"Set in the heart of Kyoto, Malda has been attracting holiday-makers since opening in 2018. There are three rooms across three floors (each designed with a different colour in mind) and a smartly appointed café on the ground floor. Feel the warmth of the heated, polished-concrete floors as you kick back in the organic cotton roomwear provided and enjoy Malda’s signature breakfast, freshly cooked in the kitchen and brought to your room."

"This Higashiyama hotel is conveniently located next to Sanjusangendo – one of Kyoto’s most impressive temples – and across the road from the Kyoto National Museum. The interior, courtesy of design studio Super Potato, incorporates Japanese motifs, while each room has a backdrop of different-coloured kimono silks. The sizeable Regency Executive Suite has a tatami room and a cypress-wood bathtub and offers views over the Japanese garden. The hotel’s restaurants include Trattoria Sette – which serves Italian food – and Touzan, whose seasonal Japanese dishes are made from ingredients mostly sourced in and around Kyoto."

"Set on the banks of the Takase River, this bistro specialises in charcoal grilling: think Wagyu beef, burgers, chicken brochette and charred yellowtail with yuzu, coriander and ginger. There are two large sharing tables, giving Kiln a communal, informal ambience. The dining room’s river-facing windows let in plenty of sunlight during the day and the space becomes cosy at night, when Artek pendant lamps light the brick-and-wood interior."

"Shinzaburo Ichizawa’s family has been making durable canvas bags since 1905. Today, Ichizawa sells a colourful array of bags and heavy-duty aprons. The company’s employees cut, stamp, sew and assemble every canvas item by hand, some still using 80-year-old Singer sewing machines in the process. “We have the skills to repair or remake any of our bags from decades ago because we still use the same old methods,” says Ichizawa. These last for years and only get better with age."

"This gallery – founded by Elmar Weinmayr and now run by his wife, Fumie Okumura (pictured) – sits in a century-old Japanese house and specialises in contemporary ceramics and lacquerware. With the assistance of architect Koichi Futatsumata, the duo gave a minimal renovation to the wooden structure and commissioned an up-and-coming gardener to draw up a perfect garden with moss and Japanese maple."

"Next to Kyoto Botanical Gardens is this modern space designed by celebrated architect Tadao Ando, who kept much of the structure below ground level so as not to interrupt the view from the gardens to the Higashiyama mountains. It’s designed for walking around, with slopes and stairs running across different levels. Eight facsimiles of well-known paintings adorn the space, including Monet’s “Water Lilies”, which is reproduced on porcelain and immersed in a shallow pond."

"During summer the banks of the Kamogawa Delta, where the Takano and Kama rivers meet, fill with sunbathers and picnickers. It’s also a popular place for splashing around: you’ll see residents frolicking among the large stones that span the waters. These concrete blocks – some of which are carved in the form of birds and turtles – were placed here in the 1990s to stabilise the riverbed. Nearby are the forested grounds of the Shimogamo Shrine, which appeared in The Tale of Genji, an 11th-century Japanese masterpiece that’s billed as the world’s first novel."