We Went to Kyoto to See If It Was Good Enough for You

"Before a tour goes on sale, we ride it ourselves. Every road, every lunch, every hotel lobby we might have to carry a bike through. We call it a recce. It is the least glamorous thing we do and easily the most important. In May, it was Kyoto's turn."

A recce is not a scouting trip with an empty road ahead of us. It is a real tour, run for a small team of our marshals and most experienced riders. They take on a route that is technically uncharted, at a faster pace and over longer distances than a normal tour, around 50 to 60km a day rather than our usual 35. There are hits and there are misses. That is the thrill of it, and it is also the point. We take the misses so that you never have to.

Why Kyoto was on the list

Japan has been good to us. Our riders keep asking what comes next, and Kyoto kept coming up.

Kyoto interested us for a different reason from most of our tours. It is not a distance challenge and it was never going to be, at least not on the version we will sell you. It is a place you want to move through slowly, where the tea you stop is, the forest you ride into, and the meal you sit down to. That is a very particular kind of holiday, and it happens to be the kind our riders like most.

It also helps that Japan understands folding bikes. Carrying a folded Brompton onto a train is ordinary there, not a negotiation. For a group on Bromptons, that quietly changes what is possible in a single day.

Three Areas in Kyoto in 1 trip

Most people picture one Kyoto, the city of temples and crowds. What we found was three, each completely different from the last, and none of them the one on the postcards.

There is the Tea of Kyoto, in the Wazuka region, where the hills are combed into rows of green tea terraces. There is the Forest of Kyoto, around Fukuchiyama, deep and quiet and wooded. And there is the Sea of Kyoto, out at Kyotango, where the land runs down to the coast. Three distinct corners of the greater Kyoto region, stitched together into one ride.

What we were actually looking for

A recce is not sightseeing. We ride with a checklist, and Kyoto had to answer all of it.

• Roads calm enough for riders who are not confident in traffic.

• Days that come in around 35km on the tour we will sell, without ever feeling rushed.

• Places to eat that we can book ahead, where you meet the owner rather than a queue.

• Hotels that welcome bikes and can hold luggage while we ride.

• Train links we can use to fold up and skip anything dull or busy, if we choose to.

• A season that works, which in Kyoto means spring or autumn, while the daytime high stays around 18 degrees.

The riding

The best surprise was how much of Kyoto can be ridden well away from cars. Riding beside water and through the hills turned out to be the shape of the whole trip. Flat where it counts, quiet, and easy to talk across, which matters more than people expect. When a group can ride and hold a conversation, the day stops being exercise and starts being a holiday.

The folding is there when we want it. Kyoto is busy in the places you would expect, and when a stretch is not worth riding, we can fold up, take the train a few stops, and start again where it is pleasant. We did not need the trains on the recce, but the option is always in our pocket. Our guests will only ever ride the good parts. That is and always will be the overarching plan.

The moment I keep coming back to is a 7km trail that winds through the heart of the forest. The nature there is untouched and serene. The riders drifted through it with their heads tipped back, watching the canopy close over them, in a kind of wonder. I will admit it was less serene from the driver's seat. The lane is really built for the little Japanese box vans, not our support vehicle, so while everyone else looked up at the trees, I was very carefully looking at the road. Both of those things are true, and both are why we ride it first.

The food

Kyoto takes food seriously in a quiet, unshowy way. Small counters, a handful of seats, a menu in Japanese, and an owner who has been mastering his craft over a very long time. These are exactly the places our riders would walk straight past, because they look closed, or private, or simply too local to try.

That is where we earn our keep. We go in, we talk, we book ahead. Expect unique kaiseki, the multi-course Japanese meals Kyoto is famous for, and a few small places that are best discovered at the table rather than online. We will keep some of it a surprise on purpose. Part of what you are paying for is a door held open that you could not have opened yourself.

What did not make the cut

This is the part of a recce nobody sees, and it is the reason we do them. Some roads look wonderful on a map and are not. Some famous places are simply too crowded to enjoy on a bicycle, so we either arrive early or leave them out. Some climbs are not worth the reward at the top, and when we meet a mountain that does not earn its place, we find a way around it.

Our clients have limited holiday and no appetite for experiments. They want the model answers. We do the trials so there minimum errors.

So what will the tour look like?

We are shaping it now. The guest version will be gentler than the recce, riding around 35km a day, moving through the tea country, the forest and the coast, with a support vehicle for luggage and for anyone who would rather ride less on a given afternoon. Small group, as always. We run Kyoto in spring or autumn, when the weather is kind.

Want to Learn more about our Kyoto Tour? Visit here: https://www.bromptonexperiences.com/japan-tours