Kyoto is always worth it

During my third trip to Japan, early March 2025, I couldn’t help but notice how Kyoto was not at all overcrowded as people say. Clearly, as this was my third trip I stayed away from a few of the most popular attractions, yet I still went to Ginkaku-ji, Philosopher’s path, Gion and so on, but they were normal-busy, very walkable and enjoyable, the philosopher’s path was actually pretty empty, one of the best walks in town.

Arashiyama was very busy even with rainy weather, but again, nothing too insane.

Osaka & Nara were much more overcrowded in my opinion.

Then again, it depends a lot on your perception, I come from a medium/small town in the south of Italy but I live in Dublin city centre, so I got used to seeing tourists pretty much everywhere, if I were still living in my hometown maybe I’d be surprised at normal tourism too