Luxury Travel to Kyoto made for you

Kyoto is where you’ll find ancient and contemporary Japan collide in a fascinating cultural hub. The former imperial capital was spared much of the destruction of World War II and the city is unique for its abundance of prewar buildings including grand palaces, traditional “machiya” townhouses and ornate, ancient shrines. But as the country’s seventh largest city with a population of 1.4 million people, it’s put on a thoroughly modern face.

Sprawling out from the ultra-modern glass-and-steel train station at the centre, you’ll find traditional ryokan inns featuring centuries-old craftsmanship jostling for position with skyscrapers. It’s also one of the few cities in Japan where traditional geisha still live and practice, and it’s not uncommon to see kimono-clad women shuffling along narrow, lamp-lit streets alongside captivated tourists.

Kyoto is known as the City of Ten Thousand Shrines and some of its unmissable sights include the magnificent wooden Kiyomizu-dera, the Golden and Silver Pavilion Temples and Ryoan-ji with its celebrated rock garden.