Pontocho

A 500-metre alley running north to south between Sanjo and Shijo, one block back from the Kamo river, and in places barely two metres wide. It was made in the 1670s when the riverbank was embanked and the new strip of land was built on. One theory has the name coming from the Portuguese ponto, a leftover from the century when Portuguese traders were in Japan; nobody has proved it and nobody has replaced it.

Pontocho is one of Kyoto's five geisha districts. The crest on the lanterns is a plover. The Kaburenjo theatre at the north end stages the Kamogawa Odori, the district's dance performance, each May. Geiko and maiko do still walk this alley in the early evening on their way to appointments, and the correct behaviour is to stand aside and not photograph them. Several teahouses post signs about it, and the neighbouring Gion district introduced fines for photography on its private lanes in 2019 after years of tourists blocking doorways.

From May to September restaurants on the eastern side put out kawayuka, wooden platforms extending over the river, and dinner there is one of the things Kyoto does that nowhere else does. Book ahead and expect a premium.

Prices run the full range. There are kaiseki houses that will not seat a first-time customer without an introduction, and there are standing yakitori counters charging a few hundred yen a skewer. Many bars add a small cover charge.

Walk it after dark when the lanterns are lit. That costs nothing at all.