The best places to eat, stay and love in Kyoto, including a restaurant with a £2.80 lunch special
Local legends Kyoto is the Japan of old: cobbled streets and low-slung wooden machiya houses host to fashion boutiques and ramen joints (for which the culinary scene is famous). Duck down alleys in search of sashimi (above) as well as miso broth, rich and thick, slurped among chain-smoking salarymen. Near Ritsumeikan University is no-frills (and no website) Omurice Hitomi, full of locals eating the £2.80 lunch special: omurice aka egg omelette draped over ketchup-laden fried rice, served with a rich demi-glace sauce alongside delicious miso soup and pickles.
Quick bites At Kaiten Sushi Chojiro (chojiro.jp/global), sushi glides by on a conveyor belt. Order tuna akami (lean cuts) and otoro (fatty belly), iridescent mackerel and Hokkaido sea urchin, stacking empty plates until the counter before you resembles a mini Stonehenge.
On the go 7-Eleven sells surprisingly good snacks (the egg sandwich was beloved of late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain). McDonald's Teriyaki McBurger (£2.15) is a tasty pork patty in sticky-sweet sauce with a habanero kick.
STAY
Haute history Sowaka (sowaka.com, doubles from £739, above) is a ryokan, or inn, in a historic building in the geisha district of Gion. Rooms blend traditional charm with touches of modern luxury – the ladies who once frequented this place would probably have appreciated the Dyson hairdryers.
Mountainside magic Hotel Seiryu Kyoto Kiyomizu (princehotels.com, doubles from £250) occupies a landmark site: a former elementary school completed in 1933. The building climbs up the side of a mountain, full of original features including wooden beams and arched windows that flood the space with natural light. Rooms (many of them former classrooms) are elegantly minimalist and overlook Kyoto city down below. There's a wet room, stacked with luxury Natura Bissé skincare products, where the deep tub will rinse away your jet lag.
Dusk drinks Head up to Hotel Seiryu's K36 rooftop bar for a tot or two of yuzu whisky (£12). The views of Kyoto are breathtaking, especially at sunset.
Rail travel The bullet train (Shinkansen) from Tokyo to Kyoto is magnificent, prowling into the station like a giant white cat. It costs £75 for the 513km, two-hour journey – and you won't find coffee spills on your tray table.
Go wander From Kyoto's sci-fi city centre it's easy to reach the old side. Visit Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine (inari.jp) and Kinkaku-ji (shokoku-ji.jp/en/kinkakuji, above) for its golden temple and sacred, soul-enriching grounds.
Retail therapy Discount superstore Don Quijote (donki.com) is a vertical city of retail psychosis – a visual feast – where you're faced with floor after floor of commercial improbability. It has everything, and no class distinction. Think Gucci meets gutter: designer handbags slum it with bulk-buy underwear and towers of instant ramen, while Rolexes share shelf space with row after row of vibrators. With an armful of face creams, a fishing rod and some French champagne, you'll realise you've found the soul of Japan, which has mastered the art of irreconcilable contradictions.
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