24 Hours in Kyoto | Our FULL One Day in Kyoto Itinerary

two girls kissing in fushimi inari taisha
Kinkaku-ji golden temple kyoto
monkey park kyoto
two girls laughing in Arashiyama Bamboo Grove kyoto
person holding money park tickets kyoto
view from top of Kiyomizu-Dera Temple
Gion - Soy Milk Ramen at Uno Yokiki vegan ramen
girl standing in the middle of the street in kyoto
Kiyomizu Dera Temple kyoto

So, here’s the deal: when we were planning our trip to Japan, we realized we could only squeeze in one full day to explore Kyoto. We know most people spend 3-4 days there to really soak it all in, but we were determined to make the most of our quick visit. Kyoto is way bigger than we imagined, and it was way more crowded too! But don’t worry; we found that it’s totally possible to see a lot in just 24 hours. The secret? Wake up early and get ready to walk—like, 9 miles worth of walking (yep, we did it, lol). If you’re up for the challenge, check out our guide below on how to make the most of your one day in this beautiful city!


Where to Stay in Kyoto

During our trip to Kyoto, we decided to stay at Node Hotel Kyoto. Since we were going to mostly be out exploring all day, Node was in a great central location to get to other parts of the city, ad it was only 2 metro stops away from the bullet train station. Our room was small (which is to be expected in Japan), but designed very well so we had storage for our belongings.


You can find even more Kyoto accommodations on Hotels.com


How to Get Around Kyoto

Kyoto is very easily accessible by metro or walking, but since we only had 24 hours in the city and wanted to see as much as we could, we also hired a private driver. Even with the private driver, we still walked 9 miles lol! We definitely don’t think the private driver is necessary, but it did make it a bit faster to get from place to place with only one day in the city. Our friend who was traveling with us booked the private driver on Klook.


Our 24 Hours in Kyoto Itinerary

girl standing in fushimi inari taisha kyoto

Fushimi Inari Taisha

two girls hugging in front of Kinkaku-ji golden temple kyoto

Kinkaku-ji

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove kyoto

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove

girl looking at Kiyomizu-Dera Temple kyoto

Kiyomizu-Dera Temple

  • 7:15 AM - Fushimi Inari Taisha. The famous red pillar shrine! We knew we wanted to visit here first because we read online it gets more crowded the later it gets, and that is 100% accurate! Even though we were there at 7:15AM, there was still a ton of people, we couldn’t even imagine it in the middle of the day! The trick for having less people in your pictures is to continue walking up as much as you can. The higher you go in the shrine, the less people there will be.

  • 9:00 AM - Kiyomizu-Dera Temple . A beautifulBuddhist temple that is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This temple is over 1200 years old and one of the most popular things to see in Kyoto. This was also crowded even at 9:00AM, but they said it gets even more crowded towards the middle of the day. While you’re here, make sure you stop at the wooden terrace with panoramic views and stroll around historic streets filled with traditional shops.

  • 11:00 AM - Lunch. We went to Gion - Soy Milk Ramen at Uno Yokiki, since most of our group was vegan or vegetarian. And it was delicious! But you can pick any lunch spot you want. Since we went at 11AM, it wasn’t too crowded and it gave us more time to explore.

  • 12:45 PM -  Arashiyama - Bamboo Grove & Monkey Park. These two locations a bit outside the main city center, but we believe they are must sees while visiting Kyoto. We did Monkey Park first and it was about $3 each to enter. There is about a 20 minute uphill hike to get to the monkeys, but once you are there you will see them all around! From there it’s about a 25 minute walk to the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. The bamboo grove was so unique and something we hadn’t seen before so we are so glad we did it! But since we went later in the day, it was incredibly crowded. But we still got to see it’s beauty and take some great photos as well.

  • 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM: Kinkaku-ji (Golden Temple, closes at 5pm). Our last main stop for the day was the famous Golden Temple. We didn’t have a ton of time to explore the grounds here, but we made it in time before they closed to see the actual Golden Temple. And we are so glad we did! It was so beautiful to see and it was different to all the other temples we had seen on our Japan trip thus far.

  • 6:00 PM - back to hotel to relax.

  • 7:00 PM - Dinner! We went to Ippudo Ramen and it was probably our favorite ramen of the entire Japan trip!



If you have more time than we did, or you would like to book specific tours in Kyoto, we recommend using Expedia (it’s what we use on all of our trips!)



Where to Eat in Kyoto

girl eating ramen at Gion - Soy Milk Ramen at Uno Yokiki vegan ramen

Gion - Soy Milk Ramen at Uno Yokiki

ippudo vegan ramen kyoto

Ippudo

vegan gyoza at Gion - Soy Milk Ramen at Uno Yokiki

Vegan Gyoza at Gion - Soy Milk Ramen at Uno Yokiki

  • Gion - Soy Milk Ramen at Uno Yokiki (all vegan ramen)

  • Uzu Kyoto (vegan ramen)

  • Ain soph journey 

  • Veg Out

  • Ippudo (has vegan & non vegan ramen)

  • Vegan Ramen Towzen (one of the first vegan ramen shops in japan)

  • STARDUST - vegan tea shop

  • Monk (pizza)

  • Gion Yamagishi

  • Woven - coffee shop

  • Wife & Husband - coffee shop & antique store

If you want to see exactly how we spent our 24 hours in Kyoto, the best place to look would be our Kyoto YouTube vlog! You can watch it below:

As always, all opinions are honest and our own. Some links on this post are affiliate links of which we receive a small commission, but the price is the same for you.

Shanna Sciaraasia, japan, kyotoComment