What it is
An alley — that is the whole of it. Pontochō runs for a few blocks between Shijō and Sanjō, wedged between the shopping street and the river, and it is barely wide enough for two people to pass comfortably.
One side backs onto the Kamo river, the other onto Kiyamachi and its canal. The buildings are tall and narrow because the plot is, and the effect at night, under the lanterns, is of walking down a corridor.
The platforms over the river
⭐ In the warm months the restaurants along the river side put out yūka — wooden decks built out on stilts over the bank, so that dinner happens above the water with the eastern hills in front of you. It is a Kyoto institution and it is seasonal; the platforms go up and come down.
How to walk it
Start at the Shijō end after dark and walk north. It takes a few minutes and the point is the walking, not arriving.
⚠️ Many of the establishments here are private in the traditional sense — introduction only. That is not rudeness to visitors, it is how the trade works, and there is plenty along the alley that is not.
