Public transportation in Kyoto

Hello to everyone, I have a question about the public transportation in Kyoto. I'm planning to arrive to the osaka airport and then go to kyoto and stay there 4 day. I saw that there is a jr west pass and a subway and bus one day pass, and I don't know which one is more convenient. Since I'm mainly interested in remaining inside kyoto, maybe the jr west pass is not that useful, except for the first day in which I'm coming from osaka. Moreover I saw that the jr pass cover only some of the routes, so I wanted to ask, to people who have already been to kyoto, if the jr lines are enough to move around in the city or if it's better to just do the subway and bus pass (which from what I saw doesn't cover all the lines either)

Jr isnft very useful in Kyoto. Either get an ic card and pay as you go or get the subway/bus pass if youfll be using subway and bus frequent enough

There are JR lines that go from Kyoto Station to Arashiyama and down the Nara Line to Fushimi Inari, etc, as well as JR buses that go to Takao. But JR in Kyoto is overall rather limited. Actually, same thing for the subway - it is quick and efficient, but coverage is limited. You also have Hankyu & Keihan trains. They each cover a portion of the city, but that's it. Kyoto buses cover the city thoroughly, but if you don't know the bus number and route, can be quite confusing. They are also jammed in the morning, and they can be quite slow. I've taken them many times, and sometimes with the bus having to stop at every single station with an old timer getting on or off, it just seems to take forever.
There are of course taxis as well. They get quite expensive quickly, but can be very fast and efficient. Especially if there are 2-4 of you, it can be advantageous to just take a taxi for a short ride to cover what the rest doesn't. It can mean the difference of seeing one more place in a day before 5 PM when many sights close down, or just not having enough time.
The IC card offers little in savings but the most flexibility in getting around on public transportation, and in Kyoto, relying on just one way to get around is either not workable or impractical.

As I recall, a subway-only pass (without the bus part) pays off if you take 3 (or more) rides on the subway. Depending on your destinations, this can be pretty easy to do. Among other things, the subway is convenient for traveling between Kyoto Station and downtown, and for some places in Higashiyama. If you plan to go to Arashiyama, especially if you will make a couple of stops there, a subway plus Randen (Keifuku tram line) one-day pass can be good value. But JR is also a good way to get to Arashiyama, particularly if youfre coming from Kyoto Station. A JR pass wonft pay off for trains in Kyoto, though.

I avoid buses in central Kyoto like the plague, so I would never get a subway plus bus pass. Kyoto buses can be a totally miserable experience (slow and very crowded). How much are you spending on your trip in all, and in that context is any savings you can get with a bus pass worth potentially wasting quite a bit of time and being miserable? Well, you might get lucky and have a good experience with Kyoto buses; itfs up to you. For outlying areas (such as going to Yoshiminedera or Ohara) buses are not bad, but you have to check and see if the buses you want are covered by the pass.

I typically use a combination of Keihan (very good for where it goes, and generally not crowded), JR (for where it goes), subway, and an occasional strategic taxi ride (to avoid buses in places where there is no train or subway). So I use an IC card for all of the public transit (or sometimes I get a subway day pass).

Bottom line: get an IC card, which will work on all of the different trains and buses in Kyoto. Unlike the problem with Suica cards being unavailable in Tokyo these days, in the Kansai area you can easily purchase an Icoca card, and if you keep it charged up you can also use it to pay for things in a lot of stores, vending machines, and even some restaurants, which is quite convenient. It will also work in many other places in Japan, if you are going somewhere other than Kyoto.

Just get an IC card and use that. Most of the daily passes only pay off if you only use that mode of transport each day.

Thank you for all your answers, I have another question though. I thought that IC card like suica were just a payment method, but I saw that a lot of you suggested it. Do they offer some discount in respect to buying the standard ticket?
Also, in the case in which I'll do the subway pass, I read that it can be easily obtained on the buses and at the stations, is it correct in your experience?

I agree Ken.
And yep some strategic use of taxis can be great. I used them 2-3 times on my recent 3 night stay in Kyoto. Over 2-3 km distances they donft cost too much. I used them once or twice when I was running short of time (rather than walking for 25 minutes) - I was on a mission to see a lot - and our family also used them one time from hotel to Kyoto Station (we had quite big luggage, were tired and didnft fancy 10 minutes of walking with them then lugging through the subway - we did an awful lot of that on the trip 😒)

Apologies, I meant Kim!

As an example, I squeezed in Daitoku-ji on my last afternoon. With darkness falling around 4.30, I took a taxi from Kitao-ji station to the temple (about 4-5 minutes) at about 2.45. The walk back to the station took about 20 minutes. If I had walled both ways my time at the temple would have been way too rushed - the 15 minute time saving was critical. And it only cost me about 1000 yen.

To the PP, IC cards donft offer a discount. Itfs just a VERY convenient way to pay for your local travel. Load it with money and pay as you go. Just by swiping it past the machines. It works n practically all public transport youfll encounter. Yes, there are some remote areas that donft use IC cards but nothing on your itinerary is even close to being remote.
And if you loaded too much money you can spend it at convenience stores, other stores and restaurants and vending machines.
Buying a ticket every time you need to get a train, subway , bus is time consuming. And can be confusing to know what exactly you need to pay.

I have one last question. Can I buy the ic card and the one day pass before going to japan? Or do I need to buy them there? I guess that at least for the shinkansen that goes from the airport to kyoto it is better to do a reservation in advance, but maybe for the other things is not necessary

1) there is no Shinkansen from any airport to any town
2) I would NOT buy train ticket from airport to town before arrival as flight arrival times and time it takes you to go through immigration and claim your luggage varies. Everyone just buys there ticket once they are at the station. There are multiple trains and waiting time isnft long. Depending on your actual arrival time at station and destination the express train might not be the fastest option. Simply check google maps when you are there
3) physical IC cards can only be bought in Japan. You donft know about the ones you can download on your phone
4) subway passes also can only be bought here. What needs to be bought overseas are some other passes such as JR. There is an overview page on JG with the main passes explained which tells you where you can buy them.

Sorry not g You donft know about the ones you can download on your phoneh but g I donft know about the ones you can download on your phoneh

If you buy tickets or IC card outside Japan. You will pay a extra premium.

Just wait until you arrive.

Here's a map for bus and subway in Kyoto city.
It's very convenient.

https://www2.city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/webguide/files/tikabusnavi/en_tika...

Thank you for all your answers, you have been really helpful