In short
Kyoto was Japan's capital for more than a thousand years and escaped the bombing of 1945: that is why it keeps seventeen World Heritage sites and districts of wooden houses, the machiya.
Gion is the teahouse quarter, to the east. Arashiyama, to the west, holds the bamboo grove and the mountain temples. The centre, around Kawaramachi and the Nishiki market, is the shopping city. Higashiyama links the great temples by sloping lanes.
Arriving and getting around
Kyoto has no airport: you arrive via Kansai (KIX), with a direct train, or by Shinkansen from Tokyo in a little over two hours.
Buses are the city's weak point: overloaded, slow, and saturated at tourist hours. The JR, Keihan and Hankyu rail lines are far quicker for the journeys they cover, and cycling works very well — Kyoto is flat and laid out on a grid.
What it really costs
Kyoto is more expensive than the Japanese average for accommodation, especially in spring and autumn.
Many temples charge, with supplements for gardens or inner halls. Fushimi Inari, though, is free and open at all hours.
When to come
Late March to early April for the cherry blossom, November for the maples: these are the two attendance peaks of the year, and prices follow.
May–June and September–October give a good compromise. Summer is hot and very humid; Kyoto sits in a basin and the heat stagnates.
What nobody tells you
The thousands of vermilion torii at Fushimi Inari climb an entire mountain. Almost every visitor stops at the first third; beyond that the path empties almost completely. The full loop takes two to three hours.
Photography is restricted in certain private lanes of Gion, where the city and residents have posted bans backed by fines, in response to the behaviour of visitors chasing geiko and maiko — the local terms, "geisha" being the Tokyo designation.
The great temples open early. Kinkaku-ji or Kiyomizu-dera at opening is the same site without the crowd.
The Philosopher's Path, along a canal lined with cherry trees, links several temples on foot and remains free.