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December · the month at a glance, from Aura's data

Kyoto

in December

Plan it

Kyoto in December

The planner opens with December preselected. Nothing is saved or booked until you choose.

Why Aura · editorial, all year

Early, on foot, one hillside at a time.

Weather in December

Average high10.6 °C

Average low1.4 °C

Days with rain23%1 mm or more

Sunshine7.3 h a day

2016–2025 averages, not a forecast · Open-Meteo archive (ERA5 reanalysis), average 2016–2025 · CC BY 4.0 · read 30 Sep 2026. A forecast for your dates appears in your plan once they are within 16 days.

Daylight

1 Dec 202606:46–16:459 h 59 min of daylight

31 Dec 202607:05–16:559 h 50 min of daylight

Calculated for the city centre with the NOAA solar equations, local time (Asia/Tokyo). Not observed; terrain not included.

Places in December

Hours evaluated for every day of December 2026 from OpenStreetMap, read 30 Sep 2026. Check the official site before you go.

Open in December

Every day 06:00–18:00

Hours change by season (other months differ in the OSM data)

Admission fee not in the text of the official pages read on 2026-09-30.

Every day all day

No grounds admission fee is mentioned on the official page (only prayer fees).

Every day 09:00–16:30

Hours change by season (other months differ in the OSM data)

Price not loaded

Every day 08:40–16:30

Differs on: 28–31 Dec closed

Hours change by season (other months differ in the OSM data)

Each paid area has its own ticket: Hōjō garden ¥600, Sanmon ¥600, Nanzen-in ¥500.

Every day 08:45–17:00

Differs on: 29–31 Dec closed

¥1,300 castle + Ninomaru Palace (¥800 castle only); the Honmaru Palace is +¥1,000 and needs a web ticket booked ahead.

Kyoto Imperial Palace

Mon closed · Tue–Sun 09:00–16:00

Differs on: 29–31 Dec closed

Hours change by season (other months differ in the OSM data)

Free admission, no registration needed (official page).

Inoda Coffee (main shop)

Every day 07:00–18:00

Prices not read on the official site.

Ippodo Tea (Kyoto main store)

Every day 10:00–17:00

Public-holiday hours not checked

Prices not read on the official site.

Every day 09:00–17:00

Price not loaded

Every day 08:30–16:30

Hours change by season (other months differ in the OSM data)

Price not loaded

Every day 09:00–16:00

Differs on: 1–6 Dec not covered by the official schedule, check

Hours change by season (other months differ in the OSM data)

Tsūten-kyō & Kaisandō ¥600 (¥1,000 from 14 Nov to 6 Dec); Hōjō garden ¥500 (¥600 from November 2026).

Sanjūsangen-dō

Every day 09:00–16:00

Hours change by season (other months differ in the OSM data)

Price not loaded

Kyoto National Museum

Mon closed · Tue–Thu 09:30–17:00 · Fri 09:30–20:00 · Sat–Sun 09:30–17:00

Collection galleries; special exhibitions are priced separately.

Every day 08:00–17:00

Kondō & Kōdō ¥800; ¥1,200 when the pagoda interior is open; Miedō free.

Every day 08:30–17:00

Garden ¥500; buildings +¥300; Cloud Dragon painting ¥500 separately.

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove

Every day all day

Free (Kyoto City).

Hours as written in OpenStreetMap

“Mo-Su,PH 10:00-18:00+” · format not read by Aura

Free to walk; hours vary by shop (not published market-wide).

No hours recorded

Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka

Outdoor place, hours not recorded — check before you go

Price not loaded

Gion and Hanami-kōji

Outdoor place, hours not recorded — check before you go

Price not loaded

Philosopher's Path

Outdoor place, hours not recorded — check before you go

Price not loaded

Outdoor place, hours not recorded — check before you go

Price not loaded

Outdoor place, hours not recorded — check before you go

Fees and hours are per sub-temple and were not read on official pages.

Fushimi Inari Taisha

Outdoor place, hours not recorded — check before you go

No admission fee is stated on the official pages read on 2026-09-30; grounds hours are not published (prayer service 8:30–16:30).

Togetsu-kyō Bridge

Outdoor place, hours not recorded — check before you go

Price not loaded

How Aura plans it

Higashiyama and Gion

Temple slopes, stone lanes, the Gion quarter, a thousand statues.

Northern Higashiyama

The silver pavilion, the canal path, Nanzen-ji.

Central Kyoto

The market, the river alley, the castle and the palace.

Kinkaku-ji and the north-west

The gold pavilion, the rock garden, Zen sub-temples.

Fushimi and the south

Torii paths up the mountain, the pagoda at Tō-ji.

Arashiyama

Bamboo, the river bridge, Tenryū-ji.

Areas: Aura editorial.

Sources: places and hours © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), read 30 Sep 2026 · climate Open-Meteo archive (ERA5 reanalysis), average 2016–2025 (CC BY 4.0) · local names Wikidata (CC0) · prices from the sources named on each place. "Yasaka-dori early morning with street lanterns and the Tower of Yasaka (Hokan-ji Temple), Kyoto, Japan.jpg" by Basile Morin, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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