Things to do in Kyoto

For more than a thousand years Kyoto was Japan's imperial capital, and it still feels like the keeper of the country's traditions. Wooden townhouses line the lanes of Gion and Higashiyama, and the city holds hundreds of temples and shrines, from hillside Kiyomizu-dera to quiet gardens you may have almost to yourself.

It is the place to slow down and try things with your own hands: a tea ceremony, a kendo lesson, a morning at a blacksmith's forge. Evenings are best spent walking the old streets as the lanterns come on.