Overview
Spared the worst of wartime bombing, Kyoto kept the temples, gardens and wooden townhouses that other cities lost, and it guards them within a modern city on a mountain-ringed basin. Some two thousand temples and shrines are woven through the streets, and the old geisha quarter of Gion still keeps its wooden facades. The city is at its most beautiful in the cherry blossom of spring and the maples of autumn, when it is also at its most crowded.
Highlights
The golden pavilion of Kinkaku-ji, the thousand vermilion gates of Fushimi Inari and the hillside stage of Kiyomizu-dera are the classic temples. Gion is the place to glimpse the geisha world and old wooden Kyoto, while the Arashiyama bamboo grove and the Philosopher’s Path offer green walks. A tea ceremony, a kaiseki meal and the seasonal gardens complete the sense of the old capital.