Transportation in Kyoto

Kyoto is a small city and has relatively simple transportation systems. If you’re exploring the city on foot, you’ll definitely make good use of the transportation in Kyoto.

If you’re on a short-term visit to Kyoto, chances are, you’ll be staying in a hotel near the Kyoto Station (京都駅 Kyoto Eki). From here, it is extremely accessible to everywhere in Kyoto and the nearby cities.

Kyoto Bus and Kyoto City Bus

If you have planned a whole day to explore Kyoto on foot, remember to get the Kyoto 1-Day Bus Pass @ ¥600 as this pass gives you unlimited bus rides within certain parts of Kyoto (don’t worry, all sight-seeing and important places are within this area) on the Kyoto bus and Kyoto city bus. If you will take bus rides more than 3 times, you have already benefited from the pass as the usual flat fare for single ride is ¥230.

For single rides, board the buses through the rear door. Tap your bus pass on the card reader beside the driver when you exit through the front door., or pay by coins into the payment box. If you have no change, there is also a coin-exchange machine right beside the payment box.

Subways

I have not really used subways extensively to have purchased any value passes. It is more convenient with buses, at least for foreigners. When I had to use the subways, I’ll tap my IC card instead, since there isn’t any day pass for unlimited subways/trains alone.

Subway + Bus Pass

If you’re planning trips with buses and subways, you can consider spending ¥1200 for a 1-day pass or ¥2000 for a 2-day pass. They come with unlimited access to the subways, Kyoto buses, and Kyoto city buses.

Navigation

I personally love the app called 歩くまち京都 (Arukumachi Kyoto). This app accurately gives you the options to get around Kyoto using public transportations, fares, durations, and timetables of the bus/subway arrivals. It is simply fantastic!

However, you may wish to memorise the names of the places you want to go. The app can be spelling-sensitive and show errors if it detects any spelling mistakes.

There is a simple trick if you have issues locating the exact bus stops from its map function. Look out for the direction of vehicles. If the map shows that your bus route is heading to the west, and you’re unsure which side of the bus stops to take. Go for the one along the side of streets with vehicles heading to the same direction.

Here are some examples of the important places for you to save in the ‘history’ of this app for reference:

There are very limited JR trains available in Kyoto. If you plan to visit only Kyoto, Osaka, and some nearby cities, Japan Rail Pass is not useful for you. If you follow my Kyoto itinerary for your trip, chances are you will not need the JR Pass.

I hope this post will help you to navigate around Kyoto better. Feel free to ask me any questions in the comment section!