Kyoto Hozugawa River Boat Sagano Romantic Train Tour

This was a great part of our day! Easy to find meeting location. Emiko (?) Was our host and she was excellent in laying out the itinerary, bathroom breaks included as well as a little history along the way. We met, bussed to the train station and had a little time to grab coffee & look at the retired trains. Then we boarded. It was a great little ride along the river with amazing views on both sides. Then we disembarked and got back on bus, where we made it to the boat loading area. There was another spot to have a second to use bathroom and grab a drink. Got on the boat (1.5 hours long) and it was very fun, engaging and a little exciting at times. Many bridges and great views. Got a little splash but the weather was great so my shoes dried out fine. At the very end another boat pulls up with a few hot food items, drinks etc. Then you disembark and can walk the bamboo forest or the shops with food, shopping and restaurants. Get a trolly back to your destination or hail a cab. Many options. I typically dislike long museum like tours but this was engaging, just enough time in each location and honestly great for everyone! Highly recommend.

Me and my wife had a great time! Our tour guide was really great, she made the schedule change up worth the experience by taking us to a beautiful Gold Temple :)

The train was wonderful, it was a shame due to typhoon that the river crossing was cancelled. Just have to come back to Japan to experience it next time.

Loved Lily as a guide but unfortunately we found out our boat ride got cancelled only AFTER we got on the bus. No email like the description says or even at the meeting point.

Lily was an amazing guide, but since our boat ride was cancelled I wouldn't recommend doing the temple, just use your time differently. Train ride was nice and pretty.

Train ride was nice but hardly romantic! River boat ride was very enjoyable with a great crew who made it fun.

We had a great time, our guide was very informative and friendly and the boat crew were so funny! Our favourite part was the boat ride, the scenery was beautiful and there were ducks, birds and turtles on the riverbank.

Riding the Sagano Scenic Railway and taking the Hozugawa River Boat Ride was easily one of the highlights of our trip. The natural scenery in Arashiyama was absolutely stunning and breathtaking. A big thank you to our wonderful guide, who was incredibly warm, friendly, and attentive throughout the entire tour. Everything was handled with great care, making the whole experience seamless and memorable. Highly recommended!

This is a slick operation and you can choose your level of engagement. Ie you can leave the tour when you wish or stick around for the full operation. The men rowing the boat earn every dollar. They were amazing and entertaining

Amazing, with doing, all staff were wonderful

Great tour, definitely recommend

It was a great experience and we really enjoyed it. We hope we can come back soon.

Both the train and boat ride had beautiful scenery. The boat was especially fun, the rapids were exciting and the crew were good fun and very entertaining.

It’s convenient especially in a rainy weather. The bus took us to two scenery’s all beautiful and instructions are clear to follow and well organized. Rec

Romantic train had some beautiful scenery and the river cruise was fun and guides were great hosts!

Cancelled boat ride but did not inform us until the bus was in motion. Should have given us the option to cancel. Without the boat trip it was a bus ride to a shrine , bamboo forest and shopping. We could have done that with a 500 yen JR from Kyoto station. We needed to that on the return because they just leave you there. Tour guide was useless.

We both enjoyed the Romantic train ride and the scenery on the trip. The boat ride was fun and our navigators were funny and very kind. Our tour guide, Eiko, and the bus driver were sweet and helpful. Highly recommended this tour.

Trip started well. Guide was present at meeting point on time. The Sagano train ride was a pleasant experience. Unfortunately, boat ride part of trip was cancelled due to boat operators deciding the wind was too high and we were told this right from the start. The guide had an alternative prepared with a trip to a shrine followed by visiting the bamboo forest. My wife and I left before visiting as we had been to both spots earlier in the holiday. We have been notified that a partial refund due to the cancelled boat ride will be issued. Although not as planned, everything I require from an excursion was in place. The Guide did his best and provided an ongoing commentary throughout the bus transfer portions. The train ride is recommended due to the scenery and the novelty of riding an older style train. The station staff even give you a cheery wave off when it departs! Note: on booking, customers are advised that some parts of the excursion are weather dependant.

Waste of time. Sat on a bus for most of the time. Didn’t get to do the boat ride because of the wind. The alternative was going to the bamboo forest and … a temple! No time to take any photos on the train

I am very glad we booked a tour instead of trying to navigate this one ourselves. Emiko did a wonderful job of getting us all on the bus and off for the train station. She gave us a lot of information along the way and organised all the tickets etc. We had a lovely ride on the Sagano Romantic train which is an older style train with beautiful views as we went along. Then we transferred by bus again to the river where we took a ride down the river with three very strong and very funny boatmen. They claimed their English was limited, but that didn't stop them from making us all laugh many times. While they take care, be prepared to get a bit wet and hang onto your camera/phone! We arrived at Arashiyama and were dropped off there. We chose to make our way to the bamboo forest after an ice-cream. There are lots of places for food and it was an easy walk to the station to catch the train back to Kyoto. While we saw the tail end of the cherry blossoms, this place would be spectacular in autumn/fall, but apparently the boat is not always running then, depending on the weather and river conditions.

Our guide was named Shelley was amazing. So friendly and helpful. The trip was also fantastic wonderful scenery and brilliant crew.

Shelley was an amazing tour guide. Although the actual tour company were unclear with the fact our tour didn't include the boat tour, Shelly was amazing in helping us secure boat tickets for the day.. we had a great tour because of this.

It was a good and beautiful experience with the cherry blossoms. The length of the tour was good and we have time to do things after! We were dropped off at Arashiyama which is a great spot to check out the bamboo forest and Fushimi Inari Shrine.

Nice trip, top guide! Good times!

We enjoyed the Sagano Romantic Train ride. We managed to see Sakura trees in the mountains and it was such a beautiful experience. We booked a tour with H.I.S. via GetYourGuide and Taka was our guide. Everything was well handled by him and it was fuss free. Very pleasant experience !

Very fun tour and welcoming! The tour guide was very nice and accommodating

Great trip despite the rain. Had to cancel the boat but had a great tour through the temple to see cherry blossoms.

What an amazing day! It was great train ride. Unfortunately we did not get to have the boat experience due to the rain. Next time. Great guide. Thank you

I joined this tour last week and it was absolutely amazing. The guide was also very kind and cheerful person. She really looked after us the whole time and gave us the best, most professional explanations about all the sights. In addition, The timing was just perfect because the autumn leaves were totally stunning! We also saw them from the train and boat and these scenery were so memorable. Moreover, I ate buffet at the lunch time, there were tons of options such as vegetable, fries, some Japanese dishes, traditional foods in Kyoto ( maybe?) and sweets. All foods were so delicious and high- quality , I have to say, the lunch time felt a little too short... Anyway, The lovely weather and good temperature, it was a perfect day. (Quick Tip! The train and boat were a bit chilly because of the windows, so definitely bring a scarf or a jacket just in case!) Thank you for such a good memory in Japan, these experience definitely be my precious one thorough this trip.

This was a great excursion. The guide was easy to locate and she was amazing the entire day. This time of year the weather is beautiful and the fall colors are amazing. The boat ride was one of a kind!

Experience with our guide was terrible, we had been on a tour with this company before and were very satisfied, but this time it was terrible, our guide didn't speak even average English, it seemed like it was his first time because he didn't know anything and didn't give us any explanations. Even at the place where we stopped for lunch, he didn't tell us what we could to do there, and when we got back on the bus, we realized that we could go there to see the bamboo, he didn’t tell us anything We just had a chance to go to the monkey park ourselves. When we protested, he said , I’m sorry. We paid for it from America and came to see it, now he's telling us I’m sorry. This is our last time that we went to vitator company

A bit disorganised to begin with but the places visited were lovely. Lunch was average at the buffet. Unfortunately we had a family group that didn’t follow our guide’s instructions so we had to wait for them several times and were late for one part of the day, which meant we had less time. We had a fun time on the river boat. Would recommend the tour. We did the full day.

Amazing experiences. Guide Ms Yoka was very informative and excellent. Tour was very well organized. Lunch was yummy . The best part was the boat ride . Don’t miss this tour.

The tour was disorganized and completely unprofessional. Both tour guides spoke and understood English very marginally. I have attended good tours in Japan, and here is what they do. Note that this tour did none of these; 1. The tour starting point was poorly communicated. I had to make two phone calls (US charges) to find the bus and tour guides. 2.Tour guide introduces themself by name and shares a brief background 3. Tour guide gives you a printed summary of the sequence of stops and where to meet after each stop 4. Tour guide shares the bus number 5. Tour guide accompanies the group to the scheduled attractions and shares information on the attraction. The guides on this tour sent us off on our own at each attraction after providing a time to return to the bus. 6. Price of attractions is supposed to be included in the tour price, but at the Boudoin temple (after the tour guide had disappeared) we all had to pay extra to view the Buddha (which was the main attraction). Finally, the tour guides were kind ladies but absolutely clueless on what to do. The local tour operator is at fault here.

The tour guide was excellent. But the boat ride was canceled, there were no cherry blossoms so the train ride was cheesy, and then with the boat canceled, kind of pointless. There was too much time waiting for transportation and then not enough time walking through the sites to actually pause and take pictures. And by the time we got to the final temple, we were late and they wouldn’t let us enter.

Very nice tour and tour guide.

I really enjoy this trip, the guide is very professional, the schedule is also smooth, thank you for taking care!

The guide is very attentive, the whole service is friendly, and speaks Chinese and English and Japanese, communication is not difficult.