Kyoto Alone cover

Asia · Available now

Kyoto
Alone

A solo travel guide for women 50 and over
By Jennifer Brandt

The vermilion gates and bamboo groves are as striking as promised, but the neighborhood lanes after breakfast, before the tour buses arrive, are where people fall for Kyoto.

$6.99 ebook

Buy the ebook, $6.99Read a sample

Ebook · Updated Q4 2026

Instant download · Secure checkout by Payhip

EPUB ebook: opens in Apple Books, Google Play Books and Kobo. On Kindle, use Send to Kindle (free, two minutes).

Or get the guide + planning kit, $9.99 →

Spotted something out of date? Tell us.

Where you might stay

  • BudgetSotetsu Fresa Inn Kyoto-Hachijoguchisimple station arrival and departure with luggage
  • Mid-rangeNohga Hotel Kiyomizu Kyotobakery café, restaurant, and rooftop bar
  • A treatFAUCHON L'Hotel Kyotomore space than compact station hotels

Two places to eat or drink alone

  • Sushi no MusashiConveyor-belt sushi with counter seating that suits one diner.
  • Kurasu Kyoto StandStanding counter and stools suit a coffee stop around a train journey.

SAMPLE

The City You Think You Know

Kyoto arrives in most imaginations fully formed before the plane lands: a bamboo grove lit gold, a row of vermilion gates climbing a hillside, a wooden temple veranda over a valley of maples. All of that exists, and all of it is worth seeing. What the postcards do not tell you is that by mid-morning, several of the most photographed places in Japan are running at a density that has nothing to do with contemplation and everything to do with crowd management: long lines, one-way foot traffic, staff with flags, buses idling three deep. Kyoto’s famous sights are real, and they are also, for a good part of the day, a logistics operation.

A free excerpt from Kyoto Alone.

PRACTICAL SAMPLE

How Kyoto Dining Actually Works

A few mechanics are worth knowing before your first meal. Many restaurants, particularly smaller ones, do not take walk-ins at peak hours and prefer a same-day or advance phone or app reservation; your accommodation’s front desk, the staff at Kyoto Station hotels for example, can usually make the call. Set lunch menus (teishoku) offer better value than the equivalent dinner, which is why lunch is the easier time to try a restaurant above your usual budget. Water and tea are usually served free at the start of a meal, and the menu price is the price you pay. Pointing at a plastic food model in a window, or at another diner’s dish, is an entirely normal way to order.

A free excerpt from Kyoto Alone.

Inside this book

  • Kyoto Awaits
  • A City Shaped by History
  • Before You Go
  • The Solo Woman’s Kyoto
  • Where to Stay
  • Neighborhood by Neighborhood
View the chapter contents
  • Kyoto Awaits
  • A City Shaped by History
  • Before You Go
  • The Solo Woman’s Kyoto
  • Where to Stay
  • Neighborhood by Neighborhood
  • Days in Kyoto
  • Temples, Gardens & Museums
  • The Pleasures of the Table
  • Evening & After Dark
  • Retail Therapy
  • Beyond the City: Day Trips
  • Etiquette and a Few Words
  • Practical Matters

BUY THE GUIDE

Kyoto Alone

The vermilion gates and bamboo groves are as striking as promised, but the neighborhood lanes after breakfast, before the tour buses arrive, are where people fall for Kyoto.

$6.99 ebook

Buy the ebook, $6.99

Ebook · Updated Q4 2026

Instant download · Secure checkout by Payhip

THE GUIDE + YOUR OWN PLANS

Ready to settle your plans?

Day plans in the kit include “A First Acquaintance: Fushimi Inari and Higashiyama” and “Arashiyama and the West”.

See inside the Kyoto kit →
A page from the free sample of the Kyoto kitRead the free 3-page sample (PDF) →
Do I need the kit as well?

No. The guide stands on its own. The kit is a separate, optional pack of decisions, day plans and a booking list. Read the free 3-page sample to see whether it suits the way you plan.

A travel note on Kyoto.

Read the travel note →

More guides

Back to the bookshop →