Lonely Planet's local travel experts reveal all you need to know to plan the trip of a lifetime to Kyoto.

Discover Kyoto's most popular experiences and best kept secrets - neighbourhood by neighbourhood - from exploring the sprawling temple grounds of Ninna-ji during cherry-blossom season, to delving into the world of comics at the Kyoto International Manga Museum, and digging into lunch at Yoshikawa for a plate of the best tempura in the city.

Build a trip to remember with Lonely Planet's Kyoto travel guide:

• Our classic guidebook format provides you with the most comprehensive level of information for planning multi-week trips
• Updated with an all new structure and design so you can navigate Kyoto and connect experiences together with ease
• Create your ideal trip with exciting Perfect Day itineraries with suggestions of unmissable attractions and activities to match your passions, plus day trips from Kyoto so you can explore the surrounding areas
• Get fresh takes on must-visit sights including the gardens of Ginkaku-ji; Kyoto National Museum; and explore the sprawling temple grounds of Ninna-ji
• Special features on day trips from Kyoto, plus essays on Kyoto culture
• Expert local recommendations on when to go, eating, drinking, nightlife, shopping, accommodation, adventure activities, festivals, and more
• Essential information toolkit containing tips on arriving; transport; making the most of your time and money; LGBTIQ+ travel advice; useful words and phrases; accessibility; and responsible travel
• Connect with Kyoto culture through stories that delve deep into local life, history, and traditions
• Inspiring full-colour travel photography and maps including a pull out map of Kyoto
• Covers: Kyoto Station & South Kyoto; Downtown Kyoto; Imperial Palace & Around; Gion & Southern Higashiyama; Northern Higashiyama; Northwest Kyoto; Arashiyama & Sagano plus day trips to Nara; Osaka; Himeji; Kobe; Lake Biwa; Ohara; Kurama & Kibune; Miyama; Amanohashidate

Create a trip that's uniquely yours and get to the heart of this extraordinary city with Lonely Planet's Kyoto.

New from Bradt is the first ever, standalone English-language guide to Hokkaidō, Japan's second-largest island and northernmost prefecture. Roughly the size of Maine, Hokkaidō is home to under 5% of the country's population: a land of vast, wild expanses that demands exploration at any season - and feels a world away from Tokyo. Penned by an outdoors-loving travel writer resident in Japan, Bradt's Hokkaidō delves far deeper into this frontier land than country-wide guidebooks can possibly do. Author Tom Fay provides detailed coverage of the island's history, unique wildlife, local food, the Ainu (indigenous people), outdoor activities, skiing logistics, hiking courses and the practicalities of visiting in winter, when deep snow carpets the ground and the sea turns to ice.Hokkaidō's varied landscapes include remote mountain ranges, fertile lowland plains, sweeping forests and enormous wetlands home to rare birds and other wildlife. Even for the Japanese, Hokkaidō has a somewhat wild and exotic aura - place names have distinct Ainu origins and the capital Sapporo is closer to Russia's Vladivostok than to Tokyo, while the Siberia-influenced climate and wide open spaces are unlike anything found in the rest of Japan.Hokkaidō's mild summers are ideal for sightseeing, cycling, camping and hiking. Why not climb the island's highest mountain in Daisetsuzan National Park - an untouched wilderness of simmering volcanoes and stunning nature - or marvel at colourful fields of flowers around Furano and Biei? In winter, you can go to snow festivals, walk on sea ice (or board an icebreaker) to explore the Sea of Okhotsk, watch flocks of sea eagles or track brown bears in Shiretoko National Park, or head to popular ski resorts such as Niseko where the huge dumps of perfect powder snow attract skiers and snowboarders from around the world. Throw in hot springs (and thus ryokan hot-spring inns), active volcanoes, speciality seafood and quirky foodstuffs such as chocolate-covered potato chips, excellent transport links and renowned Japanese hospitality, and you can see why Hokkaidō is a thrilling and varied off-the-beaten-path travel destination, to which Bradt's Hokkaidō guidebook is instantly the essential companion.

* UPDATED FOR 2025 - Now with more content, new maps and the latest tips and advice! *

Must-See Japan (2025 Edition) is your up-to-date, concise and best-value guide for discovering the top sights, the most delicious foods and the essential must-do activities in this fascinating and complex country. Written by an expert who has been living in and traveling all around Japan since 2007, this book is full of inside information to help you discover some of the best things on offer, from popular tourist attractions to hidden gems even the locals don't know. Offering detailed itineraries for trips lasting a week or a month, this guide will help you plan every detail of your stay in Japan.

Must-See Japan includes:

- Insider tips and advice on when and where is best to visit, so you won't miss a thing

- Original maps for every major location

- Practical information on everything from buying tickets, to entering hot springs, to Wi-Fi!

- Detailed itineraries for making the most of your Japanese adventure, whether it be from a couple of days to a few weeks

- Travel tips and clear explanations on how to get around, including rail passes, trains and buses

- Honest reviews of a variety of hotels, hot springs, restaurants and attractions

- Essential app recommendations and links to useful websites

- Straightforward advice on what to do and how to do it, drawing on the personal experience of the author, a long-term resident of Japan

- Quickly find the information you need with the active table of contents and logical layout

- Beautiful photos throughout

- Unbeatable value for a guide packed with a decade's worth of firsthand and trustworthy info

About the author

Tom Fay is a British author and freelance writer who has been living in Japan since 2007. He has written extensively about the outdoors and travel in Japan, both online and in print, for The Guardian, Lonely Planet, Forbes Travel Guide, The Japan Times and many other media outlets.

He has a keen interest in landscape photography, and is the author of numerous guidebooks including Hiking and Trekking in the Japan Alps and Mount Fuji (Cicerone Press, 2019), Kyoto (Lonely Planet, 2024), Pocket Kyoto & Osaka (Lonely Planet, 2024) and Hokkaido (Bradt, 2024), the latter of which is the first and most comprehensive English-language guidebook to Japan's beautiful northern island.

A guidebook to 13 short treks and 14 day walks in the Japan Alps and on Mount Fuji. Routes are graded by difficulty and range from relatively short walks on easy terrain to strenuous mountain excursions, sometimes involving scrambling, aided sections and considerable exposure.

The routes cover the North, Central and South Alps, with each chapter offering information on local bases and public transport access. Also included are the four main ascent routes on Mount Fuji, Japan's highest mountain. The treks range from 2-8 days and the day walks from 4 to 20km (3-15 hours).

• 1:50,000 mapping provided for each route
• GPX files available to download
• All you need to know about visiting the Japan Alps and Mount Fuji
• Comprehensive information on the region's excellent facilities, which include mountain huts and hot-spring baths
• Japanese glossary

Hard Times and a Shaken Faith?

Turbulent times require extraordinary faith. Or better yet, turbulent times require the faith that Jesus walked and talked for three years of public ministry. Jesus talked about a sower, a king, a slave, and a leper, yet most of us have never seen one of them. But those were the situations that people of his day understood. The author, Tom Fay, looks at the financial and home foreclosure crisis and uses it to describe the same faith that Jesus taught. So whatever your personal crisis is today, there is an answer in the faith that Jesus taught. Whether your crisis is about your health, a relationship, money, or whatever life has brought you, Jesus would tell you to have faith. This book is about that faith.

Is Faith Really Relevant for My Problems?

Jesus talked about the faith of a mustard seed to move a mountain into the sea. So surely our faith today should be able to move a mountain of debt. Can God pay your mortgage? Will the bank accept your faith for payment? Mr. Fay shows both biblically and from experience that yes, faith does make mortgage payments.

Not a Feel Good Book

This is not a feel good book that you will read and enjoy. It is a hard-hitting study of what the genuine Christian faith is all about. The author looks at faith as a verb and not a noun. Faith requires an action on our part - not to be confused though with good works - and it produces an action on God's part.

Finally an Author Who Has Been There
Tom Fay shares the pains, worry and doubt that confronts most of us when embarking on a life of faith. But he doesn't share it in a sterile laboratory, but in real life. He has been though it and survived.

But What If This Book Could Change Your Life
And after having gone through great struggles of faith we find that we have an anchor that holds us during the next and larger crisis. The author explains what that anchor might look like and what it can do as a life altering event.