Rainy day things to do in Kyoto with kids 5 spots
Kyoto was Japan's capital for a thousand years, and temples and shrines still sit around every corner. When the kids run out of patience, escapes like Kyoto City Zoo — Japan's second-oldest, opened in 1903 — wait right in the sightseeing core. It suits families who want the temples without losing the children.
One of the few railway museums in Japan that runs a steam locomotive every day.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
An aquarium that recreates a Kyoto river and the sea, with a rice paddy indoors.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
Ten ramen shops from Hokkaido to Fukuoka, on the 10th floor of Kyoto Station.
Stroller OK · Elevator · checked Aug ’26
A shopping complex connected to Kyoto Station, filled with Kyoto sweet and tea shops.
Changing table · Family restroom · checked Aug ’26
A restaurant serving Kyoto home-style obanzai for about thirty years, with eighty seats.
checked Aug ’26
The museum's own FAQ answers that although part of the site is an outdoor exhibit area, most of the facility is indoors, so you can visit on a rainy day. The promenade, the roundhouse, and the SL boarding area are outdoors, and the outdoor exhibit cars are kept locked when it rains.
The Kyo-no-Kawa river zone, the big Kyo-no-Umi sea tank, and Jellyfish Wonder are all inside, and with the ramps and the elevator you can go through with a stroller. The Dolphin Stadium is an open 180-degree panoramic venue.
A ramen street connected directly to Kyoto Station: you eat inside the shops on the 10th floor of the station building.
A shopping complex connected directly to Kyoto Station: from the food hall on B1F to the four hands-on workshop shops on 2F, everything is inside the building.
You eat indoors in the second-floor restaurant. The first floor is the Kyo Komusubi Cafe for food to walk with, and when the restaurant is full you take a numbered ticket at the entrance and wait out front once you are five groups away.