Imperial capital for a thousand years, 1,600 Buddhist temples, and a tourist load that the city itself now describes as a problem. Still worth every day you give it.
What it is
Japan’s imperial capital from 794 to 1868, and the reason so much survives is a decision made in 1945: Kyoto was on the atomic target list and was removed, reportedly at the insistence of the US Secretary of War, who had honeymooned there.
The result is around 1,600 Buddhist temples, 400 Shinto shrines, seventeen UNESCO World Heritage sites and an intact grid of machiya townhouses, inside a working city of 1.5 million that is also a major university town and an electronics manufacturing centre.
The crowding, stated plainly
Kyoto receives more visitors than it can comfortably hold. The city has run campaigns asking tourists to use different transport, introduced express buses to relieve the overloaded routes, and closed some private alleys in Gion after repeated incidents of visitors harassing geiko and maiko for photographs.
That is not a reason not to go. It is a reason to go early, go in the shoulder months, and pick the temples that are not on every list.
What to actually see
Fushimi Inari, the mountain of vermilion torii gates, is open 24 hours and free. Go at seven in the morning or after dark and the whole two-hour circuit up the mountain is nearly empty; go at noon and the first stretch is a queue.
Kiyomizu-dera, on its wooden stage over the hillside, with the approach streets of Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka.
Kinkaku-ji, the golden pavilion, which takes twenty minutes and is a single view. Ginkaku-ji, the silver pavilion, which is better and quieter, with the Philosopher’s Path running to it.
Ryoan-ji’s dry rock garden — fifteen stones, and you can never see all fifteen at once from any position, which is the point.
Arashiyama’s bamboo grove is the most over-photographed place in Japan and is genuinely lovely at 6.30am. Tenryu-ji’s garden next door is better and charges a small fee.
Nanzen-ji, Tofuku-ji, Daitoku-ji’s sub-temples and Kurama to the north are all first-rank and see a fraction of the traffic.
Seasons
Cherry blossom peaks around the first week of April and lasts about ten days. Autumn maples peak in the third week of November. Both are extraordinary; both fill every hotel in the region and double the prices; both need booking six months out.
May and October have most of the good weather and none of the peak. Winter is cold, quiet and beautiful, and snow on a temple roof is the best photograph in Japan. Summer is hot and very humid, with the enormous Gion Matsuri festival through July.
Gion and the geiko
Kyoto’s geisha are called geiko, and their apprentices maiko. They are working artists going to appointments, not a street attraction. Photographing them without consent, following them or blocking their way is harassment, and private streets in Gion now carry fines for it.
If you want to see a performance properly, book one: Gion Corner does an accessible introductory show, and several teahouses take reservations through hotels.
Practical
Buses cover the temples; the two subway lines cover very little. The bus system is slow at peak and the city actively encourages using trains and walking instead.
Rent a bicycle. Kyoto is flat, gridded and small, and cycling between temples is far faster than the bus.
Day trips: Nara (deer, and the enormous bronze Buddha at Todai-ji) is 45 minutes. Osaka is fifteen minutes by rapid train and is the better place to eat.
