Nishiki Market is a narrow, covered street paralleling one of Kyoto’s main avenues. It features more than 100 stores and restaurants specializing in food and tableware. Here you can find fresh seafood and vegetables, famous Kyoto pickles and sweets, dishes, knives, teas, and much more.

Many stores offer free or low-cost tastings of their most popular products. You can also sit in a small bar or restaurant and watch the lively life of this part of Kyoto, which has changed little in the last 400 years.

Teramachi Street is one of the most interesting historical streets in Kyoto. A thousand years ago, this area was home to the fashionable residences of those close to the emperor’s court. During the Middle Ages civil wars, this part of the city was almost destroyed. The mighty Toyotomi Hideyoshi renovated the war-torn capital and gathered Buddhist temples on this street, around which a shopping and artisan district eventually formed. Today, Teramachi Street features old temples, traditional and modern stores, and a variety of restaurants.

According to the legend, Yasaka-jinja Shrine was founded in 656 (almost a century and a half before Kyoto) and has long been loved by the citizens. When epidemics ravaged the country in 869, the emperor ordered a grand procession to the temple, and the deity Gozu Tenno stopped the disease. It was the beginning of Japan’s oldest and most colorful festival, Gion Matsuri. In Yasaka-jinja, you can pray to deities of family, beauty, and wealth and stroll through Maruyama Park to enjoy live music and see the rickshaws running around.

Geisha district Gion is Kyoto’s largest and most vivid geisha district. Its history dated to the Middle Ages when restaurants and tea houses for pilgrims began to open around Yasaka Shrine. The picturesque streets of the district are filled with traditional houses with wooden facades, running rickshaws, geisha, and their apprentices (maiko), who still live in Gion and entertain guests every night with their dancing, talking, and table games.

Fushimi Inari Shrine is one of the most important shrines of the Old Capital and the head shrine for a network of over 32,000 subordinate shrines across the country.

The god Inari, to whom the shrine is dedicated, is considered the patron saint of rice farming and artisans, merchants, and business people in general. According to tradition, a generous offering can earn the god’s favor. In Fushimi Inari Shrine, the best gift is considered to be a temple gate-torii. The popularity of the god Inari can be judged by the fact that the entire shrine area is densely packed with thousands of red gates of various sizes, forming red corridors leading from the main altar to the top of the mountain.

Nijo Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Kyoto, built in the early 17th century for the powerful shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. During his visits to the imperial capital, the shogun stayed in the castle with several ornate palaces and a beautiful garden. One of the complex’s palaces, Ninomaru, has survived to this day. The palace’s interior is painted by famous artists of the Kano school and is richly decorated with wood carvings and gold. Tokugawa Ieyasu himself admired the garden created by Kobori Enshu, the great master of the tea ceremony and landscape design.

Zen Rock Garden, or dry garden, with its hidden meanings and allegories, is a beautiful place for contemplation and meditation. Each garden element has meaning, and no randomly placed pieces exist. A dry garden is an orderly system subject to well-established aesthetic rules. Sea waves spread before the viewers, the mountain peaks rise above the clouds, and animals freeze in different poses. This microcosm of Zen Buddhist aesthetics is created using stones of various shapes. The distinctive symbolism of rock gardens is a unique manifestation of the multifaceted Japanese culture.

Kinkaku-ji Temple, often called the Golden Temple, is one of Japan’s most famous temples and Kyoto’s main attractions. Built at the end of the 14th century, this complex, with its three-story pavilion covered with gold leaf, captivated the minds of its contemporaries. The famous Japanese writer Yukio Mishima captured its fate and glory in the novel “The Golden Temple.” Today Kinkaku-ji Temple is a must-see on any traveler’s itinerary in Japan. In addition to the famous pavilion, the UNESCO World Heritage Site also features a traditional walking garden, small waterfalls, and a tea house, representing the culture of the samurai era.

Byodoin Temple is a unique example of Heian-era architecture and a UNESCO World Heritage Site featured on a 10-yen coin and a 10,000 bill. The complex was initially built as a villa for the aristocrats from the Fujiwara family and was later transformed into a Buddhist temple. The grand Phoenix Hall and the surrounding garden were designed to resemble the Pure Land where Amida Buddha lives. In the center of the hall stands a statue of Buddha surrounded by the celestials dancing and playing musical instruments. In the temple museum, you can see the original sculptures of the celestials and other treasures that miraculously survived centuries of wars and fires.

Todai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex whose main building is one of the largest wooden structures in the world. Built in the mid-8th century by order of the emperor with donations from all over the country, the temple features the biggest bronze statue of Buddha in Japan. Almost all the bronze produced in Japan at the time was used to cast the colossal sculpture. The complex also has several unique wooden structures, including the giant Nandaimon Gate with the famous Nio guard figures, the Bell Tower, and Nigatsu-do Hall. The entire complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kasuga Taisha is one of Japan’s most ancient Shinto shrines, founded in the mid-8th century to protect the capital, Nara. A UNESCO World Heritage site, it is famous for its kasuga-zukuri architectural style, the thousands of stone and bronze lanterns decorating its grounds, and the pristine ancient forest where sacred deer, considered messengers of the deities, roam free.

The Yoiyoiyama and Yoiyama evening festivities preceding the yamaboko parade are an opportunity for the residents of the areas responsible for building the floats to rest after their work. The other citizens can relax, enjoy the cool of the night, and see up close the decorations of the magnificent floats that have guarded the Old Capital for centuries.

On the main streets that are closed to traffic, the festival floats are accessible this evening, and there are rows of stands selling food and souvenirs. Here you can immerse yourself in the atmosphere of an authentic Japanese festival with its traditional music and entertainment.

Himeji Castle is one of Japan’s 12 historically preserved castles and is considered the most beautiful. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The castle was built in the early 17th century and was second in size and beauty only to the lost Edo Castle, the residence of the Tokugawa shoguns. Unscathed by wars, fires, and natural disasters for 400 years, the castle is often featured in movies about the samurai era. Fans of classic Japanese cinema remember it for Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran.” The impregnable castle holds secrets of Japanese military strategy and keeps stories of gods and ghosts. The name “White Heron Castle” reflects the beauty of its walls.

Dotonbori is a neighborhood that stretches along the Dotonbori canal between Dotonboribashi Bridge and Nipponbashi Bridge. The history of Dotonbori goes back four hundred years. In the early 17th century, this area was designated for entertainment venues by a government decree. By the end of the Edo era, there were six Kabuki theaters, five Bunraku theaters, and other smaller establishments. A restaurant area eventually grew around the theaters, and the district became one of the most popular places for evening entertainment for citizens and visitors. By now, there’s little left of the traditional theaters, but the area is still famous for its active nightlife, entertainment, and delicious food.

Designed by architect Hara Hiroshi in 1993, this 173-meter building is the 19th tallest in Osaka and one of the most notable parts of the cityscape. Two forty-story towers are connected at the top by Floating Garden Observatory, whose glass verandas offer beautiful city views. The basement floor, with stores and restaurants, resembles a Japanese city street of the early 20th century. Various companies’ offices occupy the building. There is a lovely park with fountains at the base of the towers.

Gion Festival is one of Japan’s three major holidays and Kyoto’s main festival. The accompanying celebrations stretch throughout July, but the festival peaks on July 17 when a parade of giant floats decorated with ancient treasures goes through the city.

In 2014, the tradition of the second float procession held on July 24 was revived, and Gion Festival now includes two processions of yamaboko floats.

However, the climax of the festivities remains the procession that goes through the city on July 17. At 9 a.m., 23 carriages in a pre-determined lottery order start parading through the downtown area between Shijo and Oike Streets, cleansing the city of foul forces and evil spirits that are attracted to the floats’ bright decorations. The most spectacular moment of the procession is the turning of the multi-ton float using bamboo poles and water, which requires great attention and coordinated teamwork.

Daitoku-ji Temple is one of Kyoto’s largest Zen Buddhist complexes, founded in the early 14th century. The history of Daitoku-ji is connected to the history of the Japanese military class (samurai) and the tea ceremony. More than twenty small temples are on its grounds, but only a few offer access to their treasures. One of them is Daisen-in. Its stone garden is considered one of the finest in Japan, and the famous tea master Sen no Rikyu himself visited here. In a small room are the wise sayings of the monk Takuan inscribed on scrolls. He was a close friend of swordsman Miyamoto Musashi and the author of “Writings of the Zen Master to the Sword Master.”

Jisho-ji Temple, better known as Ginkakuji or Silver Pavilion, was built in 1490 as the residence of the 8th Shogun of the Ashikaga family, Yoshimasa. After his death, the complex was converted into a Buddhist temple belonging to the Shokoku-ji temple school. The Silver Pavilion, a small two-story building overlooking the garden, was designed to imitate the Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji), built by Yoshimasa’s grandfather, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. The pavilion and the surrounding moon-viewing garden have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kennin-ji Temple is the oldest Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, built in 1202 by the founder of the Rinzai School, Monk Eisai. Located in the south of Geisha District Gion, the complex occupies a vast area and is an example of a classic Zen Buddhist temple. The dry gardens surround the main hall. There is also a tea ceremony garden and a small tea house. Prominent artists painted the sliding doors fusuma. You can move from the main hall to the Dharma Hall, where the ceiling is decorated with a breathtaking picture of two dragons. It was the temple’s 800th anniversary present.