As far as things to do in Kyoto with kids goes, there’s really not a lot of kid specific activities, attractions or things to do. This is a city where you’ll have to spend a lot of time making up fun games, telling stories and finding ways to make the shrines, temples and palaces interesting for them.

If you’ve got infants, Japan is an awesome place to go, in fact, pretty much anywhere in the developed world will work as all they do is sleep, drink milk and poo at that age.  Japan is particularly easy because it’s clean, easy to get baby stuff like nappies and pretty much every place you visit will have diaper changing or feeding rooms for mums and dads. It’s also easy to find toilets, unlike Hong Kong where toilets are sometimes like finding gold.  Kyoto is no different.  If your kids are between older (3/4yrs+), Kyoto isn’t so attractive because they’re going to get bored out of their minds very very quickly visiting shrine upon shrine, temple upon temple.

However, many of them do have large grounds you and the kids can walk around, there’s often Japanese Koi fish and sometimes turtle in the ponds, but you can only see so many before their entertainment value quickly goes down.  I wouldn’t say Kyoto with kids is a no-go, but honestly, it’s probably better appreciated without them.

Kyoto City Zoo – You’re probably going to end up here if you’re in Kyoto with kids to give them “their time” and a break from shrines.  It’s alright, I’d say pretty standard for zoos in Japan, but that’s not saying much.  The animals aren’t kept that well in Japan zoos and I’ve seen some pretty sorry sights at many of them. Often you’ll find the animals pacing back and forth which is a sign the animal is going insane being kept in such a small cage. Don’t get your hopes up, be positive about it and it’ll keep them happy.

Iwatayama Monkey Park – This is in Arashiyama, which you should visit whether or not you’re in Kyoto with kids.  It’s about a 15-25 minute walk up, and you can feed the monkeys from the safety of a caged building.  There are some signs warning you not to look the monkeys in the eye, I guess because they’re little buggers and sometimes can attack, but in general, they stay out of your way. I would’t go provoking them though or you might find yourself being attacked by a whole colony.  There’s a meagre playground on the way down, worth stopping but nothing out of the ordinary.

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