Start your sake journey with a guided tasting of local Nara sake. Learn the basics of Japanese sake, how different styles are created, how to read a sake label, and how to identify the flavors you personally enjoy. This first stop gives you a simple foundation for comparing the sake you will taste throughout the tour.
Walk through the atmospheric streets of historic Naramachi as your local guide shares stories about Nara’s history, everyday culture, and centuries-old connection with sake. Along the way, you may also encounter Nara’s famous free-roaming deer.
Step inside a traditional merchant townhouse in historic Naramachi and discover a side of Nara beyond its famous temples. Explore traditional Japanese architecture while your local guide shares stories about the neighborhood’s history, everyday culture, and connection to Nara’s long sake tradition. As you walk through Naramachi, you may also encounter Nara’s famous free-roaming deer.
Visit Harushika, one of Nara’s best-known sake producers, established in historic Naramachi. Enjoy a guided tasting of different sake styles and compare their aromas, sweetness, dryness, and finish. Your guide explains what makes each sake different and how Nara’s centuries-old brewing traditions helped shape the refined Japanese sake enjoyed today. Their sparkling sake is a KST team favorite—light, refreshing, and easy to enjoy. Definitely worth a try while you're here!
Continue to Kasugayama Brewery, where over 200 years of tradition meet modern sake trends. Alongside traditional Nara sake, discover refreshing, creative drinks such as yuzu and apple fruit liqueurs. Compare different styles with your guide, explore the flavors, and find your personal favorites. By the final tasting, you'll not only have enjoyed a variety of drinks but also gained the confidence to choose sake that suits your taste during the rest of your trip in Japan.
The sake tour was amazing! Shinobu was our guide and he taught us not only about the sake making process, but also about Nara itself. I left the tour with a more deep understanding of what sake types I enjoy and some great sake souvenirs.
We had such a good time on our tour with Shinobu! He shared so much knowledge with us, stopped at places along the walking routes to tell us about the history in Nara and things we would never had found ourselves. It wasn’t just sake, we loved the walk through the small streets, breweries we would never have found and streets we would never have walked. He was great chat, you can tell he’s passionate and we had such a great time. A group of 6 was perfect, there was 6 of our family so was our own little private tour! Really recommend, only negative is Japan is too hot right now & being Scottish, we are not built for that! A few stops and a water bottle refill kept us going in the heat though. Loved Shinobu, sad to say goodbye to our japanese sake grandpa!
Fantastic afternoon with Shenobu trying sake and learning about brewing as well as local culture. Shenobu was great fun, enthusiastic and full of interesting facts. Thoroughly recommend this tour with him.
This tour is a must-do!! It is more than worth the day trip from Kyoto. We spent the day with Shinobu and could not have had a better time. He was kind, engaging, knowledgeable, and just fun to be around! One of us was badly hurt 3 days prior and Shinobu was so accommodating. We both felt this was the highlight of our time in “Kyoto.” Perfect for history lovers and drinking enthusiasts alike!
The Nara Sake Tasting Tour by Kampai Sake Tours was fantastic! Our guide, Shinobu, was wonderful—knowledgeable, friendly, and fun. We started at a sake bar where we tried two different sakes paired with appetizers. After that, we visited a brewery and sampled five more varieties, which we enjoyed so much that we even bought a bottle to take home. One of the highlights was visiting a beautifully preserved traditional Japanese home—it was incredible to step inside and see such an important landmark up close. The final stop was another sake bar near the brewery, a perfect way to end the tour. Along the way, Shinobu also shared insights about Nara’s sights and history, which made the experience even richer. Overall, it was an excellent tour—I’d happily do it again and highly recommend it to anyone visiting Nara.
Oh wow. We have been on tours via Viator all over the world - Europe, America, you name it. But nothing has come close to our experience with Shinobu today. We visited spots that are not touristy, local, and had a chance to really experience what the locals see in terms of sake. We tried a huge range of sakes that completely changed our views for sake. And talk about being educational..I learned so many fun facts about sake that it makes me want to drink more sake and appreciate it so much more. I'm hoping to come back to Japan next year and hop on another tour with Shinobu. He made this the beat experience ever and definitely the highlight of our Japan trip. Thank you!
It was wonderful. Our guide was attentive and explained things well. He seemed to be enjoying it as much as we were. His English was great.
We tried various sake on the tour and enjoyed a lot. Not only Todaiji, Kasuga taisha shrine, but the sake tour is here, in Nara.
I took part in a sake tour of Nara.The first place we visited was a standing bar where we were able to try some popular local sake. The atmosphere in the store was very nice and the staff were very friendly. At Harushika Brewery,I compared the taste of five different types of sake.It was a very delicious sake with depth of flavor. I was able to learn about the history of sake and breweries, and gain a deeper understanding of the appeal of sake.The smoked Narazuke snack was also very delicious.Here you can buy sake and souvenirs. The tour guide gave us a detailed explanation of Nara's history and sake.I had a friendly chat with the guide.The streets of Nara had a historic feel to them. I also had the chance to stop by many different stores and enjoy eating and shopping around the streets of Nara. Thank you for a very enjoyable tour!
I really enjoyed this tour! Our tour guide provided a lot of great information in Nara and took me to the brewery and local bar that would have been hard to find otherwise. All the sake I drank was really good!
We had an amazing experience on the sake tasting tour in Nara with the lovely Tam-san. She was the very kind, knowledgeable, and friendly guide. She took us very local places with plenty of sake and snacks at each one. We enjoyed very much drinking many kinds of sake, and also talking with local people. She also showed us a few sights in-between stops and shared historical stories about each of them. What a fantastic day and I will never forget. I highly recommend this tour.
Fantastic tour knowledgeable and lovely guides if you go to Nara you have to do this tour I can't recommend it enough so much fun
Fantastic tour very personable and knowledgeable guides, we had an amazing time trying tasty sakes and snacks especially the smoked squash pickles would 13/10 do it again
This is a fantastic experience for me. I have learned a lot from TAM， and become more interested in Sake. What was especially wonderful was that our guide had a friendly relationship with the people at the bars and breweries we visited, and they welcomed us warml. And the local food was delicious!
何種類もの日本酒を解説付きで楽しめました。4軒のお店を回りましたがどこのお店もフレンドリーでお店の方の日本酒に対する思いが伝わってきます。それ以外にも骨董店や古民家、伝統ある和菓子屋さんなどガイドの方が上手に解説とともにリードしてくれました。奈良のいい雰囲気をコンパクトに楽しめた半日になりました。ありがとうございました。
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