This dispatch is part of From the Window Seat, a series of immersive, long-form personal trip reflections, in-depth destination pieces, and sharp hospitality evaluations grounded in firsthand reporting and personal experience.
Everyone will tell you Kyoto has too much to see. They’re right. It’s a trap.
I went in with an impossibly long list—temples, shrines, bamboo, monkeys, food and drinks—and came out with the wisdom that the best version of Kyoto, like any great trip, is one that is earned through discovery instead of checkmarks on a list.
My Kyoto trip had many detours: a tiny eel restaurant down an unmarked alley, a Zen garden I almost skipped, a hotel I booked same-day to escape another, a cocktail bar with a core-memory-worthy view. Other itinerary items felt underwhelming, and places I was told time and time again were “must-see” had their magic dulled by the constant swarm of crowds. Of all the magical things I still think about from that trip three years later, the one thing they all have in common is that none of them were planned.
Kyoto, more so than other places, rewards wandering. It rewards the traveler who is willing to put the list down and see what finds them. Here's everything I'd tell a friend before they go.
Read on for:
The hotel I booked same-day to escape a horrible one—and why it became my favorite hotel in the world
Three hotels on my list for next time
My honest take on what’s worth it, what’s overhyped, and what I’d skip entirely
The tiny alley restaurant that was the best meal of the trip, my favorite pay-what-you-want omakase, and the cocktail bar with a view that stopped me mid-sentence
Everything I wish I'd known before I went (and a few things I'd do completely differently)