If you want to take a short rest while sightseeing in Kyoto, you are most likely to visit a cafe where you can enjoy Japanese sweets or a sweet shop where you can relax in a tatami room.
However, stores in the middle of tourist areas are usually crowded, and popular places often have long lines, even if they are a little far from tourist areas.
In this issue, we introduce a bookstore with a café that we recommend for a short break. They are built in locations that are easily accessible from train stations and tourist attractions, and you can spend time in a relaxed atmosphere typical of bookstores.
Also, as only a local bookstore can, we carry guidebooks and books that are only sold in Kyoto and some other areas.
Kyoto Tenroin
Kyoto Tengoin is a bookstore located near Kenninji Temple and Hanamikoji in Gion. With its retro machiya-style exterior, it has the atmosphere of a hideaway. The food menu includes toast, waffles, and soft-serve ice cream. We offer charging space and free Wi-Fi so you can spend your time comfortably.
The interior consists of a bookstore space and tatami mat lounge on the first floor and a cafe space on the second floor. In winter, the tatami lounge becomes a kotatsu booth, so once you enter, you may not want to leave. We recommend this bookstore for its relaxing atmosphere.
Kyoto Okazaki Tsutaya
Kyoto Okazaki Tsutaya is a bookstore located in the Rohm Theater Kyoto, near Heian Shrine, with a bookstore space and Starbucks Coffee on the first floor. It features not only books, but also delicately decorated Kyoto crafts and souvenirs made in collaboration with local stores.
The Kyoto Modern Terrace on the second floor offers sweets made in collaboration with a long-established local Japanese sweets shop, as well as seasonal fruit parfaits and cake plates. With terrace seating overlooking the entire Okazaki Park, this is a recommended spot with a stylish and open atmosphere.
Ogaki Bookstore Kyoto Main Store
Ogaki Bookstore is a local bookstore familiar to Kyoto residents. The main Kyoto branch is located on the first floor of Shijo Station on the subway Karasuma Line and exit 26 of Karasuma Station on the Hankyu Kyoto Line. The bookstore space is arranged by genres useful for sightseeing in Kyoto, such as sightseeing, traditions, and festivals, and offers many unusual books to pique your curiosity, such as guidebooks featuring only long-established stores and books compiling trivia about Kyoto.
On the same floor where the bookstore is located, there is a café serving croissants and coffee, and a sweet shop where you can enjoy sweets made from matcha and hojicha green tea. We recommend this bookstore where you can look at the books you purchased at Ogaki Bookstore and plan your trip in the café space.
summary
In this article, we have introduced a bookstore with a cafe, which we recommend when you are sightseeing but need a little rest. The charm of these bookstores is that you can relax and take a rest in the calm atmosphere that only a bookstore can provide. The bookstore also sells books useful for sightseeing in Kyoto, so please take advantage of it.
