6 Stopover Cafes on the Randen Kitano Line
What is "Arashiden"?
The Randen, a retro tram running through the streets of Kyoto, opened between Shijo-Omiya and Arashiyama Stations in 1910, and will be 110 years old in 2020. It is the only streetcar still in existence in Kyoto. Currently, two lines are in operation: the Arashiyama Line connecting Shijo-Omiya and Arashiyama Stations, and the Kitano Line extending from Katabiratsuji Station to Kitano Hakubai-cho Station, and running at a leisurely speed of about 40 km/h over a distance of 13 stations (7.2 km). The line is dotted with famous old temples and historic sites, and has long been a favorite means of transportation not only for tourists from Japan and abroad but also for local residents. The fare is a flat 220 yen for the entire line, and a one-day pass allows unlimited rides for 500 yen.
Randen's Kitano Line consists of 10 stations and 3.8 km from Kitano-Shiraume-cho Station, which branches off from Kairashinotsuji Station on the Ranzan Line. As the station names suggest, there are many places of historic interest along the line. Unlike the Arashiyama Line, which runs along a roadway, the entire line is a dedicated track for trains. The line is especially famous for the cherry trees that line the road between Utano Station and Narutaki Station, which winds through a residential area, and in spring the trains pass through a tunnel of cherry trees. Here are some recommended cafes along the train line that you can stop by while visiting historic sites.
<Seven cafes along the Randen Kitano Line
1ever coffee ever coffee utano station
Enjoy a cup of coffee with a view of the garden through the trees and fresh beans.
Get off at Utano Station, one of the most charming stations along the Randen line, and walk down Ichijo-dori Avenue to find a café in front of the Fukuoji bus stop, surrounded by lush greenery. The sun shines through the trees on this retro one-story building. The cafe was opened in 2017 by Forum Hikobae, a coffee bean processing and sales company. Freshly selected coffee beans are hand-picked to carefully remove any defective beans, ground to order, and slowly dripped by hand. The Hikobae Sundae, which comes with soft-serve ice cream in a single serving bowl, is available in vanilla and green tea flavors, and is served with a crispy croquette.
Enjoy coffee with carefully selected coffee beans and sweets with a gentle taste.
The sweets that go with the rich, deep, yet clean and clear coffee are also locally produced and locally consumed, with the producer's face clearly visible. The dark-colored egg pudding is made with fresh eggs from our own chicken farm. Tea is also made in Wazuka Town, Kyoto's tea-producing region, and during the lemon harvest season, lemon tea with a squeeze of Kyoto-grown, pesticide-free lemons is also on the menu. Drip packs are also made in the store's wing, and freshness is the name of the game. The handmade eraser stamp packaging is also stylish and ideal for small gifts.
- ever coffee ever coffee utano station
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54 Utano Fukuoji-cho, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto MAP
5 min. walk from Utano Station on the Randen Kitano Line
12:00 - 16:30 (L.O. 16:15)
Saturdays, Sundays, national holidays, summer and New Year's holidays
080-2462-4511
None
2MOMURO SOWA Myoshinji station
A moment to listen to Viennese music in a relaxing space
Located between Omuro-Ninnaji and Myoshinji Stations on the Kitano Line, east of the World Heritage Site Ninnaji Temple, this teahouse offers a perfect combination of Viennese sweets and Japanese tea. The owner, who was fascinated by the culture of Vienna, opened the teahouse to create a comfortable space away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It was in this foreign land that the owner discovered the perfect combination of Japanese teas such as Kyo-bancha, hojicha, kama-airicha, and hon-gyokuro, and Viennese sweets. Sencha tea is carefully brewed with beautifully prepared dishes.
Original sweets of Viennese origin while watching a sencha tea ceremony
The pastries, including Linzatorte, are original creations of the Kobe pastry chef, who trained in Paris and Vienna. Koishi," which is raw chocolate wrapped in gyuhi and covered with cocoa powder, is ideal as a gift. The "Mushiyashinashi," which is a main dish of miso soup made from a combination of white sesame seeds and malted rice miso, is a meal that can be eaten to fill up the stomach, as only Kyoto can offer.
A screen by a Kyoto-based Japanese paper artist softens the western sun, and a one-of-a-kind teapot by a ceramic artist creates a sense of serenity under the indirect lighting on the wall.
- Myoshinji Station, Omuro Sawa Myoshinji Station
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- Delation Omuro 1F, 25-2 Omuro-ken-cho, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto MAP
- 5 min. walk from Myoshinji Stn. on Randen Kitano Line
- 10:00-18:00
- Mon.
075-461-9077- Free (1 car)
3YAMANEKEN Ryoanji station
A café where adults can relax on the "Kinukake-no-michi" road.
From Ryoanji Station, take the Kinukake-no-michi path to the right in front of the Ryoanji Gate, and you will find a staircase leading from the entrance to the basement in front of the Ritsumeikan University gymnasium. As the name of the restaurant suggests, you will enter the restaurant from an approach reminiscent of Kenji Miyazawa's children's story "The Restaurant of Many Orders. The shop offers a wide variety of items, including freshly baked butter waffles, seasonal waffles, pasta lunches, and original bread menus. The "Pasta with Kyoto Yuba and Fresh Seven-Seasoned Seasoning," created by the owner with a keen sense of taste, uses fresh yuba from a long-established shop in Kyoto and has a rich creamy flavor that becomes addictive once you try it.
A fairy tale by Kenji Miyazawa is placed on the table for you to read while waiting for your table.
The sweets menu is also a highlight, especially the pudding parfait, which makes the most of eggs. The deep caramel is all homemade and has a nostalgic taste. There are two kitchens, one for cooking and the other for brewing coffee, to prevent the flavors from mixing. Although it is located in a neighborhood with many World Heritage sites, the store has long been loved by the people of Kyoto, and not just for tourists. We brew each cup of Yamanekaken blend coffee with the hope that you will "come back again next time."
- SANNEKATEN Ryoanji station
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- 39-6 Tojiin Kitamachi, Kita-ku, Kyoto MAP
- 5 min. walk from Ryoanji Stn. on the Randen Kitano Line
- 10:00-18:00
- Closed on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month (irregular holidays, please check with the store)
- 075-462-6004
- Free of charge
Click here for INSTAGRAM
4Fruit parlor Cricket Kitano Hakubai-cho station
Carefully selected fruits by vegetable and fruit advisors
From Kitano Shiraume-cho Station, a stop on the Randen Kitano Line, proceed north on Nishioji Street, and you will find the fruit parlor "Cricket" in front of the gate of Hirano Shrine. The owner, a certified vegetable and fruit advisor, selects seasonal fruits for his menu. The most popular item is the fruit sandwich. The fruit sandwich is made with fresh cream, apple slices, and seven different kinds of seasonal fruits.
After tasting the sweets, you will want to eat the fruit itself!
The owner, who used to run a fruit and vegetable store in Kyoto's central market, opened the store to offer a delicious taste of fruits from around the world. Fruit jelly is the signature product at Cricket. The whole oranges and grapefruits are hollowed out to make a container, and the juice is poured into the jelly. In addition to seasonal fruits, the store offers fruit cakes, original jams, additive-free dried fruits that are sweeter than fresh fruits, and other fruits as gifts.
- Fruit Parlor Cricket Kitano Hakubai-cho station
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- 1F Sunny Heim Kinkakuji, 68-1 Hirano-Hacchoyanagi-cho, Kita-ku, Kyoto MAP
- 8 min. walk from Kitano Shiraume-cho Sta. on the Randen Kitano Line.
- 10:00-18:00
- Closed on Tuesdays and December 31
- 075-461-3000
- Free (1 car)
5Knot café Knot café Kitano Hakubai-cho station
Dashimaki Sandwiches and Japan's First Coffee from Brooklyn
With your back to Kitano Shiraume-cho Station on the Kitano Line, go straight east on Imadegawa Dori, and not far past Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, you will find a café in a renovated machiya that was once a weaver's house in Nishijin. Based on the concept of connecting New York and Kyoto, coffee beans from Brooklyn's "Cafe Grumpy" were selected and offered for the first time in Japan. The dashimaki sandwiches, which are sandwiches made with small buns, are available with a choice of two sauces: special cream or grated soy sauce. Along with the an-butter sandwich, this popular menu item is also available for takeout.
Connecting a long-established confectionery associated with Kitano, Kyoto, with carefully selected products from New York
Since opening in July 2015, the store has been located in the vicinity of Kitano Tenmangu Shrine and offers a variety of sweets, including chocolate daifuku, which is a combination of Senbon Tamajuken and Chogoro Mochi Honpo, long-established confectioners from the local Nishijin area, and Nunu Chocolates, a chocolate store in New York City, Original sweets are available. The high ceilings and open space, with no partitions, have been preserved in the "Oriya-datechi" style of one-story buildings, and many adult female customers visit the cafe on their own. The owner's wish to be a place that connects New York and Kyoto, and people to people, is alive and well.
- Knot café Kitano Hakubai-cho station
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- 758-1 Higashi-Imakoji-cho, Nanabonmatsu Nishiiru, Imakoji-dori, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto MAP
- 10 min. walk from Kitano Shiraume-cho Station on the Randen Kitano Line
- 10:00-18:00
- Tuesdays (open if Tuesday is the 25th)
- 075-496-5123
- None
6Entsu Coffee House Kitano Hakubacho station
The mysterious space you will come back to when you visit "Maboroshi Koji" (Maboroshi Alley)
From "Kitano Shiraume-cho Station," a station on the Kitano Line, you can take a short walk to a neighborhood called Nishijin. The Entsu Coffee House is tucked away in a residential area. The entrance is so small that only one adult can pass through, and you can barely reach the store after passing through the alley in the shape of a key. The "Entotsu Blend," roasted in-house, is a deep-roasted bean with a mild sweetness, and when paired with the limited-quantity gateau chocolates, it is a truly relaxing experience.
It is filled with excitement as if you have wandered into a page of a picture book!
The store, which opened in May 2016, was an old townhouse that the owner spent a year and a half painstakingly renovating. The shop has a vertical ladder hanging from the wall, which leads to a loft-like storeroom, which is a roasting room titled the owner's prototype room. There is no place to put your bicycle, so you will have to find your way there on foot. Only visitors will be able to find out what the "Maboroshi Tanteisha" (Maboroshi Detective Agency) is located right next to the entrance.
- Entsu Coffee House Kitano Hakubai-cho station
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- 110-2 Satake-cho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto MAP
- 25 min. walk from Kitano Shiraume-cho Station
- 12:00-18:30
- Wednesday, Thursday
- 075-464-5323
- None
＜A private waterside residence located in Okuarashiyama.
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7HOSHINOYA Kyoto
Quiet Japanese Ryokan in the Arashikyo area
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HOSHINOYA Kyoto has set up "hygiene management" and "3-clandestine avoidance" as the two axes of countermeasures to provide a more secure stay for our guests, and has evolved the conventional services at all of our Properties. Corona countermeasures We are implementing the "Corona Countermeasures" at all facilities.
- HOSHINOYA Kyoto
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- 11-2 Arashiyama Motorokuyama-cho, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto MAP
- Approximately 30 minutes from JR Kyoto Station by car
- 0570-073-066（Reservation)
- None *Please use Parking in Arashiyama area or in the city.
- Click here to make a reservation
HOSHINOYA Kyoto Reservation site
