Skip to content
List your business

Best Attractions in Kyoto (2026)

Kyoto's sights are spread around the edges of a flat basin, so the best way to plan is by area. Higashiyama, on the eastern hills, holds Kiyomizu-dera and the old lanes that lead down to Gion, with Sanjusangen-do and the Kyoto National Museum a little to the south. The north-west has Kinkaku-ji and the rock garden of Ryoan-ji within walking distance of each other, while Arashiyama in the west combines Tenryu-ji with the bamboo grove. Nijo Castle and the Kyoto Imperial Palace sit in the centre and pair well on a single day, and Fushimi Inari Taisha lies a short train ride south of Kyoto Station.

Crowds are the main challenge. Fushimi Inari is open around the clock and is best at dawn, Kiyomizu-dera opens at 6:00, and most temples open between 8:00 and 9:00, so an early start pays off everywhere. Most temples charge a modest entry fee, often in cash, so carry some yen and an IC card for buses and trains. Some interiors have their own closing days: Nijo Castle's palaces, the Imperial Palace and the National Museum all have regular closures, so check before you go. Spring blossom and autumn leaves are beautiful but bring the biggest queues; weekdays in early December or June are noticeably calmer.

10 places · Updated October 23, 2026

Our top 3 attractions in Kyoto

  1. Fushimi Inari Taisha Shinto shrine, FushimiThe head shrine of the Inari deity, founded in 711, famous for the thousands of vermilion torii gates that climb the wooded slopes of Mount Inari.
  2. Kiyomizu-dera Buddhist temple and UNESCO World Heritage Site, HigashiyamaA hillside temple on Mount Otowa with a wooden stage jutting out over the trees, dedicated to an eleven-faced Kannon and part of Kyoto's UNESCO World Heritage listing.
  3. Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion) Zen temple and UNESCO World Heritage Site, KitaOfficially Rokuon-ji, this Zen temple is known for its gold-leaf pavilion reflected in the Mirror Pond, a faithful 1955 reconstruction of the shogun Yoshimitsu's retreat.

Attraction

2. Kiyomizu-dera

Buddhist temple and UNESCO World Heritage SiteHigashiyama

A hillside temple on Mount Otowa with a wooden stage jutting out over the trees, dedicated to an eleven-faced Kannon and part of Kyoto's UNESCO World Heritage listing.

View details — Kiyomizu-dera

Attraction

5. Nijo Castle

Castle and UNESCO World Heritage SiteNakagyo

Built for the Tokugawa shoguns in the early 1600s, this moated castle holds the Ninomaru Palace with its painted screens and chirping nightingale floors.

View details — Nijo Castle

Attraction

7. Ryoan-ji

Zen temple and rock gardenUkyo

A Zen temple founded in 1450 whose walled garden of fifteen stones set in raked white gravel is the best-known dry landscape garden in Japan.

View details — Ryoan-ji

Attraction

8. Tenryu-ji

Zen temple and UNESCO World Heritage SiteArashiyama

The head temple of the Tenryu-ji branch of Rinzai Zen, founded in 1339, whose pond garden by Muso Soseki borrows the Arashiyama hills as its backdrop.

View details — Tenryu-ji

Attraction

9. Sanjusangen-do

Buddhist templeHigashiyama

A 120-metre wooden hall, officially Rengeo-in, holding 1,000 standing statues of the thousand-armed Kannon around a seated Kannon by the sculptor Tankei.

View details — Sanjusangen-do