Kyoto Private Custom Tour With Local Expert Guide + Hotel Pickup

Ayako was a delight to work with. She did a great job of proposing a thoughtful and very interesting tour of iconic sites and also interesting neighborhoods. But as we subsequently decided to focus instead on a couple of historic sites, she provided great suggestions, which we ultimately enjoyed enormously. She brought great value to the experience, by providing helpful insights and narrative, helping us understand and better appreciate what we were seeing. Beyond that, she is just great company. We really appreciated our tour with her.

We packed in Nijo Castle, The Golden Pavillion, and the Bamboo Forrest into a 4 hour tour. Miya-san was very efficient and knowledgeable. We spent a perfect amount of time in each place and got to see as much as possible.

Our guide Rick navigated our 4 hour private tour of Kyoto very skillfully in the middle of busiest season. His tour plan worked out well for us, in spite of most difficult circumstances. We were able to see the beautiful cherry blossoms and a couple of major sightseeing spots. We enjoyed the tour very much although the crowds of tourists diminished the experience a bit.

Thank you to our tour guide Oki who navigated the Kyoto temples for us on a very rainy day! He was so understanding especially with all of our accommodations and was always so thoughtful and worried about us all. He made our dinner reservations which was also very helpful. Oki is so knowledgeable and explained everything to us in a way that was easy to understand. Thank you Oki!!

We had an amazing day with Miho yesterday on our tour of Kyoto. We saw a few of the sights in Tokyo, including the silver temple and the gold temple as well as Nijo Castle and the bamboo forest, but what made our trip so amazing was the knowledge that Miho had on many things. We learned a lot about Japanese history and the history of the sights we saw. She made some great suggestions for extras on our tour. One of the highlights was the restaurant she took us for lunch which was a traditional Japanese lunch. It was a place we never would have found without her. What also made our day so special was how friendly Miho was. Her English was perfect and she was wonderful to talk with about not only Japan, but many other topics as well. We thoroughly enjoyed our day with her!

We booked a one-day private tour in Kyoto for our family of 7 and 1 infant. Oki-san was a wonderful guide. We got a taste of Kyoto's rich history with Oki-san's help and knowledge. Yamamoto-san was our driver. He navigated us through the city safely and promptly! We enjoyed the tour very much and highly recommend it.

The guide was very knowledgeable and was a pleasure to spend the time with.it was titime well spent.we will have a lot of memories

Our tour guide Oki took us to parts of Kyoto we would never been able to find, especially for the half day. He was able to squeeze in everything we wanted to see and some more. What is great too is that the tour is tailor made for what you want to see. Wear comfortable shoes and you will be able to see so much that Kyoto has to offer, with Oki’s help.

Motoi Okishio was our best guide ever, very knowledgeable, patient and friendly, we were very happy with his answers to our questions and he took us to hidden special places that are unforgettable, he also picked the best spots for many delightful pictures for our memories from beautiful Kyoto!

Oki-San did a great job to understand our family needs and interest before the trip and made his best to ensure that even with very severe weather we were able to have a very enjoyable tour. My whole family agreed that we would love to have this kind of tours for the rest of our vacation in Japan.

Oki was a great guide! He was very knowledgeable and accommodating of our needs, esp as we could get a little slow with a 5 and 7yo with our group. He spoke English and helped us navigate a grocery store at the end of trip, too! We were able to choose the destinations we wanted, but Oki made some suggestions, too (during planning stage). Oki was a very willing and capable photographer and was always asking us if we wanted a picture. He suggested some great photo locations. Lunch was in a private room for our group and was delicious and an interesting experience. The van was very comfortable and they provided us with cold water. I would highly recommend this tour.

We went on a customized tour with Oki-san, he did a wonderful job of putting together a great itinerary for my family and even found a couple of stores for my 7 year old alighted to shop at. Highly recommend the tour.

Oki is the best tour guide ever. His knowledge of Japanese culture and history is deep and far-reaching and he explains everything in a captivating and interesting way. We really appreciated Oki’s thoughtful itinerary and he showed us some spots along the way. We cannot say enough good things about Oki’s tour and recommend every visitor to book this tour with him!

Amazing! This tour is a must when visiting Kyoto. Oki exceeded all of our expectations. We did a full day and we were able to see 4 places that we chose. He took care of everything! We didn't need to worry about transportation, navigation, entrance fees, etc. He also picked us up and dropped us off, taking a lot stress off us so we could enjoy Kyoto. He also brought us to his favorite place for lunch, which was beyond delicious. He was personable and he had so much knowledge about the places we visited. We learned so much from him. He was excited to teach us and made the tour interactive for us. We very much enjoyed his company. We will definitely have him as our tour guide again when we return. Best Kyoto Tour!

OKI is the most incredible tour guide. We enjoyed every moment with him.. He explained and helped up understand in full about the shrines, temples, and Japanese culture plus so much more. OKI is the most kindest and beautiful person you will ever have the pleasure of meeting.

Our Kyoto Tour with Oki was fantastic. His extraordinary knowledge and kind nature made our day very special. We would highly recommend him and cannot speak highly enough of his professional and kind approach. Please keep him in mind when visiting Kyoto, it will be an experience you will not forget. Arigato gozaimasu Oki 🙏🙏

We highly recommend this customized tour if you’re interested in covering many highlights across Kyoto in a single day. We started by booking a specific day and were working with Oki-San on the itinerary but the weather forecast was for heavy rains so we decided to reschedule. Cancellation and rebooking was straightforward and Oki-san worked behind the scenes with the tour operator to assist in assigning Katsuko-san as our guide for the rescheduled day. Katsuko-san planned a perfect and wonderful day of sightseeing covering all the beautiful attractions in Kyoto from our wish list on the itinerary. Katsuko-san inquired about our preference for lunch and made reservations at a very nice local restaurant in line with the timing of our schedule. With her clear communication, contextual information and everything was perfect and fully explained. Taking care to give us the complete experience, Katsuko-san took the most direct and best route to cover our packed itinerary. Keep in mind the tour covers entrance for four heritage sites, she explained when we had to buy tickets ourselves. One of the best parts was explanation of historical and cultural relevance. Most of all it was a true pleasure to meet Katsuko-san and experience her professionalism and passion in guiding visitors to Kyoto. We enjoyed the experience very much.

Our tour of key sights in Kyoto with Oki was outstanding. His knowledge of the history and significance of shrines, temples and feudal castles was outstanding. We had read guidebooks and conducted online research in advance, but Oki's knowledge of details and cultural significance really enhanced our experience. We moved at a fast pace between sights, but had ample time at each of the four locations we visited to explore, take photos and ask questions. We also stopped for a wonderful lunch and wrapped the day up in Gion with a very authentic dessert experience. Oki adds nice touches such as buying matcha cookies at a beautiful dessert shop for a mid-day break. A very well balanced and informative day....and I have high expectations.

Yumi, our guide for the day was organized and very thorough in planning our day. She is extremely knowledgeable about the history and culture of Kyoto. Should I return I will definitely request her services again.

Our tour with Oki was nothing short of extraordinary—it left us feeling not just like tourists, but like cherished friends. Oki's deep knowledge of Japanese culture and history illuminated every step of our journey, enriching our understanding of Kyoto's treasures. From the moment we set off, Oki's passion and expertise shone through. Our first stop was the breathtaking Kinkaku-ji Temple, a vision in gold that Oki aptly described as the epitome of beauty. His insights into the Zen temple's history, architecture, and serene gardens painted a vivid picture of its significance. At Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Oki deepened our appreciation for Buddhist traditions, revealing the compassionate symbolism behind Kannon's eleven faces and forty-two arms. His recounting of the temple's resilience after fires underscored its enduring spiritual importance. Oki's thoughtfulness extended to customizing our experience. Learning of my interest in genealogy, he led us to a local cemetery, explaining the cultural belief that connections with our ancestors persist beyond physical life. The tour was peppered with delightful surprises, like Oki’s generous sharing of the most delectable green tea cookies in a beautiful and bustling local market. Oki's kindness and enthusiasm made these moments unforgettable. The final high point of our day was Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, where Oki illuminated the shrine's role in Japanese prosperity and its symbolic significance. Walking through the iconic red Torii gates, we felt the magic of this sacred place. Beyond his expertise, Oki's personal touches made the tour exceptional. Recommending a superb sushi restaurant and ensuring our safe return to the hotel demonstrated his genuine care for our experience. Oki's warmth and friendship made our visit to Kyoto truly unforgettable. We cannot recommend him—and this tour—highly enough. If you're heading to Kyoto, make Oki's tour a priority. Thank you, Oki, for an incredible afternoon filled with insights, kindness, and memories we'll cherish until we return to Japan.

Had a fantastic day with Oki visiting the shrines and temples in Kyoto. The day was well planned and I could not believe how much we packed into the day. Not only is Oki very knowledgeable and professional, he also knows the best tempura restaurant in Kyoto - book a tour with him to find it. You won't be disappointed!

If you don’t have a lot of time in Kyoto, but have energy- this is it! Our guide, OKI, was fantastic! I had many places I wanted to go and OKI was working with me on how best to fit in all of the things I wanted to do. He also had a lot of knowledge about the places we were visiting that we would have missed out on otherwise. Definitely make sure you have a good pair of walking shoes because you will need them!

Great private tour of Kyoto with Oki-San. He arranged and offered different options prior to starting the tour, including adding a trip to visit the Samurai museum for our son. He was adaptable, yet honest. Oki is very soft spoken,and wears a mask, so you must listen intently, but if you do, you learn so much from him. He also chose a great lunch spot. Overall, we would recommend this tour and Oki highly.

We saw many things & had a knowledgeable guide, but I thought I’d was too expensive for what we saw. Plus we had to pay our own food & entrance fees on top of the fee.

Awesome guide and fantastic information provided and at our pace. lunch at own cost later was so yummy.

We had a fantastic day seeing the sights of Kyoto. We were on a tight schedule and only had one day in Kyoto. Oti San was a great tour guide. He was very knowledgeable at all the sights we visited. He pointed out interesting features we would have otherwise missed and gave us advice on souvenirs that were unique to the area and reasonably priced. We had a delicious lunch which we discussed and agreed with Oti San in advance of our trip. One of the highlights of our trip to Japan, would highly recommend if you are short on time.

Our guide Maki was very informative and we had a very good 4 hour tour of Hiroshima, taking us to the Atomic Dome, Peace Memorial Park and Museum then on to Shukkelen Gardens. A great day with a very professional guide, thank you Marki.

5 Hiro was awesome and very considerate. He share very useful info about the places we visited and took us to an amazing lunch location.

We took a day trip to visit the highlights of Kyoto with Oki as our guide. Oki communicated effectively and clearly via WhatsApp and made sure to plan things for our son such as the Ninja/Samurai museum. All of the details were arranged up front, including arranging for a private vehicle and a delicious lunch to make our itinerary possible and pleasurable. He provided a detailed itinerary. Oki arrived promptly at our hotel. Once we arrived at the points of interest, Oki explained its significance, and important differences between the temples and shrines. He speaks softly, so one must listen closely. He would patiently wait for our son to take pictures and learn at his own pace. He was patient in answering our many questions about Japanese culture and history. Oki listened closely to things we would enjoy shopping for and would guide us to those things. Overall, we had the most wonderful day exploring Kyoto with Oki. We would recommend him with the highest possible accolades.

I enjoyed my tour with Motoi Okishio so much! He was on time, and was very helpful. I went on the tour with my 86 year old grandmother and he knew exactly how to navigate and shorten the tour as needed . The lunch he chose was his favorite spot to go to and it was really traditional and good quality. It was a nice break from the chaos of all the tourist attractions. He also stopped at a cafe that was exceptional with cute treats and a fantastic Cappuccino. On the walks he led in front and let us follow at our own pace. Getting to know him at the end was so sweet and I will remember him forever! He also gave me recs for good restaurants by my hotel in Gion, they ended up being amazing! Thank you Oki!

Yumiko is a wonderful host and guide. She arranged a great itinerary for us, according to our preferences she had asked us about, prior to our trip. We appreciated her suggestions for a private tour through the bamboo forest. And we appreciated her help in choosing restaurants for dinner and making reservations.

Miyuki Kawamura, Manager of Venture Tokyo, arranged this tour with Yumiko Konatsu. Through our correspondence, Yumi created a great itinerary reflecting our interests within our time constraints. Yumi is very knowledgeable, personable and accommodating. She met us at the Kyoto train station and arranged a Rickshaw tour of the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove which was terrific! We visited Togetsu Bridge and Tenryu-ji Temple grounds which were filled with lovely cherry and other blossoming trees. The moss gardens of Giouji Temple I found particularly beautiful! The Hirano Shrine was full of stunning blooming cherry blossom trees. We were able to enjoy a picnic lunch from nearby food trucks under the cherry blossoms. All in all it was a wonderful five-star day spent with Yumi! Highly recommend!

The rep got confused with meeting point so he was late, his english was ok but he spoke so low and with a mask so very difficult to understand. Was walking ahead on his own no explanations of local area or cultures. Gion are he gave zero info on the traditions very disappointed we continued alone and returned alone to our port.

Our guide was punctual, friendly and very responsive to our requests. We booked the tour as this was our first day in Kyoto and we wanted to understand the historical importance of each site we visited. We realized there was a challenge with her English because the answers were not understandable as she struggled to find words to complete a sentence. This left us uncomfortable but we were able to complete the tour and see the premier Kyōto sites

Our tour with Masaki was amazing! Masaki met us at our hotel with a private car. He took us to see all the famous shrines and temples including Fushimi Inari Shrine and Kinkaku-ji temple. He also found blooming cherry trees for us to see. Our lunch was at a delicious authentic Japanese restaurant. Masaki was very knowledgeable about the history of each place we went. He was also helpful in recommending restaurants for the rest of our stay in Kyoto. His English is excellent. Masaki is truly a great guide.

Yoko is an amazing guide. Before our tour, she made sure the logistics were set to be able to visit all the places in our wish list. During the tour she gave us very good explanations of historical places and local traditions. She went far and beyond taking care of every single detail. Thank you Yoko!

This day will go in my memories forever. Our tour guide Katsuko was so lovely and kind. She went above and beyond to fit everything I wanted to see in our half day tour. This meant a lot of walking but we were up for the challenge. If I could give her 10 stars I would. I would go back to Japan just to spend more time with her. Absolutely wonderful to learn all of the history from her. She took the time to explain at each location what each marker meant and shrine. If we had questions, she answered them. I cannot say enough great things about her. Request her for your tour and you will not be disappointed! Kyoto as a city is probably my favorite out of Kyoto and Osaka. The temples and shrines we visited in Kyoto were beautiful and timeless. Please add this tour to your journey.

With little time in Kyoto we set a hard agenda to cover as much as we could. Yoko, our guide , exceeded our expectations - she covered our agenda including Bamboo Forrest & Tenryuji Temple & Kiyomizudera temple & presented her plan for our approval before hand, gave us lots of background information during our travels & chose a wonderful tofu restaurant for lunch - a local speciality we wanted to try. We used public transport. This saved us $ for other things. Walking back to hotel through Gion district well worth it too. Lucky enough to see a Meiko (Geisha in training) walking by! If time is short & you are up for a full day we recommend using a guide. Have a plan too.

Great day out with Yoko. We covered so much in one day! Very informative and a super fun time overall. Also the tofu lunch spot near the bamboo forest was amazing. Definitely recommend and would book her again when we are in Kyoto next time. Thank you Yoko!

Our guide Oki was GREAT, good communication prior to the day, and enlightening commentary at every temple/site visited. Would highly recommend!

Where very fortunate to have Yoko as our guide. She is very professional, caring, and so vibrant! She took us every where in the most efficient way. Took care of the tickets, transportation, and lunch. She provided fun facts, and insights on all the sites. We requested for her to add the Samurai-Ninja Museum, and she was able to make it happen for us without sacrificing any other sites. A truly enjoyable experience. Ask for Yoko.

Exploring this ancient and beautiful part of kyoto. Very special place filled with many temples. Walking the bamboo forest was lovely as was the architecture and the temples we saw. My guide Yumi was excellent. Very kind and knowledgeable. Very patient.

Our guide, Yoko, was beyond amazing! She allowed us to customize our tour to our preferences and ensured we were happy and had a memorable experience! She is incredibly knowledgeable and made us feel at home. Wonderful experience!

Katsuko was prompt, kind, pleasant, very knowledgeable, informative, professional and well-versed in English. I thoroughly enjoyed the day, sites, lunch and Katsuko. Domo Arigatou 👍

We had a wonderful half day tour of Kyoto with our excellent guide OKI. He corresponded with us in advance to propose a tailor made itinerary and he guided us with great care and knowledge around done of the best and most culturally important sites in Koyoto. Oki recommended a great place for lunch and even took us for sweets near our hotel to finish the percer tour!

Yoko provided a wonderful custom tour that ticked off all of our wish list, plus she steered us away from crowds and toward a terrific tonkatsu restaurant after our tour.

Miki was our tour guide, and she was remarkably kind and informative. My partner and I discussed beforehand with Miki what we most wanted to see. She also helped with finding reservations for a delicious obanzai lunch as well as running the itinerary by us beforehand to confirm it was what we were hoping for. Miki took us along the most scenic walks between places and we all discussed various aspects of the culture and history of Kyoto, in addition to viewing the various locations we were trying to see. She also took us to some street markets by our destinations in order to show us where we could find the items we were looking for the most, as well as showing us some less-visited sights that were gorgeous while traveling between places. Overall, Miki was an extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and sweet guide. She was definitely one of the best tour guides we’ve had.

Kyoto was a fantastic leader. Really personable and his local knowledge for first-class! Really made the overall experience 10/10 from my friends and I. Highly recommend!

My partner and I had a wonderful time on this tour. Having a guide with thorough knowledge of the area let us see the best parts of Kyoto including it's majestic temples and beautiful heritage buildings. I would recommend this tour to anyone visiting Kyoto - it's a total must do!