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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/liltrikz on 2025-02-20 12:34:52+00:00.
Hello!
This is about the Kyoto section of my overall trip to Japan. We’ve all heard about issues with crowds in Kyoto and a supposed disdain starting to build around tourists in Kyoto. I was nervous about contributing to that, and of course nervous about breaking rules or doing something to disrupt the peace as a tourist. I know the big things like keeping your trash, not talking loudly or on the phone on public transport, etc, but I worry about what I don’t know outside of the research I’ve done. What if I do something and upset someone or are scolded by a local? Should I even go? Well, I went here is what I did:
Day 1: we(30m/31F) technically arrived on Thursday night, but Friday 2/14 was our first full day. We stayed in Gion 2 streets up from Shirakawa Canal. My girlfriend and I are fans of specialty coffee and we walked over to Weekenders Coffee and got a cup. It was good but kind of funny that there was construction happening in front of the shop with a literal jackhammer and it was maybe not as peaceful as usual haha.
After that, we walked to Nishiki Market around 10:40 and strolled through and sampled shrimp tempura and some Wagyu. I heard the Wagyu can be overpriced and not worth it but I can’t lie it was so tasty at the spot I went to. Melt in your mouth and buttery. I had two other skewers on my overall Japan trip and they weren’t as good as the one in Nishiki Market. It was $13USD which was pricey but thankfully I enjoyed it.
After that, we went to a nearby Onitsuka Tiger shoe store, as my girlfriend had wanted to buy a pair in Japan. She got a pair for $65(tax free!) and said it was cheaper than buying in the US due to import fees, etc. She was so happy to buy them. We then went to a nearby Kyoto soup curry spot at like 11:50am nearby Nishiki Market and it was delicious and affordable. We then walked through Pontocho Alley during the day when mostly everything was closed and then went to a nearby Blue Bottle for an afternoon cup of coffee.
We made our way to Yasaka Shrine at around 3:15pm and spent around 30 minutes there. We then walked to Heian Jingu Shrine and arrived at 4:15pm, which did have some construction going on but was still nice. We’re from the US and know of this place from the film Lost In Translation so we really liked being there.
That night, we went to a restaurant in Gion called spice32 for Japanese curry and we were the only customers once they opened at 6pm. It was a good meal!
Day 2: we left out for Fushimi Inari and arrived at the entrance at around 10:15am. It was a Saturday and the base area had a good amount of people. I didn’t feel overwhelmed or shoulder-to-shoulder with people. The first row of torri gates you walk through has a good amount of people, but it’s flat and a good place to see the torii gates for wheelchair users or people with limited mobility who can’t do all the steps up.
During the first part an elder Japanese man motioned to me to watch out for my head(I am 6,4/193cm) with a smile and a laugh and it made me feel at ease to have that local reassurance when I was so nervous about being intrusive.
With it being Saturday, there were few minutes we were ever really “alone” but honestly it was fine. Loved it. Beautiful and amazing place. Good amount of people, and I heard Chinese, Spanish, English, and French spoken so a lot of tourists, but it clears up a little the further you go up. But I mean a little lol I imagine if you want to be truly alone, you must go very early or late? Also, we didn’t go all the way up. We made it to the first lookout and then left. Don’t know why. We just didn’t care to go all the way to the top.
After we left Fushimi Inari, we ate some Kyoto Gyukatsu. We got in line right at noon and had food at 12:31pm. We then made our way over to the Sasayachō neighborhood to stop at a coffee shop called Blend. Great shop in a really pretty part of town. We then strolled back to Gion next to the Kamo River and it was so lovely. It was a sunny but chilly Saturday at 2:25pm and there were people out and just a really nice walk. We relaxed at home and then went to dinner across from our hotel at a place called Udon Main. Our first udon on the trip and it was so delicious and very affordable.
That night our hotel hosted a maiko event that we went to and it was nice. There was a translator for us to ask her questions and she played konpira with us. We then turned in for the night around 10:30pm.
This was supposed to be our third and last night in Kyoto but we were liking it a lot so we cancelled our two nights in Osaka and extended our stay in Kyoto! We know our pace is a little slower than others and we had more we wanted to see.
Day 3: this was Sunday 2/16 and we got up and left our hotel around 10:15am to walk to a cafe the barista at Blend recommended. Except…
It was the day of the Kyoto Marathon. We were almost to the cafe then saw we couldn’t cross the street due to the roads being blocked off for the marathon. We circled back to see if we could go around it. It would have been a really long detour so we said we will just change plans and go elsewhere.
We think “oh maybe we can take a bus” but it turns out the buses were running at a much different schedule or not doing the normal route, so we couldn’t do that. We said “well we probably can’t get a taxi here, so let’s walk a bit away in the other direction and see if we can get a taxi. We walk and then pull up the Go app and like…a huge portion of the area is blocked off so we can’t get a taxi haha so at that point we get an early lunch at an Indian place nearby.
“Okay we want to go to Nanzenji, let’s just walk in the direction of it” and so we walked. And we came to the finish line of the race at Heian Jingu. “Great! Surely we can finally cross near the finish line!”
Wrong. Japan sure knows how to secure an area haha. At this point, we go back to our hotel at 2pm and rest. We’ve walked almost 9000 steps and essentially didn’t do anything we actually wanted! We definitely weren’t prepared for this. We end up relaxing and ordering some healthy food from Uber Eats for dinner and staying in.
Day 4: we wake up and go to Kurasu for coffee around 10:15am. We then finally make our way to Nanzenji! We had a cab driver and barista say this was their favorite place in Kyoto, so we were looking forward to it. It was a Monday around 11:25am so there weren’t many people. We went to the top of the gate to see the panoramic view, saw the aqueduct, and the peaceful Hoju Garden.
We went to lunch nearby at Dragon Burger then went to a beautiful Blue Bottle for coffee. We then went BACK into Nanzenji to explore the side gardens and grounds.
We decided to head to Kiyomizudera and got there around 5pm. So many people on the streets leading up to the top! Lots of cars moving down narrow streets with people, too. This was one place we thought “okay this is a lot of people”.
It was nice at the top but wasn’t our favorite thing we did. We walked back down and at around 5:40pm we saw the beautiful Hōkanji on an essentially empty street because all the shops were closed by then. It made for a great photo and a really wonderful sight.
Day 5: wake up and went to 2050 Coffee around 9:20am and then got our stuff and went to the station to head back to Tokyo!
We really loved Kyoto and would’ve enjoyed staying even longer to explore deeper into the city outside those big sites. We hope to visit again and see some other major sites that we skipped for this trip. We just really don’t like to have a full itinerary planned, nothing against the places we skipped like Kinkaku-ji or Arashiyama.