Downtown Kyoto
As the name suggests, books line the walls of this cool cafe located in a converted machiya attracting a mix of locals and tourists. It’s a great place to relax with a book or to tap away at your laptop over a coffee ( ¥450) or light lunch. Look for the huge banana plants out the front.
There's a great little bakery attached where you can grab tasty takeaway pastries and breads (Tuesday to Sunday 11.30am to 11pm).
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The covered Nishiki Market (Nishiki-kōji Ichiba) is one of Kyoto’s real highlights, especially if you have an interest in cooking and dining. Commonly…
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This César Pelli–designed tower, which opened in March 2014, is Japan's tallest building (300m, 60 storeys). The observatory on the 16th floor is free,…
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The thick green bamboo stalks seem to continue endlessly in every direction and there’s a strange quality to the light at this famous bamboo grove, which…
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Nara's star attraction is its Daibutsu (Great Buddha), one of the largest bronze statues in the world. It was unveiled in 752, upon the completion of the…
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Located atop 848m-high Hiei-zan (the mountain that dominates the skyline in the northeast of the city), the Enryaku-ji complex is an entire world of…
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Hōryū-ji was founded in 607 by Prince Shōtoku, considered by many to be the patron saint of Japanese Buddhism. It's renowned not only as one of the oldest…
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A buzzing hive of activity perched on a hill overlooking the basin of Kyoto, Kiyomizu-dera is one of Kyoto's most popular and most enjoyable temples. It…
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Located high on a thickly wooded mountain, Kurama-dera is one of the few temples in modern Japan that manages to retain an air of real spirituality. This…
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Built in 1927, this imposing building takes up one block on the corner of Kawaramachi-dōri and Oike-dōri.
2. Kaleidoscope Museum of Kyoto
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This one-room museum is filled with unexpected wonders in a wide variety of kaleidoscopes. Not sure who will enjoy this more, children or the adults…
3. Kyoto International Manga Museum
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Located in an old elementary school building, this museum is the perfect introduction to the art of manga (Japanese comics). It has 300,000 manga in its…
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This museum is worth visiting if a special exhibition is on (the regular exhibits are not particularly interesting and don’t have much in the way of…
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This tucked-away temple makes for a worthy detour when hitting the boutiques and restaurants downtown. The name refers to its unique hexagonal shape, and…
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Located in a large merchant’s house, this kimono-shop-museum walks visitors through the architecture of a traditional building built in the daibeizukuri…
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The Kyoto Imperial Palace (Kyoto Gosho) and Sentō Imperial Palace (Sentō Gosho) are surrounded by the spacious Kyoto Imperial Palace Park, which is…
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The Sentō Gosho is the second imperial property located within the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park (the other one is the Imperial Palace itself). The…