One of the best cities I have ever visited and writing about it just won't do it justice because it is such a visual and emotional extravaganza. Look at Frommer's for a travel guide to Kyoto.
It's hard to describe the feeling visiting endless shrines and temples, one as different as the next, with young girls dressed as geishas for the day, posing in front for selfies and feeling beautiful in that moment. What word can describe the joy of walking narrow Pontocho Alley at sunset as the colorful lanterns glow, beckoning you into 1 of a 1000 miniature restaurants, with hundreds of mingled scents wafting through the alley? And what luck when you catch sight of a mysterious geisha slipping into an unmarked tea house without a sideways glance as she tries to be anonymous. How can you describe the sensual taste of melt-in-your-mouth sushi at Sushi Tetsu while chatting with cool sushi chefs at the bar who don't speak English and serve your sushi on banana leaves? No words for how we enjoyed grilling Wagyu meat with vegetables with childhood friends at Hiro Korean barbecue...or simmering it in broth shabu-shabu style at Nikugoten...cooking food right at our table, family style. How do you describe the fun we had sitting at a small bar with only 10 stools watching a bustling crew chattering in Japanese, making dumplings the size of my fist, grilling yakitori with exotic dipping sauces and ladling noodle soups with crazy ingredients and flavors like spicy black sesame seed udon. (I wish Google Translate could convert the name of this fun restaurant to English...shout out to Mimasuya, too, for an excellent gourmet sushi meal). It's hard to differentiate in words whether shrines, temples and torii gates that are painted bright vermillion were prettier than the ones weathered over time. How many different water pavilions did we see, each with a different fountain spouting cleansing water? How many times did I watch someone bow twice, ring a gong, and clap twice before saying a prayer and bowing deeply? And why is it so mesmerizing to meander up and down narrow curved streets in Gion with charming, almost dilapidated, but yet beautiful, machiya houses hundreds of years old, saved from destruction (although you know the owners wish for larger closets and modern kitchens)?
Just give yourself enough time; we stayed five nights and that was not enough. Prepare for lots of walking, but also prepare for using the free JR train system, and the non-JR buses and subway...use a Pasmo or Suica card which you can buy and upload with cash at any convenient 7-11 or in the train stations if you can find an English speaking machine, or buy a one day transportation pass. And at night with no traffic, the taxis were very reasonable to get home fast. Just have your destination displayed on your cell in Japanese characters. We stayed at the economical, clean, modern Citidines Karsuma-Gojo suites (with a kitchenette) which was conveniently located along the subway, one stop from Kyoto Station and within walking distance of Gion, and only $170/night with no meals. A grocery store and 7-11 were a block away so it's easy to load your Pasmo card or buy provisions for breakfast each morning. The hotel offers a $5/per person breakfast, but we did not enjoy it the first morning.
Don't miss the tranquil bamboo forest, Arashiyama, and nearby Tenryuji Temple ($5) which had beautiful zen gardens, the Golden Pavillon Kinkaku ($5) and the Silver Pavillion Ginkaku ($5) with its serene Buddhist Zen garden, or the endless vermillion torii gates at Fushimi Inari-Taisha. Go early or late to try to avoid the endless Japanese school groups and when the light is glowing through the trees. Visit every temple you can, especially Kizomizu-dera with its bright vermillion Pagoda ($5), and then try to find the naturally-aged, coal black Yasaka Pagoda hidden down a nearby street in the ancient Gion district. We also saw Kodai-ji, Marayama Park, Heian Jingu, Shoren-In shrines. From the Silver Pavillion, walk back towards town via the Philosopher's Walk, stopping at every small temple and shrine along the way if you can and enjoy the small shops along the canal lined with such beautiful trees. Each shrine along the Walk has a unique quality and most are free. Be sure to spend time in the cemeteries, often adjacent to a temple. Notice the moss on the headstones and statuary and the wonderful scent of incense burning everywhere. And if you're wild and crazy, rent a kimono, and a Yukata for him, get your hair and make-up done, and wander to all the wonderful sights pretending you are Japanese too.
You can see I loved Kyoto...
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