City guide
Sixteen hundred temples, a working geisha district, and a crowd problem the city is openly struggling with. Early mornings solve most of it.
Japan6 min readUpdated August 15, 2026
Kyoto was the capital for a thousand years and was spared the bombing that flattened most Japanese cities, which is why so much of it is still standing. It is also now visited by more people than its streets were built for, and the city has started asking tourists, politely, to behave better.
The practical answer is time of day. The famous sites at seven in the morning are quiet and extraordinary; the same sites at two in the afternoon are a queue. Everything below assumes you are willing to get up.
Kyoto cooking is quieter than Tokyo's and more vegetable-led, built around tofu, pickles and seasonal set menus. It is also the home of kaiseki, which is less a meal than a two-hour argument about what month it is.
Nakagyo
A narrow covered arcade of about a hundred stalls: pickles, tofu skin, grilled eel, knife shops. Increasingly aimed at visitors, and still worth an hour before lunch.
Local tip: Eating while walking is discouraged here now. Most stalls have a spot to stand and eat beside them.
Four hundred metres of covered street, and locals call it Kyoto's kitchen for a reason.
Pontocho
A lantern-lit lane one building wide, running along the river, packed with restaurants from cheap to eye-watering. In summer they build platforms out over the water.
Ginkaku-ji
Thick udon in a broth you dip, with a tray of vegetables and sesame to add yourself. A calm, unfussy lunch at the top of the Philosopher's Path.
Ask the concierge to book thisNakagyo
A tea merchant since 1717 with a tasting room attached, where someone will show you how to brew gyokuro properly. Genuinely instructive, not a performance.
Central Kyoto around Karasuma for transport, Gion for atmosphere and a premium, Arashiyama if you want to be in the hills and out of the centre.
Nakagyo
The most famous ryokan in Japan, run by the same family for eleven generations. Tatami, a private garden view, and service so quiet you barely notice it happening.
Local tip: Book months ahead. Meals are usually included and are a large part of what you are paying for.
Ask the concierge to book thisThree hundred years old, eighteen rooms, and no sign on the door.
Townhouse-style rooms with wooden baths, near Kyoto station without being in it. A good middle path between a ryokan and a normal hotel.
Ask the concierge to book thisShimogyo
Restored machiya townhouses turned into private suites near the old palace, each with its own bath. Quiet residential streets, five minutes from the subway.
Ask the concierge to book thisKamigyo
Four sites that each need a different time of day. Doing them in this order across two days is roughly how to avoid the worst crowds.
Fushimi
Thousands of vermilion gates climbing a wooded mountain, donated by businesses over centuries. Free, open all night, and the only realistic way to have it to yourself.
Local tip: Go at dawn or after dark. The full loop to the summit takes two hours and most visitors turn back after ten minutes.
Arashiyama
The bamboo path is short and mobbed by nine. The temple garden beside it, laid out in 1339 and never redesigned, is the actual reason to come out here.
Higashiyama
A wooden stage on stilts over a hillside, built without nails, reached through steep lanes of pottery shops. Open early, and lit at night in season.
Gion
Wooden teahouses on Hanamikoji, where geiko and maiko still work. Walk it, look, and understand that the private lanes are now closed to visitors for good reason.
Local tip: Photographing geiko without asking is prohibited on some streets and carries a fine. They are working, not performing.
Kyoto sits in the middle of the old capital region. Two of these are under an hour by train.
The home of Japanese green tea, with the Byodo-in phoenix hall that is on the ten-yen coin. Twenty minutes by train and half the crowd of Nara.
tea · temple · half day
Japan's first permanent capital, with a 15-metre bronze Buddha in the largest wooden building of its kind, and a park of deer that bow for biscuits.
temples · deer · full day
Half an hour away and the exact opposite in temperament: loud, blunt and built around eating. Worth an evening even if you are based in Kyoto.
food · evening · half day
Everything above, on one map. Colours mark what kind of place it is; tap a dot and its details open beside the map, and you keep your place. Day trips are left off, they sit well outside the city.
Pin positions are approximate: neighbourhood level, not street addresses.
Early April and late November are extraordinary and completely full. Hotels are booked six months out and cost two to three times the normal rate.
The main sightseeing routes crawl in season. Walking or cycling between Higashiyama temples is usually faster than waiting.
The ichigensan okotowari custom, mainly in Gion, means introduction-only. It is not aimed at foreigners specifically, but you need a booking made for you.
Kyoto is where a booking makes the most difference: ryokans go months ahead, kaiseki counters seat once a night, and some places will not take a reservation from a stranger at all. Message the Simly concierge with your dates and a person will arrange it, including the introductions.
Message the conciergeEverything in this guide assumes a working phone: maps between neighbourhoods that follow no grid, ride-hailing instead of flagging taxis, a menu handwritten in Arabic. A Simly eSIM activates before you land, so you step off the plane already connected.
Get a Simly eSIMKyoto, Japan
