Kyoto was the imperial capital for a thousand years and still wears that quiet confidence. There are seventeen UNESCO sites inside the city limits — Zen gardens, golden temples, geisha lanes — but it is also a working modern town with manga museums, a teamLab installation that only opened in 2025, and the new Nintendo Museum a short train ride away in Uji.
Your machiya — your own 100-year-old wooden townhouse — is on the doorstep of the Sanjo and Teramachi shopping arcades, which means Kyoto's best café, craft and bookshop streets are a 5-minute wander. Three nights is enough to do the headline temples and still have a half-day each for the things on this page.
Your own traditional Japanese house next to the Sanjo Shopping Arcade.
teamLab, Ghibli, museums, light and big ideas.
Brand new (opened 2025) — teamLab's only Kyoto venue. A vortex of light and water, photographed by everyone who visits. Aim for an evening slot — book during August when October dates open.
Opened October 2024 on the site of Nintendo's old factory. Hands-on exhibits with vintage cards, Game Boys, Wii prototypes. Lottery-entry only — enter for October dates during July via your Nintendo Account.
A converted elementary school that now houses 300,000 manga. Lie on the grass outside and read for hours. Plenty of English-translated titles.
Character stores, vintage finds, stationery, gifts.
Your front door. Two long covered shopping streets full of stationery, vintage kimono, crafts, manga, bookshops and the kind of cafés that change daily specials. Wander, get lost.
Kyoto's kitchen — a 400-year-old covered market five blocks long. Pickled everything, mochi, matcha sweets, octopus on a stick. Best around 11am before the crowds.
Inside Takashimaya department store, by Sanjo. Smaller than the Tokyo one but Kyoto-exclusive Mario merch is the lure.
Animal cafés, photo booths, things that make no sense anywhere else.
Multiple shops in Gion will fit you with a kimono, do your hair, give you a parasol, and let you wander the temples in costume for the day. Yume Kyoto and Wargo are reliable.
Animal cafés are quieter here than Tokyo and feel less performative. Try Owl Forest near Sanjo if you want owls in your lap.
Tower Records, Disk Union, vinyl basements, jazz cafés.
Tiny vinyl shop in Shimogamo. Selectors curate; you find things you didn't know existed. A pilgrimage for music people.
Takoyaki, matcha, ramen, parfaits, market breakfasts.
Real matcha — bitter, vivid green, served with a tiny sweet. Tsujiri inside Itoh-Kyuemon has matcha soft-serve parfaits that are worth the queue.
Kyoto invented Buddhist temple cuisine. Yuba (delicate tofu skin) is a Kyoto specialty — try it in Arashiyama at lunch.
Temples, gardens, viewpoints, neighbourhoods to wander.
The endless red torii gates. Crowded by 9am — set an alarm and be there at 6am, walk the full mountain loop in beautiful silence.
The famous bamboo path is a 10-minute walk; the monkey park is a 30-minute uphill hike where wild macaques sit on the railings with a view of the whole city.
Stone-paved lanes, wooden machiya, paper lanterns. Walk Hanami-koji at dusk and you may catch a maiko on her way to an appointment. Photograph the streets, not the geisha.