4 Days in Kyoto Itinerary

Hi, I will be spending 4 days in Kyoto from Febrary 1 onward. I am wondering what a good itinerary is to see as much as Kyoto has to offer. I am interested in all aspects of Kyoto, and have read the pages on japan-guide.com. That is why its so hard for me to choose.

Would appreciate some basic itineraries from some guys in the know. But comfortable day itineraries - not SO jam packed trying to see it all it becomes too exhausting.

Thank you

why is it so hard to choose? if you haven't been to Kyoto any place there will be interesting!
here are a few places to see (this is a basic suggestion as each sight takes time to visit and this will leave you time to enjoy each sight rather than rushing around). Ckeck on this site or on Google for more details about each place.
day 1:
Nijo castle
Kiomizu dera and streets around it
day 2:
Heian shrine,
Ginkakuji and philosophers walk
Gion area in the evening
day 3:
Fushimo Inari shrine (you MUST walk up the "mountain" under thousands of torii it takes about 3 hrs).
Arashiyama (you can easily spend at least 1/2 day there) both places are accessible by train from Kyoto JR station. it takes about 10 minutes to go to Fushimi and about 30 minutes to Arashiyama. go to Fushimi in the morning but do not eat there, have lunch in Kyoto station (lots of restaurants on the upper floors and in the underground mall)before going to Arashiyama.
day 4:
Karasuma st area for departments stores and the 2 pedestrian shopping arcades
you can also walk at random or look at a guide for ideas about parks and gardens.

I agree with the above, but there are ways to isolate certain areas of Kyoto to minimize going back and forth between areas. For instance, I don't know about Nijo-Jo and Kiyomizu on the same day, as an example. But, the nice thing about Kyoto is that, except for the south end (and there's always Toji there), anywhere has great sights to see. Don't bother with the Imperial Palace, it's overrated and takes too much time to visit, as well as the need to get advance reservations. If you go to Nijo Castle, Nijo Jin'ya is also a possibility. I would also recommend that one day be used to visit Nara, if you're not including that in a day separate from Kyoto. Otherwise, I agree with the previous poster.

I made the itinerary the way I did hoping that the original poster,after circling the various sights on a map of Kyoto, will wonder if there isn't a better way, if there aren't other sights closer to the ones I mentioned that might suit his tastes.In other words I hope that he will be proactive, learn more about Kyoto, then make his own schedule perhaps including only some of the places I mentioned and adding others that he would prefer to check. I don't think that we should spoon feed one another and give a very detailed itinerary to anyone, especially without knowing them.
By now, I make a running list of places that I would like to see in various countries (only expecting to see a few, not all)and research them all year long. Then my buddy and I take off without booking hotels in advance etc. On my last trip to Japan (this year) we knew that we had to stay in the Kansai for a week for sure but the rest was flexible. In the plane we decided to also go somewhere further south. Once at KIX airport we called a couple of hotels here and there,found one near Hiroshima and then bought JR Sanyo passes. We went to all sorts of places (including Fukuoka) pretty much as "eh,let's get off at the next stop" type of thing. We had a great time!