Has Kyoto been ruined by tourists? Thinking of visiting next April...

[AmIimaginging]

Exactly that. i remember reading a thread about how busy Kyoto has become, and given that it's an expensive trip, and will be a highlight, I wonder if it'll be a nightmare that time of year. But because of DC, we can only go between about 8 and 20 April.

It's putting me off a bit...

The irony

Haha! Yes, quite.

Lol

There are certainly lots of vlogs about it now, and locals complaining. Overtourism is having a massive impact in popular places all over the world - you've seen the demonstrations in Spain on the news.

I think after covid there was a huge pent up demand, but instead of tapering off this is just the new normal for many people. The pandemic has made people realise that life is short and they want to travel, and will do so as much as possible now (instead of say, spending on physical items).

For Kyoto, personally, I have always found it too busy with tourists both in spring and autumn. It is my least favourite place to visit for that reason.

Yeah, I'd much prefer to travel any other time but we can't...

I did not enjoy my day in Kyoto this April. I felt like I was contributing to the problem of over-tourism. The buses were the most overcrowded that I’ve ever been on and I’m a Londoner. I really felt for the locals just trying to go about their day. We actually set aside two days for Kyoto and decided not to go back for the second day.

Clearly many millions of others think it’s worth the crowds but if you’re not one for crowds then I wouldn’t let it put you off of Japan as a whole. There’s many other beautiful places to visit.

I can recommend Kamakura and Nara from my trip this April.

Some of the places that I have yet to visit but which are in my list for future visits:

Kurashiki
Kanazawa
Kawagoe
Onomichi
Takayama

Kyoto is gorgeous but large and sprawling with a public transit network that feels overwhelmed by the number of people using it.

In that case best advice is to be the first at the hotspots. And if you're willing to go the the B-grade sights (which are still very lovely) it can take the stress off a bit.
For instance: https://www.reddit.com/r/Kyoto/comments/134f45t/arashiyama_bamboo_forest_alternatives_ive_read/

It is still enjoyable to visit, but I am not a crowd-loving type.

I lived in Japan for two different chunks of time, we still have friends there and have been back quite a few times. One friend lives on the outskirts of Kyoto and we were able to stay at her place twice, for a month at a time.
The last stay was a little pre Covid, so haven't seen how crowded it is now, but we could still see a huge change in how crowded it was by our last stay compared with first being there all the way back in 1990.
There are a very few places that ALL the tourists try to visit, and those tend to be unpleasantly crowded (the street used by maikos, Kiyomizu temple and the Golden temple being the main ones).

But, you don't HAVE to visit those places. Particularly the street wirh maiko, which seems to be a waste of time to me as, last time we visited, that general area was filled with young Chinese women tourists who had paid to essentially be got up in a cosplay version of maiko and were wandering around dressed up in that.

Even Kiyomizu temple (which I would actually suggest visiting) can be approached by a far less picturesque route than the narrow street that all the tourists are forcing themselves along in lockstep.

The silver temple (which is not silver) has far fewer visitors than the Golden temple and is at least as good. Ryuanji has fewer tourists than you would expect, as is the case with the former Imperial Palace. The shrine with the torii going up the hillside - Fushimi Inari shrine- starts out lower down with quite a lot of tourists, but they radically thin out as you get further up the hillside.The bamboo forest mentioned upthread also has a park nearby with wild monkeys which you are allowed to feed in one area if YOU go inside a cage and feed them from there while the monkeys are free outside.
Kyoto is rammed with fascinating temples and shrines, amazing food and great things to see even if you avoid all the tourist hotspots. In April cherry blossom and rhododendrons will probably be in season as well. Don't be put off!

I was in Kyoto for the best day of the Cherry Blossom in April this year. Yes it was busy but it wasn't ruined by being so, we had a local guide and walked everywhere so didn't use public transport and it was lovely, we went to the Silver Pavilion and visited lots of temples. We had 4 days there albeit one day it poured down and we stayed in the hotel. But it was well worth visiting. I have to say though that the best thing we did while in Japan was visit the oldest hotel in the world. We had 2 days 3 nights there and it was an experience never to be forgotten. It is a traditional hot spring hotel and the baths were amazing.

That is not in Ktyoto though! Sorry should have made that clear.