Cat Cafes in Kyoto: Kawaramachi, Gion, Rescue Cafés and Machiya

Kyoto has far fewer cat cafés than Osaka: 12 in the city and 10 more across the prefecture, against more than 60 in Osaka city alone. Most of the city’s are within a few minutes’ walk of each other around Kawaramachi, and they differ more than you might expect, from a ¥1,000 room of Bengals to a ¥9,500 matcha ceremony with rescue cats in a townhouse about a hundred years old. Only a handful keep rescue cats, so if that matters to you, check before you pick. Several long-running names have also closed in recent years, and they still turn up on older lists.

We checked every café below against its official site, Instagram or Google listing at the start of November 2026. You can browse all of them on our Kyoto cat café map.

How Kyoto Cat Cafés Charge

Time-based cafés are the easiest to drop into. MOCHA and Noah’s Ark charge for a first 30 minutes and then by the 10 minutes, with a daily cap. MOCHA includes the drink bar, while Noah’s Ark adds a drink order. Kyoto Hyo-neko no Mori and Busakawa Cafe also sell a 30-minute visit with a drink, for ¥1,000 and ¥1,240.

Independent cafés tend to charge by the hour. Cat’s Eye and Nekogura each charge ¥1,500 an hour with drinks. Outside the city it can be less: Le Ciel in Kameoka charges ¥1,000 for 30 minutes with a drink, and Nekostin in Fukuchiyama ¥1,200 for an hour.

Book ahead for the small places. Maneki Machiya, Utanekodo, Nekogura, Manchi no Ki and NAP take bookings only, and Fluffy’s cafe takes phone bookings up to the day before. MOCHA and Hyo-neko no Mori take no bookings at all.

Most cafés ask for socks, and several sell them at the door. Many don’t let you pick the cats up. Utanekodo and Busakawa turn away visitors who have been to another animal café the same day, so plan a cat café and an owl café for different days.

Kyoto Cat Cafés at a Glance

Kawaramachi and Teramachi

This is where to start if you only have an hour between sights. All of these are within a 15-minute walk of Hankyu Kyoto-Kawaramachi station.

Cat Cafe MOCHA Kyoto Kawaramachi, on the fourth floor of the mina Kyoto building, is the simplest choice, with 22 cats and no bookings. The first 30 minutes cost ¥1,200 on weekdays and ¥1,500 at weekends, then ¥220 per 10 minutes, up to ¥3,520 or ¥3,850, with the drink bar included. It is open from 11am to 9pm and closes only on New Year’s Day. Guests must be at least 6, and children below junior high school age need a guardian. It is five minutes from Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae and Keihan Sanjo stations and six from Kyoto-Kawaramachi.

Kyoto Hyo-neko no Mori has only Bengals, 11 of them, in a jungle-themed room. It moved a minute’s walk in July 2026 and is now in the Teramachi arcade, on the same floor as its sister Mameshiba Cafe. About 30 minutes with a drink cost ¥1,000, or ¥800 for ages 4 to 12, with the same price at weekends. Tickets are sold on the day at the counter. Children under 4 aren’t admitted, and socks are required. It is open from noon to 6pm on weekdays and from 11:30am to 6:30pm at weekends.

Fluffy’s cafe, on Ura-Teramachi five minutes from Kyoto-Kawaramachi, is the old Wan Nyan Chu under a new name. Its 17 or so cats are mostly Munchkins and other pedigree breeds, spread over two floors, and in September 2026 it turned the ground floor into a second cat room, where kittens are sold. An hour costs ¥1,800 on weekdays and ¥1,950 at weekends, plus a drink from ¥350, and extensions are sold only on weekdays. You can book by phone up to the day before. Children are welcome if they can follow the rules, and socks are required.

The Cat Retreat at Utanekodo (町家猫喫茶 うたねこ堂) is unlike anything else in the city: a townhouse about a hundred years old, five minutes from Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae, where eight rescue cats live out their lives instead of waiting for adoption. It has taken bookings only since December 2025, and older articles that describe a walk-in café are out of date. A shared 70-minute session with matcha or a soft drink and a cat-shaped vegan sweet costs ¥9,500 per person, at 2pm or 4pm, with at least two guests per session. Private sessions for up to six people start at ¥39,000 per group. The rules are strict: no perfume or other fragrance, or you lose your place without a refund, and no contact with other animals that day. The room is upstairs, with stairs only.

Busakawa Cafe, on the fourth floor of the Regione Building opposite Kyoto BAL, is more of a dog café: 12 small dogs share the room with four cats, two Ragdolls, a Russian Blue and an American Shorthair. Thirty minutes with a drink cost ¥1,240, then ¥250 per 10 minutes. It is open from 11am to 8pm, and holding the animals isn’t allowed. Come here if you are travelling with someone who prefers dogs.

Gion, Marutamachi and Kinkaku-ji

Cat’s Eye, five minutes from Keihan Jingu-Marutamachi station, is a café and art gallery on the third floor of a small triangular building. Six rescue cats, rescued between 2013 and 2022 or born to a rescued mother, walk among the paintings and sun themselves at a large south-facing window. An hour with a drink costs ¥1,500, with extra time at ¥500 per 30 minutes. It opens from 1pm to 6pm and closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, moving to Thursday if one of those is a public holiday. The owner speaks English, and the café doesn’t rehome its cats.

CAT CAFE MACHIKO in Murasakino opened in October 2026 in the upstairs space of the old Cafe Machiko, between Daitoku-ji and Kinkaku-ji, and it is the obvious stop if you are visiting either. The café says all of its 14 or 15 cats are rescues. Reviews in its first weeks reported about ¥1,100 for 30 minutes, then ¥220 per 10 minutes, with drinks extra, so check the price when you arrive; children of 3 and under are free. There is no food. It is open from 11am to 5pm on weekdays and until 6pm at weekends. The closest stop is Senbon-Kitaoji on the bus, since Kitaoji subway station is a long walk away. Most of its Google reviews are from the old café, so its rating says little about the cats.

Cat & Animal Cafe Noah’s Ark Gion, a minute from Yasaka Shrine and five from Keihan Gion-Shijo, is the city’s largest, with about 40 cats plus dogs, including large-breed puppies. Its first 30 minutes cost ¥1,100 on weekdays and ¥1,320 at weekends, then ¥330 or ¥385 per 10 minutes, up to ¥3,080 or ¥3,520, plus a drink from ¥385. There is no age limit, and under-3s are free. Its store page gives hours of 10am to 8pm, but other listings differ, so check first if you plan to arrive early. The cats come from breeders, and the animals can be bought. It has a 4.7 Google rating from nearly 1,800 reviews, but several reviews from October 2026 complain about smell, crowding and cats with colds.

West Kyoto, the Aquarium and Fushimi

Maneki Machiya Cat Cafe in Uzumasa is run by Japan Cat Network, a rescue charity, in a traditional townhouse. Every cat can be adopted or fostered through the charity. It isn’t a drop-in café: you book a two-hour session, hosted in English, for ¥2,900 per person, through Airbnb Experiences or by email. Sessions run from 1pm to 3pm at weekends and from 1pm to 3pm or 6pm to 8pm on Tuesdays to Thursdays, for up to seven guests aged 5 and over.

Courtesy of japancatnetwork.org

Neko Cafe Nekogura (猫café 猫蔵) in Mibu is a machiya-style house near Hankyu Saiin where one group at a time has the room and its Exotic Shorthairs to itself, at ¥1,500 per hour with unlimited soft drinks. Bookings are by phone only and tend to fill up, and it closes on Mondays and on the second and fourth Tuesdays. Ask about children when you call: one visitor was told in 2024 that it takes junior high school age and up.

Noah’s Ark Kyoto Aquarium, on the ground floor of Hotel Sun Chlorella, two minutes from the aquarium and at the Shichijo-Omiya bus stop, has the same prices as the Gion branch, and it is open daily from 10am to 6:30pm. It has about 20 cats along with ferrets and, according to the operator, the meerkats that used to be in Gion. The food menu has been suspended since January 2026. As in Gion, the animals are for sale.

Nyan Nyan Karaoke Cafe, about seven minutes from Keihan Yodo station in the far south of the city, is a Maine Coon breeder’s shop first, with kittens for sale, and a karaoke coffee shop second. Entry is ¥500 plus ¥200 per 10 minutes, or ¥1,500 for free time with unlimited soft drinks. You are allowed to hold the cats. Phone ahead, since its hours differ between listings.

Uji, Joyo and Kyotanabe

• Dogs&Cats Cafe Tsuki to Taiyo, Uji. Three or four minutes from Keihan Kohata, with 26 cats in a separate cat room, mainly Scottish Folds, Munchkins and British Shorthairs, and kittens for sale. The cat course starts at ¥1,100 for 30 minutes, then ¥440 per 15 minutes, first come, first served, and busy weekends can mean a wait of more than an hour. Open from noon on weekdays and from 10am at weekends, until 7pm. Most sources give Tuesday as the closing day, but its website says irregular.
• Manchi no Ki, Joyo. A Munchkin breeder’s café three minutes from Kintetsu Kuzukawa, rated 4.9 by more than 660 visitors. ¥1,500 for up to an hour, ¥2,500 for two and ¥3,500 to stay until closing at 5pm, and you can go out for lunch on the long plan. Book by phone or LINE. There is no age limit and no child rate.
• Cat Cafe NAP, Kyotanabe. A cat café and coworking space about 20 seconds from JR Doshishamae, which opened in 2026. Its eight cats, born and raised at the owner’s home, are Norwegian Forest Cats and mixes. An hour costs ¥1,500 on weekdays and ¥2,000 at weekends, with free drinks and lower rates for students and children; under-4s are free. It is open from 11am to 5pm, and you can book online, by phone or on LINE.

Kameoka and Northern Kyoto

Kameoka is an easy add-on to the Sagano Romantic Train or the Hozu River boats, and it has more cat cafés than you might expect.

• Raku Neko Cafe, Kameoka. Ten minutes from JR Kameoka, open daily until 10pm. A mix of rescues looking for homes and resident staff cats. ¥220 per 10 minutes with a ¥2,640 cap, half price for high school students and younger, and no drink order. Walk in. Rated 5.0 by more than 100 visitors.
• Cat Cafe Le Ciel, Kameoka. A crepe shop five minutes from JR Kameoka, opened in 2026, with young cats upstairs. ¥1,000 for 30 minutes with a drink, age 6 and up. Check Instagram for opening days.
• Neko Chawan, Fukuchiyama. A rescue café in an old farmhouse, adoption-focused, opened in 2024, with glass between the cat room and the café so people with allergies can still watch. From ¥600 for 30 minutes, ¥1,100 an hour or ¥2,100 for free time. Open from 11:30am to 5pm; closed on Mondays and Fridays.
• Nekostin, Fukuchiyama. More than 20 rescues near Fukuchiyama Castle. ¥600 for 20 minutes or ¥1,200 for an hour with treats, and three-hour night packs at ¥1,200 on Thursday and Saturday evenings. Hours change weekly, so check its website.
• NEKOKOKORO, Kyotango. A rescue café above a pet salon near Yuhigaura-Kitsuonsen station, holding regular adoption events. Sources disagree on prices, so ask first. Book on LINE or by Instagram DM.
• Coorikuya Maizuru. A chain branch attached to a pet shop, 19 minutes’ walk from JR Nishi-Maizuru. The chain’s usual prices are ¥715 for 30 minutes or ¥1,320 for an hour with the drink bar, though branches can differ. Open daily until 8pm.
• Garden Morris, Kameoka. A British-style countryside café with rescue cats, 30 minutes by car from JR Kameoka. In October 2026 it suspended its café service until further notice, so check its website before making the trip.

Rescue Cat Cafés in Kyoto

If you want your money to go to rescue cats, these are the places to choose. In the city, go to Cat’s Eye (the simplest to visit), Maneki Machiya (adoptable cats), Utanekodo (a home for life) or Machiko (new, and the rescue claim is the café’s own). Outside the city, Neko Chawan, Nekostin and NEKOKOKORO all work with rescue cats, and Raku Neko has a few rescues among its cats.

Noah’s Ark, Fluffy’s cafe, Tsuki to Taiyo, Manchi no Ki and Nyan Nyan all sell cats or kittens. That doesn’t tell you how well the cats are kept, but it isn’t rescue.

To adopt, Kyoto Animal Welfare Center (京都動物愛護センター) and local groups hold regular adoption events.

Kyoto With Children

• No minimum age: Noah’s Ark (under-3s free in Gion), Utanekodo with a supervising guardian, Machiko (3 and under free), NAP (under-4s free) and Manchi no Ki.
• Age 4 to 6 and up: Hyo-neko no Mori (4+), Maneki Machiya (5+), MOCHA and Le Ciel (6+).
• Check first: Nekogura may be junior high school age and up, and Fluffy’s cafe asks that children can follow its rules.

More Cats in Kyoto

Kyoto’s cat sights are worth adding to a trip, though none of them promises you a live cat.

• Shonen-ji (称念寺) in Kamigyo is known as the cat temple, after a legend of a priest’s cat that repaid his kindness by winning the temple new patrons. It is a working temple with no published visiting hours, and it doesn’t say that cats live there, so go for the story and the pine said to look like a lying cat.
• Umenomiya Taisha (梅宮大社) in Ukyo, 15 minutes from Hankyu Matsuo-Taisha, is known for the priest’s cats, which roam the grounds. Their numbers have fallen over the years. The priest asks visitors not to wake, feed or grab them.
• Konpira Shrine (金刀比羅神社) in Kyotango has stone guardian cats instead of the usual lion-dogs, at its Kijima shrine, because cats protected the silkworms of the local silk trade. It holds a cat festival every September.
• Nyannyanji (猫猫寺) in Yase is a cat art museum built like a temple. Its site says plainly that it isn’t a place with lots of cats. Entry is ¥800, and it closes on Tuesdays.

If you are staying in Kyoto, Kawaramachi puts you within walking distance of five cat cafés, with Gion just across the river. Here are places to stay near Kyoto-Kawaramachi station on Booking.com.

Closed Kyoto Cat Cafés

These still appear on older lists and booking sites:

• Puchi Marry Kyoto Kawaramachi announced that it would close on 4 October 2026.
• Tango in Saiin closed on 10 May 2026, after 14 years, when it had to leave its premises.
• Neko Café TiME, on the approach to Fushimi Inari Taisha, closed in 2021.
• Neko Kaigi on Oike-dori closed on 14 October 2019, after 11 years.

For the rest of the country, see our guide to cat cafés in Japan. Our Osaka guide is less than an hour away by Hankyu train, and if you are new to cat cafés, start with what a cat café is.