Language · 1 published
City guide · Japan
Kyoto was laid out in 794 as Heian-kyō, on a grid modelled on the Chinese capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang, and emperors ruled from it for eleven centuries until the court moved to Tokyo after 1869. It was spared large-scale destruction in the Second World War, which is why the prewar fabric — temples, shrines, palaces and gardens, a set of them jointly a UNESCO World Heritage Site — is standing rather than rebuilt. The city held 1.46 million people in 2020, more than half of Kyoto Prefecture. A first visit is mostly walking between religious buildings that are still in use.
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
Kiyomizu-dera stands on the wooded slope of Mount Otowa at the eastern edge of Kyoto, above the Higashiyama district and roughly a kilometre uphill from the nearest bus stop.
The temple everyone calls Kinkaku-ji is officially Rokuon-ji, a Rinzai Zen temple of the Shokoku-ji branch in the north-western corner of Kyoto.
Fushimi Inari-taisha is the head shrine of the Inari faith, and the shrine states that there are said to be around 30,000 Inari shrines in Japan below it.
Nijo-jo Castle is the Kyoto seat of the Tokugawa shoguns, completed in 1603 on the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu in the year he was appointed Shogun, and it bracketed the whole of the regime it was built for.
Ginkaku-ji is the popular name for Jisho-ji, a Zen temple on the eastern hills of Kyoto and, in its own words, one of the affiliate temples of Shokoku-ji, the head temple of the Rinzai Shokoku-ji branch that still runs it.
Ryōanji is a Rinzai Zen temple in the north-west of Kyoto, in Ukyo ward, and its full name is Daiunzan Ryōanji.
Tenryu-ji sits in Arashiyama, at the foot of the mountains on the western edge of Kyoto, and it is easier to understand once a visitor separates its garden from its buildings.
Sanjusangen-do is the main hall of Rengeo-in, a Tendai temple in the Higashiyama ward of Kyoto, a few minutes south of the Kyoto National Museum.
Heian Jingu stands in the Okazaki quarter of Kyoto's Sakyo ward, and it is younger than almost everything else a visitor comes to Kyoto to see.
Nishiki Market is a covered shopping street, not a building and not an attraction with a gate.
Set your days, your pace and the hours you actually want to be out. The planner works around closing days and travel time, and leaves room to eat.
