Wanderlines
A tunnel of vermilion torii gates at Fushimi Inari
Japan · Kansai

Kyoto

A thousand years as capital left seventeen World Heritage sites, two thousand temples and a way of eating that the rest of Japan still measures itself against. The hills close in on three sides, and the trails start where the lanes end.

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Overview

The city in the basin

Kyoto was laid out in 794 on a Chinese grid in a basin ringed by hills, and the grid still holds: streets run north–south and east–west, the Kamo river cuts the city in two, and the mountains Hiei, Daimonji and Atago stand at the edges like a frame. The emperors left in 1868; the temples, gardens, craftspeople and kitchens stayed.

The east, Higashiyama, has the famous slopes: Kiyomizu, the Gion lanes, Nanzen-ji and the Philosopher's Path to Ginkaku-ji. The west has Arashiyama's bamboo and river. The north has Kinkaku-ji and the quiet valleys of Kurama and Ohara. The south has Fushimi Inari and the sake town of Fushimi. The centre has Nishiki market, the Imperial Palace and most of the restaurants.

Four days is the minimum. A week lets you add a mountain walk, a day in Nara, and dinner at a counter you will think about for years.

Visitors in an alley of traditional machiya houses in Kyoto
Higashiyama & GionKiyomizu-dera, the Ninenzaka lanes, the Yasaka pagoda, geisha districts, Nanzen-ji and the Philosopher's Path.
Centre & KawaramachiNishiki market, Pontocho and Kiyamachi for the night, the Imperial Palace, Nijo castle, most hotels.
Arashiyama & the north-westThe bamboo grove, the Hozu river, the monkey park, Kinkaku-ji and Ryoan-ji's rock garden.
South & the hillsFushimi Inari's ten thousand gates, the Fushimi breweries, and Kurama, Kibune and Hiei for the walks.
Highlights

What to see first

Nine places. The famous ones are crowded from nine until five; the trick is to be there at seven or after four.

Rows of torii gates at the Fushimi Inari shrine
Shrine · Hill walk

Fushimi Inari

Ten thousand vermilion torii, each donated by a business, climb the wooded hill of the rice god's fox messengers. Most people stop at the first viewpoint; the full loop to the 233-metre summit takes two hours and loses the crowd. Open all night, and best at dawn or after dark with the lanterns lit.

Fushimi Inari in detail →
The Golden Pavilion of Kinkaku-ji above its pond
UNESCO · Zen

Kinkaku-ji & Ryoan-ji

The Golden Pavilion, a shogun's retirement villa of 1397 sheathed in gold leaf and reflected in its pond, rebuilt after a monk burned it down in 1950. Twenty minutes' walk away, Ryoan-ji's rock garden of 1500, fifteen stones in raked gravel, asks for the opposite kind of attention.

Kinkaku-ji & Ryoan-ji in detail →
The bamboo grove at Arashiyama
West · River

Arashiyama

The bamboo grove behind Tenryu-ji, the Togetsukyo bridge over the Hozu river, the monkeys on Iwatayama and the moss garden of Gio-ji further up the hill. Arrive before eight for the grove to yourself; by ten it is a procession. The Sagano scenic railway and river boats run the gorge upstream.

Arashiyama in detail →
Kiyomizu-dera temple among autumn leaves
UNESCO · Higashiyama

Kiyomizu-dera & the lanes

The wooden stage of the "pure water" temple juts over the hillside on 13-metre pillars without a single nail, with the city below and maples all round. Walk down through Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka, the preserved stone lanes of tea houses and shops, to the Yasaka pagoda.

Kiyomizu-dera in detail →
The Yasaka pagoda rising above the Higashiyama lanes
Geisha district

Gion

Hanamikoji street's wooden tea houses, the Shirakawa canal with its willows and the Yasaka shrine at the end of Shijo. Geiko and maiko walk to evening engagements around six; watch from the public street, never follow, never photograph in the private lanes. Gion Corner stages a sampler of the arts nightly.

Gion in detail →
The covered arcade of Nishiki market
Market

Nishiki market

Four hundred years of fishmongers, picklers, tofu makers and knife shops in a 400-metre covered lane: tsukemono pickles, yuba, grilled eel, tamagoyaki on a stick, matcha everything. Eat as you go, but stand still to do it; walking and eating is frowned on.

Nishiki market in detail →
The Silver Pavilion of Ginkaku-ji in its garden
Walk · Garden

Ginkaku-ji & the Philosopher's Path

The Silver Pavilion, never silvered, with its cone of raked sand and moss garden, at the top of a two-kilometre canal path lined with cherry trees that runs south past Honen-in to Nanzen-ji's great gate and brick aqueduct. The best hour's walk in the city, especially in early April.

Philosopher's Path in detail →
A traditional temple building in Kyoto
UNESCO · Palace

Nijo castle & the Imperial Palace

The shogun's Kyoto residence of 1603, with painted screens, gold-leafed audience halls and "nightingale" floors that squeak to betray intruders. The Imperial Palace, in its vast park, is free to walk and its gardens are the city's quietest in cherry season.

Nijo & the palace in detail →
A wild deer beside a torii gate in Nara park
Day trip

Nara

Forty-five minutes south by train: the Great Buddha of Todai-ji, 15 metres of bronze in the world's largest wooden hall, the lantern-lined paths of Kasuga shrine, and 1,200 free-roaming deer that bow for crackers. Go early, leave the park by the Naramachi lanes.

Nara in detail →
Hikes & nature

Into the hills on three sides

Kyoto's mountains are low, wooded and threaded with pilgrim paths, so a proper walk is never more than a bus ride from a temple gate. Carry water in summer; the humidity is the hard part.

JFMAMJJASOND

Walking season: teal = ideal, green = good, grey = hot and humid (go at dawn).

The torii path climbing the hill at Fushimi Inari
Easy

Fushimi Inari summit loop

Through the gates past the Yotsutsuji viewpoint, where most turn back, and on round the upper loop of shrines, stone foxes and moss-covered altars to the summit shrine. Then down the back way through the forest to Tofuku-ji, the temple with the finest maple valley in the city, and its train station.

5 kmloop
2–3 hwalking
230 mascent

Start at dawn or at dusk with a torch. Tea houses on the way up sell inari sushi and udon with fried tofu, the fox's favourite food.

Full route guide →
A traditional Japanese temple in autumn colour
Moderate

Kurama to Kibune

The Eizan railway's little train rattles 30 minutes north into cedar forest. From Kurama village climb through the gate of Kurama-dera, the mountain temple where the warrior Yoshitsune trained with the tengu, over the ridge of exposed cedar roots, and down to Kibune, a stream-side hamlet whose shrine is to the god of water. In summer, restaurants build platforms over the river for lunch.

4 kmone way
2.5 hwalking
250 mascent

Kurama's onsen, Kurama Onsen, has an outdoor bath for the way back. Kibune's fireflies in late June and maples in November are two of the city's quieter spectacles.

Full route guide →
A temple among trees on a Kyoto hillside
Moderate

Daimonji-yama

The hill behind Ginkaku-ji carries the giant 大 character burned into the slope every 16 August for the Gozan no Okuribi fires. The path climbs steeply through the forest from the temple car park to the firebeds in 45 minutes, and the whole city lies below in a single view, from the Kamo river to Osaka's haze. Continue to the true summit for the quiet.

4 kmreturn
1.5–2 hwalking
270 mascent

Go for sunset and descend with a torch, then eat in the student streets below the temple. The Philosopher's Path starts at the bottom.

Full route guide →
A temple building among trees
Demanding

Mount Hiei & Enryaku-ji

The 848-metre mountain on the north-east corner, the city's guardian against evil spirits, has carried the great Tendai monastery of Enryaku-ji since 788, a complex of halls in cedar forest once home to 3,000 warrior monks. The pilgrim path climbs from Shugaku-in or Kirara-zaka in two to three hours through forest to the Konpon-chudo, with Lake Biwa on one side and Kyoto on the other.

8 kmup, descend by cable car
3–4 hwalking
700 mascent

The cable car and ropeway from Yase bring you down to the Eizan line. Enryaku-ji's three precincts deserve a full afternoon; the monks' shojin ryori lunch needs booking.

Full route guide →
Easy · 2 h

Philosopher's Path and Nanzen-ji

Ginkaku-ji to Keage

The canal path south past small temples to Nanzen-ji's gate, aqueduct and the incline of the old Lake Biwa canal. Cherry trees in April, fireflies in June.

Walk guide →
Easy · 3 h

Arashiyama to the monkey park and Hozukyo

West Kyoto

Up Iwatayama for the macaques and the view, then along the Hozu gorge trail by the river toward the Hozukyo station and the torokko railway back.

Walk guide →
Moderate · 4 h

Takao and the Kiyotaki river

North-west, by bus

Three mountain temples, Jingo-ji, Saimyo-ji and Kozan-ji, then the riverside trail down the Kiyotaki valley to Arashiyama. The best maples in the city, two weeks earlier than town.

Walk guide →
Kamo river at dusk is the city's daily walk: the banks from Demachiyanagi to Shijo fill with couples, students, herons and buskers, and the restaurants of Pontocho open their yuka platforms over the water from May to September.
Good food

Kaiseki, obanzai and the best cheap bowls in Japan

Kyoto cooking is restraint: soft water, kelp stock, seasonal vegetables, tofu and yuba, and a meal built as a sequence of small courses. The city holds six three-star restaurants in the 2026 Michelin guide and more Bib Gourmand noodle shops than you could eat in a month.

A cup of matcha tea with Japanese sweets
Eat this

Matcha, wagashi and the tea ceremony

Uji, south of the city, grows the best green tea in Japan. Drink it whisked and bitter with a seasonal wagashi sweet at a temple tea room, or go to Uji for Nakamura Tokichi's matcha noodles and parfaits. A tea ceremony in a Gion machiya takes an hour and explains the whole aesthetic.

People at a food stall in a Japanese market
Eat this

Obanzai and yudofu

Obanzai is Kyoto home cooking, a counter of small seasonal dishes: simmered vegetables, dashi-rolled omelette, pickles, grilled fish. Yudofu, tofu simmered in kelp broth and eaten with soy and ginger, is the temple lunch of Nanzen-ji and Arashiyama, best in winter at Okutan or Junsei.

Ceremonial matcha in a ceramic cup
Eat this

Noodles, with a pedigree

Honke Owariya has made soba since 1465 and still serves it in a merchant house near the Imperial Palace; Omen does thick udon with a tray of vegetables near Ginkaku-ji; nishin soba, with sweet simmered herring, is Kyoto's own bowl. The ramen is Kyoto-style, rich chicken or pork with back fat, and Ichijoji street has a dozen rival shops.

Three stars, and the top 100

Three Michelin stars

Miyamasou

Hanase, 90 minutes north in the mountains · lunch and dinner, stay overnight

Kyoto's new three-star in the 2026 guide, the first in six years: a mountain inn where chef Hisato Nakahigashi forages, fishes and hunts the menu from the surrounding forest and river. Tsumikusa cuisine, "picked grass". Eleven rooms; book months ahead.

¥60,000–90,000 · $$$$
Three Michelin stars

Hyotei

Nanzen-ji · breakfast, lunch and dinner

Four hundred years old, beside the Nanzen-ji gate, with three stars every year since the Kyoto guide began. Kaiseki in thatched tea houses in a garden; the summer rice porridge breakfast is the affordable way in.

¥8,000 breakfast · ¥40,000+ dinner · $$$$
Three Michelin stars

Kikunoi Honten

Higashiyama, below Kodai-ji · lunch and dinner

Yoshihiro Murata's flagship, the kaiseki that defined the form for the rest of the world. Lunch is the sane way to eat here; the Roan branch in Kiyamachi is smaller and a little cheaper.

¥15,000 lunch · ¥40,000 dinner · $$$$
Three Michelin stars

Mizai

Maruyama park · dinner, one sitting

A tea house in the park, eleven seats, one sitting a night and the hardest reservation in the city. Hitoshi Ishihara cooks kaiseki in the tea-ceremony manner, course by course, in near silence.

¥50,000–60,000 · $$$$
Three Michelin stars

Gion Sasaki

Gion, Yasaka-dori · dinner

A counter with theatre: Hiroshi Sasaki cooks for two dozen guests at once with the timing of a conductor, calling the courses as they land. The least formal of the three-stars and the most fun.

¥40,000–55,000 · $$$$
Three Michelin stars

Isshisoden Nakamura

Tominokoji, near Oike · lunch and dinner

Six generations of one family in a merchant house near the centre, cooking the quietest kaiseki in Kyoto: guji tilefish, white miso soup, dashi you can taste the kelp in. Book through your hotel.

¥20,000 lunch · ¥45,000 dinner · $$$$
Asia's 50 Best · No. 76

Cenci

Okazaki, near the Heian shrine · lunch and dinner

Ken Sakamoto's Italian-rooted tasting menu built on Kyoto farms and the fishing ports of the Sea of Japan, served in a converted town house with a garden. The city's one entry in the Asia's 50 Best extended list for 2026, and the easiest serious booking on this page.

¥12,000 lunch · ¥25,000 dinner · $$$

Bib Gourmand

Bib Gourmand

Menya Rennosuke

Ramen

Shoyu ramen on a clear, fragrant seafood broth, held in the Bib list two years running. Expect a queue at lunch.

¥1,000–1,500 · $
Bib Gourmand

Chinese Noodles ROKU

Ramen

Chuka soba in the old style, a clean chicken-and-soy bowl with hand-cut noodles. Four consecutive years in the guide.

¥1,000–1,500 · $
Bib Gourmand

Vegan Ramen UZU

Ramen · Nijo

A plant-based bowl served in a dark room over a mirrored table, five years a Bib and the holder of a Michelin Green Star.

¥1,200–1,800 · $
Bib Gourmand

Ramen Touhichi

Ramen · Ichijoji

Dashi-rich shoyu ramen on the student ramen street north of the city; four straight years in the guide.

¥1,000–1,500 · $
Bib Gourmand

Muginoyoake

Ramen

House-milled wheat noodles and a light chicken shoyu broth from a young kitchen that has held a Bib since 2024.

¥1,000–1,500 · $
Bib Gourmand

Kombu to Men Kiichi

Ramen

Kelp-stock ramen, as Kyoto as a bowl of noodles gets: soft water, kombu dashi, thin noodles, no heaviness.

¥1,000–1,500 · $
Bib Gourmand · new 2026

Ramenya Fujitora

Ramen

One of three Kyoto newcomers in the 2026 selection, a small shop built around a deep pork-and-chicken shoyu bowl.

¥1,000–1,500 · $
Bib Gourmand · new 2026

KOKAGE

Soba

Hand-cut soba and tempura in a quiet room, new to the guide in 2026. Cold zaru in summer, duck broth in winter.

¥1,500–3,000 · $
Bib Gourmand · new 2026

Fuyacho Kuraku

Izakaya · Fuyacho-dori

An izakaya in the centre, new in 2026: obanzai small plates, grilled fish and a short, good sake list. The Bib to go to for dinner rather than lunch.

¥4,000–7,000 · $$
Bib Gourmand

Teuchisoba Kanei

Soba · Kita ward

A purist's soba counter in the north of the city, buckwheat milled in-house, a handful of seats and a short menu.

¥1,200–2,500 · $

Counters and classics

Tabelog favourite

Gion Nishikawa

Gion · lunch and dinner

Kaiseki at a counter where the chef explains each course, a touch less formal than the three-star rooms and much easier to book. The lunch course is the best-value serious meal in Gion.

¥10,000 lunch · ¥25,000 dinner · $$$
Yudofu

Okutan & Junsei

Nanzen-ji

Tofu simmered in kelp broth in temple gardens: Okutan since 1635, Junsei in a larger garden with a longer menu. Winter lunch, after the Philosopher's Path.

¥3,000–6,000 · $$
Noodles

Omen & Honke Owariya

Ginkaku-ji; Nijo

Omen for udon with a tray of vegetables near the Silver Pavilion; Owariya for the soba the imperial court ate, made since 1465. Neither needs more than a short wait.

¥1,500–3,000 · $
Reservations: the starred counters take bookings through hotel concierges, Tabelog, Omakase or Pocket Concierge, usually on the first of the month for the month after next. Many cheaper places are cash only and close one weekday; check before you cross town.
Wildlife

Monkeys on the hill, deer in the park

A city of gardens and wooded hills keeps more animals than it looks like. Two of them have become attractions in their own right.

Japanese macaques at Iwatayama

Arashiyama · 9am–4pm, 20-minute climb

A troop of about 120 wild macaques lives on the hill above the Togetsukyo bridge and comes to the feeding hut at the top, where you go inside the cage and they stay outside. Mothers with infants in spring, the whole city spread out below. No eye contact, no food in hand outside the hut.

JFMAMJJASOND

The deer of Nara

Nara park · all day

Sacred messengers of the Kasuga gods since the 8th century, protected for 1,300 years and now numbering more than a thousand. They bow for the shika senbei crackers sold at stalls, and nip if you tease. Fawns in May and June; the antler-cutting ceremony in October.

JFMAMJJASOND

Herons, kingfishers and the Kamo

Kamo river, Demachiyanagi to Shijo

Grey herons stand in the shallows at every weir, egrets work the gravel bars and kingfishers flash along the banks at the Demachiyanagi delta. Black kites circle Sanjo bridge waiting to steal a sandwich; hold on to yours.

JFMAMJJASOND

Fireflies at Kibune and the Philosopher's Path

Early to mid June, after 8pm

Genji fireflies rise over the Kibune stream and the Shirakawa and Philosopher's Path canals for two or three weeks in June, the one time the city asks you to walk in the dark without a torch.

JFMAMJJASOND
Two monkeys sitting on a rock
Arashiyama

Macaques

Grooming on the summit ledge while the tourists pant up the path.

A Japanese macaque resting on stones
Winter

Snow monkeys

The same species that bathes in Nagano's hot springs; Kyoto's troop makes do with the sun.

A Japanese garden with a temple and pond
Gardens

Carp and herons

Every temple pond has its koi and its patient heron.

Nightlife & sake

Lantern alleys and standing bars

Kyoto's night is small rooms: eight-seat bars up unmarked stairs, lantern-lit alleys along the river, and the sake of Fushimi, brewed with the city's soft water for four centuries. Last trains are around midnight; the best bars are just getting going.

The alley

Pontocho

Between Sanjo and Shijo, west bank of the Kamo · from 6pm

A single lane two metres wide and 500 metres long, lined with lantern-lit restaurants, tea houses and bars whose backs open onto the river. From May to September the yuka platforms are built out over the water for dinner. Walk it at dusk, pick a counter, go back later for a drink.

The locals' street

Kiyamachi & the Takase canal

Parallel to Pontocho · late

Cherry trees over the canal, and the densest run of izakaya, tachinomi standing bars, craft-beer taps and small clubs in the city, busiest between Shijo and Sanjo. Rowdier, cheaper and younger than Pontocho, and where the night ends.

Cocktails

Bee's Knees, L'Escamoteur & Bar K6

Kiyamachi and Nijo · 6pm to late

Bee's Knees, a speakeasy on Asia's best-bar lists, for Japanese-whisky cocktails behind an unmarked door; L'Escamoteur, run by a French magician, for theatrical drinks in a cabinet of curiosities; K6 for the classic bartender's bar with 600 whiskies above the Kamo at Nijo.

Beer and music

Beer Komachi, Kyoto Beer Lab & Club Metro

Higashiyama; the Takase canal; Marutamachi

Beer Komachi pours Japanese craft beer with izakaya food off Sanjo; Kyoto Beer Lab brews beside the canal with a riverside terrace; Metro, under the Keihan station at Marutamachi since 1990, is the small club with the city's best DJs and bands.

Sake

Decorated sake barrels stacked at a Kyoto shrine

Fushimi, the brewing town

Fushimi, 15 minutes south, sits on a soft-water spring that the brewers call "gokosui" and has supplied Japan's second-largest sake district since the 1600s. Gekkeikan's Okura museum tells the story and pours three; Kizakura's Kappa Country adds a brewery restaurant; Fujioka's small brewery has a tasting counter in the shop. Walk the canal with its willows and old boats between them.

In town, ask for junmai, then karakuchi for dry or amakuchi for sweet. Yoramu, near Nijo, is the sake bar for aged and unusual bottles, run by an Israeli who knows more than the brewers; Saien on Kiyamachi is a standing counter with a long list and short prices. A sake flight with obanzai in Pontocho is the right first night.

A Japanese izakaya entrance lit at night
Izakaya

Behind the curtain

The noren curtain means open. Sit at the counter, order a drink first, and let the food follow.

Japanese cafés on a narrow street in the evening
Gion at night

Hanamikoji after dark

Quiet, lantern-lit and expensive behind the doors. Walk it; drink elsewhere.

A traditional Japanese restaurant entrance at night
Know before

Cover charges

Many small bars add an otoshi, a ¥300–800 seating charge with a snack. It is not a mistake on the bill.

Practical notes

Before you go

Getting there

From Kansai airport the Haruka express reaches Kyoto station in 75 minutes; from Tokyo the Shinkansen takes 2 hours 15 minutes. Osaka is 15 minutes by Shinkansen or 30 by local train, which makes Kyoto a good base for the whole region.

Getting around

Two subway lines, the Keihan and Hankyu railways, the Eizan line north, and a dense but slow bus network: use trains where you can and walk the rest. An ICOCA card works on everything. Bicycles suit the flat grid; rental shops are everywhere and the Kamo path is the best cycle route.

Seasons

  • Late Mar–early Apr: cherry blossom, the busiest and most expensive fortnight.
  • May–Jun: fresh green, azaleas, fireflies; the rains begin mid-June.
  • Jul–Aug: very hot and humid; Gion Matsuri all July, the Daimonji fires on 16 August.
  • Mid Nov–early Dec: maples, with evening illuminations at the temples.
  • Jan–Feb: cold, clear, quiet, occasionally snow on the Golden Pavilion.

Manners

Gion's private lanes are closed to photography and the fine is real. Shoes off where there is a step up. No eating while walking, no phone calls on trains, carry your rubbish because there are no bins. Tattoos may bar you from some onsen; ask.

Money and booking

Cards are widely taken but small restaurants, temples and buses want cash; 7-Eleven ATMs take foreign cards. Book the counters through your hotel, and buy timed tickets for Nijo castle, Katsura and Saiho-ji (the moss temple) in advance.

Where to stay

Around Karasuma or Kawaramachi for the centre and the night; Higashiyama or Gion for the temples at dawn and a machiya town house; near Kyoto station for day trips to Nara, Osaka and Fushimi; a ryokan with kaiseki dinner for one night at least.

Photography

Photo credits

Photographs on this page are by independent photographers published on Pexels under the free Pexels licence. Click a title to open the original.

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