Top 10 Things to do in Kyoto - A Kyoto Travel Guide

Hey guys, I'm Alan. My brother and I recently spent two weeks traveling through Japan for the first time in our lives. It was an amazing experience and one of our favorite places during the trip was Kyoto. While traveling through Japan, our journey took us to the old capital city of Kyoto. Kyoto is Japan's seventh largest city by population and according Japan's national tourism board, Kyoto is the most visited travel destination for foreign visitors. The city embodies Japan's old traditions and is famous for its century-old temples and shrines. With its wealth of activities, it can get a bit confusing on what to spend your time on. To help you with that, I decided to make this video to take off my personal top 10 things to do in Kyoto for first timers. So where do we begin? A good place to start and that counts for pretty much any major city is exploring the local market, which in this case is Nishiki Market. The market consists of long and narrow shopping streets filled with hundreds of different shops and food vendors of all sizes. You can find anything from traditional Japanese sweets, local food, or that souvenir gift you need to bring back home. Personally, I spent my time trying out a bunch of different food and I simply have no regrets. So this is like a mini squid but inside the head I believe it's like a quail egg. They put in it cost like 300 yen. Let's try it out. Different types of flavors. It's a little treat, 300 yen, not that bad. The market is filled with different treats to try out, so I definitely recommend stopping by if you're craving to try out some local foods. Speaking of local foods, our number two on this list is traditional sweets at Kagezen Yoshifuza. This little shop is what you call a wagashi shop which specializes in Japanese traditional sweets. There are numerous wagashi shops in Kyoto, but what makes this one in particular special is the famous Kutsukiri, which are cold starch noodles. The noodles are made with a secret technique passed down from generation to generation and has been serving the locals of Kyoto for over 300 years. Often served with an accompanied syrup, the noodles provides a refreshing and sweet taste that fits with any season. Other shops worth mentioning are Horando in Arashiyama, Tsuruya Yoshinobu in Kamgyo, and Gyon Komori in Shirakawa. Monkey town. Closed time, 1630. Stairs. Why? Why so many stairs? You gotta be kidding me. There's more stairs. Huh? Seven minutes? 20 minutes walk to see the monkeys. Better be worth it. At number three on our list is visit the monkeys at Iwatayama park. You've probably seen a dozen of photos of these little guys. The park itself is located in Arashiyama and houses about a hundred snow monkeys. It takes a good 20 minutes hike to reach the park, but it's well worth it in the end. You can spend your time either enjoying the surroundings of the park or even feeding the little guys for a small fee. So if you're in Arashiyama, you might as well swing by for a quick visit. Also in Arashiyama, you simply can't miss out on the famous Arashiyama bamboo groove. Located right next to the Tenruchi temple, it's by far one of the most visited places in all of Kyoto. All right, so we just went to the bamboo forest. Honestly, very beautiful. Very scenic. Worth the early morning trip here. And there was like no one there, which was awesome. At number five on our list is the Sakano Scenic Railway. Here you can hop on board a sightseeing train which runs along the Hosugawa river gorge. The railway runs an old-fashioned train which connects Saga to Kamioka, offering some pretty scenic views along the way. The route is especially popular during the fall season. Back in the city of Kyoto, you simply have to explore the old district of Yon. Yon is the old entertainment district which stretches from Kamigawa river all the way to the Yasaka shrine. This district is filled with shops, restaurants, and tea houses, and it's a popular geisha spotting area. It's a very picturesque area with its old traditional buildings, so you're bound to take a few photos. As for particular areas to explore, try Hanamikochi and the Shirakawa area. After a full day of activities, the evening hours arrive in Kyoto. And if you're looking for a place to relax, wind down, or just enjoy the fresh air, then try hang out by the Kamigawa river, a local favorite and one of the places to simply hang out around the evening hours. The river itself runs through the city and you can often find live performances by the riverside or near bridges such as Shicho bridge and Sancho bridge. So grab a drink from the local convenience store and simply take a light stroll up and down the river or just hang out by the riverside and enjoy the scenery. Nights in Kyoto doesn't get much better than this. If you're more for established waterholes, then go and explore the Pontoncho alley. Often regarded as Kyoto's answer to the famous golden gai in Tokyo, Pontoncho offers a very atmospheric experience due to its dark and narrow streets. Pontoncho offers a host of dining and drinking options from specialized sake bars to affordable yakitoris and even high-class dining establishments. Speaking of dining, you can't come to Kyoto without experiencing Kyoto's very own take on the kaiseki style dinner. A kaiseki is simply Japan's answer to a multi-course dinner. What's unique about the kyokaisiki is its focus on simplicity and traditional Kyoto cooking. You can find many restaurants and ryokans offering kaisekis in Kyoto. Here's a few I would recommend. So the final spot on our list is obviously visiting the temples and shrines of Kyoto. There are over 1,600 temples alone in Kyoto, so it can get quite difficult to choose which one to spend your time with. But I believe these are the essentials for any first-timer. Tenryu-ji temple regarded as the most important of the five great zen temples in Kyoto. Yasaka shrine located right in the middle of Gion. Nansenji temple and its famous Hojo garden. Kiyomizudera temple for its amazing view over the city. Rurikoen, a personal favorite, famous for its breathtaking reflective surfaces making the temple one of the best places to experience the chains of leaves in Kyoto. And finally, Fushimi Inari shrine, world renowned for its thousands of torii gates. It's perhaps the most famous and visited tourist spot in all of Kyoto. And that's it for this video guys. I hope I gave you some cool ideas and inspiration for your upcoming trip to Kyoto. If you have any questions or feel I left out some other cool spots, then please let me know in the comments below. And if you're interested in more Japan-related videos and my travel experiences, then check out my channel for other videos including vlogs, travel guides, and much more. Until next time!