Got Your Fill of Shrines & Temples?
Some people might say that "you should spend more than a week in Kyoto", but to us, 4 Days in Kyoto is about the maximum we would recommend. Mainly because many tourists are likely to get fatigued from exploring any more shrines (神社, Jinja) or temples (寺, Tera). There's also the issue of Kyoto's crowdedness and over-tourism might be a large turn-off. We can definitely understand why. It's hard to appreciate the beauty of Higashiyama, when you're constantly stuck trying to push your way through a crowd, or just stuck in back to back human traffic.
So while there's no doubt that Kyoto is one of the most popular Japanese cities, we don't think that you should limit yourself to just Kyoto. Of course, Kyoto is a great starting point if you enjoy its traditional vibes from the multitude of machiyas (町家, Traditional wooden townhouse) and shrines (神社, Jinja). But we highly encourage you to also go out and explore more of the off-the-beaten path options in order to get a more laidback experience in Japan.
If you really like the traditional vibes and atmosphere of Kyoto, but want to avoid the crowds, there are definitely other places in Japan that you can also consider heading to.
The two closest recommendations in our opinion, would be
Kanazawa (金沢) and
Kurashiki (倉敷).
Kanazawa has a lovely machiya (町家, Traditional wooden townhouse) district with plenty of shops that have been refurbished into selling modern crafts and goods, and has half the crowds of Kyoto. Not to mention, there's plenty of cafe and delicious seafood in the area too.
Kurashiki is much smaller, like a day-trip or half-day destination, but it has a very unique vibe. Apart from the beautiful machiya (町家, Traditional wooden townhouse)-lined streets, it also has several Roman-style buildings from the Meiji Era (1868-1912, 明治時代, Meiji-jidai). Most interesting would be the canal that flows through the center of the district, giving it a very iconic look and vibe that you'll hardly find elsewhere.
Takayama is located in the
Japanese Alps (高山), and is definitely less developed than many other major cities. However, this charm of only having low-rise buildings together with a stunningly preserved
historical area (三町筋, San-machi-suji), give it a very unique old-school mountain town vibe.
Kinosaki Onsen has a few direct Limited Express trains from Kyoto, and it's a great place if you want to experience staying in a ryokan (旅館, Japanese inn). What makes it different from a big city ryokan is that you can easily rent yukata (浴衣) for free as you stroll down the town and hop from onsen (温泉, Hot Spring) to onsen. The town just has a great vibe and atmosphere that we would highly recommend.
So yes, while Kyoto is widely-loved (and also avoided for some), there's many other places that you can also check out and explore if you enjoy the traditional Japanese vibes of Kyoto!
