Skip the old Kyoto bus day pass advice and plan rides

Obanzai is Kyoto's daily home-style cooking, built on seasonal Kyo-yasai vegetables and gentle dashi simmering, and it is a lighter alternative to formal kaiseki. Ask how the place serves, since some give a fixed set and others work dish by dish. Dishes are made in large batches, so changes are hard, and vegetarians…

Hiiragiya dates its family business to 1818 and its ryokan to 1861, and the same family still runs it on a quiet machiya street in Nakagyo ward. The older wing is a late-Edo teahouse-style building, while the newer wing has rooms with beds, so say which you prefer when booking. Dinner is Kyoto kaiseki and breakfast…

Every 22 October the mountain village of Kurama holds its fire festival around Yuki-jinja shrine. Reach Kurama on the Eizan line from Demachiyanagi, and give yourself plenty of margin for the return trip, since the small station is busy once the festivities end. Dress warmly, because the village sits in the hills and…

On the 25th of every month, stalls line the approach and nearby streets of Kitano Tenmangu for the market locals call Tenjin-san. Expect used kimono, antiques, tea bowls, old pottery and snacks such as yakisoba. Many items carry no price tag, so ask politely and negotiate. Vendors start very early, so go in the…

Kyoto Concert Hall is the city's main classical venue, and the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra performs in its Main Hall through the season. Tickets are sold on the hall's online ticket site after a free Friends membership sign-up, and a counter handles in-person sales. Look at the season listing before your trip, since…

Japan's first museum devoted to manga is also a library, so you can pull a volume off the shelf and read it. The collection runs to hundreds of thousands of items, from old magazines to contemporary titles. It sits at Karasuma-Oike, an easy stop between Nijo Castle and downtown. Check the day's hours on the museum's…

Nijo Castle's Ninomaru Palace, home of the famous nightingale floors that chirp underfoot, has its own closing days apart from the grounds: it closes on Tuesdays in January, July, August and December, plus the year-end and New Year break. The Honmaru Palace closes on the third Monday of each month. On a closed day you…

The bamboo path in Arashiyama is free and open around the clock, yet it gets very congested from mid-morning into the afternoon, especially at weekends. For clean photos, arrive between 7 and 8 am, or come after the tour groups leave late in the afternoon, ideally on a weekday. Take the JR Sagano line to…