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Voykit

Cluster · Kyoto

Downtown (Nishiki / Pontochō)

Covered, flat and central: the rain-day and evening cluster; Nishiki before 11:00, Pontochō after dark; bags painful in the arcades.

Key facts

28″ bags
painful
Time budget
half
Rescue coverage
98% ≤7′
max p90 7′
Places
0
Downtown
DowntownPhoto: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0
Rules in force · 8Large suitcases on Kyoto city buses
  • East Asia ↗Every border in East Asia is a full international border, Hong Kong and Macau included: an entry permission for one never covers the next.
  • East Asia ↗Ferries between Korea, Japan and China cancel in rough seas and typhoons; keep a flight or a spare day behind every sea leg.
  • Japan ↗IC cards (ICOCA/Suica) are topped up with cash at station machines.
  • Japan ↗Smoking while walking is banned in most city centres; use designated areas.
  • Japan ↗Shinkansen bags 160–250 cm (L+W+H) need a seat reserved with the oversized-baggage area.
  • Kansai ↗ICOCA is the default IC card; Suica works too.
  • Kyoto ↗Large suitcases on Kyoto city buses: do not. Buses are crowded and oversized bags are refused or block aisles.
  • Kyoto ↗Kyoto accommodation tax is often collected in cash at the front desk.
More
Map to the centre
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Directions
From where I am

Add your hotel to get directions from it. · stays in this browser; shared with the pocket card.

Downtown
DowntownPhoto: Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0
Downtown
DowntownPhoto: Wilfredor, CC0

Walking weather, next 5 days

Loading forecast…

Forecast: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), model data for this point.

Plan

How the ground walks, and what is here

Bound and physics

Shijō–Sanjō between Karasuma-dōri and the Kamo river: Nishiki Market, Teramachi arcades, Pontochō.

Slope
flat
Stairs
None
Shade
high
Surface
covered arcades
Sleep here or visit
both

Eat and drink here

Ganko Takasegawa Nijoen

Kaiseki and sushi in a former villa garden on the Takase river: reserve for dinner; chairs available.

Honke Owariya

Soba in a centuries-old shop near Karasuma-Oike: lunch before 11:30; chairs.

Inoda Coffee (Sanjō branch)

Walk-in café, chairs not tatami: use it as the seated rest node between clusters; before 11:45 is the safe window.

Nishiki Market

A covered food street for a grazing late breakfast: 10:00–11:30; many stalls close by late afternoon; eat at the stall.

On the ground

Where to rest, how to leave, where to sleep nearby

Rescue anchors

6 places to rest · checked on a 40 m (130 ft) grid

A rescue anchor is a spot where you can stop and recover if the walk goes wrong: a bench, a café, a toilet. Every letter on the map is one anchor, and each has a card below. We check that any point in the cluster is within about 7 minutes’ walk of one, so you are never far from somewhere to sit down.

ABCDEF
Map © OpenStreetMap contributors. Lettered circles: rescue anchors (green works in any conditions, amber only on hot days). Dashed outline: the cluster. Red dots: spots more than 7 min from any anchor (none if you see no red). North is up; not for navigation.

Shijō-Kawaramachi department store (AC, WC)

ac · Toilet · Place to sit · Food & drink · works in any conditions

Nishiki Market middle (Nishiki Tenmangū shrine)

Shelter from rain · Place to sit · works in any conditions

Teramachi arcade north (café seating, field-verify)

Place to sit · Food & drink · Shelter from rain · works in any conditions

Sanjō-Ōhashi bridge / river bank

Place to sit · works in any conditions

Nishiki west end / Karasuma (convenience store)

Food & drink · ac · works in any conditions

Pontochō middle (café, field-verify)

Place to sit · Food & drink · works in any conditions

98% of the cluster is within 7 min of an anchor in any conditions (slowest walker, worst cell 8.3 min) · 98% on hot days

Nodes in this cluster

No place pages yet

Nodes here are used by the planner only.

Edges out

directed
ToHowp50Climb
GionWalk east over Shijō bridge~8 minflat
Higashiyama (south)Walk or taxi east~25 minflat

Red lines here

  • Nishiki: eat at the stall, not while walking.
  • Pontochō: no photos of geiko; private alleys are signed.

Deep dive

Around this cluster

Straight-line distance; walk time adds 30% for streets.