Kyoto & Tokyo tips
 

Hi, I will be in Tokyo and in Kyoto this August for a few days. Which area is the best to look for a hotel in Kyoto? I would like to be in the center. It's my first time in Japan and I don't know how big Kyoto is and how you can move around. Any good tips about what to visit? I usually try to find the spots that are not so popular with tourists but with locals so any suggestions would be very useful. The same goes for Tokyo.
I've started my research but any tips I can find from locals or from other travelers are very welcomed.
Thank you.

My favourite location for Kyoto (after three trips, the most recent of which we just returned from) is close to the junction between Sanjo Dori and Kawaramachi.

It's good for both the metro and a number of bus routes, which makes it an easy ride or walk to major sights.

It's also excellent for both breakfast and dinner options, there are plenty within short walking distance, to the east of Kawaramachi, along the river, or within the square block created by Shijo, Kawaramachi, Oike and Karasuma.

Plus it's lovely for shopping too.

We've previously spent a couple of nights not far from here, in Gion, in a traditional ryokan - that was on our first trip and I highly recommend Shiraumu ryokan.

On this trip, I initially booked a hotel right by the Yasaka Shrine, thinking it would be a great location - nearly all the central bus routes pass by here, so it's very convenient transport-wise. I had tried for the same hotel we stayed at previously, or one near it, but just couldn't find any availability.

But not only was our hotel disappointing, I found the sheer level of crowds on the pavements frustrating, and the eating options in the immediate vicinity were not as good as those by the location I describe above - there are a lot of souvenir and wagashi shops here, and many of the restaurants are super touristy with menus that are all over the shop and higher prices too. We were booked for 7 nights but realised the first night or two were part of a holiday weekend, and that availability for less expensive and better located hotels was open for the last 5 nights. So we cancelled (with notice) and moved back to my preferred spot for the last 5 nights.

Our preferred hotel, btw, is the Kyoto Royal Hotel & Spa. The rooms are comfortable, and the larger sized twins/ doubles are fairly spacious by Japanese standards. (That said, we were upgraded this time to a corner suite, which was huge). The rooms are not super luxe but they are good enough for us, and what I really like is how extremely helpful the staff are. Since our last trip, the hotel seems to be more popular with large tour groups, which means the lobby can be a little overrun on occasion, but that's a minor niggle and really, I love the location and service here. This is a mid budget hotel, so it won't compare with the very price international / American chains that many often recommend, so do keep that in mind when comparing.

Meant to add, for tips on what to visit, you should spend lots of time reading www.japan-guide.com, the single best resource for travellers to Japan that I've ever come across. Most of us regular Japan posters swear by it.

My trips: Study japan-guide.com and choose the things that interest you most. We loved Arashimaya, for instance, but choose what you like. Forget the idea that you will be going to places that others don't visit.

We spent 6 nights (5 full days) in Kyoto and didn't see everything on our list, but we saw enough to be satisfied for a first trip.

How many nights on the ground in Japan do you have?

I just booked a hotel in Tokyo at Tokyo Central station.
When I travelled to Beijing and Shanghai I found a couple of areas that were not popular to tourists and only locals knew about them. That's why I am asking if you have any similar suggestions.
We will stay 7 nights in Tokyo and 5 in Kyoto. I am already collecting information from japan-guide which is very helpful. When I travel I always study and try to make a daily plan not to waste time when I am there. We will of course try to go to the main tourist attractions. Since my personal interest is around arts and film do you know where I can find a specialised DVD or blu ray store in Tokyo or Kyoto? I am looking for art house films mostly and posters, post-cards etc.
thank you again for your help and comments.

Wondering if Osaka might not be your port of call for the DVD/Blu-Ray materials. It is a major electronics hub.

Hi, timeryin. Welcome to Fodors - goodness, I sometimes think people need a thick skin to post here! Just a few thoughts: August will be very hot and humid, particularly in Kyoto. I find it necessary to pace oneself: eg alternating outdoor visits with indoor airconditioned stops. And it is always a few degrees cooler in the Meiji Jingu forest. August is Obon - so keep an eye on local sources like Tokyo Cheapo and Timeout for listings of festivals - there should be local obon celebrations with street food/dancing in the streets. Re DVDs and bluerays - please remember to check that whatever you get in Japan will be compatible with your home country. Jimbocho (the book district) has a number of shops carrying movie posters. Nakano Broadway is a good place for anime/manga posters. Jimbocho, by the way, doesn't attract many tourists because the bookshops are Japanese-language. I don't know about Kyoto but there are many places in Tokyo that are 'off the tourist trail.' If your particular interest is art/film, you may be interested in http://www.spoon-tamago.com/ I spend half the year in Tokyo and it is hard to keep up with all the art/performance events but Spoon-Tamago has pointed me in some interesting directions. You'll have a great trip - please don't be put off asking questions here.

Tiemryin, I second Boveney's welcome to Fodor's. I also concur that Kyoto is miserably hot and humid in August. My healthy son got heat poisoning there in the summer, and we lost a day of travel while he rested. We did not know at the time that you need to drink tons of water, and either wear a hat, or better yet, hold an umbrella. It's not the heat, it's the humidity.

Regarding the DVD/blu ray question, you should go to the Akihibara district in Tokyo, which is right off the subway. There are tons of electronic shops there, including DVD shops. I am sure you will find what you need. It is also a lively area with lots of restaurants, so you can stroll around there and people watch a bit too.

You should also look into going to Odaiba for an afternoon while in Tokyo. There is a Panasonic museum there, an elaborate Toyota showroom, and a Fujii tower, with great views. It's a nice change from visiting temples.

Thank you for your very helpful comments and welcome! I've been to other Asian countries during August and I know what the humidity is like! I will take notes with your suggestions and if you have any more you are of course very welcomed.

Let us know where you book in Kyoto, hope my suggestions were of use. I'm awful with hot temperatures and humidity, they make me wilt completely, but I know many friends who aren't bothered by it at all and can happily get out and about!

any good tips for cheap but good sushi and Japanese food? So far your suggestions are very helpful!

There are quite a few posts here on the board for food, so would suggest having a search on those before asking more specific questions.

It also depends on your budget. I know a lot of folks who are keen to do one, even two or three, of those super super expensive sushi restaurants in Tokyo, the ones that run several hundred dollars per person for a meal. I don't mind spending the big bucks for a high-end traditional Kaiseki meal but not for sushi, because even the less expensive sushi is way better in Japan than I can easily find in the UK. So in Tokyo, we really like a chain called Sushi Zanmai, which is low-to-medium budget and the sushi I've had there is always amazing. Really love it there, was one of our last meals in Tokyo at the end of last month.

For other types of food, there are so many options... maybe check out the kinds of foods you really want to try and ask for favourites for some of these?

I am a fan of Tenya, a chain serving tempura tendon (tempura on top of a bowl of rice, with a signature sauce). I always get the small tendon: bowl of rice with prawn, green bean, lotus root, squid tempura on top, miso soup, unlimited tea or mugicha (cold barley drink)in summer, all the pickles you want - total cost of 450 yen. This is not gourmet fare but it is tasty and filling and definitely 'authentic Japanese.' Sit down service, you can order a beer, there are seasonal specialities (eg fiddlehead fern tempura in Spring).Lots of side orders available: soba, etc. Branches all over Tokyo including in the most expensive areas, ie Ginza, Akasaka. English menus too.

The cheapest sushi can be found at grocery stores. They make it fresh, and put it in plastic trays, and it's really good. Ditto for other foods they have there, such as fried fish. A tray of sushi, which is plenty for me, is about $5 to $7.

Like Kavey, my preference for lodging in Kyoto is in the Kawaramachi district near Sanjo Dori. Whether that will work for you will depend on your priorities, but it is (as Kavey noted) it is very well-located for public transpiration.

Enjoy!

Interesting info on the location. My first visit to Kyoto I stayed in the Palace Side Hotel, which I felt was a bad location with few eating options in the evening and poor public transport (I was limping. so the stairs at the subway station were a problem).

This trip I have booked a hotel close to Kyoto Station, on the grounds that public transport would be good, I would arrive from the airport in the evening and don't want to have to figure how to get somewhere else, and I could always eat in the station. I can cancel the reservation, if somewhere else would really be better.

Kavey - booked the Kyoto Royal hotel and spa. Price was great and I figured we'd go with your recommendation! Thanks.

The things I liked about the Kawaramachi district near Sanjo Dori were that it had a lot of interesting little restaurants, was within easy walking distance of two different subway lines that I knew I would be using while in the area and within easy walking distance of Pontocho and Gion, and at least at that time, the area had a nice atmosphere about it. JMO.

I think staying near Kyoto Station makes a great deal of sense for those making a lot of day trips out of Kyoto (which I didn't do), but it's also along a subway line and so would, I think, be a good location for many purposes.

A good compromise is Shijo Karasuma: it's on a direct line from the station and one stop from Kawaramachi on the other line. Lots of buses along Shijo Dori and one block over from Sanjo Dori (Sanjo Dori = 3rd St, Shijo = 4th).

I've stayed at the Toyoko Inn right there. It's the same as all other Toyoko Inns. Their map says use exit 20 but it's stairs (I walk with a cane); exit 2 has an elevator and is only a few feet further but around a corner.

An exercise in persistence is to find your way from the Shinkansen tracks to the subway tracks at Kyoto Station without resorting to stairs.

I hope you like it as much as we do. As I said, the rooms are comfortable and spacious (for Japan) but not luxe in terms of decor / style. But for us the space, the service from staff and above all the location, really make this hotel a winner for us.

Kavey - don't worry...we are not expecting more than what you made the hotel out to be, but for us it is mainly a place to hang our hats. Location, cleanliness and a pleasant staff go a long way.t

As we are not looking for super expensive restaurants, any suggestions in the area?

"An exercise in persistence is to find your way from the Shinkansen tracks to the subway tracks at Kyoto Station without resorting to stairs." LOL!

My problem with the subway station near the Palace Side was that the only elevator was at the other end of the amazingly long station. I had a choice of 60 steps or a very long limp.

I just booked Toyoko for Nara, would like to mix things up a bit, but will look into the area. (The Kyoto Royal isn't available for my dates, and pricier than I like to go in any case.)

The Royal was booked on most sites, but persistence paid. I think we got the room for about $100. By the way Kavey - did you ever eat in the hotel's restaurant and if so, so you recommend it? We read that there is a Japanese BBQ buffet there.

I checked the hotel's own website and booking.com. Some days fully booked, others $160. That's in October, probably a more popular time than August. (Hopefully not so hot and humid...)

Thursday - we paid $118 per night through Hotwire. I usually check hotel's website directly and often find it higher. We will also be there in October.

dgunbug - thanks for the suggestion. I didn't know Hotwire was offering specific hotels. However, still sold out for my dates. I get there Oct 11, how about you?

I never ate within the hotel, I found it overpriced compared with everything available outside.

Places nearby that I liked:
* A very cheap but delicious ramen place, just a few yards South on the same side of same road: http://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/02/kai...he-corner.html

* Katsukura for tonkatsu, this is the original branch and has become a lot lot better known with tourists since our first visit in 2012, but still very tasty. You'll likely have to queue, we queued for about 15 minutes on an early weekday evening

* The kaiten sushi (conveyor belt) sushi just before the entrance to the covered bit of Sanjo Dori, so it's on the same road as the hotel, opposite side, a little South of the hotel. Excellent pricing, if you eat early you won't need to queue but if you eat late you will.

* Gyu-Kaku is a large Korean yakiniku chain, there's a branch right near the hotel but I can't recall the address. We have visited all three times we've been in Kyoto. http://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/03/enj...-in-japan.html

* For a slightly pricier but very high quality yakiniku, on this trip we went to Hiro, recommended by the hotel and very good. It's in a narrow street just behind the hotel and the entrance way is a very narrow alleyway, so you'll definitely need a map from the hotel and the name written down to spot. https://www.instagram.com/p/BD-vCTvkPR6/

* There's a MOS burger down towards Shijo Dori, it's a Japanese burger chain, I rather love their burgers. I know some visitors don't want to have burgers while in Japan but these are burgers with the Japanese twist, and we loved the experience.

* For breakfast, if you can get there soon enough after it opens, try the French toast at Coffee Smart. It's very close to the hotel, on Teramachi Dori, in the covered bit and well worth visiting. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/...!4d135.7670576

* In fact, when we fancied a Western breakfast, we found quite a lot of local places in Kyoto, here's my report but Coffee Smart above is probably the one I loved best, we went again this time for coffee and breakfast. http://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/03/kyo...fast-sets.html

:-D

Kavey- thanks for all the great tips. My husband will be especially happy about he burger and I am not adverse to trying it if there is a special twist.

Thursday - I'm afraid there is no overlap in our time in kyoto. We don't arrive in Japan until October 19 and will not be in Kyoto until the 26th.

@dgunbug - pity. By the 26th I should be in Matsue. Things do seem to be pretty booked up the middle of October - I heard back from Japanese Guest Houses that there were no rooms in any of their ryokans for the 22nd in Kurashiki (or it might be more accurate to say no rooms for one person).

Dgunbug It's very much fast food, like McDs and Burger King, but the burgers are more savoury, with more umami in the condiments inside them. Loved them. And green soda!

On our second trip we also noticed that Burger King were doing a limited edition Black Ninja burger and popped in to try it, which was fun. We had 3 weeks on that trip so didn't mind having the occasional non-Japanese meal, especially when it was the Japanese take on Western favourites.
http://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/02/bur...uro-ninja.html

Any transportation tips? We will arrive at Narita airport and we will go to Tokyo Station where the hotel is located. For 7 days we will be in Tokyo and we will use the metro. Then we will travel to Kyoto by train and stay there for 6 days. On the day of our departure we will go to Osaka to fly back to Greece. Do you think that we should by a JR Pass? I am reading that we can use it also in Tokyo but only with Yamanote line. Is that enough to travel around Tokyo? Or is it better to by a pass for Tokyo metro, then a train ticket to Kyoto, a metro pass for Kyoto and then another ticket to Osaka?
thank you!

I would use hyperdia.com to look at your train ticket prices and work out whether JRPass is worthwhile for you or not.

In Tokyo, we used the metro to get around, you can buy a PASMO card at Narita on arrival, load money onto it as and when needed and just touch it to the scanner to go through gates. Much quicker than buying tickets each time.

In Kyoto we mostly used the bus, it's a flat fee within most of the tourist area of Kyoto, I think 200 yen. We used PASMO cards to pay that too, if I recall correctly.

We used the metro in Kyoto on the first two trips, but not this time.

I would also like to visit an island close to Tokyo. Do you think that it's possible to travel from Tokyo in the morning and return at night? Or we should spend a night there?

Well, that would depend on the island! Check japan-guide.com for your options, and note that it includes transportation information.

Do you know where I can find information about music festivals or concerts in Tokyo & Kyoto during August?
thank you

thank you hawaiiantraveler !

I first "travelled" to Japan in 1946 by ocean liner, sharing compartment with 80-100 other 17-18 year olds. It had the quaint name of "troop ship".....

returned under much more comfortable circumstances, twice, most recent in 2007 (Tokyo and Kyoto and vicinities)

In Tokyo we had booked very "different" but inviting lodgings in The Park Hotel, located on the rim of beautiful Hamarikyu Park, where one can catch a boat up the Sumida River to the Asakusa district (40-minute ride). Highly recommend both the hotel and the boat trip.

The Park Hotel is located from the 25th floor-30th floor of a Shiodome office building(great views of the city from the sizeable hotel room)..excellent restaurant, and a breakfast coffee shop in the ground floor lobby.

Easy walk or short taxi ride to the Ginza, or through a series of pedestrian tunnels to the Tokyo subway system which we quickly learned to negotiate.

Don't miss the fabled 10 am "grand opening" ceremony at the Ginza's Matsukoshi Department Store. Photo ops and fun.

Harujuku on a Sunday is a maze of kids in a variety of "costumes," actually their everyday clothes(?).

Speaking of sushi, seriously, we found one of the better sushi restos to be at the famed Tsukiji Fish Market...place called Ichiban (#1) Sushi and it was..very moderate stateside prices. Many locals and only a few turistas.


Very high-end Omotesando Street is worth a walkthrough and window shopping, and we found one of the best kept secrets in Tokyo eating (which was touted by one of a taxi driver as the "best okonomaki spot in the city")...and we both love okonomaki if properly prepared(batter, eggs, cabbage, shrimp and onion)...we judge it by an old place in LA's Little Tokyo). Located in the little Maryoshi building between the stores of Shu-uemura (make-up products) and Tod's (shoes and bags)..on Omotesando, directly across the street from (what else?) Benetton's!...third floor on a rickety elevator. All is prepared on a BeniHana type-hot table.

So much besides the usual sites to see in town..which we covered quite well and easily over a full five day period.

Next...fly to Kyushu and my old "home town", for two years, Beppu, and on to Kyoto. Stick around if you wish)

I will post pics below.
(I must mention we had come to Japan after almost three independent weeks in a good chunk of China (our second visit to China...1984). Tired? Nah!)

SHOULD mention that my memories are of smouldering cities like Hiroshima, as part of the third- wave of replacement/occupation troops. When viewing Hiroshima, can you imagine about 200 teenaged American kids standing completely silent while those few of us with little cheapo Brownie cameras shot pix from a distance. We were en route to Kyushu and the town of Beppu (also hammered by B-29's)

apropo of my note above...here is Hiroshima in 1946, about six months following the A-Bomb-ing
https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...98700860785122