How To Spend 48 Hours In Kyoto

Travel with Christine Aldred as she takes in some highlights in a city that served as the country’s capital for more than 1000 years.

What you might imagine as quintessential Japan – ancient traditions, stunning gardens, historic castles and temples and serene tea houses – all comes beautifully wrapped in one enticing package in Kyoto.

Day one

6.30am

It’s tempting to lounge around your pistachio-green Japanese-styled room at OMO5 Kyoto Gion, a hotel effortlessly combining funk with tradition, but instead, it’s an early start. Join a hotel ‘ranger’ as they guide you through the charming streets of the historic Gion district, conveniently on your doorstep.

the bedroom interior at OMO5 Kyoto Gion, Hoshino Resorts — Settle in your room at OMO5 Kyoto Gion. (Image: Hoshino Resorts)

It’s a place of stone pavements and preserved timber buildings shuttered with bamboo screens where kimono-clad geiko (geisha) still roam.

the Gion district at night — Gion is Kyoto’s famed *geisha* district.

The tour might be in English but if not (and your Japanese isn’t up to scratch), it’s still an opportunity to roam the streets crowd-free, see some highlights and make an offering at Yasaka Shrine.

OMO5 Kyoto Gion, Japan — OMO5 Kyoto Gion is in the cultural heart of the city. (Image: Hoshino Resorts)

8.30am

Don comfy shoes and head towards Kyoto’s eastern mountains in Higashiyama to the Silver Pavilion, a Zen Buddhist temple (that’s not actually silver). Here, you can wander the moss garden and view the meticulously groomed dry sand garden.

Follow the two-kilometre stone Philosopher’s Path along the tree-lined canals as a famed philosopher once did daily. Be rewarded with a profusion of pink cherry blossoms in spring and with glowing reds in autumn. Peek at the fascinating shops and cafes en route as you follow the signs to 13th-century Nanzenji Temple so you don’t disappear into the ’burbs.

the Japanese garden at Nanzen-ji temple — Find your zen in the Japanese Garden at Nanzenji temple.

10.30am

There are 74 categories of traditional crafts in Kyoto and the surprisingly modern Kyoto Museum of Crafts and Design is the only place to see them all together. Their intricacies and history are explained through exhibitions, touch panels and videos, and local craftsmen demonstrate their artisan skills five days a week. Embroidery, lanterns, Kyoto bags, masks, fans and tea caddies are just the beginning of the exquisite work on display.

a look inside the Kyoto Museum of Craft & Design — Discover the vibrant Japanese arts and culture at the Kyoto Museum of Craft & Design.

1pm

The scattered assortment of boutiques and galleries in the backstreets of the Gion District, showcasing beautiful stationery, ceramics, paper umbrellas and antiques, are a shopper’s delight. Visit places featured on the huge graphic map in OMO5’s hotel foyer, highlighting places of interest and recommended shops and restaurants nearby, or make your own discoveries.

cherry blossoms along Gion district, Kyoto — Admire the Cherry blossom bliss along Gion district.

2.30pm

At Tsujiri Tea House, the shopfront of a tea manufacturer founded in 1860, you’ll find premium teas from nearby Uji, tea confectionery, matcha ice-cream and otherworldly parfaits. Close by at Ousu no Sato, it’s just about plums: pickled, sweet, sour, in jams or wine. Patisserie Gion Sakai dishes up superb cakes, sweets and cookies with a European bent, with a small café upstairs to linger longer.

4pm

Need a pick-me-up? Grab a perfectly roasted espresso coffee at iconic %Arabica, just down from the Yasaka Pagoda, or try its matcha latte for a Japanese twist, but there may be a line. If you prefer tea, at the elegant Camellia Flower Tea House, you can partake in the ritual of an experiential tea ceremony and taste Kyoto’s fabled green matcha whisked to a froth by an expert. Book in advance and add on kimono hire to really get into the spirit.

a tea ceremony at Camelia Garden — Take part in an authentic tea ceremony. (Image: Kyoto City Tourism Association)

6pm

Head to Gion Corner for the best of Japanese performing arts, where you will experience seven kinds of traditional performances in less than an hour. If you haven’t spotted geiko or maiko (apprentice geisha) on the streets, you’ll catch one here performing kyo-mai dance or playing the stringed koto. You’ll also get the chance to see puppet theatre, Noh drama and the art of ikebana (flower arrangement).

a performer at Gion Corner — See performing arts at Gion Corner. (Image: Kyoto City Tourism Association)

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7.30pm

Head to Michelin-starred Kentan Horibe to experience the splendour and seasonality of kaiseki dining, a traditional multi-course affair where immaculate presentation and beautiful crockery are just as important as the food. Expect to be wowed.

Day two

8am

With only two days in town, there’s no time to waste. Head south to one of Kyoto’s most impressive sights at the Fushimi Inari Taisha Shinto Shrine, a vast network of striking orange torii gates snaking up the mountain in a seemingly never-ending pathway. The early start will minimise the inevitable crowds. Grab a bite from the food stalls to keep your energy up and take your earphones for an audio guide.

the Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine in southern Kyoto — Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine is a historic Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto. (Image: Kyoto City Tourism Association)

10.30am

Continue two train stops further to step back in time at the historic Fushimi Sake District, the second largest sake brewing area in Japan where rice wines have been brewed since 1637. The 90-minute tour at Kyoto Insider Sake Experience is a great place to start your explorations, including sampling seven sakes, neat and paired with food. It’s a revelation.

the Fushimi sake district , Kyoto — The Fushimi sake district is an ancient brewery town in Kyoto. (Image: Kyoto City Tourism Association)

12.30pm

Head back into town to bustling Nishiki Market, stretching five blocks along a narrow, covered passageway in downtown Kyoto for a glimpse into the shopping street’s 400-year history. With more than 100 stalls, it’s a treasure trove of Japanese ingredients and local specialties – pickles, miso, fresh fish, tofu and kelp – as well as lots of things you might not recognise. Grab some grilled skewers, sashimi or octopus on sticks for takeaway lunch or find a seat at a small restaurant.

tourists exploring the Nishiki Market, Kyoto — Explore Nishiki Market, also known as Kyoto’s Kitchen. (Image: Kyoto City Tourism Association)

3.30pm

What’s a trip to Kyoto without a castle? The massive stone walls and ramparts of World Heritage-listed Nijo Castle speak to the power of the shoguns (warlords) who resided there for centuries. Within the complex, the opulent Ninomaru Palace features intricate woodcarvings, extravagant art and liberal splashings of gold leaf in an overt display of wealth. Try to silently navigate the timber ‘nightingale floors’ designed to ‘sing’ under the feet of intruders and wander the expansive classical gardens (three of them) featuring ponds, islands, cherry trees and manicured pines.

the entrance of Nijo Castle, Kyoto — Visit Nijo Castle, which was built in 1603 as the Kyoto residence of the first shogun of the Edo Period. (Image: Kyoto City Tourism Association)

After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?

In 1986, Nepal changed its clock. It had used India Standard Time since 1920 so, to differentiate, it wound its clock 15 minutes ahead of, not behind, its big-brother neighbour. Boss move. “Nepal is strongly opposed to the idea that our identity is connected to India,” says Community Homestay Network (CHN) guide Bikal Khanal.

Tharu dance is traditionally set to hand drums. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

Today, Nepal is the only independent country with a 45-minute deviation to universal time; an oddity that’s become a symbol of national pride. The quirk is nearly as endearing as Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport where carved varnished wood and shiny red bricks rule. One sign points to a ‘Travelator’ and another to a ‘Grievance Handling Desk’ while visas are noisily stamped at customs for US dollars, cash only. When am I?

Spot the endemic Nepal gray langur. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The 15 or 45 minute anomaly sees me tap out completely on timezone calculations. Why bend my brain calculating if it’s quarter to or quarter past elsewhere when I’m in the honking here and now of Kathmandu where the air is high-altitude crisp, the prayer flags flutter and the street dogs howl?

How tourism is changing in Nepal

Bardiya National Park is rich with wildlife. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

India is not the only association many Nepalis would like to shake. With eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest and Annapurna, Nepal has long attracted mountaineers and trekkers, and expedition numbers are continuing to rise.

Tourism is one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign currency, so this growth is not negative, per se. But according to Ang Tshering Lama, who co-founded Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, being reduced to a mere trekking destination is limiting.

“Trekking is just one layer of our identity,” says Ang. “When it becomes the dominant narrative, it limits how we’re seen and how we see ourselves.” Nepal’s recent success, however, in diverting trekkers to less-trafficked areas such as Manaslu mofuntain, where visitor numbers rose by 117 per cent last year, offers hope that tourism can diversify even more radically.

Local men in Bhada village. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The founder of CHN, Shiva Dhakal, wants that change. “The whole idea of the Community Homestay Network is to promote experiences outside of trekking,” he says. “Community tourism changes lives and helps kids stay home instead of coming to the city or migrating to the Middle East.”

Ang grew up seeing people leave, “not because they wanted to but because there weren’t enough opportunities to stay”, he states. Yet from remote villages to living traditions; food, art, music and emerging subcultures, “there’s so much that’s not being seen.”

CHN is opening some of those doors. It doesn’t own, or fund, any homes. Rather, it promotes homestays to travellers on a single, slick platform, while fostering entrepreneurship in places where women, marginalised castes, Indigenous people and the youth stand to benefit the most.

A new generation demanding more

Dalla Town Hall, where volunteers discuss anti-poaching tactics. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The future prospects of next-gen Nepalis can no longer be ignored. On a Kathmandu tour with 33-year-old guide Monica K.C, we pass buildings torched in the September 2025 ‘Gen Z protests’, including the Supreme Court and Parliament House. Seventy-two people died. “They were anti-corruption protests,” says Monica. “Politicians’ children are living a lavish life but the airports are crowded with youngsters leaving to find work.”

We stop in ‘little Tibet’ at the wondrous sixth-century Boudha Stupa. “The wheel of life is Buddhism in a nutshell,” says Monica. “Things such as hate, ignorance and anger keep you rotating around the wheel, so you must follow the principles of Buddhism to detach. If you can’t, there’s no nirvana for you.”

Boudha Stupa's prayer wheels — Boudha Stupa’s prayer wheels are used to recite Buddhist prayers. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

In a sun-drenched twist to the usual temple visit, we ascend the stupa’s sloping plinth and roam its whitewashed dome. Tendrils of diaphanous prayer flags stream from a steeple-like structure where the Buddha’s unblinking eyes stare out. No nirvana for you…

bouda stupa prayer flags — Tibetan-style prayer flags embellish the whitewashed dome of Bouda Stupa, a Buddhist temple. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

The dome is delightfully free of guard rails or chiding from security. There is, however, a stern ‘No TikTok’ sign, perhaps in response to the youth’s newly flexed power. The booted-out Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, was replaced in a resounding election victory in March by 35-year-old Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – a former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu. The RSP’s manifesto indicates tourism is a priority, and that Nepal’s cultural identity in areas such as gastronomy will be strengthened.

Boudha Stupa vendors — Vibrant souvenir shops and cafes around Boudha Stupa. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

A more confronting stop awaits at Pashupatinath Temple. Today is Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival where thousands of devotees gather to honour their dead ancestors. Vendors hauling foam mattresses do a lucrative trade as people set up for a night of vigil. This includes burning the bodies of recently deceased relatives on bamboo pyres in the Bagmati River, which flows into the sacred Ganges.

A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi, in Kathmandu. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Wrapped in a shroud, the bodies are positioned with their heads facing north to the Himalayas where Lord Shiva resides. They’re covered with flowers and straw and set alight by male family members.

Hours later, the ashes are swept into the river where devotees will take a holy dip the next day. As much as Monica assures us it’s not voyeuristic to watch, I struggle to do so. “Here you see the reality of life because everyone ends up there,” she says, gesturing to the river.

Life unfiltered in the Terai region

tharu woman — Tharu woman and master weaver Parbati Chaudhary in Bhada Village. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The reality of life needs processing time, which the western Terai region delivers in spades. The Terai is largely separated from India by the Karnali River and Bardiya National Park, where elephants, rhinos and the elusive Bengal tiger roam.

Once a nomadic tribe, the Indigenous Tharu people are now the largest ethnic group here. “They didn’t know their daily life was interesting for international travellers but they’re starting to understand now,” says CHN founder Shiva.

Take a Jeep safari through Bardiya National Park. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

We fly Buddha Air to Dhangadhi airport and drive five hours to stay in Tharu homes. The journey to Bhada village is a blur of roadside fruit stalls, traffic-stopping sacred cows and fields sown with wheat, rice, mustard, spinach, cauliflower and potatoes. Nepal’s agriculture feeds only Nepal.

Marigolds are an important part of Hindu rituals. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

“The only thing we export is young people,” says our guide Bikal. As the light dims and we plunge evermore rural, mysterious mounds of compacted hay – some house-sized – loom like the creatures from Where The Wild Things Are. Even our trusty driver gets flummoxed by a dirt road that abruptly ends and we find ourselves hurtling across a paddock.

On arrival, some are ferried to mud-walled cottages greened by gourd creepers, with thatched roofs and rustic-chic mosquito nets. Myself and two others are ushered to the home of corner store owner, mechanic and mushroom farmer Man Kumar Chilaruwa and his wife Rajkumari.

community homestay entrance — A warm welcome at a community homestay. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

They escort us to a bunker-esque back building with steel doors and a folding security gate, behind which is gleaming linoleum, dolphin-printed tiles and a shower cavity that must be gingerly stepped through to reach the toilet.

The ceiling lights emit a rainbow of colours (the bathroom light gets stuck in, frankly, a quite frightening red). We’re nevertheless touched that our hosts invested in all this bling when the average salary is around $275 a month.

In the coming days, we participate in Tharu traditions such as making moonshine, dancing, weaving straw handicrafts and gold-panning. We’re fed well with staples of rice, mustard greens, lentil pancakes, daal, curried chicken and tomato chutney served on antibacterial saal leaves.

food at community homestay — Dig in. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Sonara community homestay president Indradevi Tharu tells us river snails are often served, and the boiled and pickled flesh of rats hunted in the rice fields. “Perhaps next time?” we say and all have a laugh.

The power of community homestays

community homestay owners in Nepal — Barda community homestay owners Parbati Chaudhary and Ram Krishni Devi Chaudhary. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

Immersing Western visitors in foreign cultural practices is not new. But with the Tharu, I never get that uneasy sensation that I’m being performed for. Despite being the only tourists, there’s no ‘othering’; just warm, composed and ultra-dignified welcomes. Like we’ve always been here.

“I love to have travellers in my village so I can see the world,” says local woman Parbati Chaudhary. “Why would I travel the world when the world comes to me?”

The graceful acceptance the Tharu offer, as well as the slow pace, works miracles on my frazzled nervous system. One day I even take a nap on a vacant homestay bed.

Sonara community room — An authentic stay in the Sonara community. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Roosters strut and goats bray as we sit on the ground in al fresco kitchens, rolling rice flour into cylinders steamed to make dhikri (dumplings). When water is needed, we fetch it using a hand-operated pump as a family of ducks strolls by, side-eying us like curious neighbours.

Animal lovers will delight in Tharu villages. Kind and resourceful inventions are everywhere, such as snacking stations where two posts lean together, with leafy boughs dangling on rope for baby goats to forage from.

CHN’s CEO, Aayusha Prasain, nods knowingly when one in our group says she cried when she left her host, Shayam Chaudhary, in Bhada. Shayam’s 17-year-old son, Prashant, had translated, which deepened the connection.

“Community tourism turns travel into a relationship, not a transaction,” says Aayusha. “It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, especially women and youth.” Since 2018, CHN has hosted more than 4000 travellers from 52 countries in 408 households, and estimates women’s participation has increased by 381 per cent.

In the Bardiya community, where vexing human-animal conflict has been a balancing act for decades due to elephants raiding crops, long-time homestay operator Salik Ram Chaudhary says young people keep the older ones on their toes.

“We can’t keep homestays stagnant,” he says. “We have to upgrade our service and redefine our product or young people won’t see it as an attractive business. If we can keep evolving with this travelling trend we’re confident the youths will stay and continue it.”

Back in Kathmandu, Monica explains that after the deaths of young protestors in September, a determination had spread to not let their sacrifice be in vain. “We want to keep holding the government accountable,” she says. “We don’t know what situation we’re facing, but we’re ready to face it.”

Interested in Nepal but prefer to experience it in total comfort? Read our guide to luxury travel in Nepal.

Travel with Christine Aldred as she takes in some highlights in a city that served as the country’s capital for more than 1000 years.

Day one

6.30am

8.30am

10.30am

1pm

2.30pm

4pm

6pm

7.30pm

Day two

8am

10.30am

12.30pm

3.30pm

Where to stay in Kyoto: the best hotels and ryokan

Kyoto restaurants: the best places to eat in the ancient capital

This railway journey in Japan has been named the world’s most scenic

Things to do in Kyoto: traditional tea ceremonies, geisha spotting and zen gardens

These community homestays are changing how travellers experience Nepal

After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?

How tourism is changing in Nepal

A new generation demanding more

Life unfiltered in the Terai region

The power of community homestays

Weekly travel news, experiences
insider tips, offers, and more.

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