7 Best Bars in Kyoto, Japan

This wood-paneled one-room izakaya pub doesn't look like much, but it regularly fills up with expats and locals. Visitors and regulars sit around the communal tables to swap stories and adventures. Watch out for flying bottle caps, though—the staff have a knack for popping open beer bottles with chopsticks.

Performances almost nightly with Japanese and non-Japanese musicians. Seat charge is ¥600, but the cover charge changes with the acts. The venue is on the third floor of the Ohto Building (also read as Kamo-higashi Building), a few buildings north of Shijo-dori on the west side of Yamato-oji-dori. Doors open at 6:30 and performances start at 7:30.

Popular Metro frequently hosts famous DJs from Tokyo and abroad. The range of music played—experimental dance, hip-hop, reggae, disco, salsa, and more—is very broad.

Trestle tables line the graffiti-covered walls of this basement café-bar that hosts indie rock, jazz, and blues musicians. It's a good place to tap into Kyoto's underground music scene. In the evening you can order simple plates to accompany your beer or wine.

An enduring live-music venue that generally presents rock and blues acts, Taku Taku occasionally hosts well-known Japanese performers. You can find it in an old kura, or storehouse, in the backstreets southwest of the Takashimaya department store.

The atmosphere is very “New York experimental theater” at this multidisciplinary venue for music, dance, video, and other performances about 20 nights a month. Events are from ¥2,000, and the cover charge includes a drink; you can also order snacks and light meals.

An Israeli sake aficionado named Yoram stocks an extensive selection of the delicate rice wine, from unfiltered to aged, fruity to dry, all available by the glass. A tasting set of three kinds of sake starts at ¥1,200. The dishes on the menu have all been chosen to complement the libations. By day this cozy bar is a soba shop run by Yoram's partner.