☕ Cafes in Kyoto

% Arabica started in Kyoto before going global, and this Higashiyama shop sits on the slope just below the Yasaka Pagoda. The menu is short and built around espresso drinks, and the tiny minimalist space is mostly takeaway, so grab a latte and carry it up through Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka. Go early, before the tour groups arrive, for the quietest lanes.

📍87-5 Hoshino-cho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto 605-0853, Japan

A small specialty coffee stand about five minutes' walk from Kyoto Station, open since 2016 and pouring beans roasted at Kurasu's own roastery in Nishijin. It's the easiest good coffee near the station — worth a stop when you arrive or before a train — with filter and espresso drinks made carefully to order. Kurasu also sells brewing gear if you want to take the habit home.

📍552 Higashiaburanokoji-cho, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto 600-8235, Japan

A classic kissaten in the Teramachi covered arcade that has been open since 1932 and still roasts its own beans. Come in the morning for hand-drip coffee with fluffy hotcakes or French toast in the wood-panelled ground-floor room; upstairs, a lunch room serves retro yoshoku dishes. Expect a queue at weekends — it moves steadily, and solo diners slot in easily.

📍537 Tenshojimae-cho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-8081, Japan

A striking all-white café a 5–7 minute walk from Gojo Station, named after Thoreau's Walden. Upstairs there are no tables: you sit on wide wooden steps arranged around the room like a small amphitheatre, which makes it a calm place for a flat white and a notebook. It's bright, quiet and minimal — a welcome pause between temples.

📍508-1 Sakae-cho, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto 600-8194, Japan