Kyoto Gion Private Tour With A Local Guide – Geisha District

Requested english speaking guide. Guide spoke broken english The language barrier created a very bad experience.

We had a wonderful tour. Our guide Austen showed us around hidden alleys with cool spots. He helped us spot a few rare geisha sightings and at the end of the tour, he helped us find a fun restaurant for dinner. He was also super helpful with recommending other things to see and places to eat.

Lots of walking in gion/geisha district. Very informative although it’s a very busy area and difficult to navigate

Even though it was absolutely pouring rain, Pam greeted us with the biggest smile and the warmest energy. She happily took us through Gion and the geisha districts, sharing incredible stories and so much history along the way. We learned more in a few hours than we ever expected. Her personality was a beam of light on a very wet evening - kind, patient, and full of life. Pam made our Kyoto experience unforgettable.

It was great milo was so knowledgeable and the gion district the length of visit was 3 hours which was most enjoyable the experience was better than described atmosphere was perfect and the crowds was there but not there

If I could give this tour ten stars I would. Our tour guide, Shaan, took us through Gion on a magical tour. She was so considerate of us and taught us so much about the neighborhoods. We had fun and learned so much about Gion. We learned about the geisha and even were fortunate enough to see 3 junior and senior geishas on the streets as we toured the district. We throughly enjoyed ourselves as we walked the Gion district, seeing local highlights like teahouses, several Shrines and eateries. We are glad we booked this tour.

I hope you’re lucky enough to get Pam to show you around the Gion district. Her enthusiasm and knowledge of the area really made the experience special for us. Her English is perfect and she was very accommodating re: where to meet us and where we wanted to end the tour. She tailored the tour to what interested us the most including taking us to a couple of speciality stores after I mentioned wanting to buy a souvenir. We’ll never forget our great tour with Pam.

We choose a personal tour because we wanted to take our time to enjoy the local history of the area and the sights without having to keep up with a larger group of people.. Jose met us where we chose and took us through the busier areas as well as quieter streets. He was knowledgeable about the history as well as some of the lesser known facts and myths. We walked a lot in the two hours but never felt rushed. It’s well worth spending the money to get a tour personally catered to what and where you want to go. Jose did a great job entertaining us with stories as well as fun facts.

Emi our guild was brilliant, very impressive with her knowledge, we learnt so much information, she was amazing

I had trouble falling in love with Kyoto at first after a bad experience getting here. Alexis helped me get past this and made me fall in love with this historic capital. He was an informative, engaging and funny tour guide. Funniest of all was that shrine for the bad relationships. Letting me discover info along the way for myself, like the crawling ritual, the rabbit god and the great pagoda were great touches. He was also an amazing photographer. Thank you, Alexis for selling me the great city of Kyoto! Cheers and all the best.

we booked this private tour because we wanted to avoid the crowds and learn more about Geisha culture. We’re so glad we did! guide was very knowledgeable and even shared great tips on where to eat and how to find affordable souvenirs

Our walking tour was informative, relaxed & very enjoyable. Our tour guide Olan was professional & very informative & equally very interesting.

Very knowledgeable Very accommodating Good English skills We enjoyed the route selected and the guide’s extensive knowledge of history and culture

Nisa was a amazing guide, this tour was amazing and she had so much knowledge and information and the whole family enjoyed.

No geishas. Many many many people. Disgusting disrespect of temples by vendors. Guide more interested in showing us how western kyoto is than it's history. His recommended restaurant was horrible. We left after 1 hour on 3 hour tour.

We had the best of times in this tour. Our tour guide Ai, was really exceptional, she covered all the sites of interest we had, provided us with really interesting information and a really great time, she's adorable! We walked through amazing and beautiful places as well. Ai, was also very flexible and attentive to our needs and interests, she really made the best of this tour knowing what we were interested in and it was great to have her since we met her in a tour the previous day and she already knew a little bit of us. Ask for Ai if you're having this tour, we highly recommend her, we would ask for her everytime if we ever go again!

Our tour guide Milo was exceptional. His ability to adopt the tour to our interests was a real winner. At no time did he not include all of us (that being 5) into the tour. His knowledge of Kyoto and its history was awesome. We would highly recommend Milo as your tour guide!!

Excellent and special tour with Toga! He was great, friendly, and super knowledgeable! Highly recommended to any Kyoto visitor!

All the tour was excellent. And Kenta finished the tour at the Gion Corner Geisha Show as we had bookings.

Great tour through Gion with Takaya-san. We enjoyed hanging out in a tiny coffee shop in the Gion district and chatting with the owner.

Our tour guide was extremely friendly and nice. English was good, but was hoping for a bit more of the Geisha knowledge and history.

Great tour with Brenda, she was able to really immerse us in the local area. She was informative and interesting. Well worth it!

Kenya was knowledgeable and an effective communicator. The only thing that might have made it better was that I would do it during the day instead of at night.

Not really a geisha tour at all. In geisha district you spend only about 30-40 minutes. Another hour is temple tour at night. The third hour is more like a shopping experience. Though our guide was very good and she gave us some info about geiko and mayko. We would like to thank her for that.

Very knowledgeable guide and she planned the tour to our interests. Pair guide spoke very good English and wanted to make sure we were happy. She even sent an email with suggestions for our next day.

The worst tour we’ve done in 3 weeks in Japan.His English was poor & when asked about geishas he said there were none.He took us to a couple of shrines,one with a good light show but we had to pay for him & us to go in.He hardly spoke to us & gave us no background information except to say they were old, although he lived here all his life.It is unfair to all the other guides we have used ,who put so much effort & preparation into their tour.He was a nice guy but a hopeless guide with no interest in his job.

Kenta spoke English very well. Was accommodating to the slower pace of an 81 year old senior. He was knowledgeable about various shops and what they sold.

Brenda was awesome. We arrived late and she changed her schedule and made dinner reservation for us. She is very knowledgeable and fun to be with. Thank you Brenda!

I was really excited to do the Night Geisha tour with a local, but did not get what I expected. My tour guide, Christina, was a non-Japanese student who had lived there for three years. Christina was a super nice person, but did not have the knowledge of Gion, geishas, etc. that I was really interested in. I felt like it was more like hanging out with an expat for 3 hours than a local tour. I also felt that Christina really didn't know the Gion area very well as she lived about 1/2 north and kept using Google maps to get everywhere.

Your was great for the price. Our guide Maru was knowledgeable and was very accommodating. He made sure to chose an itinerary that covered all our requests and yet within the schedule. I recommend this tour.

Great tour! Our guide Kenton was a lovely young Japanese lad who took care and considered our needs. Great temples and lunch choice. The "Geisha" description on this tour is misleading ( not our guides fault)... But we had an awesome day! Don't forget extra money for temples, taxi and food!

Taichi was a very nice person, however he was not a qualified, knowledgeable guide and thus unfortunately did not take us anywhere or provide us with any info we could not source for ourselves. We booked the tour on the basis we would possibly see and learn about the Geisha - this was not addressed at all on the walk. Other than having a general three hour chat with a nice person we got nothing of substance out of the experience.

Highly recommended tour with a local guide.. We had fun walking through gion .. we see some temples and zen garden also which was interesting.. The guide (KOKORO) was the best ..

Excellent tour at a great pace. Lots of interaction ahead of the tour to check what we would like to see, what pace to go at, and followed up with a list of all the places seen. Full marks to Milos. He also helpfully provided possible venues to go and watch Japan in the Rugby World Cup.

Tanaka is a very knowledgeable guide, very communicative with good sense of humor, showed us hiddenplaces apart from usual tourist paths.

Got to see Geisha district and a few Geisha walking past Beautiful temple and shrines inside and out Brenda our tour guide was so lovely and knowledgeable!

Our tour guide, Dragoslav , was excellent as he an expert trained landscape gardener trained in Japan and was knowledgeable in the culture and history of the country. It was an enriching experience and our trip and we are so glad we took the tour!

Our tour of Gion was after dark. It was a magical walk through narrow streets and the Yasaka Shrine. Chai explained the purpose of all of the shrines and invited us to participate in several. She was personable, interesting and often funny. I've done a number of similar tours and this one was definitely near the top of the list. My son and I had a wonderful evening and highly recommend this tour. You won't regret it! ESPECIALLY AT NIGHT!

Tess was knowledgeable, engaging and professional. She slso met me at my hotel which I really appreciated.

Taiga was a fantastic guide. He provided us with all different kinds of local knowledge and took us to fantastic places to sample local food. We would never have found these places or known where to look by ourselves. We were also able to see 4 Maiko, which is a memory that will stick with us for the rest of our lives. I would recommend it to everyone. Even those who have completed the most detailed research. Nothing beats the local knowledge and expertise to personalise your trip!

Our guide Michael was incredibly knowledgeable and fun. We learned a lot about Old Gion, New Gion, and Japanese culture in general. And the sites of shrines, temples, shops, restaurants and gardens were both beautiful and interesting. Thanks again Michael for a great time!

Tess was awesome! Very fun, friendly and knowledgeable. We saw some awesome stuff we would not have seen otherwise, and got plenty of information and recommendations for Kyoto. I would absolutely recommend this tour to anyone else

Masaya Oda was our guide for this evening tour. He met us at the Shibori Museum, close to the Nijo Castle and we stopped at the Kyoto Museum of Crafts and Design and met a master carver working on a piece that is dedicated to bringing peace and harmony to the world. we were able to talk with him about his work, his life and his aspirations. Then onto Gion Corner for an hour long performance of 7 types of traditional dance, comedy, tea ceremony and flower arranging.Amazing. Then onto a walking tour of Gion, pointing out the archtecture, homes of the geisha and other interesting Gion facts before a magnificent dinner (many courses and new foods including Kyoto style conger eel) at a restaurant whose patrons were very surprised to see "foreigners" come to eat. The best possible introduction to the wonders of Gion. Thank you Masaya

This tour was absolutely worth it, primarily because of the quality of the guide. He personalized the tour at very short notice and spent a lot of time with us explaining the location and the activities surrounding the location. He even showed us the nice restaurants in the area to eat.

My failt and i Waited in the lobby for an hour. Guide did nit show up. Called, texted and remembered booked another similar tour for 90 minutes later and that guide also again was no show. Luckily the VIP tour the following day was fantastic

Ada was the best guide. She was very prepared, explained things very nicely and thoroughly, she spoke perfect English, and customized the tour based on our interests. Highly recommend and had a great experience!

Tour guide never showed up. Nor did they email or text that they weren't coming. Wasted my valuable vacation time.

Tess was a great guide through the Gion geisha district. We visited through many old streets and unique Shinto shrine areas. We saw the beauty of the area with explanation and legend of the district.

Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and spoke English well. The parts of Japanese culture he explained to us were specific. And we saw a maiko!!!