10 Best Things to Do in Kyoto for First-Timers (+ the One Thing We’d Skip)
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Kyoto has around 1,600 temples, 400 shrines, and 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The hardest part of planning a trip here isn’t finding things to do. It’s working out what to actually prioritise without wasting time on the wrong things.
We’ve been to Kyoto four times, spending close to three weeks here in total. After that many visits, you start to build a very clear picture of what truly deserves a place on a first-timer’s itinerary.
From iconic sights like Fushimi Inari (still worth every minute) to experiences we didn’t expect to love as much, like teamLab Biovortex, this list focuses on the very best things to do in Kyoto. We’re also including the one thing almost every Kyoto list recommends that we’d skip entirely: the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, and what to do instead.
Here are the 10 best experiences in Kyoto that are worth your time as a first-time visitor… the ones we’d prioritise on a first trip, every time.
Don’t miss these!
Our Top Picks for Your Kyoto Trip
Kyoto is one of the most visited cities in Japan, and the best experiences and hotels sell out quickly. Here are the ones we booked ourselves and would book again:
Top Kyoto experiences
- teamLab Biovortex Kyoto (our #1 pick; one of the most booked experiences in Japan and tickets sell out months in advance!)
- Gion walking tour (our favourite way to experience Gion; brings the geisha district to life)
- Traditional tea ceremony (a must for culture lovers; the tea ceremony originated in Kyoto)
Best places to stay in Kyoto
- KABIN Taka (our favourite hotel in Kyoto and one of the most comfortable stays we had in Japan)
- DoubleTree by Hilton Kyoto Higashiyama (stylish rooms with a Japanese aesthetic we loved, and an on-site public bath perfect after a day of temple-hopping)
1. Walk through the torii gates at Fushimi Inari Taisha
If there’s one thing that should be on every first-timer’s Kyoto list, it’s this: thousands of vermillion coloured (bright orange-red) torii gates winding up through a forested mountain. We’re sure you’ve seen the pictures… and it looks even better in person!
The vermilion of the gates against the green of the forest, light filtering through in between. You turn a corner and there are more gates. And more after that. It feels endless. We’ve been three times, and it hasn’t lost any of its appeal.
In fact, Fushimi Inari Taisha is one of the most visited sites in all of Japan, which means the base gets insanely crowded. Most tourists spend a few minutes at the entrance, take photos, and head to the next attraction.
We’ve visited during peak times, and our advice is simple: you don’t need to get there at 7am, you just need to go higher up. Push through the TikTokers, Insta hubbies, and tour groups.
After 10-15 minutes, the crowds thin out dramatically. That’s where you’ll be able to stop, look around, and take a proper photo without a gazillion strangers in the frame.
Our top tip: Fushimi Inari is a completely different experience once you understand what you’re actually walking through. We’d recommend booking this guided tour via GetYourGuide (also available on Klook) to bring the shrine’s history, Shinto traditions, and symbolism to life.
The full trail takes about two hours return and it’s worth doing. There’s a summit, which we found quite underwhelming if we’re honest, but it’s the journey up that’s memorable.
2. Visit Kyoto’s most iconic temple, Kiyomizu-dera
Kyoto has around 1,600 temples, but if you can only visit one, make it this one.
This Buddhist temple, founded in 778 AD, is built into a hillside in eastern Kyoto. What makes it unlike anything else in the city is the enormous wooden platform extending out over the valley, with the city stretching below.
The wooden main hall was built without a single nail, and once we knew that, we couldn’t stop thinking about it as we walked around.
Admittedly, it took us four visits to actually pay to go inside. The first three times we admired it from the outside (which is free and still impressive) and moved on.
Don’t make that mistake. The complex is huge, with multiple paths, gardens, and even a small waterfall where you can drink from three streams, each said to grant a different wish.
It does get crowded in the afternoons, but on one trip we were still wide awake from the jet lag and headed there at 6am. We were almost entirely alone.
That stillness, with the morning light on the platform, is something the afternoon crowds make impossible.
Kiyomizu-dera temple opens at 6am daily (closing times vary). Worth it at any time of day though.
3. Explore the historic geisha district of Gion
Some travel blogs will tell you to skip Gion because of the crowds. We’d respectfully disagree. It’s the best place in Kyoto to feel what the city was like as Japan’s imperial capital for over a thousand years.
We first came here in 2017 when it was far quieter, and even now, with the crowds, it hasn’t lost what makes it worth coming for.
The streets are lined with wooden machiya townhouses and stone-paved lanes, traditional tea houses sit between them, and the atmosphere holds up even when it’s busy.
Our top tip: We visited Gion on all four of our trips to Kyoto, but it wasn’t until we did this guided evening walk that it really clicked. We actually spotted a geiko (a fully qualified geisha) heading to an appointment, which meant so much more with the context the guide had given us. We wish we’d done it on visit one. The same tour is also on Klook.
If you can, go early morning or in the evening, when the light is better and the crowds thin out considerably.
Gion sits within the broader Higashiyama district, which also takes in Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka, two of Kyoto’s most beautiful streets.
Some private streets in Gion have photography restrictions with fines in place. Follow the signs and you’ll be fine.
👉 We’ve been to Gion four times. This evening walk is the one we’d do first.
4. Take part in a traditional tea ceremony
We’re no strangers to tea. Living in the UK, it’s practically a survival mechanism. But the Japanese approach it on a completely different level.
The tea ceremony ritual originated in Kyoto, and doing one here felt like a quiet lesson in slowing down, paying attention, and putting care into even the small things.
We did this traditional tea ceremony, which is set in a beautiful garden near Kiyomizu-dera.
We watched the tea master prepare matcha with a precision that made our version at home feel frankly embarrassing, then prepared our own bowl with eager ambition.
We loved this 45-minute ceremony, and it also comes with wagashi (delicate Japanese sweets) to balance the bitterness.
If food is more your thing, this Pontocho food tour covers similar cultural ground over an evening and 13 dishes.
And if you want to leave Kyoto with a souvenir you actually made yourself, this chopstick-making workshop we did in Gion was an hour well spent.
5. See the famous golden Kinkaku-ji temple
We’ve visited Kinkaku-ji twice in completely different conditions.
Once on a brilliant sunny day, when the golden pavilion reflected so perfectly in the surrounding pond that our colleagues back home refused to believe we’d taken the photo ourselves.
Once in ice-cold rain… and it didn’t look any less impressive.
Sure, it has become more crowded in recent years. But a zen temple covered in gold leaf and reflected in a mirror-still pond? It’s as good as it looks.
With two days or more in the city, this is a must-do in Kyoto. With only one day, we’d drop it.
Why? Kinkaku-ji temple sits in the far northwest of the city, away from the main train lines, which means the journey with a bus or taxi eats up time you’d be better spending on several other things on this list.
If you do go, aim for before 11am. The light is softer and the crowds are thinner.
6. Immerse yourself in digital art at teamLab Biovortex
teamLab is a Japanese art collective whose immersive digital museums became some of the most talked-about experiences in the country, and some of the HARDEST tickets to get.
We’ve been to teamLab Planets and Borderless in Tokyo and loved both. But Biovortex (which opened in October 2025) is the best one yet, in our opinion.
It’s also the largest teamLab in Japan, spread across multiple floors and easy to spend hours exploring without seeing everything. We were there for 3 hours and didn’t want to leave.
The Forest of Resonating Lamps was our favourite. Hundreds of lamps react to your presence, and the light ripples outward as you move through them. It felt exactly like walking into the Tangled film.
The Morphing Continuum is made up of floating glowing spheres that shift like a living organism and reshape themselves around you. Walking through it was a wild experience and genuinely one of the most fun things we did in Japan.
Our top tip: Tickets go on sale roughly three months before your visit and this sells out consistently. When we booked, we’d already lost our preferred slot at two months out! You can book directly on the teamLab Kyoto website, but definitely check Klook first. They’re an authorised seller with occasional discount codes, and because prices shift with demand, booking early almost always means paying less.
Our only complaint is that there’s no café, unlike at Borderless in Tokyo. We’d have happily stayed another hour with somewhere to sit down properly. A small thing, but worth knowing before you go.
👉 Don’t lose your preferred slot like we did. Book your teamLab ticket before it sells out.
7. Eat your way through Nishiki Market
Nishiki Market is a long, narrow covered street in central Kyoto, with local food stalls lining both sides for five busy blocks. It’s been feeding the city for over 400 years but doesn’t look like it at all.
It’s no surprise it’s also called Kyoto’s Kitchen.
If you’re a foodie, this is YOUR place! We made it about three stalls in before a pickle vendor handed us a free sample of something we couldn’t identify. We tried it anyway. It was excellent.
That’s Nishiki in a nutshell: you walk, stop, try something unexpected, and move on to the next stall. Grilled skewers, matcha chocolate strawberries, mochi, street snacks, and hot tea you’ve probably never seen before.
The beauty of it is that you never have to commit to a full meal or choose just one thing.
Opening hours are roughly 10am to 6pm, though individual stalls set their own hours. Go early to beat the afternoon crowds, and arrive hungry.
8. Discover the moss garden at Ginkaku-ji temple
Ginkaku-ji means Silver Pavilion, but unlike its golden cousin Kinkaku-ji, it was never actually covered in the material it was named for. The shogun who built it in the 15th century planned to, but never got around to it. Go anyway!
Because what Ginkaku-ji does have is one of the most captivating Japanese gardens we’ve seen in Kyoto (or pretty much anywhere), especially the moss garden.
Of all the temple gardens in Kyoto, this is the one we’d go back to first.
Walking through it felt like stepping into a miniature fairytale forest… impossibly green, perfectly kept, with light filtering through the trees. And we couldn’t shake the feeling that tiny forest spirits live here.
On your way there, walk the Philosopher’s Path, named after a Japanese philosopher who used it for his daily meditation walk. It’s a 2km (1.2 mile) canal-side route lined with hundreds of cherry trees.
9. Step inside the shogun’s Nijo Castle
We’ve visited castles all over the world, and if you’re arriving with Versailles in mind, Nijo will surprise you.
Built in 1603 as the shogun’s Kyoto residence, Nijo Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best-preserved examples of feudal Japanese architecture in the country.
In our opinion, it’s a must-do in Kyoto for history lovers.
It’s clearly grander than an ordinary Japanese home, but the interiors are modest by European standards. That contrast is fascinating rather than disappointing… it tells you something about how power looked very different here.
Our most memorable detail came from this guided tour we took: visitors to the shogun were forced to sit on their heels for hours, legs gradually going numb, which made it almost impossible to stand quickly.
Only the shogun sat cross-legged. The life-sized figures throughout help you picture exactly how it must have looked.
The shogun even had corridors engineered to squeak under every footstep (the famous ‘nightingale floors‘) so nobody could approach unannounced. When you held that much power, you clearly had a target on your back.
10. Find the aqueduct at the Nanzen-ji temple
We only found Nanzen-ji on our most recent trip, and it’s now one of our favourite temples in Kyoto.
The temple grounds date back to the 13th century, but the first thing you’ll notice there is the enormous brick aqueduct running straight through the complex.
We were not expecting to find something that looked lifted from ancient Rome in the middle of a Kyoto temple. You can even walk up onto it and look down at the water still flowing through.
Pay to go inside the temple grounds proper… it’s totally worth it! The complex is beautifully preserved and far more interesting than a quick look from outside suggests.
We also climbed the Sanmon Gate (the massive gate at the entrance).
The view across Kyoto from here is fine, but honestly, what we remember most is the feel of that wood under our socks. It’s worn completely smooth by 400 years of visitors before us.
One thing to skip in Kyoto (and what to do instead)
The Arashiyama Bamboo Grove is on almost every Kyoto list you’ll find. We left it off ours deliberately.
It became famous fast, and the crowds followed. The grove has a single path, which means there’s nowhere to go when it fills up, and it fills up completely.
The only realistic way to avoid the chaos is to arrive before 6am. We’re early risers when we travel. We’d still skip it.
There’s a structural problem too. Straw barriers run along both sides of the path, blocking the lower view entirely. The floor-level image you’ve seen in every photo online? That’s not what you get anymore.
Our comparison photo above says it better than we can.
Do this instead: the bamboo forest at Kodai-ji Temple, right in the centre of Kyoto. It’s smaller, quieter, and has no barriers. You see the full grove from ground to canopy without the crowds or the commute.
If you’re already heading to Arashiyama for other reasons, the grove at Jojakko-ji is worth adding while you’re there. But as a standalone trip? It’s not worth it.
Do you need to book anything in advance in Kyoto?
Yes, several experiences in Kyoto sell out weeks or months ahead, and a few are nearly impossible to get into without a reservation. teamLab Biovortex and the Sagano Scenic Railway need the most lead time. Tea ceremonies, geisha shows, and kimono rentals are easier, but booking ahead still saves you the stress of arriving and finding nothing available.
Here’s what we’d book in advance in Kyoto (even before we travel):
When is the best time to visit Kyoto?
The best time to visit Kyoto is late November, when autumn foliage peaks across the city’s temples and gardens. Spring (late March to mid-April) runs it close for sheer beauty, but both seasons bring bigger crowds and noticeably higher prices. For a quieter visit, early March or early December are worth considering.
We’ve been to Kyoto four times across different seasons, and November is our favourite by some distance. The foliage is extraordinary, the weather is crisp and comfortable, and the crowds feel manageable.
We visited once during cherry blossom season (sakura) too. It’s definitely the most beautiful season in Kyoto, but it was a lot more crowded than November and nearly twice the price. We wouldn’t rush back for it.
Early March is a solid alternative if your dates are flexible. We found it quiet and easy going. Just know there’s no cherry blossom yet, and the price difference compared to late March is significant.
How many days do you need in Kyoto?
Three days is the minimum we’d recommend for first-time visitors, and four is better. Two days covers the highlights, but you’ll feel rushed and spend most of it ticking boxes.
Across our multiple visits, we spent close to three weeks here in total. We’re still not done with it.
If this is your first trip to Japan and Kyoto is one stop among many, that’s completely reasonable. Our two-week Japan itinerary can help you work out how much time to allocate.
Whatever time you have, resist the urge to overpack your Kyoto itinerary. The city has enough to fill months… we know, we’ve tried. This list covers what we genuinely consider the must-sees for a first visit.
Where should you stay in Kyoto?
Best areas
Kyoto is more spread out than it looks on a map. That’s why we recommend staying central on a first trip, so you avoid spending a significant amount of time on public transport.
For first-timers, Downtown/Kawaramachi is the most practical base. It sits in the centre of the city, with easy access to buses, the subway, restaurants, and nightlife. Most of the Kyoto attractions on this list are reachable from here without much effort.
Gion and Southern Higashiyama is the atmospheric choice. You’re staying in the historic heart of Kyoto, within walking distance of Kiyomizu-dera, Ninenzaka, and the Gion district itself. It costs a little more, but the location earns it.
Kyoto Station suits late arrivals and day-trippers to Osaka or Nara. During peak season, staying in Osaka and commuting in is a solid alternative if Kyoto hotels fill up.
Our recommended hotels
Across our four Kyoto visits, we stayed in different areas and hotels. Here are the ones we loved and would book again:
Ready to start planning your Kyoto trip?
On the same trip, we walked through thousands of vermillion gates winding up a forested mountain, sat through a tea ceremony that made our matcha efforts at home look frankly embarrassing, and stood in complete darkness watching a digital art installation take over the room. Three experiences that couldn’t be more different, all in the same city.
Kyoto has more variety than most people expect, and that’s the thing about it: we’ve been four times and still came away from our last visit with a list of things we hadn’t done yet.
If you’re working out how to fit Kyoto into a longer trip, our 2-week Japan itinerary will help you work out how much time to allocate across the country.
And before you head home, it’s worth knowing what’s actually worth buying. Our Japan souvenirs guide covers the picks we’d go back for and a few popular buys that aren’t worth the bag space.
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