A nomad’s guide through the sections of Kyoto that have the greatest concentration of bars and hidden speakeasies. We provide maps and links to the places we found and were lucky enough to be shown.
Start Here
Pontocho Alley: start at the western side of the Shijo Bridge and head north (map)
Nice Little Park Along The Way
Pontocho Park: 〒604-8012 Kyoto, Nakagyo Ward, 梅之木町（先斗町通）１４５(map)
Cocktail Bar With Terrace Looking Over River
ATLANTIS: 〒604-8013 Kyoto, Nakagyo Ward, Matsumotocho, 161 (map)
Tiny Bar For Big Live Music
STARDUST CLUB: 〒604-8015 Kyoto, Nakagyo Ward, 先斗町 鍋屋町214ー1 朝日ビル 2階 (map)
Hidden Speakeasies Offering World-Class Cocktails & Showmanship
BAR ALCHEMIST: 〒604-8014 Kyoto, Nakagyo Ward, Kashiwayacho, 170 かつやビル２F (map)
BEE’S KNEES: 〒604-0961 Kyoto, Nakagyo Ward, Kamiyacho, 364 マツヤビル 1F (map)
L’ESCAMOTEUR: 138-9 Saitocho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, 600-8013 (map)
Kamogawa River
Jugglers practicing, picnic parties, and plenty of people pleased with their pleasant surroundings.
Wind down your day of adventuring and sightseeing with a stroll along the Kamogawa River. It is the place to be for evening socializing and capturing a cooling breeze. All manner of recreating transpires along the river.
Now the sun is going down and we are hungry.
Plan ahead and reserve your space at a fine dining establishment or let the fates decide your future. Head west off the river one tiny block and arrive at the picture-perfect Ponto-chō Alley. The alley stretches the length of the river between the Sanjo and Shijo bridges. Rules govern the signage, construction, and the lane is for pedestrians only. If you are very lucky and well connected this is where the tea houses hold the secrets of the geisha and maiko.
Ponto-chō Alley
Japanese customs of a time immemorial …
Traditions simply seep onto the slim lantern-lit lane.
Catch a glimpse through the veil of time, of a geisha en route to a
hidden teahouse with her maiko close in tow.
It may prove difficult to know exactly ‘when’ you are…
Ponto-chō Alley
Japanese traditions of a time immemorial seep onto the slim streets. Perhaps you will catch a glimpse of a geisha sliding delicately through the night.
This is likely the scene from a daydream you’ve fostered for sometime. Stroll, drop-jawed, through the quaintness of it all before you pick your spot for a sip and a snack. The establishments on the east side of the street often offer outdoor seating in the hotter months, though these prized seats often require reservation in advance.
We lucked out and slid into a busy spot for a cocktail, and respite from the late spring heat. ATLANTIS is ideally located, though quite touristy on the occasion that we visited. That said, it totally served the purpose of offering outdoor cocktails with a view of and breeze from the river.
Tiny Bars, Live Music
Impossibly small bars line the passage. Each scene tighter than the next—exuding its own vibe, drawing you in.
Stardust Club exemplifies the trend with barely enough room to squeeze behind those sitting at the bar to fill an empty seat. The intimacy of proximity begat another form of familiarity, that of quick friendships forged in fire…or in this case the early summer swelter in a small space.
Should you find yourself needing some immediate sustenance, look no further than the metal basket of canned delights that will be popped open with precession and a smile. Live music is the main attraction here.
Speaking of Speakeasies
Meander your way through the narrow streets between the Takase and Kamogawa rivers to find the mainstay of Kyoto’s cocktail and speakeasy offerings.
Bars and restaurants abound in the close quarters and some are obscured from sight entirely.
Our research had led us to a bar inside a bar accessed by opening a bookcase covered in bottles of booze. Once within, our evening took an unexpected turn, as it often does when walking behind false walls. Talking with our fellow bar patrons about our shared interests, we made a new friend, a local, excited to show us other hard to find watering holes tucked into the night of the city.
Seek The Sublime
This is where it all gets blurry…
Impossibly small spaces hidden, often in plain sight.
A bookcase here, an unmarked door there…
Your prize, your sought after treasure—the most sublime cocktails, creative, yet classic and all crafted carefully by hand.
Every possible tincture, tonic, bitter, spritz, spray and smoke will serve as accessories to the spirits haunting these happy and hallowed halls.
Click the links below to be transported to the realms of our featured cocktail colossi, Bee’s Knees and L’Escamoteur!
Komogawa River – More Kyoto Cocktail Bars Mapped
Pontocho Park
A Bit of History, while you’re at it…
You might just stumble by a Bakumatsu era stone marker, as we did roaming around the neighborhood just south of the Royal Palace.
Be charmed by the well kept alley and the interesting canopied, roof-tiled gate. Here along the Takase River there are memorials, both similar stone markers as well as more detailed modern metal signage, explaining the history of the era and what transpired on this soil.
It wasn’t until writing this post and searching for the address by the coordinates recorded on the photo, that we realized the significance of the stone marker in our shot. Ōmura Masujirō, a famous military leader, physician, professor, and all-around bad-ass, died on this spot in 1869 at the not-so-ancient age of 45.
This went down at the end of the Edo period, the beginning of the end of Japanese isolation, and the sometimes violent end of the time of the shogunate and of their samurai. Click those links to learn more.
Can’t wait to visit one day!