Kyoto Gion Cultural Walk & Geisha Show With Dining Options

Great evening with Momo & Ken as our guides. They gave a really great insight into Gion, the history of the Geiko (Geisha) & Meiko and had lots of patience for our photo-taking and questions. It helped that we had a really great group of just 6 people. Yuni as our Meiko was enchanting with a lovely smile and came across as very warm hearted. I was enthralled by her performances and what she had to say about her life as a Meiko and her motivation. The restaurant for dinner was also lovely and welcoming. I rated the food as a 4 only because it didn’t all meet my tastes, although I was very happy to try some new things. The quality and presentation of everything served was excellent! Ken contacted us on the day of the activity to check re: allergies and preferences. The setup was very nice and traditional and added to the whole experience. Honestly, i would recommend this tour to everyone who is interested in the culture and a small group experience with a Meiko. Worth every penny!

This was by far one of the best experiences on my trip to Japan! It was amazing to be able to ask her questions and get to know more about this culture.

This total experience was the highlight of our visit to Kyoto. It was everything we wanted in the Geisha Gion experience.

This was a fun and educational experience. The food was delicious. Our guide Akari was very kind and knowledgeable. Best of all was the question-answer with the Maiko!

Ken is very nice. The information during the walking part was basic and not particularly informative. The lunch with meiko was lovely and very informative. If doing again, I would just do the meiko part.

What a great experience, possibly the highlight of our Japan Holiday, Kenta was our guide and he was super friendly and full of great information on the Geisha (Geiko and Meiko of Kyoto) I highly recommend doing this tour with Kenta (Ken), Thank you Kenta for the best and informative night

Highly recommended. We didn't know what to expect and what the tone would be, but our guide Kento was energetic and funny and our dinner with the maiko, while traditional and reverent, also felt quite casual as we had a chance to have a frank conversation with her.

This was such a great experience. Kenta was a fantastic guide. Very friendly, approachable and so well versed on geiko/maiko culture. I would highly recommend the dinner tour as the food was wonderful and the lit streets added such a great ambiance. Our maiko was so sweet and we learned so much about her and the lifestyle. Highly recommended.

Ken was extraordinary! informative, knowledgeable, gentle, congenial… very pleasant and patient…. super English language mastery! Maiko chat and dance was fantastic!

My family and I booked with Ken to do a 3 1/2 hour walking tour, dinner, and meiko show. The time flew by with him and it felt like no time had passed before our tour had come to an end! As a tour guide, he mixes knowledge with personality, his tours feel lighthearted and fun while still being highly educational. We thoroughly enjoyed the knowledge that Ken has from living in the area for over 10 years. He clearly knows the city, has good relationships with the businesses he works with, and was able to deliver an incredibly unique experience that my family and I won’t soon forget! He was full of information that clarified the misconceptions about geiko and meiko, and the tour he provided truly enriched our groups experience here in Kyoto. Having the opportunity to have a conversation with a Meiko and ask questions was something we greatly appreciated, and Ken was a perfect translator. No element of the tour felt rushed, the timing was portioned out perfectly. The dinner we had was incredibly filling, the food was delicious, and it offered a lot of variety to the extent that all of my group’s dietary needs were met. I’ll be recommending him to anybody I know headed to Kyoto, and I couldn’t recommend this tour more. This is somebody who deeply cares for Kyoto and cares about the history and continued perception of geiko and meiko. And this is who you want as your tour guide. Ken, thank you for an exceptional evening!

Kenta was a personable guide and explained a lot about the history of Gion, Kabuki and Geiko culture to our family. He was able to accommodate an additional family that we are friends with so we could all tour together. I had an injury and he made sure to wait where needed so we could stay together. He explained the food we were eating and provided translation services so we could learn more about the Maiko's day-to-day life. It was really fun and educational for all of us and I recommend this for anyone looking to understand a unique cultural perspective.

It was a joy to be guided by Ken. In such a short time, it felt like we were friends. He provided a clear history and foundation about the founding and growth of the geiko culture and always gave more when asked. He was never in a hurry and always ensured we understood what he was teaching us. Our maiko experience was a delight with Ken providing clear translations as we didn't speak Japanese well enough ourselves. It was a bonus that Ken had known the particular maiko who showed up for us since she first began her apprenticeship. The maiko was an excellent dancer and was very personable. She was happy to answer all of our random questions about her journey to becoming a professional geisha. Overall, we felt fortunate. Very strong recommendations.

Akari was so kind and had a beautiful heart! She was a wonderful tour guide. We had the most amazing opportunity to meet a Maiko and see the most beautiful performance. She was an outstanding performer and such a kind person. This is the best tour you can take in Kyoto!

Our guide was terrific. She is local and had a great knowledge and comfortable way of expressing and explaining. We (9 of us in the group) learned a lot about the Gion district and Geisha and Meiko life. Lunch was terrific and then a wonderful private performance by a Meiko. And the opportunity to ask her questions. This was truly an excellent tour. Worth every yen!

Good tour! it was very memorable to meet a real geisha!

A great and inspiring trip. We learned a lot from being on this trip, especially about how to become and live as a geisha. Our guide was very knowledgeable and pleasant.

An amazing tour with so much to learn. Kenta is an amazing tour guide with plenty of knowledge and passion about the gion neighborhood and geisha/geiko culture. Highly recommend!

This was an amazing tour!! My mom and I had an amazing time and learned so much about geisha/geiko culture. Kenta is an amazing tour guide with so much knowledge and passion about the gion neighborhood. It was amazing to watch a maiko preform for us. Truly an amazing experience, I highly recommend.

This was an excellent tour! Our guide was superb, was incredibly knowledgeable about the Geisha culture and Gion district. We very much enjoyed the walking tour learning about the area and culture. The lunch was very traditional, good food, the floor sitting is harder for larger size American like me, but we managed! The Meiko presentation was beautiful and we enjoyed the q & a learning about her life. This tour is very enjoyable, we highly recommend!

Had a really good time! Our guide (originally from Utah) had lived in Japan for 26 years, and had a lot of really good observations on culture, as well as being very knowledgeable about the history and importance of the places we visited. And, a good sense of humor. The only thing sub-optimal was the weather (it was a bit chilly and drizzly) but our guide's warm and sunny personality counteracted that nicely. We definitely stopped and toured inside the sights, of which the Tenryū-ji temple (where no photos are allowed) was the highlight.

Wow this was such a wonderful experience! We had booked the Gion walking tour and meeting a Geisha. Since it was raining hard we decided to skip the walking tour and just join for the Geisha meeting. This was my favourite experience of our whole trip! Kenta is a fantastic guide with very good English and he was very helpful and explained all the details about the Geisha tradition. It was a very small group and a great intimate setting in a traditional tea house , where we met the apprentice Geisha. We got a very authentic glimpse into the life of a Geisha and the tough path of becoming one. Thank you Kenta, for this opportunity to learn about Geisha traditions in such a unique way. I can highly recommend this tour!

Our tour guide was very knowledgeable. It was a good walking tour because it enabled us to explore the streets of Gion that we otherwise would have missed. The lunch provided was great. We also were able to meet a Geiko in a much better and respectful setting. We were given time to ask questions and learn from the Geiko. She performed some dances for us which was great. I was choosing between tea making ceremony or this, and I am glad that I went with this. It was a memorable experience. Loved it!

Great tour!! We learned so much and the meeting with the Geisha was so worth it! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and friendly.

It was a great tour in Gion district and including exclusive Geysha show which you can not get to see by yourselves since exclusive access is required. Kenta is very knowledgeable and great guy, strongly recommended!

I would have appreciated a start time that was slightly earlier so that the dinner would be served slightly earlier since it is after the tour.

We had a wonderful time being shown around the district by Kenta, he was friendly and fun. Speaking with a Maiko was a very special part of visiting Japan! Arigato Gozaimasu!

A real insight into life as a Maiko/Geiko

A rare opportunity to experience the world of the Geiko as an outsider. Ken was personable and had many interesting stories about the history and meaning of this Japanese cultural phenomenon. The dinner and performance were a truly special part of our trip. Highly recommend!

This was amazing! Akari did such a wonderful job explaining geisha, geiko, culture and answering our group’s questions. Dinner was very good and our Maiko was extremely poised and elegant. She was a gem. This is a very worthwhile activity in Japan and I would highly recommend folks taking this guided trip.

I had a wonderful time learning about the Geisha districts of Kyoto with Kenta-san. I knew I wanted to confirm a chance to see a geiko or maiko and this tour delivers with plenty of times and options available. It seems like this tour group has built a good report with some of the geisha agencies in Kyoto and it was a wonderful chance to support the artists who dedicate so much time and effort to their craft. I also very much enjoyed getting to see less traveled locations in Kyoto and highly recommend!

I highly recommend this tour! It’s a lovely walk through the Gion District with insightful stops we would have never noticed without our guide’s explanations. The tea break was in a beautiful venue, and meeting a maiko was truly wow-worthy — such an exclusive and unforgettable experience.

I didn’t know what to expect to be honest but this shared a beautiful story about an ancient tradition that continues to inspire and motivate a generation Kenta was an amazing host and guide

This was a lovely and insightful tour. We enjoyed learning about the culture and history of Kyoto. Ken is a very good guide and very helpful and friendly. Lunch was delicious with 3 options.. and we enjoyed talking to the apprentice geiko and watching her performance. Thank you

Walking the old city of Gion, learning the history and life of a Maiko to become a Geisha, was fascinating... To meet a Maiko in person was a great insider experience. Highly recommend this experience.

Kenta’s tour through the Gion district and Miyagawacho was an amazing experience and one of the highlights of my trip to Kyoto! Throughout the tour I found myself immersed in the history and culture of the area, which was in no small part aided by Kenta’s own deep understanding of the modern and historical customs of these places. After a walking tour of the area, we had dinner while conversing with a maiko and watching her perform. We learned first hand about her daily routine, her days off work, and her favorite parts of being a maiko. This was a very unique opportunity and one that I don’t think I would have been able to experience had it not been for this tour! Would strongly recommend it for anyone visiting Kyoto!

This was a fabulous experience. Our guide Akari was impressive. She had exceptional knowledge of the area and Geisha. She was also very passionate about sharing her knowledge and righting misconceptions. She was an amazing guide. The lunch was great and the meeting and question time with the Maliko was truly unforgettable. We highly recommend this activity.

Great experience!! Ken was a great tour guide, very knowledgeable and open to questions! The dinner was served family style with lots of options and considerate of dietary restrictions. Lovely Geisha performance and Q&A - highly recommend

The guide was amazing and the walking tour was really well planned. We paid a lot- almost more than £120.00 to include dinner but the food was very less. Very dissatisfied- feel very cheated. We have booked so many tours with you but will never book a meal again. Came out hungry.

We did the Geisha tour with our tour guide Akari in Kyoto. Akari was absolutely incredible! Being a local she was so knowledgeable about the Geisha culture and answered ALL of our questions very patiently. She had a great command of the English language, extremely engaged with the group and was very passionate that we left more educated regarding the Geisha culture. We enjoyed our meal, meeting with the Maiko and the two performances! Absolutely a must do when in Kyoto and ask for Akari!!

Our tour guide Ken was really helpful, friendly and organized. We were 3 couples in the group, I believe it is perfect size for the experience. It was really interesting to learn about Kyoto's history and old temples with the help of a local tour guide. The lunch and meeting a young Maiko was an excellent plus! Thank you

Akari was the sweetest and she made it a great experience! I wasn’t expecting to be the only solo traveler in the group but despite this, she made a lot of effort to make sure I feel included. It was really nice to see the maiko’s performance as well - it was so beautiful and nice to learn about their traditions.

Ken was brilliant, funny, informative, and patient. I asked a billion annoying questions, but he graciously answered them all. The tour was lovely, the food excellent, and the Maiko performance was incredible. Highly recommend this tour for anyone with an interest in learning more about historical Japan. Well worth it all around.

Fantastic experience in the old Kyoto neighborhood of Gion. Our guide was very knowledgeable and personable. We enjoyed walking around and seeing a lot of of the historic aspects of this centuries – old area. Meeting the Geiko was truly memorable, and she was such a wonderful performer and presenter. We appreciated getting a cool drink, and perhaps in the future there could be a small tea service and snack. All in all, highly recommended.

Akari, our guide, was incredibly knowledgeable. This tour was not only informative but also very engaging, and she did a great job as translator between our tour group and the maiko. Well woth the money. I highly recommend this tour.

Kenta was an amazing guide with a deep knowledge and understanding of geisha culture. The walking tour was a great way to get context and learn about the local geisha districts before going to enjoy the performance and Q&A. We really enjoyed the dinner and getting to interact with the maiko. Every aspect was done tastefully and with respect to geisha culture. It was a great experience well worth the ticket price. Highly recommend this tour! Kenta was the best!

Kenta was an amazing guide with a deep knowledge and understanding of geisha culture. The walking tour was a great way to get context and learn about the local geisha districts before going to enjoy the performance and Q&A. We really enjoyed the dinner and getting to interact with the maiko. Every aspect was done tastefully and with respect to geisha culture. It was a great experience well worth the ticket price. Highly recommend this tour! Kenta was the best!

Ken was an amazing tour guide. He gave us a basic history of the Gion District and Geiko culture and built upon that. The crescendo of tea and performance by our meiko, was exceptional. I would recommend this tour to anyone who has a serious interest in learning about Gion and Geiko culture.

This was one of the most interesting and educational tours we’ve gone on, and our guide Kento was outstanding. We learned about the history of the Geisha and the culture and enjoyed walking throughout the Gion district. The highlight was meeting the Maiko for tea and watching her perform. Highly recommend this tour!

One of the most memorable experiences I had in Japan. The tour was incredible valuable and Akari, our guide was super knowledgeable and willing to teach us about the Geiko culture, the meeting with the Maiko was beautiful and the dinner was delicious. Definitely a must do when in Kyoto.