The best things to do in Kyoto in July 2026

One of Kyoto’s most iconic shrines, Fushimi Inari Taisha is beloved for its vibrant vermilion torii gate tunnels that stretch from the base of the complex, across the hillsides, and up to the mountaintop. While the grounds are atmospheric on any given day, they become even more magical during the Motomiya-sai Festival in summer.

This festival brings together Inari Shrine devotees from across Japan for two days of prayers and celebrations. At 6pm on Sunday July 19, thousands of lanterns will light up the grounds, from the main shrine at the foothills to the vivid orange torii tunnels winding up Mt. Inari. You’ll find ornate stone, wood and beautifully painted paper lanterns illuminating the grounds after dark.

On Monday July 20, the festivities kick off at 9am...

The most renowned of all traditional Japanese festivals, Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri has a storied history dating back to the year 869, when it was first held as an appeasing ceremony to the gods to rid the city of an epidemic. What’s truly impressive is that this grand tradition has survived for over a millennium while retaining much of its elaborate rituals.

While Gion Matsuri spans the entire month of July with numerous festivities revolving around its host, the Yasaka Shrine, the main highlight is the spectacular Yamaboko float procession happening on July 17, followed by a second, smaller one a week later on July 24.

The biggest procession of the two, the Saki Matsuri Junko on July 17, features 23 massive multi-storey floats. These awe-inspiring vessels, known as Yamaboko, measure up to 25 metres tall and weigh as much as 12 tons. Each is unique in design, yet all of them are embellished with ornate tapestries as well as intricate carvings and woodwork. In fact, these floats hold such historical and artistic significance that they are designated Important Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan.

The procession follows a 3km route across the city centre, starting at the Shijo-Karasuma junction at 9am and ending at the Karasuma-Oike junction at around 2pm. However, to truly appreciate the Yamaboko floats up close, you’ll want to check out the Yoiyama festival, which takes place for three nights (July 14–16) leading up to the main procession...

Emerging in the wake of the Margaret Thatcher era, the Young British Artists (YBAs) and their contemporaries embraced shock, irreverence and entrepreneurial flair. While the YBA label (applied after the landmark 1988 ‘Freeze’ exhibition organised by Damien Hirst) was often contested, it came to define a generation that reimagined what art could be. Painting, sculpture, photography, video and installation all became tools for probing themes of identity, consumer culture and shifting social structures. 

‘YBA & Beyond: British Art in the 90s from the Tate Collection’ is the first exhibition in Japan devoted exclusively to British art of the 1990s. It debuted in Tokyo earlier this year before arriving at the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art. Featuring around 90 works by some 50 artists, the show captures a turbulent and transformative period in British culture, when politics, society and art collided to spark a wave of radical experimentation.

Highlights include works by Hirst, Tracey Emin, Lubaina Himid, Wolfgang Tillmans and Julian Opie, alongside others who reshaped contemporary art on a global stage...

If you’re looking to experience a serene, ancient temple without the overwhelming crowds of central Kyoto, get off the beaten track and make your way to the mountainside Mimurotoji on the outskirts of Uji City. Founded in 770, this sprawling temple complex is home to an elegant three-tiered red pagoda as well as expansive grounds featuring a dry landscape garden, a pond, and some of the region’s most beautiful displays of seasonal flowers.  

Mimurotoji looks especially colourful from late spring through early summer, with azaleas blooming in May, followed by hydrangeas in June and lotus flowers in July. In fact, the temple boasts one of the most spectacular hydrangea sights in the Kansai region, with 20,000 plants across 50 varieties growing under tall cedar trees...

Founded in 1236, the Rinzai sect head temple Tofukuji is especially stunning in autumn, when its gardens are ablaze with fiery red momiji foliage. This summer, however, the beloved Zen Buddhist temple is offering a new way to experience its tranquil grounds through a special night opening.

With its immersive light-ups, Zen Night Tofukuji may seem like just another temple illumination, a trend that has been growing across Japan in recent years. But it's more than that. As with previous editions at Kyoto's Kenninji Temple (2024) and Kamakura's Kenchoji Temple (2025), this year’s event will also incorporate neuro music into its mix of sound, light and spatial installations to create a much more sensorial experience befitting the temple's meditative atmosphere.

For the uninitiated, neuro music can enhance or suppress specific brainwave frequencies to help sharpen concentration or, in this case, induce deep relaxation. Visitors at Zen Night Tofukuji can experience this firsthand at the Neuro Music Zazen Sound Meditation in the temple's Zen Hall, which is the oldest and largest of its kind in Japan...

Kyoto Night Market was launched in June last year as a new evening attraction to help spread out the crowds in the city. Since then, the market has seen its popularity grow steadily, with its previous event on March 29 attracting a record 28,000 visitors.

This month, the night market is expanding into a two-day weekend event, happening on both Saturday July 11 and Sunday July 12. It will again be held at Ohigashi-san Plaza in front of the majestic Higashi Honganji Temple, less than 10 minutes’ walk from Kyoto Station. 

From 3pm to 10pm, the plaza will come alive with a host of food trucks and booths. You can enjoy local street food and seasonal treats, and shop for artisanal crafts and souvenirs.

Beyond food and shopping, the night market also offers live entertainment and cultural experiences...

Active during the late Edo period (1603–1868), Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) was a talented ukiyo-e (woodblock print) artist whose work crosses multiple genres. While he is best known for his musha-e, or warrior prints, he also painted uniquely styled landscapes incorporating Western painting techniques, as well as portraits of stylish women (bijin-ga) and popular actors. His work was so extensive and prolific that he established a reputation as a super creator in the ukiyo-e world back in the day.

This exhibition brings together about 200 pieces of Kuniyoshi’s work. His extraordinary and versatile talent is showcased across six distinct genres. You can expect to see some of his most iconic artworks including ‘The Takiyasha Witch and the Skeleton Spectre’ (one of the world’s most recognisable ukiyo-e images) and ‘Fifty Three Stations of the Tokaido Road Explained by Cats’.

Aside from the traditional display, the organisers of the immensely popular Ukiyo-e Immersive Art Exhibition have transformed roughly 50 pieces of Kuniyoshi’s woodblock prints into a captivating digital art experience...