Kyoto Before the Crowds Arrive

Start at Fushimi Inari, genuinely early

The shrine with the thousands of vermilion torii gates is open around the clock and has no admission gate, which makes it the one major site you can visit before the day begins. Arrive at first light and the lower paths are close to empty.

Most visitors walk a few hundred metres, photograph the densest section of gates, and turn back. The full route climbs the mountain and takes a couple of hours round trip. The upper stretches are quiet at any hour, and the views back over the city are the reward.

Then move, rather than lingering

The mistake is to spend the whole morning at one site. Kyoto's sights are clustered, and the crowd builds through the morning and peaks in the early afternoon. Front-load the famous ones and save the quieter temples for when the coaches arrive.

Where to go when the centre fills up

• The northern temples around the Philosopher's Path stay calmer than the eastern cluster, especially outside blossom and autumn season.
• Arashiyama's bamboo grove is famously crowded — but the surrounding hills and smaller temples nearby are not.
• Ohara, north of the city, is a bus ride out and feels like a different prefecture.
• Any temple that charges admission and is not on the standard circuit will be quieter than any free one that is.

Consider staying outside the centre

Kyoto is compact and well served by bus and rail. Sleeping slightly out from the main sightseeing districts usually costs less and puts you in a neighbourhood where people actually live, which is a better evening.

Kyoto's buses get very full and can be slow in peak season. Where a train exists for the same journey, take the train.

[ADD YOUR OWN] Your own early morning in Kyoto — what the light was doing, who else was there, what you would do differently.