Kyoto E-bike Tour: The Silver Pavilion & Philosopher's Path

So easy, good to do it all on an electric bike. Fabulous guide. Would highly recommend. Easy to find

This was an amazing time! It is a great way to see a lot of Kyoto with someone who knows it. If you are staying multiple days, this is a great way to start off to get to know the city. One important thing to me was that the bike seats were the wider cruiser bike seats which made the experience better than other bike tours with the seats that are uncomfortable. They were also full E-bikes which made the experience better than some tours that only had minimal assistance. Our guide spoke 3 languages fluently. Our tour was in English, and though I believe he was French, he had no accent and was as fluent as any native English speaker. Our guide was excellent and gave us so many unique details and history for all of the stops and places along the way. The pace was perfect. We saw a lot, but did not feel rushed.

A brilliant and surprising tour. A relaxing and mostly flat cycle ride. The e bikes were easy to master. Phillipe was very knowledgeable, and more and more gems came our way. The tour was a brilliant way to get around Eastern Kyoto. The knowledge gained allowed us to get more from visits to temples or shrines on subsequent days

Great bike tour of Kyoto. Some nice spots by the river and philosophers trail. Our guide Salome was very knowledgeable and made it a great experience.

We loved the e-bike tour! It was easy, breezy and beautiful: nice to go out biking instead walking in this heat, we passed and visited peaceful sights, not as crowded as many other we visited in the past days. And we loved the company of Kevin, our tour guide: relaxed, friendly and providing a good balance of ‘just experiencing sights’ and stories. Exactly what we needed.

We thoroughly enjoyed our biking experience I. Kyoto! It was a fantastic way to get to know the city and some of its hidden treasures. Our guide was charming, knowledgeable, and thoroughly prepared with extra sunscreen and chilled drinks for us. It was also a great way to get an overview of the city so we could calibrate plans for the rest of the weekend. I highly recommend this adventure!

Very hot day in Kyoto, but guide (Philippe) was great and tour is very much recommended. Especially the silver temple’s garden is nice.

Great day. Kevin was a fantastic guide. Best experience we had in kyoto. Would highly recommend. Kerrie and Jill

This was a fantastic experience from start to finish. Ben was amazing at pointing out not only the cool, lesser-seen areas, but also gave an awesome historical view into all of the stops and involving Kyoto and Japan as well. Incredibly informative, fun and relaxed all around. The E-bikes make things a breeze. If you haven't ridden a bike in a while, you may want to hop on one before you go. Some of the streets are a bit narrow and it can seem a little scary if you haven't ridden in a while! We can't recommend this enough though, you absolutely should book this!

Phillip and his office manager were great with the tour. We got to see multiple sights in half a day and really enjoyed learning the history of Japan. They were very attentive and made sure all our group is safe and together since sometime half of us would miss the light and had to wait behind. Definitely would recommend this tour.

A tremendous day. Learnt a lot from our guide Kevin who has an obvious love for Kyoto. Bike were comfortable and the itinerary was great. Highly recommended.

A perfect way to explore a beautiful city. We had the best guide - Chris - and a gorgeous day. The bikes were so comfy and easy to ride. We just loved every minute.

Mr. Khan was an outstanding tour guide for our electric bicycle tour in Kyoto. From helping us choose the right bikes at the start to guiding us through Kyoto’s many fascinating sites, he was kind, patient, and incredibly informative throughout the entire experience. The tour lasted four hours, from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and it was a wonderful way for my family to explore the beautiful streets and cultural landmarks of Kyoto. The electric bicycles were comfortable, well-maintained, and of excellent quality, making the ride enjoyable even for beginners. What impressed us most was Mr. Khan’s attention to safety. This was our first time cycling in a city environment, and he made sure we understood and followed the local traffic rules while keeping the group safe at all times. He also shared interesting historical and cultural insights at each stop, which made the tour even more meaningful. Another great benefit was that the admission fees to the shrines we visited were included in the tour price, making the experience seamless and hassle-free. Overall, this was one of the highlights of our visit to Kyoto. I highly recommend this tour to anyone looking for a unique, enjoyable, and family-friendly way to experience the city.

We had such a great time on this Kyoto bike tour! The small group size made it feel really relaxed and personal, and our guide was super friendly and knowledgeable. Kyoto has so many things to see, and this was honestly one of the best ways to experience a lot of the city without feeling rushed. I also really appreciated that the guide let me stop for goshuin at the shrines we visited — that was such a thoughtful touch and made the experience extra special for me. The e-bikes were great too: very easy to use, reliable, and comfortable even if you’re not a big biker. The route itself was really well planned. We started along the canals so everyone could get comfortable on the bikes before heading into the city streets, and we mostly avoided busy traffic which made the whole ride feel safe and enjoyable. Definitely one of the highlights of our Kyoto trip!

The e-bike tour was fun, and our guide Philippe was very pleasant and knowledgeable. I had been to Kyoto before, but this time I discovered so much more in just 4 hours!

Kevin is a dream as a tour guide. Not only cultural insights but also a lot information about the day to day life in Japan as well as the Japanese society

Our tour guide Salomé was very knowledgeable and spoke English very well. She gave us an overview of all the places we visited during the tour and gave us recommendations for other places of interest in Kyoto. Salomé tailored the tour to suit the participants which was greatly appreciated. It rained all day but despite this we really enjoyed the experience. I would highly recommend this tour.

It was amazing, Ben was every nice and the story’s/explanation's were very easy to understand. Beaty full places and not busy places. Truly amazing.

This was probably one of the best tours we have ever done. So many beautiful sites, good pace since we were on bikes. Highly recommend this tour for seeing Kyoto’s history!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with Ben. He was not only incredibly knowledgeable in regards to the sites we saw but was able to explain the history of each one and show the influences of other ancient civilizations on the history and symbolism and beliefs in Japan and also showed how many of the old symbols, beliefs, clans, and deities now show up in various pop culture figures, anime, movies, etc.... it was a highly entertaining tour.

The most magical way to experience Kyoto!

Excellent choice to get to know the beauty of Kioto, ride by the streets, the river walk, super beautiful ride by a towns bike path, great Temple and Gardens and Karin the best tour guide ever!!!! 100+ recommended

This was one of our most fun adventures! We met at the bike store and got a full explanation on how to operate the e-bike. WE LOVED our your guide. He was from America but had been living in Japan 18 years with his family. We stopped at a few shrines and temples and ate the best curry of our 3 week trip. We were disappointed when the tour ended, we were having so much fun. Thank you !

Fabulous experience, great e-bikes. Our guide Salleno (please excuse spelling) was excellent, informative, friendly and excellent English. Would highly recommend.

Such an awesome way to see beautiful temples and gardens in Kyoto! To have a knowledgeable and friendly tour guide like Kevin made for a great day of exploration, and u really take more of the sights in by cycling rather than a bus! Recommend!!

We had the most incredible tour with Salome. She explained the history, religion, politics and etiquette of Kyoto whilst guiding us safely through East Kyoto. We chose this tour for my daughter’s 21st birthday because it included entry to the temples and the Philosophers Path. It exceeded our high expectations as we had a private tour guide through each site, with lots of great advice about what to visit next and the most authentic places to eat. Thank you Salome, you were so helpful, we really enjoyed your company and the comfy electric bikes. I was worried that with the snow they would cancel but they reassured me that they were prepared for all weather.

Karim was an absolutely amazing tour guide. He took us to all of the local spots that I normally would not ever go to unless specifically guided there. He was also a very informative giving us the details in the history of everything that we were seeing. Karim was also a great conversationalist I was able to vibe with everyone in the group making everyone feel welcome. With that said I will also say that the Tour is extremely well constructed with even a lunch break capping off an amazing experience!!! I would definitely recommend to anyone looking to explore the area. 5 out of five stars!!!!

Me and my partner are in our 40s and we’ve riden on bikes before but e-bikes keep in mind are on a whole new level. I definitely don’t see younger kids on this tour but I feel like it was alot of biking and I tried to focus on not falling. Our tour guide was very informative but our tour also ran past the time indicated also meaning if you aren’t very active it’s a lot of biking. He did say it would be over 5miles. I enjoyed our guide and don’t want to give him bad review cause I’m very out of shape but it’s definitely not for everyone . Also if you have plans for after do let them know so they can coordinate with your plans.

Personable, knowledgeable guide,well paced walk. He was sensitive to our needs re pace. Conversational experience and stroll through beautiful temple gardens and streetscapes

Our guide Phillippe was very knowledgeable and the route was very enjoyable. I would definitely recommend to others. Thanks again for a great experience!👍🏼😀

Kevin was an A plus guide. His knowlege of history, culture, politics of Japan was phenomenal. He's chill but totally on top of his game. Took us on an amazing bike tour, beautiful, fascinating, and informative. Honestly might have been our peak experience in Japan. You don't come across guides this good very often. Thank you Kevin!

Kevin B, our host, was awesome. My partner and I are spending 2 nights in Kyoto on our first Japan trip. He spoke multiple languages, was very knowledgeable about Kyoto and Japan, and even gave my partner and me food recommendations around Kyoto to try. He biked at a steady pace, was patient, and answered all of our questions about Japan with enthusiasm. On the tour we enjoyed a ride through the city of Kyoto into the eastern side near the mountain and learned a lot about the Silver Temple. He took us around to a religious cemetery and we learned all about the tradition and culture of Kyoto. We rode through the beautiful eastern side of Kyoto, along the beautiful Kano river and along Tetsugaku No Michi. It was a beautiful day during early November to enjoy the early sun but also the rain.

Kevin was a really nice guide and cycling through Kyoto back and forth was the thing that my friend Malin and I liked the most - to see the backstreets, the varying houses , shops etc. Lovely to hear about life in Japan. The Bamboo wood was like an installation and the Golden Temple was amazing and the rock garden was very Zen

Our guide Philippe was brilliant. He was very knowledgeable and explained everything in just enough detail. The east side tour is much less crowded and we loved cycling down the Path of Philosophy and along the river.

This bike tour was amazing! Kevin, our guide, was so lovely and knowledgeable about all the places he took us to. Riding through the little back streets was so much fun. The ebike was fabulous - high quality, conformable and really easy to ride. I would definitely recommend this tour and Kevin to anyone visiting Kyoto.

Philip was an amazing tour guide. We got a lot of good information and visited a very beautiful side of Kyoto on e-bike. Totally recommend it!

This is a great way to see Kyoto and a number of its famous sites. Kevin our guide was highly knowledgeable , deeply enthusiastic and very pleasant company. We had a great day. I would recommend it. The only point of contention (not Kevin‘s fault) is that the tour advertised is incorrect as it can’t be completed in a day! Having said that Kevin did his best to complete as much of it as possible finding very pleasant cycling tracks to join the sites up. It was a full day lasting 6 1/2 hours in total.

Kevin was a perfect guide on our bike tours. We did the East tours as we were doing the other highlights on ourselves. He was knowledgeable, told nice stories and insights, was very flexible and easy going. Highly recommend it. The bikes were too small for us but that didn’t bother us.

Awesome trip! Our guide, Kevin, was terrific. He was so knowledgeable and we learned so much. Plus he was like a friend you didn’t know you had. We even had lunch with him after the trip. This was a great way to experience Kyoto. I definitely do it again.

I love seeing a place via bicycle - my daughter and I really enjoyed our tour around Kyoto for the day. Highly recommend as a cool way to see this lovely city

We took this tour with Philippe, who has been living in Kyoto for over 20 years. Although each of the places we visited were, on their own, amazing, Philippe provided an in-depth history of each which significantly deepened our appreciation. We have been in Japan for over a week now, and this has easily been a top 3 experience for us.

The Eastern bike tour with Kyoto fun and led by Canadian Kevin was our favourite Kyoto experience and a wonderful way to immerse ourselves in this special corner of the world. Kevin was informed, personable and his knowledge of Japanese language, culture and history was amazing. Thank you Kyoto Fun! ps I would also recommend Kyoto Fun's podcast.

This is a great way to see some gems of the Higashiyama area. Philip was a wonderful person who guided us with thoughtfulness and he takes great photos. This biking tour turned out to be a memorable experience for our family of five.

This was one of the least biking heavy bike tours I've ever done, but in a good way. It involves small/medium segments going between locations followed by decent amounts of time spent at those spots waling around and talking. Traditional temples/shrines as well as Roman looking aqueducts (and why that even exists). Our tour guide was great, very focused on history and information about the various stops. My wife and I were the only people on the tour, and he was very accommodating of our questions and was open to changing parts of the tour based on what we wanted. My favorite part was visiting a few gardens that were very peaceful and less crowded with tourists. One was right next to a popular attraction, but I would have never known to look for it if not for this tour.

Really nice tour through Kyoto, Canadian Kevin knows the good spots, excellent tour guide. Thank you. Miguel & Paulina

The tour took us away from the hustle and bustle of the city along the path of philisophy and other beautiful locations. Philippe has great folklore and history to capture your imagination also!

We had an incredible bike tour with Kevin M (the good looking one!). Our 9 yr old rocked the bikes and 14 and 16 yr olds had even more fun!! We can’t recommend this enough!! Give Kevin a call!

Kevin (from Canada) who led our group ensured that we all maintained a comfortable pace and we had enough time to view the sites and have conversations in a relaxed way. I was vegetarian so it was ensured that we were taken to a place for lunch that had available options. Majority of the streets we were on were not crowded which made riding easy. I did this on the last day, which was a fun way to end my Kyoto trip.

Philip is an excellent guide. Very knowleadgeble of history of temples and shrines., calm and peaceful. Had a wonderful ride with him, lot of fun