Two things that decide a short trip and no guide can answer for you: how much daylight there is on the dates you are looking at, and how much free time your inbound and outbound flights really leave you.
The longest day is in June — 14 h 30 min of daylight — and the shortest in December, with 9 h 49 min. That is a 4 h 41 min swing between them.
Tell us when you arrive and when you leave. We will tell you how many hours you really get to enjoy the city, day by day, once the transfers and your own breaks are set aside.
These are free hours, not a list of sights. We do not know your flight, the queues, opening times or how long it takes to get from one place to another.
Sunrise and sunset in Kyoto, on its own clock and with the seasonal time change already applied. It is what decides how much fits into a day, and it swings far more than people expect.
3–5 days in February / March / May / June / October / November come to roughly 31 h 6 min to 72 h 30 min of daylight, depending on the month you pick and how long you stay.
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 07:04 | 17:07 | 10 h 2 min |
| February | 06:44 | 17:38 | 10 h 54 min |
| March | 06:08 | 18:03 | 11 h 54 min |
| April | 05:25 | 18:27 | 13 h 2 min |
| May | 04:54 | 18:52 | 13 h 58 min |
| June | 04:42 | 19:12 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 04:53 | 19:11 | 14 h 18 min |
| August | 05:16 | 18:47 | 13 h 31 min |
| September | 05:39 | 18:06 | 12 h 27 min |
| October | 06:01 | 17:23 | 11 h 22 min |
| November | 06:30 | 16:52 | 10 h 22 min |
| December | 06:57 | 16:46 | 9 h 49 min |
Worked out for Kyoto from its position and its time zone (Asia/Tokyo). The times are approximate — the sun shifts a couple of minutes from one year to the next — and they leave out twilight, which adds some light before and after. Each month is worked out from its 15th, the day that looks most like the month as a whole.
Rank what matters most to you, from one to three things, and tick anything you want to avoid. We compare the areas the guide describes and explain why each one fits, catch included.
It sorts what the guide says; it does not score neighbourhoods. It does not look at hotels, today’s prices, safety or accessibility, and it only knows the areas the guide describes.
Every rating comes from what the guide’s table says in words, and the sentence is shown next to it. What the guide does not say is not scored.
Who each one is for and what the catch is, in the guide’s own words.
The best base: subway, buses everywhere and where people actually eat dinner.
The catch: It is a modern shopping district; it closes early and has little atmosphere at night.
Anyone arriving or leaving by Shinkansen, or heading out early to the temples.
The catch: No charm whatsoever, and Higashiyama is twenty minutes on a bus that fills up.
Anyone who wants wooden streets and temples at the door, and the district at night.
The catch: By far the most expensive, and by day it is crowded to a degree hard to overstate.
Anyone who wants the bamboo grove empty at first light, before the buses.
The catch: It is far from everything else: two long train journeys every day.
Tight budget, or a trip that combines both cities.
The catch: A good half hour each way, daily. Fine for a short visit, not for five days.
Give it the days you have just worked out and Joru builds the whole trip: what to see each day, in what order, and how long it takes to get between them. With real places and real forecasts, not invented ones.
Free for one destination of up to three days, on Android and iPhone.
