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🇯🇵 City · Japan
Kyoto: a thousand temples by lantern light
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Japan's imperial capital for over a thousand years, Kyoto packs temples, shrines and gardens into a setting of wooded hills. The city is best explored by zone to cut down on travel: to the east, Higashiyama's stone lanes climb to Kiyomizu-dera temple, while in the heart of Gion, tea houses and lanterns still shelter geiko and maiko. To the south, Fushimi Inari shrine unfurls thousands of vermilion torii up the mountainside. To the west, Arashiyama offers its bamboo grove, the Togetsukyo bridge and a greener mood. To the north-west glows the Golden Pavilion, Kinkaku-ji, mirrored in its pond. Between tea ceremonies, kaiseki cuisine and Nishiki market, Kyoto keeps a traditional Japan very much alive.
In “Memoirs of a Geisha” (2005), young Chiyo runs beneath the thousands of vermilion torii gates of Fushimi Inari Shrine.
Spared from bombing, Kyoto was struck off the atomic target list on June 30, 1945, by direct order of War Secretary Stimson.
At dusk, slip into Pontocho alley: 17th-century wooden tea houses and lanterns running alongside the Kamo River.
Spring (cherry blossoms late March to early April) and autumn (maples in November) are stunning but very busy; summer is hot and humid, winter mild and quiet. The city runs mostly on buses, backed by two subway lines and the train to Arashiyama and Fushimi; a bicycle suits the flatter districts well. A tip: visit the major temples right at opening, around eight, to enjoy the calm. As for connectivity, 4G and 5G coverage is excellent citywide, and free wifi is offered in stations, many temples and tourist-facing shops.