Kyoto Subway Map 2026: Lines, Tickets & Prices

Kyoto Subway Map 2026: What tourists need to know

• The Kyoto Municipal Subway has two lines, 31 stations and 31.2 km of route, with the lines meeting at Karasuma Oike.
• A single adult journey costs ¥220 to ¥360 (≈ $1.38 to $2.26), while the Subway 1-Day Pass costs ¥800 (≈ $5.03).
• Trains generally run every 7 to 8 minutes during the day. First terminal departures are around 5:15 AM to 5:20 AM, with the final departures between 11:28 PM and 11:45 PM.
• Paper tickets and compatible IC cards work at the gates, but bank-card tapping and QR payment are not available in 2026.
• The subway reaches central Kyoto well, but Fushimi Inari and Kinkaku-ji require a separate JR, Keihan or bus connection. Airport trains and buses stop at Kyoto Station, where travelers can join the Karasuma Line.

Kyoto Subway service information

Timetables changed on March 14, 2026. Check the official journey planner for the latest route and departure information before traveling.

The official English Kyoto subway map is a Railway Network PDF that highlights both Kyoto Municipal Subway lines and also shows connecting private railways. It is separate from the combined Subway & Bus Navi.

A network of only two lines gives Kyoto a compact subway backbone from north to south and east to west. Kyoto City Transportation Bureau operates the officially named Kyoto Municipal Subway.

The first Karasuma Line section, between Kitaoji and Kyoto, opened on May 29, 1981. The present network extends for 31.2 km: 13.7 km on Karasuma and 17.5 km on Tozai.

The two lines list 15 and 17 stations, but Karasuma Oike (K08/T13) belongs to both, so the network has 31 stations.

An end-to-end ride takes about 26 minutes on the Karasuma Line and 34 minutes on the Tozai Line. Both operate at a maximum speed of 75 km/h.

Kyoto Subway lines: Karasuma Line and Tozai Line

• Karasuma Line (K, green): Kokusaikaikan K01 to Takeda K15, running north to south through Kyoto Station. The line has 15 stations and covers 13.7 km.
• Tozai Line (T, vermilion): Rokujizo T01 to Uzumasa Tenjingawa T17, running broadly east to west. The line has 17 stations and covers 17.5 km.

Selected Karasuma trains continue south from Takeda onto Kintetsu tracks toward Shin-Tanabe or Kintetsu-Nara as through services. Not every train continues, and there is no through route to Kintetsu Kyoto Station. Takeda is also the fare boundary.

Selected four-car Keihan Keishin trains enter the Tozai Line at Misasagi and continue toward Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae or Uzumasa Tenjingawa. They do not serve Yamashina or the Rokujizo branch, so passengers for those stations must change at Misasagi.

Kintetsu and Keihan through services do not create extra Kyoto subway lines. Kyoto still has exactly two lines. Kintetsu and Keihan remain separate operators with their own fares and pass rules.

The Kyoto subway is most useful for Kyoto Station, the city center, Nijo Castle, the Imperial Palace, Higashiyama and Daigo. Famous destinations including Fushimi Inari and Kinkaku-ji are not directly served by subway.

Kyoto City’s 2025 tourism survey estimated about 62.8 million visitors. This broad measure includes non-residents arriving for leisure, business, shopping, events, sports, or visits to friends and relatives, while commuting and study trips are excluded.

Kyoto has no public airport. Arrivals from KIX and ITM normally reach Kyoto Station first, where Kyoto K11 on the Karasuma Line provides the municipal subway connection into the city.

A Kyoto train map needs more than the two-line municipal diagram. Kyoto’s rail landscape includes the subway, JR and five private or specialist rail networks, each with separate fares and route roles.

JR links Kyoto Station with Fushimi Inari on the Nara Line and Arashiyama on the Sagano or San-in corridor. Hankyu links Osaka-Umeda, Karasuma, Kawaramachi and Arashiyama via Katsura, connecting with the subway at Shijo.

Keihan follows eastern Kyoto toward Osaka and serves Fushimi Inari, with subway connections around Sanjo and Misasagi. Kintetsu serves its own network south of Kyoto and operates selected through trains beyond Takeda.

Randen is a separate tram-style railway toward Arashiyama, connecting with Tozai at Randen-Tenjingawa. Eizan runs two separate lines from Demachiyanagi toward northern excursion areas, while Kyoto City Bus fills many gaps away from rail stations.

The downloadable subway PDF therefore cannot replace a complete Kyoto rail diagram. Through-running trains share some tracks, but JR, Hankyu, Keihan, Kintetsu, Randen and Eizan do not become municipal subway lines.

Kyoto uses distance-based subway fares. Since October 1, 2025, an adult single journey costs ¥220 to ¥360 (≈ $1.38 to $2.26); the corresponding child fare is ¥110 to ¥180 (≈ $0.69 to $1.13).

The Subway 1-Day Pass covers both subway lines for one calendar day. The Subway & Bus 1-Day Pass also covers all City Bus routes and specified sections of Kyoto Bus, Keihan Bus and West Japan JR Bus, but not airport or intercity services.

Ticket machines near the gates offer an English interface and take Japanese yen only, not credit or debit cards. A single paper ticket is valid on the purchase day from the station where it was bought and is collected at the exit gate.

Insert a paper ticket or pass into the gate and collect it as you pass through. With an IC card, hold the card on the blue reader for about one second. Load prepaid value before traveling.

The gates accept PiTaPa, ICOCA, Kitaca, PASMO, Suica, manaca, TOICA, HAYAKAKEN, nimoca and SUGOCA, plus Mobile ICOCA and Mobile Suica. The Japan Rail Pass is not valid on the municipal subway.

Do not expect bank-card contactless payment at the fare gate. In 2026, credit-card tapping and QR payment remain unavailable. Kyoto City’s FY2026 budget plan schedules the equipment work for FY2027, when the rollout is planned.

The KANSAI MaaS app is offered by WEST JAPAN RAILWAY COMPANY on Google Play and the Apple App Store. Its combined-pass coupon requires registration and credit-card payment, then exchange for a physical pass before travel; the phone coupon alone does not open the gate.

Kyoto City Transportation Bureau's current timetable took effect on March 14, 2026. First terminal departures are around 5:15 AM to 5:20 AM. Last terminal departures range from 11:28 PM to 11:45 PM, with final trains reaching the opposite terminal between 12:04 AM and 12:19 AM.

Trains generally run every 7 to 8 minutes during the day. Weekday peak gaps are roughly 3 to 6 minutes on Karasuma and 4 to 7 minutes on the base Tozai service.

Weekend mornings are usually less frequent, at roughly 6 to 10 minutes on Karasuma and 7 to 10 minutes on Tozai. Selected Keihan through trains add service on parts of the Tozai Line only; they do not increase the frequency on the Rokujizo branch.

The Kyoto subway map shows the route layout but not departure times. The timetable does not include overnight trains. Travelers planning a late return should check the live journey planner, especially because the last departure depends on direction and station.

The current western end of the Tozai Line at Uzumasa Tenjingawa opened on January 16, 2008. This established the present two-line, 31.2 km network shown in the official English Railway Network PDF.

According to Kyoto City Transportation Bureau, the Tozai Line uses automatic train operation, but one-person crews remain on board. It has platform barriers at all 17 stations. As of February 2026 the Karasuma Line is still manually driven and has platform barriers at four of its 15 stations.

Fun Fact: A Keihan train can enter the Tozai Line at Misasagi and continue through central Kyoto, yet it remains a Keihan service rather than becoming a third subway line.

Continue planning in Japan with the Tokyo subway map, or browse all metro maps by city.

Other live English guides cover the Seoul subway map, Hong Kong MTR map, London Underground map and New York subway map.