By Icy, Founder & CEO of The081
Licensed Real Estate Broker (License No. 15131) | Operating in Kyoto since 2019

TL;DR

• The KIS summer camp runs mainly at the Juraku main campus (Kamigyō, primary school, ages 3–12); the secondary Taiken campus sits in Nakagyō, about a kilometre away.

• Families who want to walk a primary-school child to camp each morning are best based around the Imperial Palace in Kamigyō, where one of our houses is a five-minute walk from the gate and daily errands are close at hand.

• Children at the secondary campus, or old enough to cycle, are well served by the Sanjō area of Nakagyō: five or six minutes to Taiken by bike, with supermarkets, convenience stores and shopping streets on the doorstep.

• We run seven houses within the KIS commute, from two-bedroom homes for a small family to four-bedroom places that sleep eight, so the house can match your party and your school run.

• Kyoto is flat and cycling to camp is realistic; our sister brand w2go rents bikes with a 10% discount for camp families, and because July and August are the city's busiest weeks, the best houses go early.

From around March each year, the same enquiry starts arriving: a child has a place at the KIS summer camp, the family will be in Kyoto for three or four weeks in July, and they want to know where to stay so the school run is easy and daily life is manageable. Most have already looked at hotels near Kyoto Station or Gion and found the rooms too small for a family, the monthly cost steep, and the location on the wrong side of the city from the school. A camp stay is several weeks of ordinary life rather than a sightseeing trip, and what you need from a place to stay changes accordingly: a calm base, a kitchen, separate bedrooms, and above all a short, reliable route to the gate each morning.

The answer turns on one thing: which campus your child attends. KIS is not a single address but two separate sites, and whether your child is in the primary or secondary school, and whether you walk them or they go on their own, decides the district you should be in. Settle that, and the shortlist of houses falls into place.

Which campus your child attends decides where you stay

The Juraku main campus is in Kamigyō, home to the primary school (ages 3–12), and the camp runs here for most of the summer. The secondary Taiken campus, for ages 12 to 16, is in Nakagyō. The two sit about a kilometre apart, roughly ten minutes by bike, but for a daily school run that kilometre decides which side of the city you want to be on.

When a family writes in, the first things we establish are which campus the child attends, how old they are, and whether a parent walks them or they travel alone. A six-year-old in the primary school who needs walking to the gate and a fourteen-year-old at the secondary campus who can cycle there belong in quite different parts of the city.

We manage seven houses across the KIS commute, on the Gosho side of Kamigyō and the Sanjō side of Nakagyō, ranging from two-bedroom homes to four-bedroom houses that sleep eight. The two sections below split along those lines, and most families recognise their own situation in one of them.

Primary school: close enough to walk

If your child is in the Juraku primary school and you are doing the school run yourself, the closer you are the easier the mornings become. In Kamigyō near the Imperial Palace we have a three-bedroom house a five-minute walk from the gate, so there is no transport to catch; you simply walk the children over. The Kyoto Gyoen is right at the doorstep, a large national garden with gravel paths and old trees where children can run before camp and wind down afterwards, and the surrounding streets are quiet and residential, with supermarkets, bakeries and cafés within walking distance and the Karasuma subway line (Imadegawa and Marutamachi) keeping the rest of the city close.

The house sleeps eight across three bedrooms, with two bathrooms and three separate toilets so nobody is queuing on a camp morning, and it comes with whole-house underfloor heating, air conditioning, a washing machine and two Dyson hair dryers. We have written separately about how this house works for a camp family if you want the detail.

If those dates are taken, there is a house near Senbon within easy reach of the Gosho, two bedrooms sleeping five, with children's tableware kept on hand. It is about five minutes to Juraku by bike and fourteen on foot, and close to Taiken as well, which makes it useful for families with children at different campuses, or who have not yet confirmed which campus they will attend. Nijō Castle and Kitano Tenmangū are a ten-minute walk away, and the everyday shopping is easy.

Secondary school: once a child can cycle, the field opens up

If your child is at Taiken, or simply old enough to cycle, the choice widens considerably. In the Sanjō area of Nakagyō we have several houses, five to six minutes from Taiken by bike and nine to ten from Juraku, all of them central, with shops, convenience stores, arcades and somewhere to eat underfoot. For a family settling in for several weeks, that everyday convenience matters as much as the commute. Kyoto is flat and laid out on a grid, so cycling is far more relaxed than crowded buses or trains, and for a teenager who can travel alone it is usually the smoothest way to get to class.

For larger parties there are two four-bedroom houses that sleep eight. One is a century-old machiya on Atarashiya-dōri off Sanjō, old timber paired with a modern fit-out, right beside the Sanjō shopping arcade, with dinner, shops and a 24-hour convenience store at the door. The other sits beside JR Nijō Station, where the JR line, the Tōzai subway and a bus stop are all a three-minute walk away; it has four bedrooms and three toilets so a group of eight is not queuing, and a kitchen set up for proper cooking.

For fewer guests, a three-bedroom house on Inokuma-dōri sleeping six, taken whole with its own courtyard, sits just south of Nijō Castle with the Sanjō-dōri shops and cafés close by, and suits a single family or two couples. If you are two or three and want quiet, a two-bedroom machiya renovated by Tato Architects on Sanjō-Aburanokōji sits on a still lane, fifteen minutes' walk from Nijō Castle, Nishiki Market and the Karasuma shopping streets. And if you plan to drive, the house in Kanayachō comes with two free parking spaces, rare this close to the centre, eight minutes' walk from Nijō Castle and fifteen from Nishiki.

Cycling is part of everyday life in Kyoto rather than a token feature, and our sister brand w2go, which rents bikes across the city, offers camp families a 10% discount, one bike for the child and one for a parent, useful for the school run and weekend outings alike. These Nakagyō houses are generally roomier than the Gosho house and work out cheaper per head, which suits larger parties or anyone who wants more space. Booking early matters too: July and August are the hottest and busiest weeks of the Kyoto year, whole houses close to the campuses go first, and some have fewer nights available in summer, so once the camp dates are fixed it is worth locking the stay months ahead rather than in the final weeks.

FAQ

Which campus does the camp use, and is staying nearby easy?
The camp runs mostly at the Juraku main campus, the primary school in Kamigyō. Staying around the Imperial Palace in Kamigyō puts you closest to it, with a short, calm school run and supermarkets, bakeries and cafés within walking distance, which is far easier than the crowds in Higashiyama or by Kyoto Station.

For a primary-school child you walk each day, where is easiest?
The Gosho area is the most straightforward. We have a three-bedroom house there about five minutes' walk from Juraku, so you can walk the children straight over, with the Gyoen at the doorstep and daily shopping close at hand.

Our child can cycle — what are the options?
The Sanjō area of Nakagyō has several of our houses, five or six minutes from the Taiken secondary campus by bike, ranging from two-bedroom homes to four-bedroom houses that sleep eight, all of them central and well supplied for daily life. Kyoto is flat and easy to cycle, and w2go can supply bikes for the family at a 10% camp discount.

We are a party of seven or eight. Is there a whole house that fits?
Yes. There is a four-bedroom house sleeping eight on Atarashiya-dōri off Sanjō and another beside JR Nijō Station, both with enough bathrooms that eight people are not queuing morning and night, and the Gosho house also sleeps eight for a larger family doing the primary-school walk.

Do houses get tight in summer? How early should we book?
They do. July and August are Kyoto's peak, and whole houses close to the campuses that sleep a family book up early, so once the camp dates are set it is best to reserve several months ahead; the closer to the holidays, the thinner the choice.

Tell us which campus your child attends, how long the camp runs and how many of you there are, and we will match a house by commute and convenience, whether that means the Gosho area for a walk to the gate or Nakagyō for a child who cycles. When you are ready, send us your dates and party size and we will take it from there.