Kyoto rewards the early riser more than any city we know. At six, the moss gardens of the northern temples belong to the monks who rake them and to whoever was quietly let in ahead of the crowds. By ten the same paths are shoulder to shoulder. We arrange the six o’clock version.
The city keeps its best rooms behind plain wooden doors. A kaiseki counter of eight seats with no sign outside. A tea house that receives guests only on a regular’s introduction. A textile workshop in Nishijin where the looms have run for four generations. None of it is secret exactly; it simply asks to be approached properly, and that is what we are for.
Come in late March for the blossom, or in November when the maples in the hills above the city turn the colour of embers. Either way, leave the afternoons empty. Kyoto is best taken slowly, with a stop for matcha whenever the light changes.