A walk around Kyoto, showing the most popular, crowded places and quieter streets, plus a few hidden spots, so you can see what it’s really like there.
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Kyoto is the most popular place to go in Japan outside Tokyo. Because so many people want to go there, there are problems with over-tourism and the most popular sightseeing areas are very crowded. In this video I’ll show you what it’s really like, and how you can avoid the crowds and still enjoy beautiful Kyoto. Everyone wants to go to the top 10 most popular places, so they’ll always be busy, but you only need to go a street or two away to find quieter streets. The video includes the popular Southern Higashiyama area around Kiyomizudera, Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka, as well as Gion (including Hanamikoji Street), the Kamogawa River, Yasaka Shrine and Maruyama Park. Plus some off-the-beaten track spots like Tainai Meguri and Yasaka Koshindo.
00:00 Intro
00:57 Gion
02:40 Yasaka Shrine
04:09 Maruyama Park
06:12 Yasaka Koshindo
07:10 Southern Higashiyama
12:07 Kiyomizudera
19:57 Kamogawa Delta Park
21:40 Kyoto Imperial Palace
22:10 My thoughts
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Filmed at the start of March 2024.
If you’re going to Kyoto for the first time you might be worried about how busy it is it’s the most popular place to go in Japan outside Tokyo and there are problems with overcrowding So today we’re going on a walk around Kyoto to see what it’s like and if it’s possible
To avoid the crowds this isn’t a list of off the Beaten Track places we’re just going to have a look around and see what it’s like in some busy areas some quieter areas and some of the most popular parts of Kyoto and there’ll be a few hidden spots along the way for
Reference this is the start of March which is the very end of the off season just before the cherry blossoms we’re starting off at the edge of Pono which is The Nightlife District so we go out to buy whatever whatever nice little canal running down the street pretty
Here’s the cam River the main river running through Kyoto and an extra bonus river by the side you can see some Plum blossoms over there right in the place up we’ve just walked across the river and we’re getting into gon now first off it’s totally possible to to find empty
Streets like this in Kyoto this isn’t a remote area it’s right next to gon and getting up at the crack of dawn isn’t our style it’s actually around midday the look of these chunky roofs is just so traditional Japanese it’s very pretty now we’re moving into gon the main gisha
District and one of my favorite historic areas it feels so mysterious with all these shutters and screens on the windows it’s very private so you can’t always tell whether these buildings are restaurants or tea house or even airbnbs to me this gives it more atmosphere than the other historic areas
Where the buildings are mostly souvenir shops and snack kiosks filming down here got a building site in the middle this is one of the main streets in gon it’s called Hanami koi Street and it’s just full of all these pictures old houses just ignore the top the building sites there
Are it is really really love these and they’re all different I like how the buildings are all a similar style but not all exactly the same there lots of wood bamboo and natural materials I like how they’ve made these straw cones instead of using bards to be in keeping
With the historic architecture there’s lots of people who’ve rented kimono and Yukata walking around I’m sure you could get some really nice photos here it’s actually not quite as busy as I expected I thought it might be rammed with people down this popular Street stre it’s about
Midday on a weekday and there are lots of people here but it’s not crazy you see the family Mark convenience store isn’t allowed its usual signage in a historic area we’re coming up to yasa Shrine it’s really close to gon this is a major Shrine that hosts the gon
Festival in July it’s on route between gon and the kidera area this is a lovely walking route to enjoy traditional Japan look at these guys are they guarding the shrine yasa Shrine is very spacious and there’s no entrance Fe it’s free to just wander around all these
Areas quite a few food stores along here set us in the shrine and look we saw these cheese 10 Yen coins in aaka the other day there was such a long few for them not so much here at night time all these lanterns are lift up that must it
Really nice we actually came back in the evening and it was just as magical as you’d expect possibly even better at nighttime than during the day and there’s hardly anyone there so I’m filming shots for the video and there’s just nice shots everywhere everywhere you look there’s something picturesque
Or some old buildings or some nice little details it is a really beautiful place I don’t think I fully appreciated that when I came to Kyoto before the whole of Kyoto isn’t historic but there are these pockets of preserved areas that are really pretty we’re going to
Walk up this path which goes to mariyama Park which is part of yasa shrine over here you can see some Plum blossoms they’re not as frilly or large as the cherry blossoms I think these ones are just starting but they are really nice and colorful it’s really quiet down this
Path it feels really spacious and open maruyama Park is one of the top cherry blossom spots in Kyoto so expect it to be a lot busier during that time I think this is a weeping willow cherry blossom I saw in a picture I think there’s going
To be cherry blossoms here in a few weeks it’s going to be beautiful it is beautiful enough now to be fair it’s the perfect place for snack time I’ve got a sack of ice cream cherry blossom flavor and Phil’s gone for strawberry ice cream with a nice view of the park we’re going
To try and spot the fishes I don’t like herons because a heron came to our garden and ate all the goldfish in our pond so they’re my enemy now ice cream tip one of the problems in Japan is there aren’t many uh rubbish bins but sometimes if you buy something from a
Kiosk or a stand you could take your rubbish back to the stand and they’ll get rid of it for you otherwise you could be walking around holding it all day nice little stream running into the ponds down there so now we’re coming back to yasa Shrine which is just next to the park
That’s the Shrine we were in earlier it’s the candy Museum library which I think would probably be really interesting if you could understand any of it I think it’d be really interesting to understand all the origins of the Candi characters there’s thousands of them we’re heading back into Ken G
Temple and we’re heading towards the K mizera area this Temple has quite large grounds takes up quite a large area we’ve just come out of kundi Temple and yasa Pagoda is only 7 minutes walk away now we’re really getting into Southern higashiyama one of the most popular
Areas the streets are narrower and it gets much more crowded as you get closer to KY daa I think it’s pretty much always busy here unless you get up extremely early really you just have to accept that and enjoy it for what it is I love how imposing this dark Pagoda
Looks this is the entrance to yasa Shrine I was looking for this one because it looks really colorful inside it’s called yasaka Koso it’s a small Shrine that’s easy to miss very close to the yasa Pagoda so the point of this display at The Shrine is each of these
Really colorful things is a monkey they have four legs and they’re tied up and the monkeys represent your bad habits and your Wild Side so they tie the monkeys up and leave them at the shrine to get rid of your bad habits they’re called Ki saru here the price is 500 yen
Saru means monkey and kukuri means tied up or in a knot so they’re monkeys tied in knots there’s lots of monkeys here at the main part of the shrine the temple is dedicated to kosin San who helps everyone who’s striving to be good and punishes anyone who’s bad Ki is a belief
Involving the three monkeys hear no see no speak no evil the shrine’s very small and it’s so busy here’s the yasa Pagoda it makes it seem even more imposing that you approach it going up the slope here right next to the yasa pagod you can do
A Coty making class that’s a nice thing to do today they’re fully booked up here’s the pric is like 2,500 Yen that’s not bad it only takes 20 minutes there lot of places to eat around here as well and lots of snacks it’s my theory that
In Kyoto you’re never more than 100 m from a match of ice cream here’s one they looks like they have a lot of matcha Moi and traditional sweets I can’t believe there are trucks driving through these narrow streets it must be quite a challenge when it’s so busy but
They’ve got to deliver all that matcha even though it’s busy walking through this area is like strolling through a dream of traditional Japan with Gardens historic Arch and temples here taking pictures of one of the famous there are a lot of people here but I don’t think it’s as
Busy as last time I was here when it was just crowds everywhere and you couldn’t really move one of the reasons we came to Kyoto now was in the hope that it might be slightly less busy than it normally is because of Tourism to Japan only having opened up in October when I
Heard that people were going in October I was really jealous and thought that if I was there then I would definitely come to Kyoto to enjoy all these famous sites without the crowds that are normally here and I think there are a lot of people here at the moment it’s not empty
By any means but it’s not too crazy you can still walk around and see everything at the moment this area in higashiyama around kizu DEA is one of the most popular places to go in Kyoto so I think this is really the test of how busy it
Is there you go matcha Sofer what I say about matcha ice cream being everywhere in Kyoto donguri kak koku is the official Studio gibli store that you’ll find all around Japan it’s super cute and all official merchandise the name donguri koku means Acorn Republic matching the natural Forest theme some
Stores have an acorn Bank where you can contribute acorns to a reforestation project in shikaku for every hundred acorns you deposit you can get an oak tree sapling in return I’m getting these as presents from my neighbors that Shop’s a lot bigger than it look looks
In the front goes back a long way match your ice cream so we came out of the tutoral shop at the end of nin zaka down this end it’s actually not that busy the crowds are all at the other end where the stairs are and if you look the other
Way it’s even quieter and the side streets are quite quiet too you’re not allowed to take photos down there this tiny fish pond was just at the side of the street I love the patterns on the fish it’s worth remembering that the famous streets like ninen zaka and sanen
Zaka aren’t the only picturesque places everyone wants to see them and the quieter streets might be less stunning but they’re probably more enjoyable overall match ice cream almost opposite that one there’s more mat ice cream in this Cafe more another one just across the street as much as I say people
Shouldn’t all go to the same few places and make them overcrowded you can’t deny this is beautiful while this isn’t the only picturesque place in Japan you can see why people want to come here this shop has all C Stu all the C last time
We were here in Kyoto it was the start of October and it was so humid there was a typhoon that had just diverted off towards Korea but there was some rain and it was still really warm so I’ve got a photo from almost this exact spot with everyone with their umbrellas this is
One of the main streets leading up to k m daa and last time I was here it was pretty crazy down here and today there are still quite a lot of people it’s about 3:00 in the afternoon now on a Thursday pretty much everyone who goes
To Kyoto will go here so just for a minute here’s the actual experience of walking along the street mat ice cream if the craziness of this street gets too much for you go down this side Alleyway and there’s a nice spot to rest look for this sign for
The tofu restaurant and if you want to check it on Google Maps it’s called OA tofu restaurant probably not how you pronounce it there’s the tofu restaurant Ora and you want to continue along the street past it got all these vegetables on the ground instantly when you come down this
Street it’s a lot quieter and you can take a seat by this uh sometimes it’s a fountain it doesn’t seem to be on today but it’s nice spots to sit down as we get closer and closer to K daa it’s getting more and more crowded in the street tourism is definitely back
In Kyoto and it’s not even cherry blossom season yet we’re coming up to K Musa it looks really nice with the plum blossoms out the front this is pretty crowded around here though this also looks really imposing as you come up to up slope good spot to build a temple
It’s also nice to see all the trees behind on the mountain I think they were doing some construction work here for a few years on the platform where you look out over the mountains to that side I can’t see any work still going on so
Maybe it’s all done now you can see how busy it was in that street we were just in if you go further along away from this area it isn’t quite so crowded while major temples like this are impressive smaller temples and shrines can have a lot more atmosphere even if
They’re not on the top 10 things to do in Kyoto it’s worth exploring smaller ones you happen to come across as you’re going around there’s a nice view of Kyo from Kia mua I love how you can see the mountain in the background as well can you see Kyoto Tower through there that’s
Right by the station it’s early spring before the leaves have grown back on the trees this looks even more stunning at other times of the year and you can just see the other Pagoda in the distance here’s where you buy tickets if you want to go into the temple it’s 400 Yen for
Adults which I think is pretty cheap considering this is one of the main sites in Kyoto the gardens is 300 we’re not going in today but all the parts have walked around k era out here are free to just wander around including the view of the city you probably get a
Better view if you paid to go in and you can see the view from the famous Terrace and see that Pagoda better there are so many temples and shrines in Kyoto and all around Japan not just the most famous ones you always hear about in fact there are over 2,000 just in Kyoto
Just behind me is a thing called tinai murri it’s a tunnel that you walk through and it’s pitch black so you can’t see anything at all you just just follow a rope that you hold along I’ve never tried it but apparently you walk along it for a couple of minutes and
Eventually you come upon a lamp and then you come out back out into the daylight and it feels like being reborn and uh the symbolism of it is following the Rope is like following your path in life and you don’t want to lose you don’t want to lose track of your path or
You’ll get lost we were going to try it out it’s only 100 yen to go in but it’s just coming up to 4:00 and it’s about to close in in fact we were just going up to buy tickets and they took away the sign so we’ve missed out on that one
Today if you want to go in it find the big Pagoda in K midera and it’s just beside it it’s not in the main section where you pay to go in and do all the other Temple activities tinai means Womb and murri means to walk around or visit
Update we saw other people going into tinai muui so we decided to go out there as well and it turned out most of the people were queuing for tickets to go into the main section of the temple and there were only a couple of people
Waiting for Ty mcui so if we got in we could try it out and look how nice the tickets are they’re really pretty it was really interesting experience it really is completely black in there it felt like I had my eyes shut you couldn’t see anything and the path you’re following
As you hold it’s like a rope with beads on it’s it does twist in turn of it it’s really strange going around corners in the dark and then you come across this Stone that’s up and you’re allowed to make one wish and then you come out into
The light again did you enjoy it pH I thought it was really good fun it is interesting just how how dark that got how quickly got yeah very strange you don’t often walk along in the pitch Darkness do you and you have to take your shoes off as well so you’re
Just walking along in your socks on the the stone floor and it is actually pitch black so yeah properly dark after the first few meters I couldn’t see you in front of me at all I kept bumping into the person in front of me yeah it’s it’s
A interesting experience for 100 yet and that’s quite a good time well long as you don’t mind Dark Places I thought it’d be scary but it wasn’t yeah your eyes don’t get used to that it’s no and it’s not that long either no it wasn’t walking for a couple of minutes I don’t
Think no I think well we probably threw it in about 2 3 minutes um and you kind of shuffle along because it’s so dark but yeah that’s a good time now we’re reborn I feel good this is the entrance to going into for tinai mcui and the
Entrance to all the other Temple part is over that side so you could easily just walk straight past this you buy the tickets for tin muui on this side the queue on this side was for something else that could be to buy the EMA these wooden doors which we’ve all got rabbits
On for the year of the rabbits update we enjoyed tyui so much that we’re going to go in and see the rest of the temple this is where you buy the the ticket it’s just next to the entrance I got the tickets these are really nice
Ones as well they got a nice picture of Kio Mida in cherry blossom season bit windy I didn’t know how to ask for two adults until now i’ just been going into places and saying n but I heard the person in front of me saying so that’s how you ask for two
Adults we just coming through the tiet gate and it looks like you can go on a little trk across a path over there and you can go right up to the pakoda looks like they are still doing some construction but I don’t think there’s anything too major what’s going on
Here they’re trying to lift the staff of a warrior monk called Ben which is said to be 90 kg that’s £200 it was so crowded that I didn’t want to wait to try it I don’t think I could lift that much but there is a lighter one that’s 14 kg that’s about
260 lb incense at temples is said to purify and has a healing effect for good health he me mean clear water Temple and down there there are three water fountains and each one is symbolic of a different thing you can choose which one you want to drink from for good fortune
In that area look at that view we can see the whole of Kyoto now apparently this is the easy child birth tooda it’s the one we could see in the distance from over there I thought it was going to be bigger than this so it’s a kind of force perspective this Temple’s all
About the good views now it’s time for the Ottawa waterfall we’re just trying to work out if you’re suppos to the water or wash your hands with it and then exactly how you’re supposed to TI it out it’s good to see there’s UV sterilization for the label I thought
There was going to be a sign saying what each Fountain symbolized cuz they each symbolized a different thing but it didn’t say which was which so we just went for whichever one was free I went for the middle and Phil went for the one on the left if you’re looking out so
We’re going to check what each one’s for now we just tried to look it up but our pocket Wi-Fi isn’t getting very far at the moment usually you do get reception every everywhere I think it might be because it’s quite busy here but to be honest Sakura mobile hasn’t been the
Best pocket Wi-Fi we’ve had so I’ll look it up later I know the the categories are love success and Longevity but we’re not sure which is which it was surprisingly tricky to find this out when you’re looking at the waterfall the left is Success the middle is love and
The right is long life actually you’re supposed to drink the water of the one you want to come true and drinking from all three is considered greedy there were people drinking straight from the ladle which doesn’t seem very hygienic I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to pour
It into your hand first we’ve come out of K Mida to the left side if you’ve got your back to the temple and this street is a lot quieter than the Main Street which is about 20 M that way where everyone is on this quiet side street
There’s a few places where you can rent kimono this one is 2,900 Yen for the day it looks like they’ve got lots of different ones you can pick in this shop it’s 3,000 yen for kimona rental we’ve taking the train up to diachi Yanagi
Station it was a bit too far to walk so we took the Metro cuz there’s these Stepping Stones across the river it looks really nice here it’s like a kind of park around this area it’s going to be getting dark soon walking by the river is always nice in Kyoto but I’d
Never made it to this spot before this cart is known as the Cawa Delta gawa just means River so it’s camo River delta some of the stepping stones are shaped like turtles that’s really cute they’re quite far apart actually good look maybe you should take the camera that is quite a big
Gap we’re going onto the turtle sorry Turtle I’m going to stand on your head a lot of crows up there cold the water’s actually not deeper all but I don’t want to get wet feet here’s another purple you can also get onto the park if you cross either Bridge from
Either side into the middle and come down this is actually a really nice little Park there’s someone here practicing their flute someone practicing lacrosse against the wall under the bridge it’d be a nice place to come and have lunch or just sit and chill you are allowed to go paddling so
In the summer when it’s really hot it’d be a good place to cool off there are some people doing dance pratice across there as well there’s a kid just running across it’s just getting dark and we’ve come into the Kyoto Imperial Palace to cut through on the way to the station
And just to see what’s here it’s a really spacious park lots of grass and trees this used to be where the emperor lived before the capital moved to Tokyo in the 1800s if you’re there in the daytime you can take a look around the main section inside these walls but you
Can’t go in any of the buildings and that’s free it’s quite a large park that’s 1300 M long no wonder our feet were hurting at this point if it’s your first time going to Kyoto I hope that shows what it’s like even though this is a relatively quiet time of year it’s not
Crowded everywhere the main famous spots will always be busy because that’s where everyone wants to go but all you have to do is stroll a street or two away from the main routs to find spot to yourself or go somewhere that isn’t on the top tourist list of things to do in Kyoto
And you can have a moment of calm Kyoto isn’t the only place to see beautiful historic Japan there are so many smaller towns you can go to that might have less to do but they will be less crowded lots of people fall in love with Kyoto I’m
Not one of those people but I did enjoy it more on this return visit it helps to know what to expect the whole city isn’t historic and have to accept that certain places will be busy but there is a lot to see here and it is lovely walking through a Wonderland of traditional
Japan
2 Comments
Awesome job Amy thumb up .
Leaving the hotel at 5 AM definitely helps with the crowds lol