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.

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.

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.

Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum is a museum of Kyoto’s largest sake-producing company. The museum is in the Fushimi area, considered one of the country’s best centers of sake production since the Middle Ages. Fushimi is Japan’s second largest sake-producing area, with about 40 producers and more than a hundred different types of sake.

“Gekkeikan” produces several dozen varieties of sake, and the company museum provides an opportunity to learn about the history of the drink, the production process, and the types of sake. The wine tasting is also included.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Kokoen Garden was created near Himeji Castle relatively recently, in 1992, for the city’s 100th anniversary. There are nine landscaped gardens of different styles in a small area of the complex, where you can enjoy the seasonal flowers and learn a lot about Japanese landscape art.

Kyo-Ryori Tenjitaikai is an exhibition of Kyoto cuisine held annually in the Old Capital since 1886. It brings together chefs from the city’s best restaurants, among which about a hundred are Michelin-star chefs!

Kyoto cuisine is famous for its refined taste and the freshest and strictly seasonal products and for its exquisite serving that presents each dish in a unique way that allows you to fully enjoy the taste, aroma, and appearance of a culinary masterpiece.

At the exhibition, you can try samples of ordinary everyday and festive dishes, enjoy the demonstration performances of masters of fish cutting and artistic serving, and watch competitions among professionals and amateurs.

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.

Heian-jingu Shrine was founded in 1895 to commemorate the 1,100th anniversary of Kyoto. There is a scaled-down replica of the first imperial palace after the capital was moved here from Nara. The complex with a promenade garden was named Heian-jingu after the Old Capital. It was dedicated to the deities Kammu and Komei (the first and last emperors who ruled in Kyoto).