After a quick visit to Osaka and Nara, we spent 5 nights in Kyoto. This city of 1.4 million people is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Japan, so you might think it odd that a couple who loves slow travel and non-touristy places would choose to spend time here. As we’ve discovered through our travels, however, it’s not the destination that determines how you travel, it’s how you approach it.
Let me explain.
How to Slow Travel Anywhere
I often use the term “slow travel” in my writing but what does it actually mean? To answer that, I’ll start with a Condé Nast Traveler article from April 2023 in which Sebastian Modak perfectly sums it up:
“Slow travel means tamping down our own built-in, conditioned obsessions with time and allowing the world to move just a little slower so that we can actually notice it.”
Read that sentence again and take time to really think about how travel is often packaged and presented to us. How often do you see a travel itinerary that says “spend the day walking around smelling flowers and taking photos of empty cobblestone streets?” When do you see travel influencers bragging about their recent trip to a city or town where they spent most of their time grocery shopping and visiting local businesses?
It happens but you’ll rarely see it unless (like me) you follow those who prefer this form of travel. And let me clarify that slow travelers DO like to visit popular tourist attractions, as you’ll see below once I actually start talking about our Kyoto trip. We’re just more conscientious about what attractions we visit and how/when we visit them.
“Slow travel is a mindset: you don’t need three weeks of vacation to slow down. A day spent strolling through an unfamiliar neighborhood without a crammed to-do list or exploring a state park with nothing but a route map and a bag of snacks could fall under the umbrella of slow travel. It comes down to how you engage with the world as you move through it.” ~ Sebastian Modak
How to Slow Travel Kyoto in 5 Days
So let’s return to Kyoto. I had a list of places we could explore each day but no set itinerary. Of course this list was full of popular tourist attractions, heavily promoted online and in printed guide books, but most itineraries packed several into one day. Our goal was to visit only 1 per day and to leave the city at least once so we could explore the smaller towns.
Wander Kyoto Station
I strategically booked our stay at Mitsui Garden Hotel next to Kyoto Station, probably the best decision I made when planning this trip. Their breakfast was excellent and the location made it easy to get anywhere.
Wandering Japan’s second largest transit station was one of our favorite activities in Kyoto. Everything you could possibly want can probably be found in that 16-floor 238,000 square meter building. The observation floor and staircase that lights up at night is an attraction all by itself! We spent 4 days trying to learn the network system of tunnels and floors and while we certainly improved our navigation skills, we never fully learned the layout. It is its own city. Eric especially loved the Isetan food floors, which were like a Japanese version of Whole Foods on a grander scale.
Look for Kyoto Mascots
One of my favorite aspects of Japanese culture is their use of cute cartoon mascots for everything! You’ll see them on marketing materials, as souvenirs and at live events as costumed mascots. There’s a mascot for the water department, local transit and even specific streets! Some museums and businesses have their own mascot. Kyoto has several mascots but my favorite was the ICOCA mascot, Ico the Platypus.
Eat Anpan & Okonomiyaki
Eric discovered a new fondness for anpan, a pastry filled with sweet bean paste. He looked for these every place we visited.
Eric found the small family-run Yamamoto Mambo about two blocks from our hotel that served okonomiyaki, which we were told we had to try while we were here as this is a popular food in the region. It is best described as a Japanese pancake with ingredients of your choosing along with whatever the chef decides to throw in. I’m not exactly sure what went into ours, but I have a suspicion some offal made its way into mine. Regardless, it was delicious and the atmosphere was cozy and friendly.
Walk to the top of Fushimi Inari Taisha
We spent our first morning in Kyoto exploring the Fushimi Inari temple, walking the equivalent of 72 floors up Mount Inari. This is one of the most popular attractions in Kyoto, and rightly so with its estimated 10,000 iconic vermilion red torii (gates) that lead worshippers up a steep mountain, passing lush forest and hundreds of hokora (small shrines) and otsuka (stones representing deities).
People have been visiting this site for over 1,300 years, believing the deity Inari Okami resides here. The further we climbed, the more I could feel the sacredness of this place, especially when we wandered amidst the small shrines that branch off into the woods.
Despite getting there early, it was crowded and I was surprised to see so much commercialism at the temple entrance. This reveals my naivete about Japan, as I discovered throughout our journey that purchasing amulets and ema (wishes/prayers) is an integral part of the Japanese religions and customs. Through my American eyes, it looked like Disney World selling trinkets. I have so much to learn.
Explore Gion on foot at night
After Fushimi we rested that afternoon, which was wise because by the end of the day we would have walked 8 miles. Wanting at least one experience with someone local, we booked an evening food tour with Pinpoint Traveler. Our tour guide Andres brought us to a small grocery store and pointed out several foods popular in Japan, including a sesame tofu which we would eat later that night at Revolution Books. Eric and I loved Revolution Books, which offers exquisite food in a traditional Japanese standing bar surrounded by books for sale that are all about food.
He then took us through a quick walkthrough of Nishiki Market where we had octopus on a stick, tempura sea eel and stone roasted sweet potato from a tiny food truck. Andres was fantastic, setting a quick pace and filling it with knowledge and space for questions. He encouraged our curiosity and kept us guessing about his origins as he was obviously not originally from Japan. I won’t reveal his home country but I will say that he’s an excellent ambassador for both his homeland and his adopted country.
We met up with Miguel from New York for the second part of our tour in the Gion and Pontocho neighborhoods. First stop, Yasaka Shrine, which was beautifully lit at night and offered a quiet walk with lantern pathways.
We then meandered along canals and quiet streets with shops selling elaborate combs, jewelry and kimonos. Walked the streets of Pontocho, lulled into surrealism by street musicians and playful door decorations.
We ended the evening at a local sake bar where I had my first sake and sashimi. For someone who is usually in bed by 9:00, we were party animals living it up until 11:00. As I sat on the train back to our hotel, I asked myself why we tend to be more spontaneous and fun-loving while traveling. I have no answer.
Walk the Streets of Sannenzaka & Ninenzaka
Having explored Kyoto’s most popular shrine and geisha districts, we wanted to see what old Kyoto looked like before the modern world crept in. The place to see that is a tiny area around Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka streets.
We braved the public bus system to get there. Despite all our world travels, public buses still intimidate me but in Japan it was easy as long as we had Google Maps. It didn’t matter that the bus driver only announced in Japanese, it was easy to see what the next stop was coming up and hit the button. The trickiest part of the bus was getting to the front, plowing down people in an overcrowded bus to exit. We learned quickly to stay towards the front of the bus.
We took the bus to Kiyomizudera temple and wandered the crowded streets of Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka. Normally I would avoid super touristy places like this, but that would be a shame because it’s truly a delightful experience.
I had the most fun watching people that day, as this is one of the areas that people like to dress up in kimonos to take pictures. We saw a color wheel of kimonos, both men and women dressed up, and some costumes were quite elaborate.
I took a photo of what has to be the prettiest Starbucks. I tried rice balls coated in sticky soy sauce. The taste was good, the texture, not so much.
We marveled at the views from atop Kiyomizudera and the fun art exhibits.
Exploring Uji, the Not-So-Hidden Gem
We took the train to Uji, which should be on everyone’s list of best day trips from Kyoto. We went on a Saturday so there was a local market with women selling handmade crafts and produce. The Byodoin Temple was one of our favorites, topped by elaborately carved phoenix and surrounded by a moat.
The Byodoin Museum housed incredible artifacts and statues, including a 9 foot carved Amida Buddha covered in gold-leaf. I especially loved the exhibit with Buddhas floating on clouds. The other “must see” temple is Ujigami, the oldest original Shinto shrine in Japan.
Uji is a beautiful town, especially near the river where the homes and landscaped yards look like movie sets from old Japan. A fitting place for the setting of one of Japan’s most famous works of fiction, The Tale of Genji, written by Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century. Shikibu featured Uji in her story, which is considered to be the first novel in recorded history.
The food scene in Uji is remarkable, we wanted to stop at every shop! The smell of roasted matcha and baked goods wafted through every street. We went a little crazy in one bakery, buying matcha bean bread, a hazelnut pastry and matcha cream danish. The bread was so delicious, we went back later in the day to buy more but it was sold out.
The shops sold quality goods and we were one of only a few westerners. Most of the tourists here looked Japanese, which added to the feeling of being a part of daily Japanese life.
Uji was the perfect choice for a couple who loves walking, as there is a nice river walk about .7 mi (1.2 km) to a suspension bridge, with turquoise water, ducks and cormorants, and very few people. During our walk to the bridge, we saw our first foragers in Japan, it looked like they were picking some kind of nettle. The couple would stop their car every few feet, run to the grass to pick something then place it in a bag with water.
One of Uji’s most fascinating attractions is their seasonal cormorant fishing, occurring July-September. Their age-old practice of ukai, used since the 700s, uses cormorant birds that are trained to catch fish. The bird swallows the fish and the fisherman massages the fish out of the bird’s gullet. Before you start spouting animal cruelty, read this story by Luke Fater in Atlas Obscura to get a better perspective.
Walk the Philosopher’s Path in Kyoto
We took the subway to Keage Station, where we began our walk along an old railroad and the Lake Biwa Canal. This little slice of Kyoto may not see as many western tourists but it’s popular with domestic tourists who flock here during cherry blossom season. It’s also popular with architects and engineers who come to marvel at the canal construction and hydroelectric facilities.
Entering through Nejirimanpo Tunnel, which played with our eyes as the brick was laid in a spiral pattern, a path took us to Konchi-in Temple where we paid a small entry fee to enjoy the beautiful Crane and Turtle zen garden. I tried to convince Eric to sit with me and meditate but his feet were itching to walk, so we continued onwards.
We meandered all around the Nanzen-ji temple area, following no particular route, stopping to take photos of anything that caught our eye. There is much here to delight anyone who loves architecture and gardens.
Passing Higashiyama High School and another temple area (Eikando), we reached the starting point for the Philosopher’s Path. Just a few steps into our walk, an older gentleman offered to make us tiny boats made from leaves and flowers. Through gestures we understood that we were supposed to drop the offering into the canal. When Eric’s boat landed correctly and happily floated away, this was apparently good luck. When mine landed top-down and sank, bad luck for me.
I wanted so badly to ask the man why he does this and how long he’s been doing it. He doesn’t ask for money, so I assume it brings him joy.
The Philosopher’s Path is a scenic stroll along a canal lined with cherry trees and is so named because it was a popular walking route for Japan’s famous philosopher Nishida Kitaro.
Our walk in late February didn’t offer the soft pinks of cherry season or the warm explosion of autumn, but it did provide us with a much preferred solitude (something I believe we shared with Kitaro). We shared the path with only a few local residents walking their dogs.
At the end of the Philosopher’s Path, we returned to Keage Station via a different route. Hungry and in need of caffeine, we stopped at a Doutor coffee shop which had fantastic coffee and sweets! Besides one harried-looking college student, we were the only ones under the age of 70 and received curious, perplexed looks from the elders.
Choose a Temple/Shrine for Prayer
Our last stop of the day was Okazaki-jinja, a shrine much beloved for its adorable rabbit statues and its focus on childbirth. We visited for Eric’s mom (whose nickname was Rabbit) and my sister (who has struggled with multiple miscarriages).
While I can’t say that praying here will alter the future for our loved ones, I did feel a sense of peace knowing that we were participating in an ancient ritual that transcends religion, time and culture. Watching young couples pull the bell and throw their coins with hopeful looks on their faces was no different than someone kneeling before a lit candle, petitioning for something beyond their control.
Speaking of prayer, we’re heading on an ancient pilgrimage along the Kumano Kodo next, so stick around for that adventure! For a more thorough walking guide, see Exploring Kyoto & Beyond: the Ultimate Walking Tour Guide.
