Shopping and temple-ing in Japan’s ancient capital.

Kyoto fully lives up to the Japanese image with ultra-slick service; a convenience store where you can walk in naked and come out with a whole new identity; and a show on TV where girls pull suction bras off each other with fishing hooks. Small, functional, out of the ordinary—it’s just perfect for a 48 hour eating, temple-ing, shopping whirlwind.

Day 1

Time is limited so the subway is the best way to get around. It doesn’t matter that you don’t speak Japanese; the stations are all marked with romanized names along with the price of the tickets. Avoid buses—the fare changes on the electric board as you go along, resulting in endless confusion about what you should pay at the end of the journey.

Grab breakfast at one of the many cafes selling sets of thick toast, eggs, salad and coffee for around US$5, then head to central Kyoto which throngs with smartly dressed professionals and wild-child Japanese. Super short shorts, thigh high socks, patent leather shoes and dyed blonde hair are the order of the day for young women. Immaculate department stores and huge arcades crammed with shops provide enough retail therapy for even the most hardened of shoppers.

Foodies must hit the Nishiki market where food becomes a work of art, with glossy vegetables placed lovingly in baskets and silvery fish lined up in neat rows. Everything is an art form in Japan, right down to the elegant packaging of one’s purchases. Eat at one of the myriad restaurants serving basic dishes such as noodles and tempura and then shop the day away, loading up on delicate ceramics, beautiful paper and edgy fashion.

The evening is magical at the fashionable Pontocho area, a stone’s throw away. Tiny, lantern-decked doorways in a maze of lanes open into bars and restaurants ranging from the plebeian to exclusive. At the other end of downtown, find the sake bar, Yoramu, where the well-informed though phlegmatic owner will take you through a tasting tour of domestic brands. There is a lot more to rice wine than the bottles of cheap, hot stuff that come with the all-you-can eat deals in China. To get there, bite the bullet and take a taxi: It’s a long walk and time is short.

Accommodation in Kyoto is not cheap. Stay in a ryokan—a traditional Japanese inn—if you can. Aoi-so, though a little out of the way, has lovely little rooms with tatami mats, futons, air conditioning and private bathrooms. Plus it’s close to the metro, crucial to getting into the city easily the next day.

Day 2

Devote your second day to Kyoto's classical sites. Do it on foot as there are many smaller shrines to check out as well as parks and boutiques. Start at the Hei'an shrine where huge red gates stand out against the cerulean blue of the Kyoto sky. Then grab an immaculate rickshaw pulled by muscled and tanned young men to the Higashiyama area where you'll find cobbled streets with old-style wooden buildings. Settle down to a dish of green tea ice cream and voyeur-out over ornately dressed geisha sweating under their heavy white make-up.

Grab a quick lunch washed down with Japanese beer at one of the many small restaurants and head to the lovely philosopher's path, Tetsugako-no-michi, a pathway by a stream surrounded by temples and shrines nearby including the lovely Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion), whose gardens combine picturesque greenery with zen-style mounds and patterns raked into white sand.

Jump on a sushi train for dinner. Musashi has several locations throughout Kyoto and serves up delicious cuts of fish for just over a dollar a plate. Otherwise, even convenience stores like Family Mart offer a wide selection of Japanese foods such as rice balls and sushi.

A highlight of any Kyoto trip is the To-ji temple market, which takes place on the 21st of each month. The temple gardens are crammed with stalls spilling out into the surrounding streets, offering a wide range of products from fat cakes shaped like fish to handmade soaps to old records. Second hand cotton kimonos are a steal for around US$10, if you can make up your mind which pattern you like best.

Leaving Kyoto on a cloud of sake, with a belly full of great food and bags full of great buys, it feels like the place of dreams.

Travel Details

Get There: Fly to Osaka, then take the fast train to Kyoto for US$5.
Stay at: The Aoi-so Inn (US$100 per night) has large, traditional-style rooms with bathroom. Cheaper rooms are also available. Tel: 81-75-431-0788

Don’t Miss:

• Nishiki market where food becomes art.
• Pontocho with its lantern-lined alleyways.
• Hei’an shrine and a taste of the shogunate.
• Tetsugako-no-michi with its temples.
• Ginkaku-ji's zen gardens.
• To-ji temple market has some of the best second-hand shopping in Japan.

by Elyse Singleton