Staying in Kyoto is awesome, and I highly recommend staying around Kyoto Station. It's where all the trains go, and that makes it super convenient. The western hotel chains will often have American sized beds, but Japanese bed sizes are different and a Japanese queen and king bed are the same length (77"). Good luck, tall people. There is a DoubleTree Kyoto Station, but if you need a longer bed it's worth emailing or calling ahead of time to verify.

Things you put in your mouth

KITCHEN カンパネラ (Campanella)

https://maps.app.goo.gl/XZUr8Fq6NsWa5WjC8

This is a restaurant from a family friend, specializing in Japanese curry with fusion flavors. Curry is my favorite food, and this was one of the best curries I've ever had (the June mala pork curry)

NICK STOCK wagyu steak & burger

https://maps.app.goo.gl/8XuCpT9ahycgJC2g7

This is across the street from Kyoto Station, in the basement of the Kyoto Tower building. There is a good food court for people who don't want a remarkable burger. NICK STOCK is a chain that specializes in meats, but this is the only location that focuses on burgers or a steak sandwich. We only had the burger, it is very good. If you like big American sizes, you will be disappointed, but I was pretty full.

Nakamura Tokichi: delicious matcha desserts

https://maps.app.goo.gl/TQkKr1ZwbqGicyCZ7

This is one of the more well known and famous matcha shops in the region, and they have a store in Kyoto Station which is pretty convenient. It's not cheap, but the parfaits are really good (I would do that over the shaved ice) and the tea jelly are also good.

SOT Coffee Roasters

https://maps.app.goo.gl/g4FoUf8WdEXBWwXV6

Good coffee, English speaking (and foreign staff) and if you want something weird they also have things like dip the edge of the cup in nutella.

Probably not worth going out of the way for, but if you are walking to #Kiyomizudera from Kyoto Station it's pretty great.

% ARABICA Kyoto Arashiyama

https://maps.app.goo.gl/z5WRvaEqWsH5K1W88

This is the original of the % Arabica shops, and the scenery and atmosphere is pretty wonderful because it's right on the river and just pretty.

Other coffee

Kyoto has a pretty solid coffee history, but most coffee shops are more cafe style and espresso cafes are clustered around. I had good luck at the shops along side the Kamo River and up towards Nijo Castle.

Things you put in your eye (not literally)

Kiyomizu-dera

This is a very famous temple, and it's worth visiting even with crowds. The whole building has no metal work, it's all held together with clever wood joinery. There are a few parts along where you can see up into how it's built and it's pretty fascinating.

It's common to hear that you should take a taxi or train there, but the walk is really enjoyable. If you are walking from Kyoto Station, you'll go through a less touristy part of Kyoto that is still interesting with historical buildings, and there are good shops on the way. The little village at the best of Kiyomizudera has a lot of tourist shopping, and some of the shops you can find the same products (or shop) at anywhere else.

Nijo Castle

It's a cool castle. Worth going to if you haven't been to other Japanese castles (especially authentic castles and not the ones rebuilt recently like Osaka Castle). If you like it, you can look at the 16 other historic monuments that are UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Kiyomizudera is another one, so is Byodo-in).

Arashiyama

Arashiyama is a cool spot, easy to get to by train, and has a historical vibe to it while having a ton of shops. It's been a while since I've been there, but it's a great neighborhood to wander around it. There are still a lot of residential areas adjacent to it, and the river front has good shops and food. If you keep walking, and don't mind a steep walk, you can go to the monkey park (the monkeys are jerks, it's hilarious -- just make sure to feed them inside the safety cages). There is also a fairly famous bamboo park area.

The train station is fairly close to the start of the interesting parts, which is convenient, but you'll want to walk around a bunch.

Hozugawa river boat ride

If you want to burn up even more hours, the Hozugawa river boat ride is actually pretty fun (at least in the summer). You take the train past Arashiyama, and the ride ends in Arashiyama. Beautiful scenery, fun little river excursion.

Uji

Uji is the green tea capital (other places try to hype themselves up, but Uji is the OG). There's also really good restaurants and bakeries outside the main tourist area, but the tourist area also delivers pretty great food. It's on the way to Nara, which was the old-old capital and has interesting history.

It's not a far train ride from Kyoto Station (and there are express trains), but the walk to the interesting parts by the river will eat up more time so it's worth having 3-4 hours. You can follow the crowds, but head north east out of the train station on the main road, and you'll see a bunch of older looking streets right before the river off to the right. That's where the great stuff is at. On the way is Hoho Hojicha, which is our new favorite. The soft serve ice cream in Uji is really good, either matcha or hojicha.

Byodo-in temple is worth going to, and it's on the 10 yen coin!

https://maps.app.goo.gl/WMr5P2GbCmKPjvPRA

If you take the train, and walk for a bit, you'll get distracted by a ton of delicious looking snacks. You should eat all of them, and when you can't eat any more, going through Byodo-in is a nice experience. The garden is really nice, the temple is really nice. It's just a damn nice place to be.