edit whatever you want.
Things to do in Kyoto
Photo by Stefan K via Unsplash
Photo by Ryoji Iwata via UnsplashFushimi Inari Taisha
Walk up through thousands of vermilion torii to the Yotsutsuji viewpoint, about forty minutes each way and free. Go at dawn or after eight in the evening; by opening time the lower gates are already a queue.
Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion
The gold-leaf pavilion over its pond is a twenty-minute visit, €3 (¥500) and open nine to five. The crowd is constant, so take the first hour or the last and pair it with Ryoan-ji's rock garden ten minutes away.
Kiyomizu-dera and the Higashiyama lanes
Walk up through Sannen-zaka and Ninen-zaka to the temple's wooden stage over the valley, the best hour of street in the city. Go before nine; the lanes are a queue by eleven.
Arashiyama bamboo grove
The grove is free, open ground and open all day, which is why it is packed from mid morning. Be there before sunrise, then walk on to Tenryu-ji and the monkey park before the tour buses arrive.
Gion after dark
The machiya lanes and the Shirakawa canal are at their best after the shops close, when the lanterns come on. Photography is banned on the private alleys off Hanamikoji; stay on the main street with the camera.
A tea ceremony
Forty-five minutes in a tatami room learning why the bowl is turned twice, in a small group for about €25. Book a day ahead; the good ones do not take walk-ins.
The neighbourhoods of Kyoto
Southern Higashiyama
Stone lanes, temples, crowds
The Sannen-zaka and Ninen-zaka lanes between Kiyomizu-dera and Gion: the densest run of temples, tea houses and craft shops in Japan, and the most photographed. For first visits and walkers who want the temples before the buses.
The heart of old Kyoto at dawn, and the crowds and prices by ten.
Gion
Lantern lanes, geisha, kaiseki
The geisha district: preserved machiya along Hanamikoji, lantern-lit lanes on the Shirakawa canal and kaiseki behind closed doors, with the Gion ryokan the priciest in the city. For a splurge night and for the atmosphere at dusk.
The most atmospheric streets in Japan, and the highest prices to sleep on them.
Northern Higashiyama
Canal walk, quieter temples
The Philosopher's Path between Nanzen-ji and Ginkaku-ji: a canal walk under cherry trees, quieter than the south, with guesthouses among the temples. For slow days and second visits.
The quiet half of the temple district, and a bus ride to everywhere else.
Downtown
Market, river alley, nightlife
The commercial and social centre around Kawaramachi and Shijo: Nishiki Market, Pontocho's riverside alley, the restaurants and what nightlife Kyoto has. For eating and for a base with the subway under it.
The best evenings and the trains, and a shopping street rather than a temple lane.
Central Kyoto
Castle, palace, business hotels
Nijo Castle and the Imperial Palace, business hotels and the cheapest central beds, on the subway line. For budget stays and anyone who wants a plain room and the city on the metro.
The cheapest central rooms, and a district with nothing to walk to at night.
Arashiyama
Bamboo, river, ryokan quiet
The bamboo grove, Tenryu-ji, the monkey park and the river, twenty minutes west of the centre, with riverside ryokan that empty when the day-trippers leave. For a ryokan night and the grove at seven in the morning.
The grove before the crowds, and half an hour to the rest of the city.
See every Kyoto neighbourhood on one map
Save the areas you like and Stippl plots your days so you're not crossing the city twice.
Where to stay in Kyoto
Stay in Southern Higashiyama for a first visit: the temples, the lanes and Gion are on foot, and the crowds thin once the day-trippers leave. Most people give Kyoto 3 nights on Stippl, and one of them in a ryokan or a machiya townhouse is the Kyoto experience. Book months ahead for cherry blossom and autumn; Kyoto runs pricier than Osaka at every rung except the dorm.
Southern Higashiyama
Small ryokan and machiya rentals between the temples, €120 to €300, and boutique hotels from €150.
Gion
The classic ryokan with kaiseki, €250 to €600, and a few guesthouses in the lanes from €80.
Northern Higashiyama
Guesthouses and family-run inns among the temples, €60 to €150, quieter than the south.
Downtown
Mid-range hotels and hostels around Kawaramachi, dorms €20 to €35 and rooms €70 to €160.
Central Kyoto
Business hotels and the cheapest central beds, €45 to €90, on the subway line.
Arashiyama
Riverside ryokan with dinner, €200 to €500, that empty when the day-trippers go home.
What to eat in Kyoto
The multi-course seasonal banquet; Kyoto is its home and its most expensive expression
Buddhist temple vegetarian cooking, served at several temples
Whisked powdered green tea; Uji, just south, is the growing region
Simmered tofu, the Higashiyama and Arashiyama winter dish
Kyoto home cooking, small seasonal vegetable dishes
The Pontocho riverside alley runs from cheap skewers to fine dining
Discover food spots in Stippl
Find restaurants and markets on the map, save them to your itinerary, works offline too.
Kyoto customs and what not to do
No photos in Gion's alleys
The ban covers the private alleys and exists because of visitor volume; it is enforced with signage and fines of about €60, and the public streets remain open.
Maiko are going to work
A maiko on Hanamikoji at dusk is commuting, not performing; do not stop her, follow her or photograph her without asking, which is the origin of the alley ban.
Temples are working sites
Keep quiet, use no flash inside the halls, and follow the purification basin ritual at a shrine: left hand, right hand, mouth from the hand, never from the ladle.
Most temples close at 17:00
Closing runs from five to six with last admission before that, so an afternoon plan runs out of daylight faster than expected; do the gardens first and the streets after.
Do
- Walk on the left in Gion's public streets and keep moving
- Book Saihō-ji and the Imperial villas weeks ahead
- Carry coins for the temple entry boxes and the bus
- Take your shoes off at the step of every hall, even where nobody is checking
Don't
- Photograph in the private alleys of Gion; fines are posted
- Stop a maiko on her way to work
- Use flash inside a temple hall
- Eat while walking in Nishiki market's lanes; each stall has a standing spot
What a Kyoto trip costs
Budget
€70–80
Hostel dorm (Osaka-level at €13–17), konbini, bus and subway rides, the free Arashiyama bamboo grove.
Mid-range
€100–150
Mid-range hotel, temple entries, Nishiki Market and Pontocho meals.
High-end
€250+
Ryokan with kaiseki, a tea ceremony, book months ahead for the blossom and autumn peaks when Kyoto's whole ladder tightens.
Track what you actually spend
Set a daily budget per country and log expenses in any currency while you travel.
Fun facts about Kyoto
Kyoto was the imperial capital for more than a thousand years. The court sat here from 794 until 1868, when it moved to Edo and that city was renamed Tokyo.
Kyoto was removed from the atomic-bomb target list by Henry Stimson. The US Secretary of War struck it off in 1945, which is why the historic fabric survived the war at all.
Kyoto has about 1,600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto shrines. Temples are Buddhist, shrines are Shinto, and the red torii gate is the tell; 17 of the sites are on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Kyoto and Tokyo are the same two kanji reversed. 京都 and 東京, capital city and eastern capital, which is the whole history of Japan's court in four characters.
Otagi Nenbutsu-ji's 1,200 stone figures were carved by amateurs in the 1980s. Visitors carved the rakan under a sculptor's guidance, not medieval monks, which is why so many of them are laughing or holding tennis rackets.
Kyoto is the smallest of the world's four most Michelin-starred cities. Alongside Tokyo, Paris and Osaka, and because it is small the starred restaurants sit within walking distance of each other in Higashiyama and Gion.
Kyoto sits in a basin with no sea breeze. That is why its summers are hotter and stickier than Osaka's, half an hour away, and why the temples are on the wooded hillsides.
Local tips for Kyoto
Rent a bicycle on day one
The centre is flat and the historic lanes are faster on two wheels than by bus. Most guesthouses rent them for about €6 a day; leave the bike at the bottom of the eastern hills.
Skip the buses where you can
The sights are scattered, the buses are slow and full, and one journey can need two operators' tickets. The two subway lines and the Keihan train do more than the map suggests.
The JR Pass is for day trips
It gets you to Nara, Osaka and Hiroshima and does nothing inside Kyoto. Buy a one-day bus and subway pass for about €7 instead.
How long to stay
Most people give Kyoto 3 nights on Stippl, and that is what it takes: the eastern hills, Arashiyama and the north each want a morning, with Nara as the extra day.
Do the hills before ten
Fushimi Inari's mountain, the monkey park and the Kiyomizu approach are uphill walks with no shade, and in July and August the heat is dangerous by noon. Start at seven.
Let the crowds set the order
At the famous sites in blossom and autumn the density is a safety matter, not an annoyance. Take Arashiyama and Fushimi Inari at opening and the palace and museums in the afternoon.
Kyoto questions, answered
In the middle, after Tokyo, because there is no airport here and you arrive by train. Only 3.0% of the trips that include Kyoto on Stippl start here. Lay the rail legs out in Stippl and give Kyoto the nights its day trips need. Then ask people who have been, in subreddits like r/JapanTravel.
Two in three do: 65.2% of Japan trips planned on Stippl include Kyoto, and 13.1% of every Japanese stop is in the city. A route that skips it is unusual enough that the real question is which nights Kyoto gets rather than whether it gets any.
Hardly ever. Just 12.5% of Kyoto stops planned on Stippl are a single night, one of the lowest shares in the country. The temples sit on the wooded hillsides rather than in the centre, so one night buys the walk between two of them and none of the early starts the rest of them need.
Arrive at opening or go after dark, and treat that as the whole strategy rather than a tip. Fushimi Inari works at dawn or after eight in the evening, the Arashiyama bamboo grove before sunrise, and Nishiki Market in the morning. Anything famous is a different place at nine than at eleven.
Both, if the days allow, because they sit fifteen minutes apart by train. Kyoto is temples, gardens and atmosphere, while Osaka is food, nightlife, price and transport. If you genuinely have to pick one, Kyoto is what people came to Japan for and Osaka is the easier place to eat and sleep.
You may see maiko walking to engagements in Gion in the early evening, which is not the same thing as a performance. Do not follow them and do not photograph them, and the private alleys off the main streets are closed to photography entirely. Watching from a distance is the whole etiquette.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Kyoto in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
Download the app