If you are not clear what to see in Kyoto, we hope to help you after our experience. We start our journey with everything what to see in Japan In this city. We were in Kyoto a total of 3 nights and we believe it is just enough to see the essentials. We were even able to visit Nara in one afternoon. Of course, we do not visit all the temples in the city. Likewise, One day we rented a bicycle, so we could see Kyoto by bike.. At the end of this article we make our recommendations for restaurants in Kyoto, almost the best in the city. If you like, we'll tell you everything below, let's go!
What to see in Kyoto and Nara
Next we leave you with our list of what to do in Kyoto. As we told you, we did not visit all the temples, since there are many and, as we see it, they look similar to each other.
- Fushimi Inari Shrine
- Gion neighborhood
- Kamo River and Pontocho Street
- Temple Hill (above Gion)
- Arashiyama
- Golden Pavilion
- Nishiki Market
- Excursion to Nara
Below we detail the 3-day itinerary with places to visit in Kyoto that we did per day. Take note!
DAY 1, what to see in Kyoto: Nishiki Market, Kamo River and dinner in Pontocho
We arrived in Kyoto from Tokyo in the afternoon and with a looooot of jet lag. As we told you in our post about what to see in Japan, we moved around with the JR Pass. Therefore, on the first day we only went for a walk. walk through the center. We passed by Nishiki Market where we tried the famous takoyakis (fried balls filled with dough and octopus). Although it closed at 17:00 p.m., there were still some food stalls open.
We also take some beers next to the Kamo River and we ended up having dinner on Pontocho Street. Pontocho Street is parallel to the river. Here are all the restaurants with a terrace and views of the river. When the weather is good there is a great atmosphere. Booking in advance is highly recommended. Below we tell you about our gastronomic experience and where to eat in Kyoto.
DAY 2, what to see in Kyoto: Golden Pavilion, Gion, temple slope and Fushimi Inari
As soon as we arrived in Kyoto and saw everyone moving by bike, we decided to rent one. We love bikes and we knew that this way we could see more things in less time. The shop where we rented the bikes was called Kyoto Rental Cycle. Each bike cost us about €10 for the whole day. You had the option to take them with or without changes. We recommend taking it with gears, since we used it quite a bit on the slopes. Of course, at this site you had to return the bikes at 17:30 p.m. at the latest. Anyway, we took them from 10:00 in the morning, so we had a bike to tire ourselves out.
✔ Kyoto bike route
We begin the route towards Golden Pavilion. The bad thing was that we arrived at the worst time, that is, when there were the most people. Around 11:00 you could barely walk. However, we liked the visit. You should know that In Kyoto you can't leave your bike wherever you want, you always have to look for a bike park. In tourist sites it is usually free.
From the Golden Pavilion we went to Gion. Here we get off the bike and carry it in our hands, since cycling is prohibited in this neighborhood.. Once past Gion, we skirted the entire hillside of temples by bike. It is a very beautiful area, but we did not stop at any temple until we reached the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Here we left our bikes in the free parking lot, to the right of the big Tori at the main entrance. You can also get here with your JR Pass. One thing we skipped and that you should include in the places to see in Kyoto is the Kiyomizu-dera temple.
After visiting Fushimi Inari we headed to return the bikes and took a walk through the shopping streets of Kyoto: Shinkyogoku and Teramachi.
DAY 3, Arashiyama + Nara. Places to visit from Tokyo
Our third day was dedicated to visiting Arashiyama. In this town you can visit the famous bamboo forest, the Katsura River and the monkey park. To get to Arashiyama we use the JR Pass to Sagano-Arashiyama stop. From here we walked about 10 minutes to the Bamboo Forest. Apparently it is usually crowded with people, we went on a rainy day, so maybe we were lucky. After walking through the forest, we headed to the path that ran along the Katsura River.
Along the Katsura River You can take boat tours. After the walk we headed to the monkey park, since we didn't have much time.
From the top of the Japanese monkey or macaque park you have a panoramic view of Kyoto. You have to pay entry (550 yen), they only accept cash. If you don't like monkeys, The views from above are very beautiful. The trail is also worth it, although on the way there it is about 20 minutes up the hill. There is a Arashiyama tour in case you prefer to make this visit on a guided tour.
✔ What to see in Nara
From Arashiyama we took our JR Pass and put heading to Nara. Here we lived one of our best gastronomic experiences in Japan. We will tell you about it at the end of the post. We also visited the famous Todai-ji temple. It is the largest wooden building in the world, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You have to pay to enter, cash only.
Inside there is a giant Buddha that will impress you when you see it live. Its size cannot be seen in the photos.
After visiting the temple we went to greet the deer that live in Nara park. On the other hand, something you can't miss in Nara are its mochis. We found a store that made them right away in front of you. It was on the main street that runs from Nara Park to the JR station. The best mochi we ate on our entire trip to Japan. If you prefer to visit Nara with a private tour, take a look at this page.
In these 3 days, as you can see, we visited the essentials of Kyoto and added the visit to Nara.
Kyoto Hotels
In kyoto We stayed in the same center, in Kawaramachi. It was a fairly quiet apartment with a refrigerator and washing machine. It was great for us to do the first laundry of the trip, since we hardly had any luggage so we could move around Japan more comfortably. The hotel was called Koiyama, It was recommended to us by some friends who go to Japan almost every year and it was a great success.. It's about a 30 minute walk from Kyoto Station, but you're just a stone's throw from everything there is to see 🙂 Anyway, if you're not convinced, you can do your search here hotels in Kyoto.
Kyoto Restaurants (after what to see in Kyoto, it's time to eat delicious food)
Below we list our experience traveling through several Kyoto restaurants. We count them all because We loved all the places:
1. Kyosakaba Hakoya, Pontocho Street
It is on the same Pontocho street. We tried a tasting menu each with tempura and sashimi, plus a tasting of Japanese dishes or appetizers such as potato salad or edamame. We loved the place, although they were €30 per person with beer, which is quite expensive in Japan. We would also recommend it. Be careful, the second courses are missing in the photo 🙂
2. Tiger Gyoza Hall
Here we try gyozas of different flavors, an tuna sashimi with avocado which was spectacular and a yakisoba (noodles with vegetables and pork). We loved her too. Here we pay €17 per person with beer included.
3. Nishiki Market
It is a good option to start getting to know the gastronomic offer of Japan, which many times you will have to eat standing, next to the food stall. Of course, it is quite cheap. A Pair of takoyakis like the ones we show can cost you 500 yen, about €4.
4. Ippudo Ramen Kyoto, Kawaramachi
This is a ramen franchise that is all over Japan. There is usually a long line, since they are delicious and cheap. This day We ate for less than €15 per person and we included extras to the ramen, we ordered gyozas as a starter and beer.
5. Egg's & Things, Kawaramachi
If you're looking for where to have breakfast in Kyoto, a Western alternative is Egg's & Things restaurant. Here you can eat some good eggs benedict, yes, breakfast or brunch will cost you about €15 per person.
6. Ujicha Gion Tsujiri, Gion
The matcha tea desserts and ice creams You cannot escape this place in the heart of the Gion neighborhood. The best we tried on our entire trip to Japan.
Where to eat in Nara
✔ Terakawa, Nara. If you are going to visit Nara, Reserve lunch time to go to the Terakawa restaurant. This site fascinated us. For €25 per person we were able to taste the wagyu meat and millions of delicacies such as local green tea, good homemade tofu, soup, soba (buckwheat noodle) and much more. You can choose one of the different tasting menus, which is what we did.
We hope that this post about what to see in Kyoto has been useful to you. If you have any questions, you can contact us at Leave us a comment below. I'm sure it can help other readers too.
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But you can get there without any problems, right? Is there a bike lane or something?
We went without any problem, I don't remember if there was a bike lane or if we went by road!!
Hi, can you send me the route you took by bike? If I put it on Google Maps, I can't find the route from Gion to Fushimi Inari Shrine, passing through the temple slopes.
Hi Santi!! We went to Japan over 5 years ago, sorry to say we don't have the track anymore...