Join one of the most popular walking tours conducted by well-educated English-speaking guides in Japan with approximately 5000 guests a year. You will start exploring the hidden street of the Geisha district during the 2-hour tour. Take a walk down the classic cobblestone streets next to the Shirakawa river, the scenery of which was featured in the novel and movie, "Memoirs of a Geisha." While you walk along this beautiful stream, the guide will also tell you the history of geisha and give you a detailed explanation in regards to their kimono, hairstyle, traditional rules and how their daily life is like. Although there is no guarantee, during the walking tour, guests will often encounter geisha walking in the streets. Get ready to learn everything there is to know about world of the maiko and geiko! You can also choose the small-grourp option as well.
Our guide Miya was excellent! She gave us a really insightful tour of Gion and educated us on Geiko’s and Maiko’s. She took us around the district and we actually caught both Geiko/Maiko’s leaving their boarding house to attend a tea party! This was a highlight of the tour!
Mia was a fantastic guide! Her knowledge about Geisha's culture and overall Kyoto history is very impressive. We learned so much.. The best spend 2 hours in Kyoto
Excellent insight into the Geisha culture. The guide was knowledgeable and the walking pace was appropriate for the group.
I was extremely lucky and was the only person on the tour tonight. My guide was fantastic - very knowledgable and made the tour so fun and interesting. Great way to explore the area.
The tour was very informative and interesting. The guide Mia was excellent. A reasonable group size made the tour better.
Perfect 2 hours with history lesson and nice alleys. We were lucky enough to see beautiful Geicos. Loved every minute.
Expert Guide, great knowledge, friendly , walked at a good pace for us & had a good sense of humour.
Great tour with excellent tour guide Mia Gave such great insight into the culture Must do on your trip to Kyoto
While Gion was gorgeous, I’d choose a different tour. The guide was young and inexperienced. She gave incorrect information regarding geishas and was unaware of some traditions (for example, she thought shrine employees taped over a wish plaque because “it was something bad” but we learned at another shrine that some people believe keeping your wish hidden made it more likely to come true).
Our tour with Shin was fabulous. Conversational English was perfection. Interesting stops at sites. Totally worth going with this group.
A wonderful experience not to be missed! Our guide, Mai, was incredibly knowledgeable about Geiko and Meiko culture and the area. She shared many wonderful stories and we were even lucky enough to spot both a Geiko and Maiko in all their beautiful refinery. A perfect first night in Kyoto.
Our tour guide Mia was so knowledgeable, and her enthusiasm for Japan, Gion, Geikosan, and Meikosan was contagious. Highly recommend! Educational, and enjoyable. We were lucky enough to see several Geisha and Meiko on our tour. Gion is such a beautiful place.
Our guide was the most experienced and knowledgeable when it comes to Gion and Geiko Maiko and their life and history which is amazing. Mia was very sweet and seemed to know what she is talking about. I was so mesmerized by her stories I signed up for a private dinner with Maiko San the very next day.
Totally worth it! Interesting, factual and fascinating. Our guide was amazing and we discovered parts of Kyoto we never would have found by ourselves.
This was one of the best tour guides I have experienced. She was knowledgeable and funny! Loved learning about the Gion district!
Joyful knowledge and entertaining. The lady know the history and background of Geiko-San. Very pleasant tour.
The tour was so informative! We learnt so much about the history and about Geishas. Mie the tour guide was wonderful! Highly recommend.
Excellent tour. Got to know a lot about the history and culture of Geisha and Gion area. Highly recommend this tour!
Our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. She made the tour entertaining and exciting. She also knew most of the geiko san and maiko sans we came across. We all learnt a lot
Cheko was the guide and she was great. We learned so much that we had no idea about and even saw a couple Makio walking to their first evening parties. One thing to note is that in the terms/conditions there is conflicting information. It both says this is a walking group of less than 15 and it says no more than 20 however our group was larger than 20 which I thought would deter from the experience. However, we stood close to the guide and were able to hear fine. Just something to take note of that this is a large group walking tour.
Great tour - Patrick really explained the history and significance of the area in an entertaining and engaging way. Lovely to see everything at dusk when it was less busy.
Great tour with Vincent. Learnt a lot about the area which was worth visiting at dusk when it was far less busy. Highly recommend!
Our guide Mia was fantastic.. she was passionate, professional and gave us a few laughs through the again district. Her knowledge about Kyoto .. its history and geishas and Maikos was amazing and we really enjoyed the two hours on this night tour through the back streets. So fortunate we spotted some geishas too.
After meeting up we followed the tour guide throughout the different geisha districts. Our guide made many stops along the way and pointed out history.
Our guide Mia was extremely knowledgeable and friendly! We learnt a lot and the views at night were amazing. Would recommend to anyone
Cheko was a great tour guide! Good value, good tour. Would definitely recommend this tour for anyone going go kyoto
Wonderful tour with a knowledgeable, friendly and very funny tour guide. We were excited to see a Geiko! Beautiful and historic experience.
A great night well worth it. Great value, fantastic guide and informative content. Wear comfortable shoes!
The tour guide was wonderful and guided the small group through the gion well with great stories and history of the area.
Really enjoyable and informative tour around the quieter streets of Gion. Our guide was excellent and well informed answering our many questions. We completed the tour very happy to walked some very atmospheric streets, caught glimpses of geiko and maiko and feeling a lot more informed
Great tour! Learned a lot of the Gion District! Very informative about the life of a Geisha and Maiko.
Chaka was a fantastic tour guide very informative and we were lucky enough to see 5 Geiko-San / Maiko-San. I would definitely recommend this tour and guide
This was a great walking tour where our guide provided a good amount of history into the Japanese cultural background along with the Geikosons. I did feel that the perspective was leaning in favor of the rich history of the Japanese. I could be completely wrong but it felt as if there may have been some things left out.
Mia was a terrific guide and taught us to respect the culture of the geiko-san and maiko-san. We saw many women on the tour who Mia knew by name. You will learn about the house mothers, the education the women receive, how a tea house operates and much more. It was one of the best tours we have ever done, and we have done dozens.
Terrific walking tour, learnt a lot about Japanese culture and Geishas/Maiko’s. We even saw quite a few heading to their parties. Our guide spoke excellent English and was very informative, Would highly recommend this tour.
Excellent tour. Our guide was lovely, unfortunately I can’t remember her name. We found out so much about the history of the area. I highly recommend this tour.
Well worth it and was very informative, a must do when visiting Kyoto . Mia was our guide and was excellent!
The guide was very knowledgeable and interesting to listen to (spoke excellent English). Tour was 2hrs which was a perfect amount of time. Kids 11 and 15 enjoyed too, We even spotted five geishas!
We were a group of 7 friends. The tour guide Mia (?) was extremely knowledgeable, informative and funny. The 2 hour length was more than enough to explore the streets and learn about the Gion history. Our only complaint was the size of the group, which we did not realise when booking. The maximum is 20 but it certainly felt like there were more people. In hindsight, we should have booked the smaller group option, which we found later. We would certainly recommend this tour.
Excellent tour providing a wonderful introduction to Gion and surrounds. Very knowledgable guide. Thank you
Informative and interesting tour with Mia. I would definitely recommend. Mia was knowledgeable and very funny.
We had a great evening walking all around the Gion district. Mia was very entertaining and informative. We were fortunate and got to see several geikos and maikos. Great night.
Chako was an amazing host and I learned so much about the history of the geisha district. She was very welcoming and the other tourists were super friendly as well. Okini Chako-san!
Excellent guide. The tour was very informative. The Gion area is magical at night. So much history! Thank you for the tour.
Booked this tour then 1 hr later the company cancelled our booking. We still received ticket information and email to review. Haven’t checked if we where refunded yet but booked a free tour with kyoto localized which was fantastic. Don’t recommend
The tour was super nice and informative, our guide was open to questions which I was bombarding her with :) Highly recommended!
The tour group left without us. All communication said 6pm. We arrived at 5.55pm and no sign of the group. We ran from group to group in the area but no one knew what we were talking about. No one answered the phone number provided. This cost me $189 for nothing. Very very disappointing
We had a great night doing this trip. We were very lucky, seen a few Geiko on the move going to the various tea houses you will walk by. Our guide was very friendly and brought us through the back streets of 2 Geisha districts. Would really recommend this trip
Informative tour with great energy and fun through Gion! I recommend booking if you’re looking for an easy evening walk. Thank you!
Definitely our tour guide Mae she made the whole evening worth while best walking tour I have been on in Japan
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