u/TopThingsHelper

First time I came to Kyoto was about 20 years ago, as a tourist. I did the usual stuff — Kiyomizu, the bamboo grove, took a bunch of photos, checked off the famous sights and moved on. I was also broke and didn't know much about Pontocho, so basically ended the day at 5pm.

Now that I actually live here, I experience the city pretty differently. These days I might spend an afternoon wandering into some random café, sitting by the Kamo River doing nothing in particular, or just turning down a side street in a neighborhood I don't know that well. I still love the famous spots, of course. But I've also gotten more into some of the hiking around the city and the historical stuff I somehow never paid much attention to the first time.

I also spend one day with one place and actually learn about it, etc.., but I don't think that is feasible for people here for just a few days.

I'm curious what other people's experience has been.

• Are you mostly here for the big sights, food and cafés, hiking, history, or some combination?
• Has that changed between your first trip and later visits?
• If you've been to Kyoto a bunch of times, did your must-do list actually get shorter, or did you just start replacing things with different places?

I feel like people can have completely different experiences of Kyoto depending on what they're looking for.

Putting together our Arashiyama day and figured I'd share the actual plan here, since most Arashiyama posts I see are just "bamboo grove + monkey park," and I wanted something with a bit more shape to it for a full day with a kid.

Here's roughly how the day's shaping up (~8 hours):

• Morning: Hozugawa river rafting (Hozugawa Rafting Big Smile) — good group energy, guide does the steering, kids can paddle when asked but it's fine if they tap out and just ride
• Lunch: Dangoro for udon — house specialty, tempura udon is the one to get if you want a topping
• Early afternoon: Otagi Nenbutsuji — hundreds of stone rakan statues with different expressions, turned it into a "find the funniest one" game for the kid rather than a straight temple walk
• Late afternoon: eXcafe Arashiyama, where you actually roast your own dango at the table — first time I'd seen that specific setup anywhere in Japan
• Backup dinner option: Pizzeria Mama nearby, in case anyone's kid is done with new food for the day by that point

Wrote the whole thing out with rough timing and transit between stops so I wouldn't overpack the day. Turned it into a free PDF since a few people asked — no signup, direct download: https://guides.topthingstodo.in/itineraries/arashiyama-family.pdf

Happy to answer questions if anyone's planning something similar — also curious if anyone's done the rafting with a younger kid and has thoughts on it.