Nishiki Market in Kyoto: What We Wish We Knew Before Going

Nishiki Market was one of those places in Kyoto that we enjoyed enough to visit twice. Before going, I pictured it mostly as a place where we would wander around, find interesting foods, try a little of this and a little of that, and have lunch along the way.

That’s more or less what we did, but the actual experience was a little different from what I had imagined.

There were a few things about Nishiki Market that we hadn’t expected, especially when it came to eating there.

Here are a few things I wish we’d known before our first visit.

It’s Not Just a Food Market

One thing that surprised me was how mixed everything was.

I hadn’t necessarily expected a food court, but I think I imagined that there would be areas with lots of food stands together and other areas for shopping. Instead, everything is mixed throughout the market.

You might pass a seafood stand, then a shop, then somewhere selling something ready to eat, then another shop, then a restaurant.

There was a lot of seafood in particular. Some places were selling seafood to take home, while others had seafood prepared to eat right there.

That made exploring the market more interesting because we never quite knew what we’d find next.

Eating at Nishiki Market Isn’t Quite What We Expected

This was probably the biggest thing we learned.

You’re not supposed to walk through the market while eating. Considering how crowded the market gets, this makes a lot of sense. Walking through a crowd while trying to eat something messy isn’t exactly a great combination.

But you’re also not supposed to buy food from one stand and then stand in front of another shop to eat it.

Generally, when we bought something from a food stand, we ate it in the little area provided by that particular vendor before continuing through the market.

This works perfectly well when everyone wants something from the same place.

It gets a little more complicated when three people want three completely different things.

Sometimes We Just Split Up

Instead of having everyone wait while one person ate something they didn’t want, we eventually realized that it was much easier to split up sometimes.

One of us could find something we wanted, stop and eat it, while someone else continued looking for their own food. Then we’d find each other again afterward.

It wasn’t exactly the family lunch I had pictured before visiting Nishiki Market, but it worked!

There are also actual restaurants at Nishiki Market where you can sit down and eat together, so that’s always an option if you want a more traditional meal. In fact, we did that too.

Mobile Data Was Essential

There’s one important detail about splitting up at Nishiki Market: everyone needs to be able to communicate.

The market was very crowded when we visited. Finding someone again isn’t necessarily as simple as looking down the street and spotting them.

Kid 1 and kid 2 both had mobile data, so we could message each other and figure out where everyone was. Without that, I wouldn’t have been nearly as comfortable separating in such a busy place.

They also had their own cash and IC cards, which meant they didn’t need to find me every time they wanted to buy something.

If you’re visiting Nishiki Market with older kids or teenagers who are going to explore independently, I’d definitely make sure everyone has a way to communicate and their own way to pay.

We Tried a Little Bit of Everything

Over our two visits, we ate quite a few different things.

Kid 2 had takoyaki, while kid 1 tried grilled octopus on a skewer. Kid 2 and I had tempura from one of the stands, and I also tried a chicken roll. We had ice cream and drinks, and kid 2 found a strawberry dessert that she liked so much she bought it again on our second visit.

Kid 1 went in a completely different direction and picked up a savory potato bread from one of the bakeries.

On another visit, kid 2 and I went to a restaurant for more tempura. This time, instead of eating at a stand, we could sit down and have a proper meal. I happen to really like tempura, so I certainly wasn’t going to complain about having it again!

Some of what we ate was just a quick snack before continuing through the market, while other things became an actual meal. And since we visited twice, we could try something different the second time—or go back for something we already knew we liked.

Don’t Go Expecting a Food Court

I think this is the main thing I would tell someone visiting Nishiki Market for the first time.

Don’t approach it like a food court where everyone can buy something from a different vendor and then meet at a table to eat together.

And don’t necessarily expect to buy several things and carry them around while you decide what else you want.

Instead, stop when something looks good, eat it at the appropriate place and then continue exploring. If you’d rather have a proper meal, there are restaurants where you can sit down instead. And if everyone wants something different, splitting up for a little while can be much easier.

Once we figured out how the market worked, the whole experience made much more sense.

Was Nishiki Market Worth Visiting?

For us, yes. Our second visit didn’t feel like simply repeating the first one. We could try different foods, look at things we’d missed and go back for something we particularly liked.

Nishiki Market wasn’t quite the leisurely family lunch I had imagined before our trip. Sometimes we ate together, sometimes we didn’t. Sometimes we grabbed something from a stand, while another time kid 2 and I sat down for a meal and kid 1 chose something from a bakery.

It was crowded and a little chaotic, but that was also part of the fun.

Everyone could choose what interested them, and instead of trying to turn the market into one particular kind of lunch, we learned to enjoy it for what it was: a place to wander, shop, discover new foods and stop for something tasty whenever it caught our attention.

And apparently, if the strawberry dessert is good enough, a place to come back and get exactly the same thing again.