Kyoto was our first stop on this trip through Japan. Three days that gave us shrines, matcha, a hike I wasn't ready for, and one of the hardest mom-days I've had in a while.
We checked into Koko Hotel Kyoto, and I loved how it gave you the Japanese feel with a Western layout. The room was about 431 sq ft and spacious for four, with two twin beds and two futons on tatami. There was also a small kitchen with a stove, microwave, and fridge, plus a proper dining table for late-night snacks. For a family trip - that's the difference between surviving the evenings or not.
Our room at Koko. Twin beds on one side, futons on tatami on the other. Enough space that the four of us could actually breathe.
That first morning we started light. FamilyMart for breakfast: egg sandwiches, onigiri for the kids, milk, instant noodles, and spam with rice. ¥1,823 (~$17 CAD) for the four of us. If you're travelling Japan with kids, the convenience stores are genuinely your friend. The food is good, cheap, and nobody's going to look at you for buying breakfast off a shelf at 8am.
First things first, we needed to exchange money before doing anything else. We stopped at World Currency Shop Kyoto, which had the best rate we found near our hotel by far. Then we walked over to the Pokemon Center. It was on the smaller side, but the inventory was still solid.
It started sprinkling, and around the corner from our hotel we ducked into Mikane Shrine, a tiny local shrine most tourists walk right past. We noticed it was filled with a lot of locals who come here to wish for prosperity and good health. That's when we knew we'd stumbled onto something special. We stopped just to experience it and ended up buying ourselves a little charm for luck. There's something about the small unannounced shrines that hits differently than the postcard-famous ones.
Lunch was at a tiny family-run sushi place right by the hotel. We noticed grandparents, kids, and potentially in-laws all working the counter - a true family-owned generational business. We sat on the floor and ordered three dishes. Simple, light, and really good, with a total spend of ¥6,400 (~$60 CAD). Worth every yen for the experience of being somewhere so local and authentic.
Walking along the Kamo River. The kind of in-between weather that makes Kyoto feel even slower than it already is.
By afternoon we walked over to Nishiki Market, and honestly? Everything felt overpriced. The atmosphere was cool to experience once, but it falls into that category of things you check off the bucket list to say you've been there, then move on.
By mid-afternoon the trip had tested us mentally. The kids were fighting constantly. Tears, tantrums, you name it, we experienced it all. My husband was done. The kids were done. So I took the opportunity to slip away for a couple of hours and visit Yasaka Shrine on my own.
It was such a nice and peaceful experience. For the first time all day, nothing was being asked of me. I got us some charms for good fortune, health, and safe travels. I also pulled a paper fortune, the kind where you have to decipher what it actually says about you. I used Gemini to help me figure out what it said, which was actually really cool. Something about using tech to make sense of an old tradition felt kind of full circle. One of those small unexpected moments where you realize how much you lean on technology when you're travelling somewhere you don't speak the language.
By the time I came back, we were all done. None of us wanted to go out for dinner. We grabbed random snacks from FamilyMart, called it an early night, and stayed in.
Not gonna lie, that day was rough. I went to bed hoping tomorrow would be a better one.
The next morning we took the subway from Kyoto to Uji. Tickets were ¥220 (~$3 CAD) per person plus ¥440 (~$5 CAD) to transfer across two lines to reach Uji Station. Worth every yen. Uji ended up being one of the highlights of the entire Kyoto trip for me personally.
Our first stop was a popular matcha shop where we bought some powder to bring home. We noticed they also had a cafe and put our names down. Since there was a wait of about 1.5 hours, we decided to grab lunch first and walked to the end of the street for ramen at a small local spot. The ramen was alright in my opinion, though the sides were better than the bowl itself, and the meal came to about ¥5,000 (~$47 CAD).
Our ramen lunch spot in Uji. The kind of small place you'd walk past if you didn't slow down.
By the time our cafe spot was ready, we'd worked up an appetite for the main event. Quick warning if you're planning this: the place is on the pricier side. Drinks ran ¥880 to ¥2,380 (~$9 to ~$22 CAD), and the cheapest dessert (their soft serve) started at ¥1,550 (~$15 CAD). Worth knowing before you sit down.
The matcha float. Rich, creamy, perfectly balanced. The one drink I'm still thinking about.
I ordered the matcha float, which was rich and creamy from the milk-flavour ice cream on top, and somehow not too sweet. The balance was perfect. For the kids we got milk ice cream, which they loved, and for us we got the matcha and hojicha ice cream combo. I didn't think two such different flavours would work together, but they balanced each other out beautifully. It came paired with red bean and mochi, and while the kids ate the mochi, the red bean cut down the bitterness of the matcha exactly the way it was supposed to.
Would I go back? In a heartbeat, but only if I knew I had the time and the budget. The experience was genuinely special. I'd absolutely come back just for the ice cream alone if they offered takeout, but unfortunately the ice cream is dine-in only. Plan for the wait, plan for the bill, treat it as the experience it is.
Uji on foot. A torii standing watch over a quiet path, boats on the river with the pagoda in the distance. The town is tiny and worth slowing down for.
After the cafe we wandered around the little town of Uji, ducking in and out of shops. No big agenda, just enjoying what Uji has to offer at a kid-friendly pace.
After a few hours we caught the train to Fushimi Inari Taisha, about a 38 minute subway ride from Uji Station. The architecture is stunning, and the history of those vermilion torii gates is part of why you come to Kyoto. But we arrived around 4pm and it was packed, hard to maneuver, with everyone stopping in the middle for Instagram photos. Honestly, it felt a little overrated for our particular situation. With young kids and a stroller (strollers aren't allowed in, but there's a parking spot for them), we walked maybe two or three flights of stairs, turned around, and headed back out. Another one for the bucket-list-only column.
Quick tip if you're going: the crowd had drastically thinned by the time we left around 5:30pm, so if you want to beat the rush, go either right at opening (8 to 9am) or later in the evening. Mid-afternoon is brutal.
We decided to head back to the hotel. To get there we needed to transfer at Kyoto Station, but we ended up grabbing dinner instead at a Brazilian steakhouse just behind Kyoto Tower. It was alright. The vibe was loud (like any Brazilian steakhouse) and the meat was just okay. Heads up: every adult in your party has to order the all-you-can-drink package as part of the meal. Worth knowing before you sit down.
Kyoto Tower at night. We walked under it heading back to the hotel, tired, full, and finally feeling like the trip was on our side.
Our last day in Kyoto felt bittersweet. There were so many things I wanted to do and check out, but I had to remind myself: there's only so much we can truly explore with young kids. That's the reality of it, and sometimes we forget that our little humans can only do so much. The version of this trip I would have done in my twenties is not the version of this trip I get to do now, and that's okay.
My partner wanted to buy a helmet, so we made our way to Arai SHOEI NANKAI KYOTO TSUBOI. If you're a rider, this one is worth the detour. The helmet he picked up was close to 50% cheaper than what he would have paid back in Canada. After he found what he was looking for, we stumbled on Menya Matatabi (麺屋またたび), a small local place serving udon, soba, and unagi don. Truly a local spot. The menu was strictly Japanese. We ordered five dishes and the bill came to ¥3,400 (~$32 CAD). We didn't take any photos of the food because we were all too hungry. Sometimes that's the best sign that a meal was good.
On the way there we passed Kashishokunin, a little bakery that smelled incredible, so we doubled back after lunch for a treat. Then headed back to the hotel to grab our luggage and start the trek to our next stop: Osaka, just over a 1.5 hour subway ride away.
One thing to know if you're doing multi-city Japan with kids: coordinate your luggage transportation in advance. We forgot, and we had no choice but to lug our suitcases through multiple trains to get to our next hotel. You need to make arrangements at least the day before, because luggage forwarding takes a full day to arrive at your next destination. Highly recommend it if you're hotel-hopping with kids.
A quick note on money before I wrap up. Just so you know, I round up when I share prices on the blog so you have a bit of a buffer to work with, better to overestimate than underestimate. For three days in Kyoto (not counting flights or the hotel), we spent around ¥20,000 (~$185 CAD) for the four of us on food and transit. The matcha cafe in Uji was our biggest splurge, close to ¥7,000 (~$65 CAD) for four drinks and desserts. To be honest, we didn't factor that in with our spending and some people might say skip it. For us, it was worth the experience because it was something new and different. FamilyMart carried us more than we'd care to admit, breakfast for a family of four for under ¥2,000 (~$19 CAD). The tiny sushi place with three generations behind the counter came in at ¥6,400 (~$60 CAD), which felt like a lot at the time.
| What | JPY | CAD (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| FamilyMart breakfast (Day 1) | ¥1,823 | ~$17 |
| Family-run sushi lunch (Day 1) | ¥6,400 | ~$60 |
| Subway Kyoto to Uji (per person, plus transfer) | ¥660 | ~$7 |
| Ramen lunch in Uji | ¥5,000 | ~$47 |
| Local soba / udon / unagi lunch (Day 3) | ¥3,400 | ~$32 |
| What | JPY | CAD (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Matcha cafe in Uji (four drinks + desserts) | ~¥7,000 | ~$65 |
If you go to Kyoto with kids, my honest advice is to pick fewer things and go slower. We tried to fit too much into that first day and it broke us. The second day worked because we let Uji be the whole day. The rest of the time we just walked, sat in shrines, and ate small meals. That part of Kyoto, the slow part, is the part we'll actually remember.