How Do I Get Around Kyoto?

I'm going to break it down for you, as simple as I can manage it. The what, how, when and whys.

There are three main modes of transportation for the on-shoestring-budget traveller in Kyoto, in order of least-costliness:

• Bus
• Cycling
• Rail

First thing's first. Assuming you arrive in Kyoto like most people do (ie. by train), your first port of reference in Kyoto will be the Kyoto Station. Find the Visitor Information Centre, get a bus route map and a railway service map. Get a city map too, if they have any available or bring your own from home. (I forgot to check and ask for the city map and mostly relied on GoogleMaps on my iPhone to get me around Kyoto; roaming data plans kind of add up, even if you manage to get partner-network package deals.) Alternatively, some hostels will stock the bus route maps and will give you a copy for free.

BUS

Far and away THE cheapest way to get around Kyoto, especially if all you want to do is stay within the City (excluding the odd jaunt to nearby attractions outside City route limits, like Arashiyama. But fret not, there's a tip for that in the next paragraph.)

Kyoto City Bus
One-Day Pass

Whole-day Kyoto City Bus passes (¥500/adult) will give you unlimited rides on the City Bus routes, within the city limits. (The limits will be highlighted on the bus route map, either in different coloured backgrounds or by thick red lines.) The routes are quite extensive and will pretty much cover all the major attractions in Kyoto itself. For visiting attractions outside of the city route limits, you may still use your day-pass but will have to top up a few minor-hundred yen to make up for the extra fare, each way.

How to use it: Day-passes are available from vending machines at the bus stands just outside Kyoto Station's Central Gate. Walk up to one, put in your yen, select your pass and you're set to go.

Using a Kyoto City bus: Look up on the bus route map where you want to go and which buses numbers serve that stop. In front of Kyoto Station, find the corresponding platform your bus departs from. (eg. Bus #73 leaves from platform C5, #5 leaves from platform A1, etc.) You may have to go around a bit to find the right one - I never managed to properly decipher the system - but most of the major attractions will have their departure points displayed in English over the correct platforms anyway.

Get on the bus through the back door, listen to the announcement of each next stop carefully to know when to ding the bell (often, but not always, there will also be an LED-display of the next stop in alternating Japanese/English at the front of the bus, or ask the driver, if in doubt) and get off the bus through the front door, putting your day-pass into the fare machine next to the driver to be validated (and remember to collect it!) before you get off.

If you're travelling outside the City limits, the additional fare required will be displayed after you've inserted your pass into the machine. Drop your yen into the top of the machine, collect your pass and you're done. Easy peasy.

One-way trips will cost ¥220, each trip. You want to use this only for single trips, assuming you have plans to get around Kyoto by other methods (eg. cycling, by foot, hiring a car or motorcycle, or being chauffeured around, you lucky bastard.) You don't need to pre-purchase tickets for single trips. Just get on the bus and drop money into the fare machine at the front of the bus when you get off. It would be quicker if you have exact change in coins, but the machines will take ¥1,000 notes & dispense change as well.

Child fares (for bus, rail tickets, attractions, etc) tend to generally be half the price of adults fares/fees.

A Kyoto City Bus Route Map
The City routes "limits" are those within the green spaces for background.
You'll need to pay a little extra to get to the places in the yellow-background spaces.

Here are a couple of Bus Tour maps, thoughtfully planned out by Kyoto City. They're also the same sheets given out for free by hostels & the Visitor Information centres.
Bus Navi Tours
Bus Navi Map

CYCLING

This is an extremely quaint and intimate way to get to know Kyoto. There are several places you can rent bicycles from (hostels will usually have a few on hand for rent, and I suppose you could ask your hotel concierge where you can rent bicycles from if your hotel doesn't have them readily available) and they range anywhere from ¥500-¥1,000 per bike, per day. Mine cost me ¥800/day, with ¥300/3hr and ¥400/5hr rental options available too from my hostel.

The most common types of bikes are the ubiquitous granny bikes, which are just darling and make for very pretty pictures. Some are more modern and are fitted with gears, some aren't. Real old-school granny bikes. However, single-speed bikes are generally not a problem as Kyoto's terrain is pretty flat, so cycling for the most part is effortless. The only time you'll encounter interesting times of it on single-speeds is if you're cycling nearer to the eastern bits of Kyoto, near the Higashiyama Mountains. (eg. Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Gingaku-ji Shrine, etc.)

My faithful 6-speed granny bike.
Pretty speedy, granny!

Upsides to this mode of transport is multiple-fold. You get to take in the sights at your own pace and can stop wherever and whenever you want. My favourite thing in Kyoto was to ride my bike along the Kamogawa River if I needed to travel North-South through the City, stopping along the way to enjoy the sakura whenever I felt like it. It was really the life!

Downsides is that you're pretty much prey to the elements. It rained a couple of days that I was out, but it was rather mild (especially by Malaysian tropical-rain standards) so a disposable raincoat pretty much did the job. Alternatively, stop by an izakaya and grab an okonomiyaki or (and!) a drink! Be warned that you'll need to be careful about where you park your bike. Most areas have ample allocations for parking bicycles, but the municipal council will cart off bikes negligently parked in no-parking areas.

You'll also need to get a proper map for this option and have a fairly good sense of how to navigate by map. The bus routes map isn't an actual representation of the lay of Kyoto's streets (fair approximation, but doesn't quite cut it for more precise navigation.) Additionally, usually only the major streets (those labelled xxx-dori, eg. Gojo-dori or Karasuma-dori) will have English translations on the roadsigns. The smaller lanes won't have translations, so you'll have to guess your way around. The GoogleMaps app on my iPhone was really quite helpful here for me. :Op

Oh, and they don't wear bike helmets in Japan. Get over it. Chill, be extra careful when you're riding and go with the flow, baby.

Fairly obvious. Don't park your bike
here unless you'd like to walk home!

RAIL

This is where it gets pretty complicated for the uninitiated, so stay with me!

Prior to arriving in Kyoto and actually using the rail system, I almost tore all my hair out trying to decipher the confusing, seemingly myriad of options. Which rail cards to get; there are so many! Can I use the rail cards at all the stations in Kyoto? Why are there so many different ones and what do they do? Who are you? What's my name? I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto.

Bear with me, I'll try to roll it out for you, as best as *I* managed to understand it.

First thing to know is that there are four main rail service operators in Kyoto City itself:

• Japan Railways (JR), 
• Keihan Railway, and 
• Kyoto City Subway
• Hankyu Railway 

All are run by different companies. All have some form of tourist discount rail cards. Most of the discount rail cards are NOT transferable across service providers, so you'll need to be careful about which to buy (my attempt to advise you on which might be the best option for you, elaborated further below.)

Japan Railways (JR) is the primary, national rail service, connecting pretty much all of Japan together. They are the Big Guys and their service runs nationwide, and connects Kyoto to the other major cities (ie. Osaka, Tokyo, Kobe, Himeji, Hiroshima, all the way to Hokkaido.) They also run the shinkansen trains (ie. bullet trains) which is probably the quickest way to get to anywhere in Japan, overland. Long-distance travel is not cheap (especially the shinkansen) unless you have a JR Pass. I'll talk about the JR Pass further down and whether you should get one or not, and which type. Maps of their routes & stations here.

Keihan Railway is a private-owned service that connects Osaka, Kyoto & Shiga (Lake Biwa). In Kyoto itself, it serves some of the major attractions, namely the Fushimi Inari Shrine, Tofukuji Temple, Kiyomuzi-dera Temple and the Gion district. A copy of their route map here.

Badass logo for the
Kyoto Municipal
Subway

Kyoto Municipal Subway is the local municipal line that serves only the City itself (and a few limited stops beyond the City). There are two lines: Karasuma Line (which runs North-South through the City) and Tozai Line (which generally runs East-West.) Remembering this makes navigating your way around Kyoto a lot easier, if travelling by rail is going to be your mode of choice.

Hankyu Railway is another private-owned service, whose Kyoto Main Line service runs generally East-West through Kyoto, connecting Kyoto to Arashiyama (Arashiyama Line)  & the rest of Kansai. A copy of their route map here.

Additionally, there is also the Kintetsu Railway service, which is another private rail operator, that connects Kyoto to outlying Kansai-local areas not covered by JR or Keihan Railway. You're unlikely to use this service within Kyoto itself unless you're travelling to specific areas outside of the City, like Nara or Yoshino.

Second thing to know, the types of transportation passes available in Kyoto:

• Kyoto City Bus One-Day Pass (Adult ¥500/Child ¥250) - not rail, but I thought it would be relevant to the upcoming discussion
• Kyoto Sightseeing One-Day (¥1,200/¥600) and Two-day Pass Card (¥2,000/¥1,000), unlimited use for the duration purchased on the Kyoto City-run services, ie. Kyoto City Bus & Kyoto City Subway service, and within one section of the Kyoto Bus Route
• JR Pass (there are many types/levels, but relevant for Kyoto/Osaka would be the Japan Rail Pass (aka. Japan National Rail Pass) or the JR West Rail Pass - Kansai Area)
• Surutto Kansai Miyako Card (available in ¥1,000/¥2,000/¥3,000/¥5,000), can be used on Kyoto City buses and Subway lines, Hankyu Train, Keihan Train & other participating private companies. More a prepaid card than a tourist-discount card, so you pay regular fare per trip.
• Traffica Kyoto Card (available in ¥1,000/¥3,000), valid on the municipal-run City subways and buses. Prepaid card, paying regular fare per trip.
• ICOCA / Suica Cards, rechargeable smart prepaid cards issued by JR, which can be used pretty much throughout most of the rail systems throughout the Kansai region (although I was recently told that the Suica card can now be used through all of Japan.

So. Should I get a rail pass for travelling around Kyoto?

It depends on how extensive your travelling is going to be, outside of Kyoto City.

If you'll be staying mostly within Kyoto City with only the occasional day-trip out to, say, Arashiyama or Kurama:

• Cheapest option: daily bus passes, with single ticket purchases for trips where travelling by rail is unavoidable. Taking 3 bus rides a day already breaks even your paying for the pass.
• But buses can be slow, especially over peak seasons (like the sakura season) where the queues seem to go on forever, so if you'd like a combo of City Bus + Subway travel, get the Kyoto Sightseeing Pass Card. Do note that travel on the Keihan trains and JR trains are NOT included on this card, so you'll have to purchase single fare tickets for travelling on those. On average, you'll have to ride the bus/subway 5-6 times per day to make this card worth the cost. (Planning your activities is key!) You will also have to top up the bus fare if travelling to areas outside the coverage of the pass (coverage areas indicated on the back of the pass itself.)
• Rent a bicycle. I'm serious!

If you'll be travelling pretty extensively through the Kansai region, but limited to Kansai only:

• JR West Kansai Area Pass or JR West Kansai WIDE Area Pass (extended routes) could be worth it, depending on where you'd like to go OUTSIDE of Kyoto. (More about the JR Pass below. Please do read it to see if it's right for you!)
• ICOCA/Suica Cards. You pay regular fare (no discounts or unlimited rides) but it does make travelling a lot easier as you can use both cards across almost all the different rail service providers. You simply pre-pay into the card an estimate of how much you're going to spend for rail travel and just tap your way through the gates instead of having to worry about purchasing single-trip tickets every single time you're going to take a train, or worry about fare adjustments. The cards costs ¥2,000 to purchase, ¥1,500 of which will be immediately available as credit and ¥500 will be retained as deposit for the card. When you're done with the card, simply refund the card at a machine to get your deposit and remainder credit balance (minus a ¥210 handling fee) back in cash.

The ICOCA card can only be used in the Kansai region. There is a combo ICOCA + Haruka express package available to foreign tourists on temporary visit visas that combines one-way (¥3,000) or round-trip (¥4,000) tickets from Kansai Airport to Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto, plus ¥2,000 credit for immediate use. If you're planning on travelling only in the Kansai region, this is superb value!

The Suica card can be used pretty much everywhere throughout Japan, most extensively in the Kansai & Kanto regions. So if your trip will also include a jaunt to Tokyo & its surrounding areas, the Suica card would be a better investment.

The JR West Kansai Area Pass

This pass covers unlimited travel on the JR Lines through the Kansai area. Great if you're planning to travel from Kyoto all the way to, say Hiroshima (or anywhere else in the Kansai region along the JR Line), but for staying only in Kyoto, it was, quite frankly, crap.

Passes cost ¥2,000 for a 1-day pass, ¥4,000/2-day, ¥5,000/3-day and ¥6,000/4-day, for the option that does not include travel on the shinkansen (add an extra ¥1,000 for that). I bought the 4-day pass at the Osaka Airport (after a 2-hour queue!) because I thought it would come useful for at least half of my 10-day travel, but ended up in Kyoto realizing, after understanding the local system better & to my great dismay, that I had just wasted ¥6,000.

Still, not all was lost. Silver linings, wot. To make it worth what I paid, I rethought my travel plans and ended up making day-trips to Himeji, Arashiyama & Kobe and had a fantastic time.

For anyone interested in how I justified the ¥6,000 over a 4-day period:

• ¥2,980 - Osaka Kansai Airport to Kyoto, one way, Haruka Limited Express, non-reserved seats
• ¥460 - Kyoto-Arashiyama, return, JR Sagano Line
• ¥4,500 - Kyoto-Himeji-Kobe-Sannomiya-Kyoto, JR Tokaido/Sanyo Line, aka JR Kobe Line
• Plus a little more here and there as connections to get to some of the local sights in Kyoto itself

Definitely worth it if you're interested in travelling extensively through the region, though. You can purchase the JR West Kansai Pass upon arrival at an airport or a major JR station. However, do note you can only purchase one such pass per visit, and the maximum available option is 4-days. If you're looking at long-period travelling, the Japan Rail Pass has a 1/2/3-week option (keep reading below.)

And last but not least, if you'll be travelling extensively through the WHOLE of Japan:

• Get a JR National Pass, aka. Japan Rail Pass. It's very pricey but covers unlimited travel on all JR trains, including the shinkansen, which is where its real value comes in. The Pass is available in 1-week (¥28,300), 2-week (¥45,100) and 3-week (¥57,700) options (half the fares for children) for ordinary non-reserved seats (here for more options), and you must pre-purchase the Pass BEFORE you arrive in Japan. Your local tour agent serving Japan will likely have it available, do a quick Google search for this, or you can have it mailed to you by purchasing it online on the JR Pass site. Europeans might want to use this site; it seems more one-stop than the JR sites! (You'll actually be purchasing an exchange order for a JR Pass, which upon arrival at the airport or a major JR station, you'll need to show your passport, your temporary visit visa (residents, PR and work visas are not eligible to purchase the pass) & flight return ticket to convert into the actual JR Pass.)
• I would probably couple the JR Pass with a Suica card too, for paying local rail services that are not JR-operated.

Attractions near train stations in Kyoto

To help you get a better idea of whether or not travelling by rail will be worth it, I've made a small list of things that are accessible by rail. Train tickets to these locations will cost anywhere from ¥120-¥500, one-way. All these attractions are also reachable by bus and most are within the coverage area of the Kyoto City One-Day Bus Pass.


Keihan Railway

• Demachi-Yanagi Station: Imperial Palace, Sento Palace, transfer to Eizan Railway for attractions in North Kyoto, like Kurama
• Fushimi Inari Stn: Fushimi Inari Shrine
• Gion-Shijo Stn: Nishiki Market, Minami-za Kabuki Theatre, Gion District, Kennin-ji Temple, Yasaka Shrine, Maruyama Park, Chionin Temple, Shorenin Temple
• Jingu-Marutamachi Stn: Heian Shrine, Sento Palace, Imperial Palace
• Kiyomizu-Gojo Stn: Kiyomizudera Temple & Higashiyama, Kodaiji Temple
• Shichijo Stn: Sanjusangendo Temple, National Museum
• Tofukuji Stn: Tofukuji Temple

Japan Railway (JR)

• JR Inari Stn (JR Nara Line): Fushimi Inari Shrine
• Nijo Stn (JR Sagano/Sanin Line): Nijo Castle, Nijo Jinya
• Tofukuji Stn (JR Nara Line): Tokufuji Temple, 
• Saga-Arashiyama Stn (JR Sagano/Sanin Line): Arashiyama

Kyoto Municipal Subway, Karasuma Line

• Karasuma Oike Stn: Manga Museum, Nishiki Market
• Kitaoji Stn: Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), Daitokuji Temple, Shimogamo Shrine
• Kitayama Stn: Kitayama Shrine
• Marutamachi Stn & Imadegawa Stn: Imperial Palace, Sento Palace

Kyoto Municipal Subway, Tozai Line

• Higashiyama Stn: Heian Shrine, Shorenin Temple, Chionin Temple, Maryama Park, Yasaka Shrine, Gion District, Kodaiji Temple, higashiyama, Kiyomizudera Temple
• Keage Stn: Nanzenji Temple, Eikando Temple, Philosopher's Path, Ginkakuji Temple
• Karasuma Oike Stn: Manga Museum, Nishiki Market
• Nijojo-mae Stn, Tozai Line: Nijo Castle, Nijo Jinya
• Sanjo Stn: Gion District

Hankyu Kyoto Line

• Kawaramachi Stn: Nishiki Market, Minami-za Kabuki Theatre, Gion District, Kennin-ji Temple, Yasaka Shrine, Maruyama Park
• Hankyu Arashiyama Stn: Arashiyama

And that's the gist of it!

I hope this helped you somewhat. Will welcome any feedback on other basic information I might have missed out. Good luck & have a GREAT time in Kyoto!