Visit Kinkaku-ji, a UNESCO World Heritage Site originally built in 1397 as the retirement villa of a shogun and later converted into a Zen temple. Admire the iconic Golden Pavilion covered in gold leaf, beautifully reflected in the surrounding pond, and stroll through its serene gardens. You will also see a bonsai tree believed to be over 600 years old, adding to the timeless atmosphere of this historic site.
Visit Kiyomizu-dera, a UNESCO World Heritage Site founded in 778. Before arriving, walk through the beautifully preserved historic districts of Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka, lined with traditional shops and houses. At the temple, admire the famous 13-meter-high wooden stage, built without nails, offering panoramic views over Kyoto and a truly unforgettable cultural experience.
Visit the beautifully preserved historic streets of Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka, located in the heart of Kyoto’s traditional district. These charming stone-paved slopes date back to the Edo period and are lined with traditional wooden houses, tea shops, local sweets, and souvenir stores. Stroll through this atmospheric area, enjoy local snacks, and experience the timeless beauty of old Kyoto as you make your way toward Kiyomizu-dera Temple.
Visit Yasaka Shrine, one of Kyoto’s most famous Shinto shrines, founded over 1,350 years ago. Located at the edge of the historic Gion district, the shrine is known for its vibrant vermilion gates and beautiful lantern displays. It is also the starting point of the famous Gion Matsuri, a tradition that has been celebrated for over 1,100 years, held every July and considered one of Japan’s most important festivals. Stroll through the lively grounds and experience Kyoto’s rich cultural and spiritual heritage.
Visit Fushimi Inari Shrine - the Ultimate Torii Gate Experience - an important Shinto shrine famous for its thousand of vermillion Torrid fates which straddle a network of trails behind its main building.
Visit Arashiyama - the second most sightseeing district in Kyoto since Heian Period filled with temples, shrines and bamboo gives. 1. Bamboo Forest 2. Tenryuji Temple - Kyoto's five Zen Temples founded in 1339. UNESCO World Heritage Site. 3. Togetsu Bridge - Moon crossing bridge - built during the Heian Period reconstructed recently in 1930s
Visit Nishiki Ichibe - a narrow, five block long shopping street lined bemire than one hundred shops and restaurants known as Kyoto's kitchen.
Visit Gion - Kyoto's famous geisha district
Visit Ginkakuji - the Silver Pavilion - built by Yoshimitsu's grandson, Ashikaga Yoshima, on the other side of the City a few decades after Kinkakuji.
Sanjusangendo (三十三間堂, Sanjūsangendō) is the popular name for Rengeo-in, a temple in eastern Kyoto which is famous for its 1001 statues of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. The temple was founded in 1164 and rebuilt a century later after the original structure had been destroyed in a fire. Measuring 120 meters, the temple hall is Japan's longest wooden structure. The name Sanjusangendo (literally "33 intervals") derives from the number of intervals between the building's support columns, a traditional method of measuring the size of a building. In the center of the main hall sits a large, wooden statue of a 1000-armed Kannon (Senju Kannon) that is flanked on each side by 500 statues of human sized 1000-armed Kannon standing in ten rows. Together they make for an awesome sight.
The Kyoto Imperial Palace (京都御所, Kyōto Gosho) used to be the residence of Japan's Imperial Family until 1868, when the emperor and capital were moved from Kyoto to Tokyo. It is located in the spacious Kyoto Imperial Park (京都御苑, Kyōto Gyoen), an attractive park in the center of the city that also encompasses the Sento Imperial Palace and a few other attractions.
Nijo Castle (二条城, Nijōjō) was built in 1603 as the Kyoto residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo Period (1603-1867). His grandson Iemitsu completed the castle's palace buildings 23 years later and further expanded the castle by adding a five story castle keep.
Eikando (永観堂, Eikandō), formally known as Zenrinji Temple, belongs to the Jodo sect of Japanese Buddhism. Located just north of the large temple complex of Nanzenji, Eikando is very famous for its autumn colors and the evening illuminations that take place in fall. The temple has a long history, and there are a variety of buildings and a pond garden that visitors can explore. A court noble of the Heian Period (710-1185) donated his villa to a priest, who converted it into a temple under the name Zenrinji (lit. "temple in a calm grove"). At its founding, Zenrinji was part of the Shingon sect and its first head priest was a disciple of the great Kobo Daishi, the sect's founder.
I was unable to have a companion but in my life I find so long as if I have my two friends back home I know there's always a chance life is about to have a surprise right around the corner good but wish they had companions for solo people
I wished that we had more time to explore Kyoto. We were on a cruise so not enough time to explore the place. Rio was good and quite patient with us being seniors.
Though the whole day on foot, that was worth it. Really good tour and we had a very good guide - Taka
The guide was from Osaka and he did not appear to be familiar with Kyoto. He was more like a chaperone accompanying us rather than a local guide. It would be great if he could start the tour with a short introduction of Kyoto like the history and development over the different era. While he did give some information about each attraction, the presentations were general and superficial. He was mostly quiet during the tour and transfers.
Don was an excellent tour guide! He sent us a text soon after booking asking about our preferences on what we wanted to see and what we wanted to eat (along with asking about allergies/food preferences/if we wanted his recommendations). We chose to view the major historical parts of Kyoto, and he tailored his guided tour towards that! He even offered to meet us at a place of our choosing. We spent all day in Kyoto and he offered some history on the things we were seeing, he helped us navigate Kyoto through the subway/buses, and he guided us to a traditional ramen/udon shop to eat lunch! He also took pictures of our group for us! 10/10, would recommend.
Femin was great. He did a super job answering my son's questions. Always smiling and trying to help, it was fun to pass the day with him.
Shenji was the best tour guide and photographer! We got the Itinerary, but decided to change things up the last minute. He was able to obtain a last minute kimono rental and we eliminated the last stop on our itinerary to make time for it. Our photos are fabulous! He knew the spots to stop at the bamboo forest and everywhere he took us. Thank you so much for the great memories and photos!
The night before our tour, the arranged guide messaged us to say he was unwell and would try to find a last-minute replacement. The guide we met the next morning was very friendly and enthusiastic, but he was a college student who had been in Japan for two years and could not speak or read Japanese. Even if he did not know much about the locations we visited, it would have been fine if he only helped us navigate the public transportation routes. To my dismay, he had to rely heavily on Google Maps the entire way and even got lost a couple times. At one point I found it faster to just find the directions myself, and he followed along with the rest of the group. I am grateful that he showed us how to use the buses and took photos for us, but I do not believe that this service was worth the price. I'm not sure what goes on behind the scenes for this tour, but the "travel companions" should definitely be better trained.
We had a wonderful time with our tour guide Jerome. From start to finish, it felt like the tour was well organized. The tour operator asked us about preferences ahead of time and we received our itinerary from Jerome several days before our scheduled tour. We were even asked about our food preferences. We were able to visit all the sites we wanted to see and even got to see some of the neighborhoods around the sites as we walked. Jerome was so helpful. He helped us get IC cards, taught us how to use them and reload them, etc, how to navigate the stations. We learned about local customs, some history about the sites. Lunch was great. It is a lot of walking but we expected that considering all we wanted to see. Jerome was very attentive and took lots of pictures for us, this was much appreciated. He gave us options throughout the day such as whether we wanted to spend some time shopping, rent a kimono, etc. Given that we had a very limited time in Osaka, this was a wonderful way to get to see Kyoto efficiently. Highly recommend. I traveled with kids, aged 8-13 and they were able to keep up. We were tired at the end of the day but we had a lovely time. Well worth it.
Great experience! Our guide Nazir was amazing. He was so knowledge of the area and the history. We would have never been able to see everything on our list without him.
We had a wonderful time with Nada. She was quite knowledgeable about Kyoto. Thank you very much Nada!
Haidari was an excellent guide. Easy to understand good english. We got to see all the places we wanted to visit, without any trouble.
Let me start by saying I liked Karim, our “travel companion.” he seemed like an earnest young man, he let us know that he had several side hustles, helping to put him through college and get his sisters out of Afghanistan, so they could come to Japan to study. However, we only took this tour because our original tour was canceled last minute, and we were not made aware that he was a “travel companion, “ and not a tour guide. When I asked what the difference was, I was told that he is literally just a person who takes us from place to place. This was not very useful since we had already been in Japan a week and had no problems navigating subways and buses. Additionally, even though I sent several emails to confirm that we actually had a tour, no one reached out to me, until almost midnight the night before the trip, so we didn’t even know if we had a guide or what their name might be. Very unprofessional, and definitely caused us some anxiety. At any rate, Karim seemed annoyed to be leading us during the tour, spent a lot of time on his cell phone texting, and at one point, just walked away and left us in the middle of a crowd at Kiyomizu-dera temple. We had difficulty finding him as he had run so far ahead of us. He also had zero knowledge about anything we saw. I am a practicing Buddhist, and literally every single fact he told us about the Buddhist temples we visited was incorrect. When I questioned him about it, he even doubled down on the wrong answers. I don’t think he is the primary problem, but whoever he works with or for did not make it clear that we were not getting any sort of tour guide, pretty shady in my opinion, and for that reason, I’m giving this tour one star. I’m very disappointed that we were unable to learn anything about the places we visited, our guide seemed annoyed, and it was certainly not worth the $328 we paid for it. I asked the company for a refund of half the amount , because I feel as though he did get us from place to place and should be paid for his time, but the trip was not as advertised, and certainly not worth that kind of money (we have taken several tours with Viator that have all been great), and since we only had a couple days in Kyoto, we were really cheated out of the cultural experience we had been looking forward to. I’m also disappointing to in Viator, since they were very unhelpful and didn’t even even work to negotiate with this company on our behalf. All I can say about this whole experience is buyer beware, and after looking at the other tours offered in Kyoto that advertise “travel companions,” I would not recommend taking one, but if you have to (the way we did), that you try one of the less expensive ones. That way if all you’re getting is a third person that you have to pay all expenses for on that day, (in addition to the tour price)that you’re not paying more than necessary.
Guide was vey personable, excellent English. He accommodated by wishes during tour which did involve a lot of walking. Fair to good understanding of Japanese history and culture.
This was a great way to see lots of Kyoto without all the hassle of needing to know the transport systems. Deepa was friendly and knowledgeable. Thank you for a great day.
I hoped our guide would speak fluent Japanese, somewhat fluent English, be native Japanese and know the history and significance of cultural landmarks. None of these were true. He used google maps the same way I had all week leading up to this tour to physically place us at the sites, but added little more. I had looked forward to finding hidden gems or restaurants that only the locals know. Nothing like that. If you’re looking for a human who knows how to use a map, this is for you. If you expect anything more you will be sorely disappointed.
Saw a good mix of Temples, Shrines and then local interests. We wanted to experience the culture as well as see the history.
It was great to have our guide Deepa leading us through the very busy, touristy streets of Kyoto! All of the main sites are spread out around the city and require a lot of trains and busses to get between them all. We wanted to see everything in one day, so it was great to follow her around rather than try to figure it out on our own. We would never have gotten everywhere in one day alone. She was quiet and unassuming and let us take time wherever we wanted. She also helped us find a great restaurant for lunch!
The guide did not have any knowledge of Japan, Kyoto or the sights we visited. It was a waste of money!
Hello It was the worst tour ever. Total ripoff. The guide did not know her way around, always taking us in wrong direction, had no clue not prepared at all. She didnt know anything about japan as she had come 4 months back from Nepal . We had to tell her directions from google. No idea about any tourist spot. No (zero) explanations about sites. Could not even explain what was each place. No clue of directions. She was going against google directions. Kept saying site was closed when it was open. Utter waste of time wasted half day then we used google. How can you keep such guides who have no adea about a single tourist spot. She is in kyoto for 4 months!! How can you guys not check competence of guides. We wasted our day and money . We came from osaka and kept a day for kyoto . We had to take taxi and help of someone to finish our itenary. Your guide was just a tag along. Even after sharing sites that we wanted to visit 2 weeks ago, she was totally unprepared, resulting us missing half the spots. Really disappointed with your service. We trusted you by your name . Regards Rishi
Dalivanh was amazing! Knowledgeable, informative, flexible with our list of things to see and do. She met us at our AirBnB and navigated the bus and train transportation for us. Thanks again for a great time!
Our team enjoyed the tour with Jinshi every minute of it. We were able to visit some of the best places of Kyoto and just like exactly the books say, all is marvelous, the gardens, the temples, the shrines and the food. We will come back to Kyoto again. Thanks Jinshi!
Marine is fantastic. She knows good place to rent Kimono. My favorite one is sipping green tea with my Kimono in a Japanese style garden tea house. I do feel like I was one of the locals there. The itinerary was well organized the way we wanted with kind assistance from Marine to fit everything in one day. I will definitely recommend her service to my other friends!
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