your opinion: how many days in Kyoto?
 

I'm trying to decide how many days we should stay in Kyoto. We're travelling in December, and we want to spend 8 days in Tokyo (some days will be holidays there, so that means "closed places") and may be 2 in Kyoto. Shall we add one extra day in Kyoto? Is there a lot to see? Since it's winter time is it still green?
Thanks for your opinions!
Veromar

Yes, add a day in Kyoto. No it won't still be green: its winter time. The leaves will have fallen by the end of this month.

Definitely add the extra day in Kyoto. There are lots of temples to see and they are kinda spread out (eg. Kiyomizudera, Kinkaku-ji, Ginkaku-ji, Nijo-jo). If you want to see the Imperial Palace (Kyoto Gosho), I believe you need to book an appointment. Plus I assume you are traveling by train from/to Tokyo so that will eat up some on the ground time in Kyoto.

By all means add one or more days. A week just barely scratches the surface of all that KYoto and the surrounding areas have to offer.

Thanks for your opinions! We added one more day to Kyoto for a total of 3 nights. We just hope we can still see some green!!

IMHO you'll need three full days to really appreciate the city, without feeling being rushed from one temple to another shrine.

For Tokyo part, there are many places that would be open for holidays, so not everything would be "closed" during the holidays. My ideal mix would be more like 5 days each for Tokyo and Kyoto.

BTW, moss gardens would be still green... would it count?

We just spent 3 nights in Tokyo (our seond time) and 4 in Kyoto (our first time). Don't skimp on Kyoto. New Kyoto is an ordinary city, but the old parts with the ancient temples and shrines are truly breathtaking. I would imagine they'd look lovely in snow. Hire a guide and treat yourselves to Kyoto's famous tofu dishes. Tokyo is equally fun - great shopping, great food and a great buzz - but has less jaw dropping sightseeing.

Just saw this upcoming schedule of events for Kyoto this winter. Might interest you or someone

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3952.html

Aloha!

I had a little different opinion of Kyoto than most of the travellers. But that was just my natural grouchiness. But I did want to tell you that the one place that I was looking forward to visiting while we were in Kyoto was the Miho Museum.It is supposed to be about an hour or so from Kyoto. Unfortunately the day that we had set aside for that visit was our last day in Kyoto and that day was a Monday. Due to my stupidity and lack of research, I did not know that many museums, of course including this one, are closed on Moday. You might want to search this site for info on the Miho and put that in your plans.

Hope for snow - it's like walking thru the most spectacular Japanese calendars you have ever seen. Dress warmly.
It's all beautiful, even the places not on the "must see" lists. Every step presents another picture.
Listen, too, for the sounds of dripping, as the drops hit different surfaces.
If your town features a Japanese garden, as we have here in Los Angeles (2 actually) prepare yourself by visitng it, so you become attuned to this "slow-seeing" and hearing way of enjoying a place.

I would reverse the number of days in both cities. Tokyo is another modern city with waterfront development. Yes it is fascinating, but not for more than 3 days.

Kyoto is green (conifers everywhere) and has places where you just want to sit and meditate, even if you are not into that. Some of the temple and shrine gardens are incredible. The food, the cobblestone streets, the buses (not as intimidating to me as in Tokyo), and the people were what I prefer to remember as Japan. You will spend at least one day in Nara, another ancient capital, just a short local transit-train ride away. There are other sites within a short local bus or transit-train ride from Kyoto.

I felt like I was seeing Japan in Kyoto and Nara and environs. In Tokyo, I felt I was in another major urban area driven by materialism and technology, like every other major city in the world. Kyoto has soul. Tokyo was soul-less.

I don't agree with that, rp, it depends, I guess, where you stay in Tokyo-I've always found it to be VERY Japanese, and parts of the city do indeed emanate "soulfulness" and tradition-certainly the area where I always stay-Asakusa, which is a very old Tokyo neighborhood-I have a friend who was born and raised there-it's filled with shopkeepers who have had the same shops in their families for generations, and at night, around Sensoji temple, and along the back streets of Nakamisi-dori-it's so very peaceful-there's nothing quite like walking around Sensoji at night, looking at the koi pools-so quiet, you can hear a pin drop-really.

But Kyoto is very different because it really looks to Japan's past, whereas Tokyo has always represented its future.