The First-Timer’s Travel Guide to Kyoto, Japan (2019)

One of the things I love most about Japan is its interesting blend of old and new. Many Japanese cities embody the new but no city epitomizes the old quite like Kyoto.

Before our first trip to Kyoto in 2014, we had gotten used to a Japan of neon lights and robot restaurants. Kyoto isn’t like that. Slower and more deliberate in pace, it’s a city of temples and geishas, of torii gates and zen gardens far removed from the sensory overload that is Tokyo and Osaka.

Modern Japan is mesmerizing, but Kyoto will make you fall in love with the old Japan.

I enjoy trip planning. I love finding interesting restaurants and attractions and putting them all together in an itinerary. For me, it’s half the fun.

But not everyone enjoys trip planning as much as other people do. Some are happy just using a ready-made itinerary they find online. That’s fine, but we all have our own travel preferences so an itinerary that works for one person may not necessarily work for someone else. If you’d like…