Worth it if
Travelers who like old streets, evening walks, photography, architecture, and cultural atmosphere.
Skip it if
Anyone who only wants to chase photos of geiko/maiko.
Kyoto's historically preserved entertainment district — the area of stone-paved lanes, wooden machiya buildings, paper lanterns, and teahouses where geiko and maiko still work. It looks like a film set and isn't one. It functions as a private, operational neighbourhood that happens to be the most photographed streetscape in Japan.
The streets themselves justify the walk — Hanamikoji-dori, Shirakawa, the narrower lanes around Gion Tatsumi shrine. You're not going to get inside anything; it's all private businesses and residences. What you're doing is walking through architecture that has resisted being turned into something else for longer than seems possible in a modern city.
Most of the women in kimono on Hanamikoji in the afternoon are tourists who paid for a costume rental session. There are dozens of shops offering this and it is a legitimate industry, but it is not geisha. Real geiko and maiko work evenings, walk quickly between appointments, and do not stop to be photographed by strangers. If you want to see the genuine thing, early morning and cold weather are the conditions. Gion at 7am in November, before the tour buses arrive, is about as close as most visitors will get.
On the ground
Why locals go
Gion Shirakawa — the smaller canal area to the northeast — is less documented than the main Hanamikoji route, and feels closer to the district's actual texture. The willow trees over the water, the small Tatsumi shrine on the canal. Most tourists walk the main strip and miss it.
What visitors miss
They visit specifically to photograph geiko or maiko in the street, which has created enough documented harassment that Kyoto now posts rules and occasionally enforcement in the area. Go for the streets, not to chase people who are working.
Practical tips
Early morning (before 8am) and after dark (after 8pm) are when the streets are actually walkable and atmospheric.
Photograph architecture, not people. Attempting to photograph geiko or maiko is widely considered disrespectful and increasingly restricted.
Walk Shirakawa-minami-dori along the canal in addition to Hanamikoji — it's quieter, more intimate, and often better.
Location
Visit info
Best time
Early morning for quiet streets, or evening for atmosphere. Avoid treating it like a celebrity-spotting zone.
Time needed
1–2 hours
Address
Kyoto, Japan
Last reviewed: June 2026
Tags
More in
Japan
30 considered places
