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목차

• Why Cycle around Kyoto >
• Kyoto layout >
• Tips and Road Rules >
• Renting a Bike >
• Cycling Routes >
• Bicycle Parking >
• Useful for Cyclists to know >
• 최종 생각 >

Why Cycle around Kyoto

Kyoto has some amazing places to ride. You can climb mountains, explore deep forests, pedal along rivers, pass through picturesque towns and cruise around downtown looking for the best espresso in town.

When exploring on the bike you not only see point A and point B, but also the unplanned and unexpected things on the way.

In our opinion, cycling allows you to see much more.

Hidden gems

The crowds in the city and at the main sights can be pretty daunting but luckily, Kyoto has so much natural wonder and charm lurking just beyond the city centre and main tourist destinations.

Riding into the mountains, down side streets, around the quiet suburbs and through the rural farming towns will show you a unique and authentic side to Japan which you simply can’t get from sticking to the well-trodden path.

There are so many shrines, temples, rivers and simply stunning snapshots of raw Japan that aren’t in any guidebooks that you literally stumble upon when venturing into rural and isolated areas.

These moments are some of the best and at Road Bike Rental Japan, our mission is to help people experience more of these moments during their time in Japan.

Stunning nature

Japan really is a beautiful country. However, sometimes the world-famous cultural sights and bright neon buzz of the cities can overshadow this.

There are towering and steep mountains, rivers and valleys sweeping below, rural farming villages with the distinct charm only found in Japan, mystic local shrines tucked into corners of the country, vast forests that seem to swallow you whole and oceans and beaches that will have you striping off mid-ride and jumping in for a dip.

If you catch trains and buses everywhere you can miss a lot of this. However being on a bike gives you the best chance of discovering the real natural beauty of Japan and we’re sure you won’t be disappointed.

Speed

Bikes are faster than walking and therefore enable you to cover more ground with less effort than when walking around. 

We agree, there are times in busier areas when it’s better to get off the bike and stroll around but usually the bike will let you get around faster plus you can enjoy the wind in your hair.

Fun, Healthy and good for the Environment

Riding bikes is fun. There are a lot of scientific explanations that try to explain why but when you spin those pedals, get the blood pumping and stir up those endorphins it simply feels good. 

Exercise puts you in a better mood and cycling is also a great way to balance out all of the extra eating and drinking you probably are doing on holidays. The food in Japan is epic and the beers flow freely at local restaurants and doing some exercise during your trip can keep you feeling good.

Bike riding also uses minimal fossil fuels and is a pollution free form of transport.

Climate change is the biggest challenge the world is facing and we believe in trying to reduce our carbon emissions in any way we can.

Cycling as a mode of transport is better for the environment and we hope guides like this play a small role in encouraging people to get around Kyoto by bike.

Kyoto Layout

Kyoto is in a valley and is surrounded by mountains on the west, north and east with Mt Atago being the highest peak at 924m.

Kyoto sits southwest of the largest freshwater lake in Japan, Lake Biwa, however none of the lake actually comes into Kyoto prefecture with the entire body of water sitting in Shiga prefecture.

Throughout this guide when we refer to Kyoto, we mean Kyoto city and not the much larger Kyoto prefecture.

Kyoto city is the capital of Kyoto prefecture with the city taking up approximately 18% of the land in the prefecture. 

When we think about cycling around Kyoto, it’s helpful to break up the city into sections which are listed below:

• Northwest Kyoto
• Northeast Kyoto
• West Kyoto
• East Kyoto
• Southwest Kyoto
• Southeast Kyoto
• Downtown and central Kyoto

Central Kyoto and Downtown

Downtown is considered to be bordered by Karasuma-dori in west, Oike-dori in north, the Kamo river in the east and Shijo-dori in south.

The area is pretty small – 1km squared – making it easy to walk around.

While not everyone follows the rules, cycling on the below streets are prohibited:

• Kawaramachi-dori, between Oike-dori and Bukkoji-dori
• Shijo-dori, between Higashioji-dori and Karasuma-dori
• Sanjo-dori, between Kiyamachi-dori and Kawaramachi-dori

Apart from the prohibited streets (and other streets that are restricted at certain times of the day or during certain events during the year), you can ride around and navigate Kyoto city fairly easily due to the grid layout. It should be noted there is a fair bit of traffic on the roads making peak hours a pretty congested time to cruise the streets. 

There are also a lot of traffic lights – especially in the city centre around downtown – making the going pretty slow in some areas.

You’ve also got the people traffic to contend with which is made up of locals going about their daily lives plus the huge number of tourists that come to visit Kyoto every year.

When riding around the city the rivers are a useful way to escape the traffic  and pollution on the streets. If you are in the city centre or east Kyoto you can ride along the Kamo river while if you are in the west you can take the Katsura river.

West Kyoto – Katsura river and Arashiyama

The Katsura river in the west is a great starting point to get on the bike and start exploring.

강을 따라 자전거 도로가 있으며 자전거를 타면서 아름다운 순간을 만끽할 수 있습니다.

남쪽에서 더 멀리 출발하여 아라시야마로 향하거나 아라시야마 또는 마쓰오 타이샤에서 출발하여 남쪽으로 향할 수 있습니다.

아라시야마는 특별한 곳이지만 교토의 다른 곳과 마찬가지로 관광객으로 매우 붐빕니다. 특히 대나무 숲은 매우 혼잡하기 때문에 이른 아침이나 늦은 저녁이 방문하기 가장 좋은 시간대입니다.

아라시야마 주변 자전거 여행의 가장 좋은 점 중 하나는 아라시야마 자체에서 자전거를 타는 것이 아니라 아라시야마 북쪽으로 향하는 강길에서 자전거를 타는 것입니다. 산이 산등성이를 휘감아 돌면서 세계적으로 유명한 지역이 저 멀리 서서히 모습을 드러냅니다.

북 교토

교토 북부를 북서부와 북동부로 나눴습니다.

북서부 - 우메가하타, 나카가와 등 산악지대를 여행하는 방법

북쪽의 산들은 정말 멋집니다. 오르막과 내리막, 엽서 같은 작은 마을, 숲과 풍경이 주는 선명한 광경과 냄새를 즐길 수 있습니다.

The pine trees in Japan are beautiful and as you head into the mountains the vast forests can leave you feeling isolated and into the wild.

북쪽의 산은 아라시야마 북쪽과 우메가하타를 통과하는 북서쪽 경로를 이용하면 도시에서 쉽게 갈 수 있습니다.

북동부 - 오하라 및 히에이산 등

북동쪽에는 자전거를 타고 탐험할 수 있는 수많은 지역이 있으며, 오하라는 이 지역의 많은 노선의 허브입니다.

오하라는 다카라가이케 연못 공원과 다카라가이케 역을 지나 367번 국도를 타고 올라가면 쉽게 찾을 수 있습니다. 

산길은 또한 동쪽으로 더 멀리 히에이 산을 오르내리거나 통과하고 넘어갑니다.

히에이 산은 교토에서 두 번째로 높은 산으로, 자신을 밀어붙이고 심장을 뛰게 하고 싶다면 몇 가지 심각한 등반 코스가 있습니다.

산을 올라가면 자전거를 타는 사람들에게도 인기 있는 비와코 호수로 내려갑니다.

East Kyoto

동쪽 교토는 가모 강 건너편에 위치한 지역으로 교토에서 가장 유명한 유적지와 관광 명소를 포함하고 있습니다.

교토 대학 바로 동쪽에는 철학자의 길이 있고, 그 남쪽에는 난젠지, 다시 남쪽에는 기요미즈 데라 사원이 있습니다.

동쪽에는 자전거를 타고 아름다운 히가시야마 지역을 돌아다니며 경치를 감상하는 관광객이 많아요.

산조 도리를 타고 케아게 역을 지나 기요미즈데라 뒤편 언덕을 올라가면 오츠에 도착할 수 있습니다.

시노미야 역 주변과 교토 히가시 인터체인지, 오쓰행 1번 국도를 따라 교통량이 많을 수 있으므로 가급적 혼잡한 시간을 피하면 더 즐거운 여행을 즐길 수 있습니다.

교토 남부

남쪽도 남서쪽과 남동쪽 구역으로 나뉩니다.

남동쪽 - 우지 및 나라 방향

남동쪽 노선과 지역에는 자전거를 타기에 좋은 지역도 있습니다. 후시미이나리 신사는 방문하기 좋은 아름다운 곳이지만 걸어서 가야 하므로 신사를 방문하고 싶다면 혼잡을 피하기 위해 일찍 도착하는 것이 좋습니다.

우지로 향하는 라이딩은 멋진 경치를 경험하고 싶은 자전거 여행객이라면 꼭 가봐야 할 코스 중 하나입니다.

우지까지 가는 길은 꽤 괜찮은데, 시내 구간도 있지만 약간의 교통 체증이 있는 도로도 있습니다. 하지만 우지에 도착해 세타강을 따라 우지로 향하기 시작하면 교통 체증에 대한 생각은 금방 사라질 것입니다.

강을 따라 펼쳐지는 언덕길은 장관을 이룹니다.

구불구불한 도로는 자전거를 타는 즐거움을 선사하며, 강과 다리를 따라 펼쳐지는 드라마틱한 경치는 환상적인 자전거 라이딩 경험을 선사합니다.

경로를 확인하고 라이딩에 대해 자세히 알아보려면 가이드의 자전거 경로 섹션을 참조하세요.

남동쪽은 종종 나라로 내려가는 길목으로, 실망하지 않을 클래식 라이딩을 즐길 수 있는 곳입니다. 이 루트에는 울창한 숲, 강변 도로, 농장, 야생동물(나라의 사슴)과 몇 가지 멋진 오르막이 포함되어 있습니다.

교토에서 나라로 가는 루트에 대한 링크는 자전거 여행 경로 섹션에서도 확인할 수 있습니다.

남서쪽 - 가쓰라강, 세 개의 강이 합류하는 곳

남교토는 요도 강을 따라 오사카로 향하거나 기즈 강을 따라 나라로 향하는 자전거 여행객들에게도 인기 있는 곳입니다.

남쪽에는 가쓰 강, 우지 강, 키즈 강이 합쳐져 요도 강이 되는 세 개의 강이 합류하는 지점이 있습니다.

그곳에서 기즈 강을 따라 남쪽으로 내려가 나라로 향하거나 동쪽으로 우지 강을 따라가거나 요도 강을 타고 오사카로 여행할 수 있습니다.

경로에 대한 자세한 내용은 가이드의 사이클 경로 섹션에서 확인할 수 있습니다.

팁 및 도로 규칙

자전거 대여

교토에서 자전거를 빌리는 것은 아주 쉽습니다. 기본적인 시내 자전거를 대여하는 곳이 많고 일일 요금도 그리 비싸지 않아요.

호텔에서는 투숙객을 위한 자전거 대여 서비스를 제공하는 경우도 있으니 숙박 시설에 자전거 대여 서비스가 포함되어 있을 수 있으니 숙소를 확인하시기 바랍니다.

대부분의 현지인들이 일상생활을 위해 타고 다니는 기본 자전거를 맘마차리라고 합니다. 엄마의 자전거 또는 이와 유사한 의미로, 자전거는 보통 앞쪽에 바구니가 달린 싱글 스피드 자전거입니다.

기어가 몇 개 달린 자전거를 원한다면 평평한 핸들바가 달린 자전거가 많은 옵션이 있습니다.

로드 및 스포츠 자전거의 경우 선택의 폭이 훨씬 더 제한적입니다.

RBRJ는 고성능 로드 및 투어링 자전거를 전문으로 하며 다양한 투어링 자전거 제품군을 보유하고 있습니다.

다양한 로드 및 투어링 자전거를 확인하려면 아래 링크를 참조하세요:

로드 및 투어링 자전거 제품군 >

사이클링 경로

교토에는 자전거를 타고 돌아다닐 수 있는 다양한 지역이 있습니다. 도시와 교외에 가까운 곳에서부터 도시를 벗어나 외딴 숲과 조용한 시골 마을을 찾는 것까지.

교토에서 자전거를 타는 사람들의 일반적인 위치를 파악하려면 아래 스트라바의 히트맵을 확인하세요. 빨간색 선은 자전거 활동을 나타냅니다.

다음은 몇 가지 자전거 경로의 예입니다:

• 더 짧은 경로
• 중간 길이 경로
• 더 긴 경로

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더 짧은 경로

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산조에서 철학자의 길로

거리: 4.6km
고도 이득: 84m

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Arashiyama to 3 river confluence

거리: 20km
고도: 93m

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Medium-length Routes

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Northeast and Northern loop – Ohara and Kamo

거리: 40.27km
고도: 474m
View route on Google maps >

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Northwest mountains ride – Umegahata, Nakagawa

거리: 58km
고도 이득: 865m
View route on Google maps >
Link to route guide and blog

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Kyoto to Osaka – Katsura and Yodo rivers

거리: 49km
고도: 308m
Link to route guide and blog >

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Longer Routes

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Kyoto to Uji to Otsu loop – return to Kyoto city

거리: 70km
고도 이득: 903m
Link to route guide and blog >

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Kyoto and Lake Biwa loop

거리: 218km
고도: 1,184m
Link to route guide and blog >

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Bicycle Parking

Considering the amount of people that ride bikes in Kyoto the bike parking isn’t particularly good.

교토에 자전거를 주차할 때는 다음과 같은 선택지가 있습니다:

• Free spots
• Paid spots
• Spots you should always avoid

Free spots

In less busier areas, bikes can generally be parked on the footpath and roads for free without any problems. For example, if you stop at a restaurant for lunch you can usually park your bike out the front while you eat no worries.

The restaurant or shopping centre might even have a bike parking for customers.

A key point here is that you park your bike for a limited time. If you head into the convenience store, buy a couple of things then get back on your bike pretty quickly you will probably be fine.

But, if you leave your bike for hours or worse still, days, the chance of your bike being taken from the seemingly safe and free spots increases.

Paid spots

In the city you’ll find locked parking bays which you are free to use most of the time. You simply roll your wheel in, wait for it to lock then you can head off. When you get back you put in your bike parking number in the machine and pay the small fee which is usually 100 or 200 yen.

Some bike parking places are mainly for owners that pay for a monthly or yearly spot but some of these places also accept daily parking for a small fee.

No parking

However, in busier parts of the city there are places where you shouldn’t park your bike, even for a few minutes. Places such as outside of main train stations, department stores, office buildings in the CBD and high-end shops are pretty regulated and you will find you will get a warning tag quickly followed by your bike taken if you don’t move it ASAP. 

If your bike is taken by the city bike sweep check the ground for a piece of paper stuck on the ground that will tell you where your bike has been taken. If you go there with your bike key you can get your bike back at a fee though.

We usually recommend being cautious with parking, especially if you have a more expensive bike. If there is a paid parking bay close to your hotel, it’s a good idea to use it and also use your bike lock.

It’s worth asking your hotel if there can store your bike inside or if they have bike parking. Some hotels do but a lot of hotels will ask you to find bike parking outside so If that’s the case, ask them if there is a paid bike parking close by.

Useful for Cyclists to Know

Below is some information which is useful to know or might come in handy while cycling around Kyoto.

Shops to buy gear or get repairs

Best Seasons for Cycling

The best seasons for cycling around Kyoto are Spring and Autumn. It’s still possible to cycle in Summer and Winter but be careful of extreme heat and humidity in Summer and also watch out for sub zero temperatures in winter which brings snow and dangerous icy conditions on the roads.

Spring

The weather in spring is beautiful and if you’re lucky you might even catch some of the cherry blossoms while riding.

March can still be a bit chilly but we find March, April and May fantastic for cycling. May is a fair bit warmer than March but remember cherry blossom season brings crowds too so be sure to book early and maybe avoid the peak sights if you can. Head to some rural or mountain rides and you’ll probably witness amazing cherry blossoms around the countryside that will make you stop and appreciate the sight.

See the below link for the temperatures in Kyoto in April 2023 >

Autumn / Fall

Autumn is also fantastic for cycling and here at RBRJ, it’s probably our favourite. The autumn colours are spectacular and they also last longer than the cherry blossoms meaning you have a better chance of catching the beauty of the changing colours.

The season probably lasts a bit longer than Spring in terms of good weather for cycling too. September can still be very hot at the start of the month but it starts cooling down and from mid September right through to December Japan is prime for getting out on the bike.

See the below link for the temperatures in Kyoto in October 2023 >

여름

You can also cycle in Summer but if you really feel the heat, Summer might be too much for you. The humidity plus the heat can make for some scorching days in the sun. If you do get on the bike, be careful and make sure to take breaks and get enough water.

See the below link for the temperatures in Kyoto in July 2023 >

겨울

Winter can also produce some lovely days for cycling and just the other day, we rode around in 13 degrees in the sun and we all thought it was ideal cycling weather. However, the weather can get very cold and if you don’t have the right gear, you can get very uncomfortable fast.

Not to mention the chance of snow and ice so be careful on the roads and try to check the weather in advance to plan your days.

Of course, the higher the altitude the more likely there is going to be snow and very dangerous ice on the roads so if you are heading into the mountains keep a good eye out for ice and snow on the roads.

See the below link for the temperatures in Kyoto in January 2023 >

Bike Transport

Third party Insurance

Emergency contacts

While in Kyoto and especially if you are cycling there is a chance that you might need medical services at a stage. While Japan is a very safe country and cycling here is also pretty safe, it’s good to prepare in case of an accident or injury.

A few points to be aware of are:

• Know your local hospital or clinic
• Make sure you have travel insurance to cover medical bills
• Don’t assume the hospital is open late at night or on weekends
• Dial 119 for fire and ambulance
• Dial 110 for police

Know your local hospital

Firstly, it’s good to check where your local hospital is.

If you have a more severe medical problem a larger hospital is better, however for common colds and less serious problems you can see a Doctor at a local clinic who will refer you to a hospital if they think it’s necessary.

Travel Insurance

Make sure you come with travel insurance, especially if you plan on doing any cycling. Health care in Japan is excellent and also very affordable, however if you don’t have any insurance you’ll pay 100% and if it’s complicated treatment it can get very expensive.

Don’t assume hospital is open

Some hospitals and clinics are closed late at nights and also on weekends. Check on Google whether the hospital is open first before going there.

Emergency Numbers

In Japan, there is a separate number for ambulance and fire, and for police. Dial 119 for ambulance or fire and 110 for police.

Usually there is English assistance on the phone but try and relax and speak slowly to help the operator understand your situation.

• 화재 및 구급차를 위한 119
• 경찰용 110

최종 생각

We think getting around on a bike is the best way to see Kyoto and we hope the information in this guide is useful if you decide to cycle while in the ancient capital.

This guide will periodically be updated with new information for cyclists so if you have any ideas or useful links that we’ve missed, let us know in the comments and we’ll try and include them.

Enjoy the time cycling around Kyoto and if you have any questions please get in touch with us anytime!