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Student eats · November 2026
Studying abroad in Kyoto
Every meal here costs ¥1,500 or less.
About $10 US. Typical prices, checked November 2, 2026.Kyoto looks expensive, with all the kaiseki, but students eat on conveyor-belt sushi, ramen by the station, soba in a 600-year-old shop and mochi by the river.
A day of eating for ¥3,300
- Breakfast, ¥1,000: Smart Coffee, the morning set with toast and egg, or the pancakes
- Lunch, ¥1,100: Honke Owariya, a bowl of plain soba (kake soba)
- Dinner, ¥1,200: Musashi Sushi, six or seven plates off the belt
Breakfast, lunch and dinner: ¥3,300, about $22.
Eat for ¥1,500 or less
1A photo like it
¥1,000Breakfast
Smart Coffee
Get: The morning set with toast and egg, or the pancakes
A coffee house open since 1932 in the covered shopping street. A Kyoto breakfast tradition.
2A photo like it
¥1,100Lunch
Honke Owariya
Get: A bowl of plain soba (kake soba)
A soba shop founded in 1465. You eat in one of the oldest restaurants in the world for the price of a sandwich.
3A photo like it
¥250Snack
Demachi Futaba
Get: Mame-daifuku (mochi with beans and red bean paste)
The mochi shop with a line every morning, by the Kamo River. Eat it on the river steps.
4A photo like it
¥1,200Dinner
Musashi Sushi
Get: Six or seven plates off the belt
Conveyor-belt sushi in the center, about ¥150 a plate. Fast, fun, and very cheap.
5A photo like it
¥1,000Dinner
Honke Daiichi-Asahi
Get: Ramen with extra green onions
Open since 1947, a soy and pork ramen shop with a line by the station. Opens early, closes late.
6A photo like it
¥1,500Late
Menbakaichidai (Fire Ramen)
Get: Fire ramen, if you like a show
They set your bowl on fire, literally. Touristy, but students bring every visitor.
The market
Every day, 10am to about 5pm
Nishiki Market
Downtown, parallel to Shijo
Get: Tamagoyaki (rolled omelet) on a stick, tofu doughnuts, pickles to taste
Busy and touristy, but skewers and samples are still a few hundred yen. Go right at 10am.
The supermarket to find
Konbini, Fresco or Life supermarkets
- Onigiri and bento from any konbini
- Supermarket sushi and bento with evening discounts
- Matcha snacks and yatsuhashi, cheaper than at the shrines
Supermarkets mark food down after 7pm. Fresco near Shijo is open late.
How students save in Kyoto
- Rent a bike instead of taking buses. Kyoto is flat and cheap ramen is everywhere.
- Lunch sets are much cheaper than dinner, even at good restaurants.
- No tipping, and tea and water are free.
More for Kyoto
Studying somewhere else?
Run a study-abroad program in Kyoto?
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Prices are typical, checked November 2, 2026, and move; places with branches all over (chains) are named so you can use any of them. "A photo like it" is the same kind of food, not from that place. Chef Amazing is not paid by any place on this page.
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