Kyoto Gion Rooftop Beer Garden Opens June 19th! Enjoy Hokkaido's Top 3 Meats BBQ While Overlooking Yasaka Shrine

When visiting Kyoto in the summer, rooftop beer gardens are a great option for your evening plans. On June 19, 2026, the Kyoto Gion Beer Garden "Hokkaido Fair" (京都祇園ビアガーデン〈北海道フェア〉) opened on the rooftop of APA Hotel〈Kyoto Gion〉EXCELLENT. Located in the southern part of Gion Town, you can enjoy Hokkaido meat dishes with charcoal BBQ while taking in views of Yasaka Shrine and the Kyoto cityscape.

This time, the theme isn't ordinary barbecue, but rather a concentration of Hokkaido's regional meat dishes like Kitami soy sauce grilled meat, Asahikawa salt-flavored innards, and Kushiro sweet and sour fried chicken on Kyoto's rooftop. For Taiwanese travelers, this combination of "Kyoto night view + Hokkaido flavor" is perfect to schedule after a stroll around Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Gion, and Yasaka Shrine. You can take care of both dinner and drinks without having to travel far.

View Kyoto streetscapes from the Gion rooftop; a complete summer night atmosphere.

The Beer Garden is located on the rooftop of APA Hotel EXCELLENT, at 555 Gionmachi Minamigawa, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto. This area is already a very pleasant place to stroll at night in Kyoto, and it's conveniently located along the way from Yasaka Shrine, Hanamikoji, and the Gion shopping street. If you plan to visit Higashiyama, Kiyomizu-dera Temple, and Sannenzaka/Ninenzaka during the day, and then head to Gion in the evening for BBQ, it's a natural itinerary.

With approximately 200 seats, business hours are 5:00 PM to 10:30 PM on weekdays and the day before holidays. On Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays, hours are 4:00 PM to 10:30 PM. To capture the transition from dusk to night views, we recommend booking an earlier time slot. If the main focus is drinking and chatting, coming in later will help you avoid the daytime heat.

Eat all three of Hokkaido's top meat dishes at once

This time, the main theme of the menu is local meat dishes from Hokkaido. Kitami is a city with a strong yakiniku culture, and their Kitami Nam Shio Harami (raw sauce-marinated diaphragm steak) uses raw sauce for marination, resulting in a rich meat and sauce aroma. Asahikawa Salted Horumon offers a savory and refreshing profile, perfect with beer. Kushiro's sweet and sour fried chicken, Zantare, is a Hokkaido specialty where fried chicken is coated in a sweet and sour sauce.

If it's your first time, the 4,500 yen plan allows you to enjoy Hokkaido's three major meat dishes, plus the brand pork "Yume no Daichi" and Belgian french fries with a creamy potato flavor, for a total of 10 items with all-you-can-drink. If you want to eat more lamb and small plates, you can choose the 5,000 yen plan; if you want to eat Saroma Wagyu, Yume no Daichi pork, and more Hokkaido ingredients, the 6,000 yen popular plan will be more satisfying.

5 plans from ¥4,500 to ¥7,500

All plans include all-you-can-drink, with prices starting from ¥4,500. For ¥6,000, there's a Beef Tongue BBQ plan featuring grilled beef tongue with Hokkaido butter, paired with Kitami-style marinated skirt steak, Asahikawa salted innards, Kushiro Zantare, and butter-grilled rice balls. If you want to indulge yourself on your trip, the ¥7,500 plan adds Saroma Wagyu beef, scallion-salt beef tongue, scallops in the shell, grilled squid, and shrimp skewers for a seafood BBQ, totaling 16 items.

The drink selection also has a strong Hokkaido feel. There are four types of draft beer: SORACHI 1984, YEBISU draft beer, SAPPORO Black Label, and Hokkaido Nama Shibori. Small bottles include Sapporo Lager Akaboshi, and more. Overall, it's very attractive to those who like Japanese beer. There's an opening special from June 19th to July 9th, with a discount of up to 1,000 yen per person. There's also a student discount from June 19th to September 26th, offering a 500 yen discount on all packages, starting from 4,000 yen.

Event Information

• Store Name: Kyoto Gion Beer Garden
• Period: June 19, 2026 - September 26, 2026
• Location: APA Hotel EXCELLENT Rooftop
• Address: 555 Gionmachi Minamigawa, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture
• Business Hours: Monday-Friday, day before holidays 5:00 PM - 10:30 PM; Saturday, Sunday, national holidays 4:00 PM - 10:30 PM
• Public Holidays: None
• Seating: Approximately 200 seats
• Prices: All-you-can-drink plans available for ¥4,500, ¥5,000, ¥6,000, ¥6,000, and ¥7,500.
• Reservation:https://www.hotpepper.jp/strJ004068311/

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This beer garden is perfect for those who want a more relaxed evening in Kyoto. Walking through Higashiyama during the day can be tiring, and then trying to find a restaurant and wait in line at night would be exhausting. Booking the rooftop BBQ in advance will make your itinerary much smoother. If anyone in your group doesn't drink alcohol, you can focus on the Hokkaido cuisine and the rooftop view. Kyoto summers are hot and humid, so it's recommended to wear breathable clothing and avoid traveling around midday. Staying out for a stroll in Gion and then heading to the beer garden after dusk will make the experience much more comfortable.