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Six paths through Kyoto

Gion Dawn Backstreets

Gion at 6:30am has no tourists. Just delivery bicycles and old ladies sweeping. This route takes you through the real geiko districts before the bus groups arrive at 9am.

3.2 km3 hoursFlat

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Kitayama Cedar & Tea

The Kitayama hills are where Kyoto goes quiet. This route climbs through a cedar plantation that supplies wood to traditional builders across the city. The air smells like sap and old needles.

5.8 km4 hoursHill

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Nishijin Weaver Lanes

Nishijin streets are 1.5 meters wide because silk bolts are 40cm and that is how they dried them. This route takes you through the working textile quarter where looms still run behind open windows.

2.8 km2.5 hoursFlat

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Behind Philosopher's Path

Everyone walks Tetsugaku-no-michi, the Philosopher's Path. Almost no one climbs the trails behind it. This route takes you up through a bamboo grove to hidden temples on the hillside, then to a spring where locals still collect drinking water.

4.1 km3 hoursMild hill

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Fushimi Canal & Sake

Fushimi is not Venice. The canals are concrete, built for transporting sake barrels by boat. This route follows the waterway past brewery buildings that still produce using the underground spring water that made Fushimi famous.

4.5 km3.5 hoursFlat

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Arashiyama Before Tourists

Arashiyama gets 50,000 visitors per day. At 7am it gets about twelve. This route enters the bamboo grove from the north, before the main gate opens, and takes you through the forest while it is still silent.

4.0 km3 hoursFlat

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