Unlocking Kyoto's secrets

A visit to the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine is a must-do in Kyoto.[Photo by Ko Sasaki/for The New York Times]

9 pm: Rebirth of the cool

After dinner, soak up the smooth sounds and surroundings at Yamatoya, a longstanding jazz bar that reopened in 2013 after a yearlong renovation. No detail here is overlooked, from the classy decor - antique tables and glossy red bar - to the hand-cut ice. Then there's the music. Hearing a Django Reinhardt record played on the superb audio system - Garrard 401 turntable, vintage Vitavox Klipschorn speakers - is like seeing new colors for the first time.

And if the rich, room-filling sound doesn't bowl you over, the owner's collection of over 5,000 records surely will.

11 pm: Discreet drinks

Spend the rest of the night hopping to increasingly discreet bars.

Start at Cafe Gaea, a laid-back neighborhood hangout where you can while away an hour chatting with the affable manager Rei. Then slip down the narrow path leading to the sliding door of Bar Bunkyu. The smiling bartender Nao befriends all who enter the austere space, where a few stools surround a large slab of textured wood that doubles as both bar and communal table.

Close out the night at the nameless bar usually referred to as Kazu's, after its owner. You'll know you've arrived when you open an unmarked door on the third floor of a dingy back-alley building and step into darkness - only a few flickering candles illuminate the bottle-lined bar.

SATURDAY

10 am: Cafe culture

Temporarily transport yourself to an earlier era with a morning coffee at Rokuyousha, an old-school cafe with wood-paneled walls, vinyl seats, olive-hued tile and ceramic ashtrays atop every table. It's easy to walk right past this relaxed bi-level coffee shop, but the many residents who stop in to read the newspaper, have a smoke and snack on homemade cake doughnuts know you shouldn't.

11:30 am: Funny faces

Though many tour the temples that dot the Arashiyama district on the western edge of the city, few find their way to a fascinating site in the nearby foothills. At Otagi Nenbutsu-ji, a humble Buddhist temple with roots dating back to the eighth century, the hillsides are lined with more than 1,000 moss-covered rakan statues (representing disciples of Buddha) whose origins are considerably more modern. In the 1980s and '90s, hundreds of people learned to carve stone and donated the figures to support the temple's reconstruction. The result was this wide-ranging collection of statues bearing entertaining expressions, from a tennis-racquet-wielding figure to a pair of jolly drinking buddies. Find and imitate your favorites.