Here's How to See One of Japan's Most Iconic Cities Like a Local—Including Stops at Tea Houses, Hot Springs, and a 1,000-year-old Temple

Travel + Leisure

3 days ago

Top 5 Can't Miss Nazuna's renovated Kyoto-style townhouses have private open-air baths situated in serene Japanese gardens.
Sanjusangendo Temple has over a thousand Buddhist statues, some almost a millennium old.
At Kobayashi Saketen, diners can pair seasonal Kyoto-style tapas with local craft sake, beer, and gin.
A private river cruise in Arashiyama offers an escape from the crowds at the bamboo forest as well as a unique wagyu lunch.
Venerable Uchida Tsukemono, a specialty food shop founded in 1940, lets shoppers sample all-natural, traditional pickles like takuan (sun-dried daikon radish pickled in rice bran and salt).
Kyoto is the very image of traditional Japan: gold-clad temples and shrines with tunnels of red torii gates, kimono-clad geisha gliding down cobblestone alleys, grassy matcha tea served by the exquisitely choreographed rules of ancient ceremony.
As the imperial capital for over a thousand years, the city was a magnet for wealth and culture, and that rich history remains alive today in traditions like kaiseki cuisine, Kyo-ware ceramics, Yuzen silk dyeing, sake brewing, and classical drama forms like kabuki and noh (a type of theatrical dance). And yet Kyoto is also a modern city with modern comforts, where people live and work amid the legacy of centuries, sustaining and sustained by a living heritage.
This tangible atmosphere of refined culture and history is why Kyoto routinely makes the top of dream destination lists. With thousands of ancient temples and shrines, retro streets lined with shops and teahouses in the city's unique kyo-machiya townhouses, a world-class food scene with 75 Michelin-starred restaurants, and an ever-growing number of five-star hotels, Kyoto has plenty to draw in the crowds—and draw it does. The city welcomed over 56 million visitors last year, including a record high of nearly 11 million overseas travelers.
So, how to make the most of a visit without getting bogged down in mobs of tour groups and Instagrammers jostling for the iconic shot? We talked to Cindy Bissig, a Kyoto-based photographer and sake-focused food writer, and got her recommendations on lesser-known spots to enjoy the lesser-known side of the city.
Here's what you need to know before planning a trip to Kyoto, Japan.
Best Hotels & Resorts
A guest room at The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto.
Courtesy of Marriott
The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto
The oft-lauded The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto sits on the banks of the Kamogawa River, within easy reach of the Higashiyama and Gion districts. The 134 guest rooms embody the quiet elegance of Japanese design through the use of simple lines and natural materials. Bissig counts the Ritz as one of the best hotels in all of Japan for its strong sense of place and impeccable service. 'It just makes you feel that essential Kyoto-ness, the way that you're treated and the way everything looks.' It's also home to the unmissable Chef's Table By Katsuhito Inoue, a zero-waste, communal kaiseki dinner crafted around Kyoto's 72 microseasons.
Dusit Thani Kyoto
147-room newcomer Dusit Thani Kyoto dominates luxury options near Kyoto Station, making it an excellent choice for those planning day trips to Nara or Osaka. Touches of Thai style, like curries on the breakfast menu, complement only-in-Kyoto features like green tea from their own farm in Wazuka-cho. 'Every Saturday, they have a maiko (the local Kyoto term for an apprentice geisha or geiko) coming in to perform,' adds Bissig. The maiko dances and serves matcha in a tea ceremony, combining two of the most popular activities in town without ever having to leave the hotel.
Nazuna
A smaller-scale option is Nazuna, a company that renovates traditional homes and runs them as small ryokans or private villas. They have three ryokans in Kyoto, all of which have rooms with private open-air baths. 'If you don't want to go into the mountains and book an onsen (hot spring), or if you don't want to do a public bath but you want to have a little bit of the experience [of Japanese bathing culture], they're really great,' says Bissig.
Best Things to Do
Stalls inside of Nishiki Market.
Lauren Breedlove/Travel + Leisure
Nishiki Market
This popular covered market in downtown Kyoto is the place for all things food-related. It's best visited in the less-crowded morning hours, when locals can still be seen selecting produce and seafood for dinner. However, Bissig notes that many of the historic vendors closed during the COVID pandemic.
'Everything that's really bright and really flashy has been added after the pandemic, and they're not necessarily Kyoto things," she says. "So, if you do go, try the things from the shops that don't look so fancy.' She recommends the pickles at Uchida Tsukemono, founded in 1940, and the furikake rice toppings at Ochanokosaisai, both of which make easily portable gifts for folks back home.
Sanjusangendo Temple
Kyoto has some 2,000 shrines and temples. The Golden Pavilion at Kinkaku-ji and the views from Kiyomizudera are the city's big stars, but the statuary hall at Sanjusangendo is a contemplative escape. The hall contains 1,001 gold statues of the thousand-armed Buddhist deity Kannon, some dating from the temple's founding in 1164. Kannon uses her many hands to reach out to those in need, making her a symbol of compassion and mercy. 'Most people don't go because you can't take pictures,' says Bissig. But the aura of deep spirituality and tangible, 1,000-year history is impressive.
Kawai Kanjiro House
Potter and artistic polymath Kawai Kanjiro was a key figure in the 20th-century Mingei folk art movement. He is known for his mastery of natural glazes, mentorship of other artists, and dedication to a humble life despite his professional success. In 1937, he established a home, workshop, and kiln in Kyoto now preserved as the Kawai Kanjiro House. 'It's not a 'museum' museum—it's actually where he lived and worked,' says Bissig. "So, as you go, you walk through his living space, and you can really immerse yourself in how he would have lived and [see] examples of his work."
Matsui Sake Brewery
Matsui was founded in 1726 in the hills overlooking the imperial palace and has been making small-batch sake by hand ever since. They offer English tours by reservation, and the fee includes credit at at the attached tasting bar Shuchuusen. Bissig says the English guides are actually brewery workers, so they know the minutiae of the process intimately and can tell you anything you've ever wanted to know about sake.
Best Restaurants
A Kyoto street lined with businesses.
Daniel Gorostieta/Travel + Leisure
Mametora
Housed in a machiya townhouse in the heart of Gion, kaiseki restaurant Mametora combines traditional ambiance with the ease of online reservations. Bissig recommends their mamezushi lunch, a shorter course with colorfully decorated mini-sushi as the main dish. 'Even if you aren't super crazy about the big kaiseki dinners, it's a nice, smaller version of that," she says. "Very beginner friendly.'
Kobayashi Saketen
To explore craft drinks with small bites, Bissig suggests Kobayashi Saketen, a standing bar a block off Nishiki Market. They serve Kyoto's beloved obanzai (small plates of seasonal dishes), along with an impressive selection of booze. 'Everything they have there is local. And it's not just sake, it's also local beers, local gin, local everything,' Bissig says, adding that they also have DJs on the weekends and a vibe that makes it easy to strike up a conversation with a neighbor.
Yasaka
For wagyu steak, Bissig taps the French-inflected teppanyaki at the Park Hyatt Kyoto's Yasaka. At the counter seats, diners get to watch a chef grill and slice their dinner with a precision as elegant as Noh dance. But more memorable even is the view: the centuries-old pagoda at Hokan-ji Temple illuminated against the backdrop of the twilight city. It's hard to find a better or more enjoyable vantage, particularly since diners can see it at leisure, glass of Château Cantenac in hand.
Mandaracha
Kyoto is synonymous with tea, making a teahouse visit essential to any itinerary. To truly nerd out on Japanese tea, Mandaracha in Gion is the place to go. French owner Alexandre Nicolau selects teas from around the country, personally visiting the farms and meeting with the owners so he can share not only best brewing practices but also the story behind each leaf. From rich, frothy matchas to delicate white teas, Mandaracha has a tea for everyone, as well as vegan sweets. 'He sometimes has events there on Fridays where he has someone coming in to play traditional Japanese music,' Bissig adds.
Best Time to Visit
Cherry blossoms seen in Kyoto, Japan.
Daniel Gorostieta/Travel + Leisure
Kyoto is a popular destination year-round, but it becomes almost unbearably crowded during the spring cherry blossoms and the autumn foliage. Plus, the microclimate created by the surrounding mountain basin makes for hot, sticky summers and cold, dry winters.
Bissig recommends aiming for February or early March to see the city at its best. 'You get plum blossoms, which are almost more beautiful than the cherry blossoms, and it's less crowded and a lot cheaper," she says.
How to Get There
700 series Shinkansen bullet train pulling into Kyoto Station.The closest airport is Kansai International Airport (KIX) in Osaka, Japan, about 70 minutes away by JR Haruka express train. Kyoto is well connected to the rest of the country by a system of vast, convenient, and ultra-dependable bullet trains called Shinkansen that can have you in most major cities in the space of a few comfortable hours.
Neighborhoods to Visit
Tori gates in the Fushimi area of Kyoto.
Daniel Gorostieta/Travel + Leisure
Outside of Kyoto proper, two neighborhoods worth taking a day trip to explore are Fushimi and Arashiyama.
Fushimi is home to the popular climbing torii gates of Fushimi Inari Shrine, but most tourists only make it that far. A little further south is a working-class enclave that is home to the highest concentration of sake breweries in Japan. The well-curated museum of powerhouse Gekkeikan covers all things sake, as well as the history of Fushimi, but for idiosyncratic appeal, Bissig recommends Kizakura, a 100-year-old brewery known for labels with sexy kappa (a water demon from Japanese folklore). Their brewery has a kappa museum, as well as a sake and craft beer restaurant called Kappa Country. 'You can get miso soup and other small dishes made with sake lees,' she says. Along with a sake tasting, of course.
In the north of Kyoto is Arashiyama, famed for its lush bamboo groves. To escape the crowds, Bissig suggests wandering the garden paths of Tenryu-ji Temple or taking a private river cruise for lunch. Bissig recommends the wagyu beef shabu shabu (Japanese hot pot) lunch, which involves dipping thinly sliced beef into a boiling, umami-rich broth. 'They explain to you how to cook it, and you literally make your own food as you're on the river, and it's so serene," she says.
How to Get Around
View of Kyoto through a local taxi.
Daniel Gorostieta/Travel + Leisure
Kyoto has an extensive public transportation system, including subway, trains, and buses. Since roads are often crowded, public transportation is usually the fastest way to get around, although taxis can be easily hailed on the street. Ride-hailing services are illegal in Japan, but the Uber app allows you to call a licensed taxi. However, a local taxi app called Go is more commonly used and has wider coverage.