Kyoto in 3 Days: The Lucalvry Itinerary

Day 1

Higashiyama temples, Gion, Pontocho evening

1. 6.45am

   Walk to Kiyomizu-dera via the Sanneizaka and Ninenzaka stone-paved approaches

   Walk to Kiyomizu-dera via the Sanneizaka and Ninenzaka stone-paved approaches. The temple opens at 6am; arriving inside the gate by 7am gives you the wooden veranda almost to yourself before the school groups arrive.

2. 8.30am

   Walk down through the Yasaka Pagoda and Ishibei-koji backstreets — the most photographe…

   Walk down through the Yasaka Pagoda and Ishibei-koji backstreets — the most photographed lanes in Higashiyama, empty at this hour — towards Kodai-ji and Maruyama Park. Coffee and a yuzu pastry at Walden Woods Kyoto on the southern approach.

3. 10.30am

   Yasaka Shrine, then Chion-in's monumental sanmon gate (the largest wooden gate in Japan…

   Yasaka Shrine, then Chion-in's monumental sanmon gate (the largest wooden gate in Japan, free, ten minutes). Cross Maruyama Park to Heian-jingu Shrine and the Okazaki cultural quarter.

4. 12.30pm

   Lunch at Hyotei Bekkan (the casual annex of four-hundred-year-old Hyotei, ¥9,500 for th…

   Lunch at Hyotei Bekkan (the casual annex of four-hundred-year-old Hyotei, ¥9,500 for the morning-gruel set, the most accessible serious kaiseki experience in Kyoto). Reservations three weeks ahead.

5. 2.30pm

   Walk the Philosopher's Path north from Eikan-do to Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion)

   Walk the Philosopher's Path north from Eikan-do to Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion). Forty minutes of canal-side walking in cherry season; thirty in November maple-leaf season; both are the best urban walk in Kyoto.

6. 5.00pm

   Return to the hotel for a 90-minute reset

   Return to the hotel for a 90-minute reset.

7. 7.00pm

   Aperitivo at Bar K-Ya in the Kiyamachi alley, or a glass of sake at Sake Bar Yoramu nea…

   Aperitivo at Bar K-Ya in the Kiyamachi alley, or a glass of sake at Sake Bar Yoramu near Karasuma-Oike — the city's best small-batch sake counter, English-friendly, eight seats.

8. 8.30pm

   Dinner at Roan Kikunoi (the Pontocho-side sister of three-Michelin-star Kikunoi; the ka…

   Dinner at Roan Kikunoi (the Pontocho-side sister of three-Michelin-star Kikunoi; the kaiseki counter, ¥22,000, three weeks ahead). Walk home through Pontocho's lantern alley afterwards — the second most photographed lane in Kyoto, and at this hour the photographers are gone.

Day 2

Arashiyama half-day, Imperial Palace, ryokan dinner

1. 8.00am

   Take the Randen tram or a 20-minute taxi to Arashiyama

   Take the Randen tram or a 20-minute taxi to Arashiyama. Walk through the Sagano bamboo grove (free, fifteen minutes; only quiet before 9am) and into the Tenryu-ji temple's Sogenchi Pond garden — the best Zen garden in Kyoto, ¥500 for the garden plus ¥300 for the buildings.

2. 10.30am

   Walk north to the moss-covered Gio-ji and Adashino Nenbutsu-ji temples in the upper Sag…

   Walk north to the moss-covered Gio-ji and Adashino Nenbutsu-ji temples in the upper Sagano hills. Forty-five minutes between them; both are quiet at this hour and visually the strongest Arashiyama temples after Tenryu-ji.

3. 12.30pm

   Lunch at Shoraian, the tofu-kaiseki room in the gorge below the Togetsukyo bridge — boo…

   Lunch at Shoraian, the tofu-kaiseki room in the gorge below the Togetsukyo bridge — book the river-side window table. ¥6,500, two weeks ahead.

4. 3.00pm

   Return to central Kyoto

   Return to central Kyoto. Kyoto Imperial Palace gardens (free, ninety minutes) — the original residence of the Japanese imperial family until 1869, and the most overlooked free walk in Kyoto. Walk back to the hotel through the Karasuma-Oike commercial district.

5. 5.30pm

   Reset

   Reset. If your hotel has an onsen, this is the right hour to use it.

6. 7.00pm

   Move to a ryokan for the night — Tawaraya, Hiiragiya or Hoshinoya Kyoto's central picku…

   Move to a ryokan for the night — Tawaraya, Hiiragiya or Hoshinoya Kyoto's central pickup point. The kaiseki dinner served in your room (eight to twelve courses, two hours, the central event of any Kyoto trip) starts at 7pm. End the evening in the property's bath; sleep on tatami.

Day 3

Northern temples, Nishiki Market, last Pontocho evening

Three days is not Kyoto. But three days done in this order is enough to know whether you'll come back — and almost everyone does.

1. 8.00am

   Breakfast at the ryokan (the most underestimated Japanese hotel meal — grilled fish, mi…

   Breakfast at the ryokan (the most underestimated Japanese hotel meal — grilled fish, miso, rice, pickles, three small dishes you didn't expect). Check out by 10am.

2. 10.30am

   Taxi to Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion, ¥500, twenty-five minutes, the postcard from t…

   Taxi to Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion, ¥500, twenty-five minutes, the postcard from the western pond is the only required photo). Continue to Ryoan-ji for the rock garden — the most famous Zen garden in Japan, fifteen minutes of viewing on the wooden veranda. Both are within ten minutes of each other in north-western Kyoto.

3. 1.00pm

   Lunch at Honke Owariya near the Imperial Palace — a fifteenth-century soba institution,…

   Lunch at Honke Owariya near the Imperial Palace — a fifteenth-century soba institution, ¥2,800 for the hourai set, no reservations needed before 1.30pm.

4. 2.30pm

   Walk the Nishiki Market end-to-end — five hundred metres of covered food market, the ci…

   Walk the Nishiki Market end-to-end — five hundred metres of covered food market, the city's best unscripted afternoon. Pickles at Nishiki Konnamonja, dashi tasting at Uchida, sweets at Akafuku.

5. 4.30pm

   Move bags to your second hotel (most travellers split a 3-night Kyoto trip between a co…

   Move bags to your second hotel (most travellers split a 3-night Kyoto trip between a contemporary hotel and a ryokan night — the Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons or Aman Kyoto for nights 1 and 3; ryokan for night 2).

6. 5.30pm

   Optional Higashiyama evening walk through Gion's public approaches and the Shirakawa ca…

   Optional Higashiyama evening walk through Gion's public approaches and the Shirakawa canal — fifty minutes, the strongest dusk walk in Kyoto.

7. 7.30pm

   Aperitivo at Bar Rocking Chair near Karasuma-Oike (the city's most serious cocktail bar…

   Aperitivo at Bar Rocking Chair near Karasuma-Oike (the city's most serious cocktail bar, eight seats at the counter, no menu).

8. 9.00pm

   Dinner at Kichisen near Yasaka Shrine if you secured a booking three months ahead (thre…

   Dinner at Kichisen near Yasaka Shrine if you secured a booking three months ahead (three-Michelin-star kaiseki, ¥38,000, the booking to make for a Kyoto memory). The realistic alternative is Sushi Matsumoto in Karasuma-Oike — formal omakase, ¥22,000, three weeks ahead.

9. Late

   A final walk along the Kamogawa river, north from Sanjo bridge

   A final walk along the Kamogawa river, north from Sanjo bridge. End the trip the right way.