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Why Kyoto
Support & Services
Meeting Facilities & Accommodations
Planning
Kyoto is a perfect destination for meetings and events, for the reasons below:
With over 1,200 years of history, Kyoto is home to beautiful natural scenery interwoven with historical buildings and traditional architecture. At the same time, Kyoto is a city of learning and creation, with a high concentration of cutting-edge universities, research institutions, and companies. The result is a uniquely Kyoto harmony between preserving centuries of tradition and continually innovating for the future.
Our logo represents Kyoto as a place where rich culture backed by history and tradition meets future economic and industrial breakthroughs. It encapsulates the hope that Kyoto will be a place where tradition meets innovation, and where people gather to consider the prosperity and peace of the world 1000 years in the future. *This logo can be used in promotional materials to attract meetings and events to Kyoto. Please contact the Convention Bureau for more details.
Kyoto is home to 17 UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites and over 2,000 temples and shrines.
Additionally, Kyoto was rated “The World's Best City” for 2 consecutive years in 2014 and 2015 by readers of “Travel+Leisure”, one of the world's most influential travel magazines. Readers cited magical experiences and described Kyoto as the best place in the world for culture and beauty, and it has remained in the top 10 of the magazine's World's Best Awards every year since 2012. In an ancient capital recognized as the best in the world, meetings and events in Kyoto can offer an experience like no other.
Kyoto was selected as a “Global MICE Strategic City” by the Japanese government in 2013, as part of a program to grow the capabilities of key leading cities in the meetings industry in Japan. Kyoto's support systems and industry knowhow are among the best in the world.
In addition, the Kyoto Convention & Visitors Bureau is a member of ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association), the top international organization for promotion of the meetings industry. With valuable knowledge gained through working with ICCA, the Convention Bureau offers strong support for meetings and events in Kyoto through a variety of services and systems.
Kyoto's long history of harmony has created a culture of hospitality that can be experienced not only at meeting facilities and accommodations but throughout the city. Kyoto City and the Kyoto Convention & Visitors Bureau aim to make Kyoto a global tourism city and have implemented numerous initiatives to enhance the visitor experience, including interaction with residents.
Kyoto Prefecture and Kyoto City run a 24-hour multilingual call center to provide language support for accommodations and the city transportation bureau (English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese).
Kyoto has many restaurants and hotels that cater to Muslim guests, and the website below provides information to help Muslim visitors plan their stay in Kyoto.
Kyoto is home to many tax-free shops that can be used by short-term visitors.
International cards can be used to withdraw cash at Seven Bank ATMs, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, Diners Club, Discover, China UnionPay, Maestro, Cirrus, and Plus. Seven Bank ATMs can be used in English, Korean, Chinese, and Portuguese.
Kyoto can be reached in approximately 75 minutes from Kansai International Airport (KIX) or 1 hour from Itami International Airport (ITM), making it easily accessible from overseas.
Flight Information
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Access From Around the World
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Additionally, Japan's famous shinkansen bullet trains stop at the transport hub Kyoto Station, facilitating easy domestic travel within Japan.
JR SHINKANSEN (Bullet Train)
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Kyoto City Buses and the Kyoto City Subway have English language support.
Companies such as
Yasaka Taxi and MK Taxi can provide hired cars and English-speaking drivers.
Useful information about using Kyoto's buses and railways, including sightseeing information, can be found using the “Arukumachi KYOTO Route Planner,” accessible in both Japanese and English via computer or smartphone app.
