We are a family of 3 (husband, me and 9-year-old son). Sharing our itinerary and tips as follows. We actually visited Kyoto and Tokyo, but this post is only on the Kyoto leg (Tokyo post coming up later).
On the time of our visit:
I read that January is supposedly the lowest month in terms of number of visitors. Combine this with the lack of tourists from a certain country at the time, we did feel it was less crowded than we expected. Although make no mistakes – there were still crowds, but they were very tolerable (I won't even say I had to "tolerate" anything. It was just pleasant.). Also, we are not particular about beating crowds, so we never woke up early for anything. Consider this when you read about our visit time and experience below.
On the amount of walking and mode of transportation:
We mostly took trains and some occassional taxis. Did not take any busses. I am very overweight and rarely work out. I also have bad knees. I was nervous about the amount of walking at first but I survived with nothing more than sore legs and feet at the end of the trip. If I am tired, I find opportunity to sit down especially while my husband and son wander around in a specific attraction. We also took taxis for short distances, mostly for the last mile from the nearest station to our AirBnB in Tokyo (we didn't have to do this in Kyoto because our hotel was right opposite Kyoto Station).
DAY 1 (ARRIVAL + KYOTO)
Morning-Early Afternoon: Airport Transfer, Hotel Check-In
Arrive Kansai Airport at 10am. Baggage and immigration were very efficient. Around 1 hour to clear everything (remember to print out QR codes from Visit Japan Web – one QR for each person. Your could show it on your phone but I find it much easier using the printout).
Went to the JR Ticket Office to redeem our Haruka Express tickets to Kyoto (bought online to enjoy the one-way discount for tourists). We chose the 12:30pm train to be safe (ended up with plenty of wait time but no regrets). We intended to have ekiben for lunch in the train but found no store selling ekiben on the train platform, so we bought sandwiches from the only convenient store on the platform (7-11). They were good and fulfilling. We ate in the waiting room on the train platform right next to the 7-11.
Arrived at Kyoto Station around 2pm. Our hotel was right opposite Kyoto Station. Check in time was 3pm so we waited at the hotel lobby. After checked in and settled down luggages etc, we headed straight out to our first visit.
3:30pm-5pm: Nishin Honganji Temple – Walkable from our hotel. Very peaceful and quiet.
5pm onwards: Walked back to Kyoto Station for dinner. Then rest in hotel.
DAY 2 (KYOTO)
Morning: Fushimi Inari Shrine – We went at 9+am. Yes, it was crowded but not the kind where we keep bumping to each other. Plenty of space to walk and stop for photos, but there will be people in the background. Spent about 1 hour here. Then, train to nearest station to Ninenzaka.
Late Morning – Early Afternoon: Ninenzaka-Sanenzaka-Kyomizudera – Took taxi from nearest train station to the staring point of Ninenzaka. Slow walk up the slopes to Kyomizudera. Stopped quite a lot to shop and try some street snacks. Spent a while in Kyomizudera and walk back down. Lunch in one of the restaurants in Ninenzaka. Then, we took a taxi to Gion.
Afternoon: Gion (Hanamikoji Street, Shirakawa Canal) – A lot of walking. Beautiful streets and old buildings. Was planning to visit Yasaka Shrine but did not have enough time – had to head back to hotel to prepare for next itinerary. Taxi back to hotel.
Late Afternoon: Teamlab Biovortex – After a short rest in hotel, we walked 15 mins to Teamlab Biovortex. We bought tickets online for 5:30pm, but we were allowed entry at 5+pm. Tips: Buy well in advance! The good slots are usually early morning (where there is less queue) and evening (when most other attractions are closed). Awesome experience, but could be dizzying after a while. The son thoroughly enjoyed it.
Evening: Dinner – We finished Teamlab Biovotex around 8+pm. We took a taxi to a mall near our hotel, and had dinner there. Then, we walked back to our hotel.
DAY 3 (KYOTO)
Morning – Early Afternoon: Arashimaya Bamboo Forest, Tenryuji Temple, Togetsukyo Bridge, Kimono Forest – Crowded but not unpleasant at all. Actually there was a stretch of walk from the bamboo forest towards the Togetsukyo Bridge that was almost secluded. We spent a lot of time sitting by the river and bridge watching the people, ducks, boats and having a drink from the vending machine. Very beautiful scenery.
Late Afternoon – Nijo Castle: Arrived at 4pm, just in time for the last entry for inside-castle tour, which ended at 4:30pm. Had another 30 minutes to roam the castle grounds before it closes at 5pm. Then we sat outside the castle gate (there were benches along the pedestrian walkways) and rested while watching the sunset. Then, we took the train back to Kyoto Station for dinner.
Evening: At Kyoto Station, we bought our Shinkansen tickets to Tokyo. Tips: Buy earlier if you want seats right by your luggages. Otherwise, there are actually plenty of space to store your luggage bags if you don't mind not sitting right next to them, or your are prepared to hoist them onto the overhead compartments (very spacious). In our experience, it's very safe so no need to insist for those seats right next to your luggages. We just left our luggage bags on the racks at the end of each train car.
DAY 4 (KYOTO)
Morning+Afternoon: Kifune Shrine + Kuramadera Temple. We took the train to Demachiyanagi station, and from there we took the historic Eizan Railway train up to Kifune. It snowed during our visit. Tips: We were actually monitoring the weather in Kifune everyday and planned to go whenever it snowed. We were lucky it snowed on our last full day in Kyoto. We spent the whole day sitting at Kifune Shrine enjoying the snow fall. There were no snow pile up but we are super happy just being able to catch the snowfall (we live in a tropical country). We had lunch at a restaurant beside Kifune Shrine. Kuramadera Temple was just a brief stop – we didn't take the cable car as we were happy just walking around while snow was falling.
Late Afternoon: Nomura Tailor Shop – I am a sewing enthusiast so this is a personal stop. Spent about 1 hour here before dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Evening: We were only 30 mins walk away from our hotel, so we decided to walk, since it was our last night in Kyoto. Very enjoyable.
DAY 5 (TRANSIT TO TOKYO)
Checked out of hotel at 11am. Shopped at convenience stores to finish our balance ICOCA amounts and refunded them at the JR Ticket Office (otherwise they will charge handling fee to refund the balance amounts). Bought ekiben to eat in train (Tips: You can use the balance in your ICOCA card to buy ekiben). Boarded the 12:40pm Shinkansen to Tokyo.
Edit: ICOCA refunds are restricted to the JR West area, meaning you can only get your deposit and remaining balance back at JR ticket offices in Osaka, Kyoto, or other JR West locations, not in Tokyo or other regions like Suica/Pasmo areas. You can use the card nationwide for travel and purchases, but for a refund, you must return to the JR West region where it was issued.
Edit 2: The deposit in each card is 500 yen. If you don't have any balance left, you can get all of the 500 yen refunded. If there is any balance, they will charge you 200 yen handling fee, so you get only 300 yen back plus the card balance. We had 3 cards so 1500 yen total deposit to refund. To us, it was worth the effort to spend the remaining balance and get it refunded in Kyoto before going to Tokyo.
by averagejane815