Kyoto · Photography

Best Photo Spot in Kyoto

20 places, each checked by our team.

• Fushimi Sake District Canal 伏見 濠川沿いの酒蔵Fushimi — A willow-lined canal in Fushimi where white-walled, black-timbered sake storehouses reflect in the water and flat-bottomed Jikkokubune boats glide…
• Hanamikoji Street 花見小路通Gion — Gion's best-known stone-paved street, lined with latticed teahouses and red-walled Ichiriki-tei at the Shijo corner, and the classic frame for a…
• Heian Jingu Great Torii 平安神宮 大鳥居Okazaki — A huge vermilion torii, about 24 metres tall, straddling Jingu-michi in Okazaki, best shot from the canal bridge with cherry blossom or autumn trees…
• Hirosawa Pond 広沢池Saga / Ukyo — A wide, quiet pond in the Saga fields with Mt. Atago and the hills reflected at dawn, a little island with a Kannon statue and cherry trees: a…
• Hozukyo Station 保津峡駅Saga-Arashiyama — A tiny JR station perched over the Hozu river gorge between two tunnels, where you can photograph trains, the Sagano scenic train and river boats in…
• Ine Funaya Boathouses 伊根の舟屋Ine — About 230 traditional boathouses built right at the water's edge around Ine Bay, best seen from the water or the roadside lookout.
• Ishibe-koji Lane 石塀小路Higashiyama — A short, winding lane of stone walls, cobbles and ryokan entrances tucked between Nene-no-Michi and Shimokawara-dori, often called the most…
• Kamigamo Shake-machi 上賀茂 社家町Kamigamo — The old priests' quarter east of Kamigamo Shrine, where earthen-walled houses sit behind tiny stone bridges over the clear Myojin river.
• Kamishichiken 上七軒Kamishichiken — Kyoto's oldest geisha district, a short street of teahouses beside Kitano Tenmangu hung with lanterns bearing its five-ball plum crest.
• Keage Incline 蹴上インクラインOkazaki / Keage — A disused 582 m inclined railway that once hauled boats up and down the Lake Biwa Canal, now a tunnel of cherry blossom you can walk along the rails.
• Kiyomizu-dera from the Koyasu Pagoda 子安塔からの清水寺Kiyomizu — The small vermilion pagoda on the far side of the Otowa valley gives the best side-on view of Kiyomizu-dera's wooden stage and main hall rising out…
• Miyagawacho 宮川町Miyagawacho — A quiet geisha district running along the east bank of the Kamo river between Shijo and Gojo, its teahouses marked by lanterns with three…
• Nene-no-Michi ねねの道Higashiyama — A broad stone-paved promenade at the foot of Kodai-ji, framed by old walls and teahouses, that links Maruyama Park with the Ninenzaka slopes.
• Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street 嵯峨鳥居本 町並みSaga-Arashiyama — A protected village street at the far end of Arashiyama, where thatched and tiled farmhouses climb toward the vermilion torii of Atago Shrine and…
• Shimabara Omon Gate 島原大門Shimabara — The wooden entrance gate of Shimabara, Kyoto's old licensed pleasure quarter, with a 'looking-back willow' beside it: an evocative, almost…
• Takase River Ichinofunairi 高瀬川 一之船入Kiyamachi — The original boat basin of the Takase canal, dug in the early 1600s, where a replica flat-bottomed takase-bune sits moored under willows and cherry…
• Tatsumi Bridge and Gion Shirakawa 巽橋・祇園白川Gion — A small bridge over the willow-lined Shirakawa canal in Gion, with old teahouses on the water and stone-paved Shinbashi-dori: Kyoto's most romantic…
• Yamashina Canal (Lake Biwa Canal Path) 山科疏水Yamashina — A 4 km tree-lined section of the 19th-century Lake Biwa Canal through Yamashina, with a quiet path under cherry trees.
• Yasaka Koshindo 八坂庚申堂Higashiyama — A tiny temple below the Yasaka Pagoda hung with thousands of colourful cloth monkey balls, kukurizaru, that became one of Kyoto's most Instagrammed…
• Yasaka Pagoda from Yasaka-dori 八坂の塔 (法観寺)Higashiyama — The classic Kyoto postcard: the five-storey Yasaka Pagoda of Hokan-ji rising at the top of a stone-paved slope lined with wooden machiya, best shot…