A narrow covered arcade running east-west for 400 metres through the heart of central Kyoto, Nishiki Market has supplied the city's restaurants and households since the Muromachi period. The 100-odd shops here -- fishmongers, tofu-makers, pickle merchants, skewer stalls, knife craftsmen -- remain largely independent family businesses, and the market operates on the unhurried rhythms of a wholesale trade that predates tourism by several centuries. Come mid-morning to shop alongside chefs; come at lunchtime to eat from the stalls.
Immediately north of the market, Kawaramachi-Sanjo is Kyoto's densest eating and drinking zone, where the city's best concentration of ramen shops, standing bars, craft-beer pubs, and late-night izakayas lines both sides of the shopping street for several blocks. The whole district rewards walking: Teramachi arcade to the west is a mix of old-school Buddhist goods stores and younger boutiques, and the covered Shinkyogoku mall runs parallel.