Travelers booking this tour will step into one of Japan’s most magical natural landscapes — the bamboo forests of Arashiyama. Guided by you, they will discover peaceful pathways, hidden viewpoints, cultural stories, and the true meaning behind Kyoto’s iconic bamboo groves.
Tenryū-ji is a famous Zen Buddhist temple in Arashiyama, Kyoto, best known for its **beautiful Japanese garden, historic buildings, and stunning views of the surrounding mountains**. Founded in the 14th century, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Kyoto’s most important temples.
Otagi Nenbutsu-ji is a unique Buddhist temple in the Arashiyama area of Kyoto, famous for its collection of 1,200 unique, whimsical, and moss-covered stone statues of Rakan (disciples of Buddha). Each statue has its own distinct, often humorous or joyful, facial expression and pose, making the temple a charming and tranquil "hidden gem" that offers a peaceful escape from busier tourist spots.
Travelers who book this experience will explore Kinkaku-ji, the world-famous Golden Pavilion and one of Kyoto’s most stunning UNESCO World Heritage Sites. With your guidance, they will discover its shining beauty, peaceful gardens, and the rich history behind this iconic landmark.
Travelers who book your experience will explore Nishiki Market, Kyoto’s famous “Kitchen of Kyoto,” with a local guide who knows the best shops, hidden food stalls, and cultural stories behind the flavors. This tour gives guests a fun, delicious, and educational journey through 400 years of Kyoto food culture.
Travelers booking this experience will explore Gion, Kyoto’s most atmospheric geisha district, with a knowledgeable local guide who brings history, culture, and hidden stories to life. This walk combines beautiful streets, traditional wooden houses, iconic viewpoints, and real insights into geiko and maiko culture.
Travelers joining this experience will explore Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto’s most iconic shrine, famous for its endless path of bright orange torii gates. Led by your friendly guidance, they will discover hidden stories, peaceful viewpoints, and cultural moments that most visitors miss.
My family really enjoyed learning about Kyoto because we had a fantastic guide, Sandani, and driver, Ishara. Sandani was very friendly, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and patient. She fit in with our family straight away. Ishara was a very cautious driver, the car was clean and comfortable. They were on time and reallybwell organised. We could not recommend them enough!
Yash is a lovely guy and a great guide! Very easy to talk to, patient, and knowledgeable. We had a pleasant and relaxed day, despite it being absolutely packed with sight seeing. We would be very happy to go around Kyoto with him again when we come back some day.
We had a wonderful experience on our private full-day Kyoto highlights tour with Chathu Kavirathna. She was professional, polite, friendly, and extremely helpful throughout the day. She took the time to explain everything clearly, shared interesting information about the places we visited, and made sure we had a great experience. What we especially appreciated was her patience and kindness with our son. She happily answered all of his questions and took the time to explain things in a way that was engaging and easy to understand. Her thoughtful and patient approach made the tour even more enjoyable for our whole family. Chathu went above and beyond to make us feel comfortable and welcome. We truly appreciated her knowledge, professionalism, and genuine care. We highly recommend Chathu to anyone looking for a memorable and enjoyable tour of Kyoto. Thank you, Chathu, for making our day so special!
Was a wonderful experience very knowledgeable great English and learnt heaps obviously enjoys his job thanks again
Our family took the Kyoto cultural tour and went to visit many sites around the city. It was a wonderful experience, and our guide, Anjana, was fabulous in bringing insightful information and working with our schedule to help make the day excellent!
Shaadi was absolutely amazing. His English was excellent. We had a problem with our booking, and Shaadi persisted to continue to find us. He tolerated my kids, whose behaviour was questionable at times. Shaadi’s knowledge of Japanese sites was excellent. I would definitely recommend this day trip as it took the ease out of travelling. Our driver was always waiting for us nearby.
Anjana was our driver and guide and he was exceptional. Very knowledgeable and showed us more than we expected. He also had a great lunch recommendation. Highly recommended.
Convient Transfers in Private car, flexible Programme which suits also Kids, all major Temples and Shrein could be seen
An excellent start to our trip to Japan whilst experiencing jet lag. A full day of being driven around the highlights of Kyoto with our own personal tour guide Sajini to navigate us around the sights with plenty of info and tips - she was amazing in every way! Also our driver was very skilled in getting us to the sights, down some of the tightest streets, 👏 we would recommend this tour to give you a great start to your holiday and to get you into the mood and experience the culture of Kyoto. Communication before the trip was great too. Thank you Sajini - 10/10***
Our family of 4 (adult teens 19 & 17), had a wonderful day trip with our driver Sam. Sam’s knowledge of Kyoto was fantastic and great energy. It suited our family more than the coach tours as Sam was able to customise it for us and we spent more time at the places that we were immersed in. Thank you Sam.
Yash was wonderful, knowledgeable, and flexible. He allowed us to choose our itinerary. He picked us up at our hotel, and even let us stop for coffee at a wonderful coffee shop with a zen room. Yash also took incredible pictures for us.
Perfect dayvtrip of Kyoto and we really enjoy with Ali
Anjana was a wonderful guide. We were slow and he was very patient with us and showed us all the sights at our own pace.
Really nice custom day trip around Kyoto, thought this was the best way to see everything given how far apart it is. Anjana was really great in giving us info and going with us to all the sites to explain the historical meanings
An absolutely amazing private tour of Kyoto’s most famous sites. Yash was a fantastic guide and made sure we got to see everything. He is also an excellent photographer and knows how to get the best pictures.
Very clean and comfortable vehicle. Excellent tour guide, Anjana, who was patient and courteous with us throughout. Customizable itinerary made it easy for us to choose what and when to visit the various attractions. Highly recommended!!
Yash is a great guide full of knoledge about secret hidden gems in Kyoto. Absolutely recommended
Our family had the best time with Yash! We were traveling with a young baby (10) months and a grandparent. He made the trip educational and we really got to know him! We saw so much of what Kyoto has to offer, enjoyed a wonderful lunch and made me feel at ease during this experience with a new baby. If you are looking for a family friendly adventure I highly recommend this trip and I hope you have Yash!
Manna was an excellent guide. He went out of his way to help us customize our tour and helped us avoid the crowded times at the sites we wanted to see. He had an excellent grasp on Japanese culture and clearly a deep respect for it as well. I am a very curious person and he answered all of my questions and is also an excellent conversationalist. He took us to a great restaurant that our 7 year old thoroughly enjoyed. We had the perfect balance of a guided tour and time to freely explore. He even took great photos of us for our memories. We really had a wonderful time and would totally hope to have him on another tour when we visit again. We had a beautiful and memorable day.
Anjana is a very good tour guide and he customized the tour according to our needs. He even found us a very good lunch place and stopped at 7-11 for currency exchange: overall very pleasant experience..:
Excellent Kyoto guide! Friendly, knowledgeable, and engaging. The tour was well organized, full of fascinating history and local insights. Highly recommend for anyone wanting an unforgettable Kyoto experience!
It was wonderful. Very knowledgeable and courteous. I had a great time touring.Kioto with him. The vehicle is very comfortable
Our tour guide spoke english very well and very informative with the temples and shrines. He took us to the well known spots in Kyoto and thoughtful enough to take us certain places to avoid crowds. He made sure our family got nice pictures throughout each places. He also took us at a place to eat where we ate great food with conveyor belt style serving. We all had a blast. He picked us up at our vrbo residence and drop us off at downtown kytoto where we did some shopping.
Sha was an excellent guide. Instructions for the pickup at Kyoto Station were simple and clear. He was very accommodating in adjusting the itinerary to the preferred spots we wanted to go and see. He gave very comprehensive and knowledgeable introductions to all the places we visited, as well as overall life living in Kyoto for the past 20+ years. Highly recommended to anyone wishing to have a smooth and well organized day trip to the city or emits surrounding areas.
We had a fabulous experience with Yash, who was an excellent tour guide and took wonderful photographs of our family. Yash was a very nice person, great source of information, and a talented photographer! He took time to find really great locations to see some of Kyoto’s most well-known sites and went to extra efforts to take some really great photos for us. We are grateful for the day exploring and learning about Kyoto with him.
Great experience we had in Kyoto. Only one day in Kyoto and it was great Definitely recommended
My family of 5 had a wonderful tour with Akii yesterday! He was knowledgeable, provided us with options and accommodated us at the end of the tour when my crew started to fizzle. He took us to a few off the beaten path spots, away from the crowds and field trips, and recommended a great spot for lunch. 5 stars!
Yash was personal and patient to my family and I. Curated our stops to where we maximize the most of your day with visits to beautiful castles, shrines, and temples. He also took beautiful pictures for us and always carried a smile on his face. I would absolutely recommend his services to everyone!
Shani was a lovely tour guide. Having a driver is key in Kyoto in order to take in all the sights. Highly recommend.
Akii was very friendly and knowledgeable. He really took care of us and was very accommodating of our requests.
We visited top spots in Kyoto. The van was clean, spacious and comfortable. Anjana our guide was kind and shared his knowledge of the area. He took great family pictures too! Anjana even recommended an excellent Indian restaurant. We recommend the tour.
Absolutely ticked off all the must see sights and experiences of Kyoto. Included them all in the one day, Mana absolutely delivered!
Private tour is full of history and sights delivered by a great guide. Funny, knowledge and flexible - didn’t waste time at places that were just too full when arriving at location with multiple buses showing up at the same time. Great recommendation by Sha! Would do again.
Ali was amazing. He took us to where we wanted to go as well as many more places. His English is exceptional.
It was a wonderful day thanks to Mana, the guide who was fantastic host, but also great time planner an photographer (as his background is in design). As we got lucky that Kyoto was not jammed with cars and blocked by tourists we managed to squeeze so much. At the end, best places were those who are not “instagrammable” and I also got to try fire ramen of which just two restaurants exist of the world. Highly recommending this tour and Manan as your host.
Sha was incredibly knowledgeable about Japan and Kyoto. I would highly recommend using him as a tour guide. He honestly made our trip the best. Thank you as we are truly grateful for the memorable experience.
Great tour! Our guide Mama was terrific and very knowledgeable! Really enjoyed our experience. Highly recommend!
The best tour in kyoto with the best driver and guite we ever had
Great day with Yosh visiting the top sites in Kyoto. Having a private guide and transportation allowed us to relax, enjoy and see more. Yosh is a fun guide and we enjoyed getting to know him.
Had a nice experience. We were able to see the things we like to see in Kyoto. Our driver was knowledgeable and takes good photos. Would recommend this trip to anyone visiting Japan.
The driver was pleasant but gave little background on the sites we were seeing unless specifically asked a question.
Was able to fit so many activities/sights into a single day. The experience was enlightening, the guide was friendly and patient with my group. He recommended a great place for lunch as well. Definitely worth the money for my group!
Yash is an amazing tour guide. He went above and beyond to make sure we get the best experiences with our tour. From the perfect instagram pictures, recommended restaurants, hidden spots, to portable charger in case your phone ran out of battery from taking endless pictures/videos, he take care of them all. He make sure we get to experience kimono, even though that is not on our itinerary. The end of the tour was late in the evening, he even help taking us to Yamato to pick up our luggages. Thank you for making our visit to Kyoto an easy, fun, and memorial one.
Great experience. Sha was an extremely knowledgeable and friendly guide who showed us a lot of famous and secret places and stories about his hometown, but adjusted the tour as well easily to some of our wishes. Good and secure car makes it easy to see a maximum of Kyoto in one day.
Nisal was a great guide who fit our engagement style. He was knowledgeable, charismatic, and considerate. He helped us identify the best spots for views and the best places to take our couple photos. He had great communication and planning. He was very flexible and let us take our time to explore while keeping us on schedule...allowing us to prioritize our time where we wanted. Highly recommend.
We had a fantastic day out with Shahbaz. He very kindly came early to try to avoid crowds. He was incredibly knowledgeable about Japanese history & culture. Whilst driving us to the usual tourist locations he also allowed us to visit some lesser known ones as well. Great authentic suggestion for lunch and allowed us sufficient time to explore. A great driver, very considerate and overall we were sorry to finish our day. We would highly recommend this activity to gain a taste of Kyoto in one day.
We had nice day trip with Ali and really happy with his service.
Had a great time! The guide was very understanding with the limitation that my mother had and was able to suggest locations that had limited walking or provided wheel chairs. He also made a great recommendations for lunch.
Shahbaz was an amazing tour guide with deep understanding of Japanese culture and tradition. His tour was detailed, thorough, and efficient.
Shan was super kind, gave us lots of cultural information and took us to the best places in Kyoto, without a doubt an unforgettable experience!
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