Travel cliche: Kyoto in Spring

There are travelers who try to avoid the top tourist destinations. They're too much of a "cliche," they say, so they opt for places you can't find on travel guides, those that inevitably cause people to ask, "Where is that?"

I'm not one of them. I do like visiting unknown locales as much as the next hipster tourist, but I've always believed that famous tourist spots are famous for a reason.



Take a look at Kyoto, for example. With its old temples, shrines, and geiko, there is no bigger tourist cliche than this city. Things get even worse in spring time, when thousands of sakura trees bloom in full and make the city's already breathtaking tourist sites even bigger tourist baits.

But there is no denying the city's beauty, and there is no amount of  "But everyone goes there" admonitions or selfie sticks-wielding tourists will ever make me stop from thinking that Kyoto in spring time is one of the most beautiful places you'll ever see in your lifetime.

sakura everywhere

Gion

Geiko in the bamboo forest

Kyoto without the crowd, taken very early in the morning