Audio walking guides in Kyoto
Photo: Jakub Hałun · CC BY 4.0
These are self-guided audio walks around Kyoto. You pick a route, put one earbud in, and the guide talks you through it stop by stop — what you are looking at, and why it is there. There is no group to keep up with and no meeting time. 35 walks covering Fushimi Inari, Higashiyama, Arashiyama, Gion, Kinkaku-ji, Ryōan-ji, Nijō Castle, Sanjūsangen-dō and more, 836 minutes of narration in total.
Start your free guideA free account is needed before a guide plays. Hear a minute first if you would rather try it than sign up for it.
Every walk in Kyoto
Fushimi Inari: The Mountain of a Thousand Gates
Stand to one side of the gate and look up. That tall two-storey block of vermilion under a heavy dark roof is the Rōmon, the tower gate, and…
Higashiyama: The Old Streets to Kiyomizu-dera
Tuck yourself in beside the shopfronts for a moment and look up the hill. The street climbing away from you is Kiyomizu-zaka, lined with pottery shops, sweet counters…
Arashiyama: Bamboo, Temples & the River
Stand here on the bank for a minute and let your ears find the river. There's a steady roar from somewhere upstream, the shuffle of feet and the…
Gion: The Geisha District
Step to the edge of Hanamikōji and take a moment to look down it. Grey stone paving, dark wooden machiya townhouses close on both sides, lanterns waiting for…
Kinkaku-ji: The Golden Pavilion
Stop where the path opens out and the trees part. Across the water stands a three-storey pavilion, its upper floors sheathed in gold, doubled upside down in the…
Ryōan-ji: The Zen Rock Garden
Slow down on this path and look out over the water. The pond is wide and still, with islands, pines leaning out from the banks, and the trees…
Inside Nijō Castle
Stand to one side of the Karamon, out of the stream of people, and look up. Gold leaf, bright paint, and a roof of cypress bark that curls…
Sanjūsangen-dō: The Hall of a Thousand Kannon
Stand still for a moment and let your eyes adjust. The floorboards are cold through your socks, the air smells of old timber, and the hall runs away…
Ginkaku-ji: The Silver Pavilion
You're walking into a green corridor. On both sides there's a low stone wall, a fence of split bamboo about waist high, and above that a clipped hedge…
Tō-ji: Pagoda & the 3-D Mandala
Stand right under the pagoda and tip your head back. Five roofs climb above you, each a little narrower than the one below, and at the very top…
Nanzen-ji: Gate, Garden & Aqueduct
Stand off to one side of the gate, out of the stream of people walking through the middle, and tip your head right back. This is the Sanmon…
Uji: Tea, the Phoenix Hall and the End of Genji
Stand off to one side at the east end of the bridge, by the Keihan station, and look down at the water. Listen to it, too. The Uji…
Nishijin: The Loom District
Stand to the side of the street and listen. If you're lucky, and these days it really is luck, you'll hear a wooden clatter from behind a lattice…
Fushimi: Soft Water, Sake and the Night They Came for Ryōma
Walk slowly into this lane and look at the buildings on either side. Long, low warehouses, white plaster on the upper walls, dark wooden boards along the bottom,…
Kurama and Kibune: Over the Mountain
Step out of the station and look up. Glaring down at you is an enormous red face, a long-nosed scarlet mask several metres tall with a furious stare.…
Heian Shrine & the Sacred Garden
Stand at the side of the avenue, out of the way of the traffic, and look straight up. The torii over this road is about twenty-four metres tall,…
Mount Hiei: The Seminary of Japanese Buddhism, the Army It Kept, and the Day It Was Burned
Feel the air first. It's colder up here than in the city, and it smells of cedar and damp stone. The trunks around you are enormous, and the…
The Kamo Delta: The River an Emperor Could Not Control, and the Forest That Keeps Growing Back
Walk out to the very tip of the gravel and face upstream. There's water on your left and water on your right, and just behind you the two…
The Merchants' Kyoto: Nishiki Market, the Eel's Bed Houses, and the City the Temples Did Not Build
Stand clear of the subway steps and listen for a moment. Two wide roads crossing, a bus pulling out, and a few hundred people crossing on one green…
The Decade Kyoto Was Occupied: Bullet Holes, a Canal Full of Hiding Places, and the Fire Nobody Mentions
Stand in front of the gate, with the traffic of Karasuma Street behind you, and look at the timber. The posts and beams are enormous and dark with…
What Kyoto Is Allowed to Look Like: A Tower Everyone Hated and a Station Everyone Fought Over
Stand on the plaza with the station at your back and look across the road at the white tower. It's thin, it's very tall, and it doesn't match…
Yoshida Hill: The Student City, a Family That Franchised a Religion, and a Buddha With an Enormous Head
Wait at the lights here for one cycle and count the bicycles. Then look at who's riding them. Almost everybody crossing this junction is somewhere between eighteen and…
Ōhara: The Valley People Came To When They Had Lost, and Where Buddhist Chant Was Put in Order
Get off the bus, step out of the way of the lane, and stand still for a moment, because the first thing to notice here is what you…
Takao: A Crop That Takes Forty Years, Cartoon Rabbits From the Twelfth Century, and Discs Thrown Off a Cliff
Stand on the bridge for a moment and let the noise of the river settle in. This is the Kiyotaki river, cold and fast over its rocks. The…
Saga-Toriimoto: Eight Thousand Nameless Stones, Twelve Hundred Carved by Amateurs, and a Statue With Silk Organs Inside It
Stand still for a moment among the stone people. They're everywhere you look, on terraces, along the paths, tucked in under the maples, each one roughly half a…
Katsura: The Building the West Decided Was Modern, and What It Actually Is
Stand on the bank and look upstream. Wide shallow water braided over pale gravel, willows, a long low bridge, and the hills of Arashiyama a good way off…
Uzumasa: Where Japan Made Its Samurai Films, and the Trades That Are Going Down With Them
Listen for the bell at the crossing. This is Katabiranotsuji, the little junction where the two lines of the Randen tram meet, and every few minutes a single…
Kamigamo: A Street Where Every House Has Its Own Bridge, and Two Cones of Sand That Explain a Mountain
Stop just inside the torii and look ahead. A wide sweep of mown grass, a gravel path running straight across it, a few trees at the edges, and…
The Botanical Garden That Was Taken Away, and What It Costs to Grow One Back
Come through the gate and give it twenty paces. The noise of the road falls away behind you, which is the first thing a big garden does for…
Chion-in: A Bell of Seventy Tonnes, Seventeen Men to Ring It, and the Sound Kyoto Sets Its Year By
Walk in under the gate until you're standing between the columns, then tip your head back and look straight up. The roof is a long way above you,…
Kissaten, the City That Drinks More Coffee Than Tea
Push the door and listen to what happens to the sound. Nishikiyamachi behind you is narrow and loud, delivery bikes and shop radios and people cutting through to…
Obanzai, or How the City Actually Eats at Home
Stand on this corner for a moment and listen. You'll hear a bicycle, a shutter going up, an air conditioning unit dripping onto concrete. The crowds are a…
Pontochō and Kiyamachi
You're standing at the top of a lane that runs about four hundred and ninety metres south to Shijō, and at its narrowest it's barely two metres wide.…
Ramen, the Opposite of What You Expect
Stand on this corner for a moment and breathe in. Under the bus fumes there's something else. Pork fat, dark soy, chicken bones that have been simmering since…
Sweets and the Demachi Street
Stand with the river behind you for a moment. The Kamo is shallow here, and you can hear it working over the stones. In front of you, Kawaramachi…
Questions about walking Kyoto
What is the best self-guided walking tour in Kyoto?
It depends how long you have. Fushimi Inari: The Mountain of a Thousand Gates (24 minutes, 6 stops) starts at Rōmon gate, base of the shrine and is the one most people begin with. Higashiyama: The Old Streets to Kiyomizu-dera covers a different part of the city in about 25 minutes. All 35 walks in Kyoto are listed on this page with their length and starting point.
Do I need to book a walking tour in Kyoto?
No. Every wanderaudio walk is self-guided, so there is nothing to book and no departure time. You start whenever you arrive, and you can stop halfway and pick it up the next day.
How much do the Kyoto audio guides cost?
Your first guide is free. You make a free account before it plays, with an email address or a Google login, and no card. After that a single guide is $4.99, a 30-guide pass, spendable on any guides in any cities, is $29.99, and every guide in Japan is $59.99. It is a one-off payment, not a subscription.
Are these tours in English?
Yes, all 35 Kyoto walks are narrated in English. Other languages are not available yet.
Can I do these walks alone?
Yes — that is what they are built for. There is no group and no guide waiting for you, so walking alone works exactly the same as walking with someone. You choose the pace and the order.
Are there longer versions of the Kyoto walks?
Yes. 30 of the 35 Kyoto walks have a longer version that follows the same route with more stops and more detail — typically about 25 minutes becoming about 40. Unlocking a walk gives you both lengths, so you can take the short one on a busy morning and the long one when you have the day.
What can I do in Kyoto if it rains?
8 of the Kyoto walks are indoor walkthroughs rather than street walks, so they work in rain and in the August heat. They are marked "indoors" in the list on this page. Check opening hours and admission separately — wanderaudio does not sell tickets.