Kyoto in autumn, without the crowds

Kyoto in November is the most requested week in our calendar. The maples on the eastern hills turn red for roughly two weeks, and in that window the famous temples can take an hour just to enter.

You do not need to avoid the season. You need to plan the day backwards from the crowds.

Start before the coaches

Kiyomizu-dera opens at six in the morning. Tour coaches start arriving around nine. If you walk up through the Sannenzaka lanes at half past six, you will have the wooden stage almost to yourself, and the light on the maples is softer than at noon.

Fushimi Inari never closes. Go before sunrise, walk past the first crowded gates, and keep climbing. Above the halfway point most visitors have turned back.

Spend the middle of the day somewhere quiet

From eleven to three, the big names are at their busiest. That is when we send groups to places that rarely appear in guidebooks: the moss garden at Gio-ji in Arashiyama, the sub-temples of Daitoku-ji, or a long lunch of tofu in a garden restaurant near Nanzen-ji.

Come back at dusk

Several temples hold evening illuminations in autumn. Eikan-do and Kodai-ji light their gardens after dark, and the crowds are thinner than you would expect, because most day-trippers have already caught the train back to Osaka.

Let someone else hold the tickets

Timed entry, tea ceremony bookings and ryokan dinners all need to be arranged weeks ahead. On our Kyoto tour your planner books everything and sends each reservation to the app, so on the day you only need to follow the route.