Kyoto Day Trip From Osaka Port – Private Shore Excursion

Hiroki met us at the cruise port and we were off on foot to the subway station to travel to Kyoto. There is a lot of travel time involved in this trip from Osaka to Kyoto and back to Osaka . We saw some of the important sites, had a traditional Japanese lunch which everyone enjoyed. Hiroki saw that some members of our group had difficulty walking long distances and recommended taking a cab which worked out well. He arranged for us to take the bullet train back from Kyoto to Osaka which was a great experience.

Khalid absolutely showed us the best that Kyoto has to offer in the limited time we were there. Very knowledgeable about all things Kyoto and very interesting and humorous. Take the rickshaw ride through the bamboo forest for sure!

Walking Tour with public transport included. Kai was wonderful, very flexible with what we wanted to do. She taught us how to use the train system which was a great help, and accompanied us back to the port. Great local lunch and Sake tasting. Could not have had a better day!

Mayura was a great communicator and guide! She arranged for us to rent kimonos. Then she took my family and I to see the temples. She showed us some sights around Kyoto. We had a lovely day taking beautiful & memorable family photos. I would highly recommend!

Kalid, my tour guide was excellent. I did realize this was a walking tour, and I have some mobility issues. He was able to suggest an itinerary that met my needs. It was beyond my expectations. The rickshaw through the bamboo forest was such a joy.

Katu was a wonderful guide. He took us to many places in Kyoto that were off the beaten path. He took many pictures which we wanted. It was a fun day. We got to see alot.

We truly had the BEST tour we ever had with Ceci and we had many tours in the past… She is one of the most amazing tour guide we had. She took time to explain all the little details of the places we visited. I never met any tour guide that is willing to walk 20+km to make sure you don’t miss anything. Don’t worry if you can’t walk that much because Ceci made sure to ask us every now and then if we were ok to walk a little more. She contacted us many time before the tour to build our tour according to our wishes. She is extremely attentive and will make sure that you have the best experience ever. She brought us to some places that were off the beaten path so that we could have a true taste of life living in Japan. We will remember this tour with Ceci forever. It’s to bad that there’s not more Ceci in this world ! She definitely has a natural gift to teach and explain things in a way that you not only understand but feel what it’s really like to live here in Japan. Thank You so much Ceci !

Wei was very accommodating & gave us lots of knowledge of Kyoto & Gion. We couldn’t have done the train system to Kyoto & Gion from Osaka.

I saw this Pinpoint excursion on Trip Advisor and contacted them to see if I could get other guests from our cruise to contact them and we could share a 12-hour private excursion. They were very helpful helping me put this together so it could be more affordable than the ship tours and a smaller group. I love their follow up. The guide they sent us was awesome. He was super informative, humorous, and answered all our questions. He explained different sites, customs, religions, food, etc. We learned so much while having fun. There was only one drawback that couldn't be helped. We had traffic going into Kyoto and coming back to Osaka, but Hugo helped us pass the time by telling us about his reason to come to Japan and his journey to become a citizen. Plus, the van was very roomy for 8 of us. I highly recommend this tour.

The whole of the day was memorable from experiencing the train travel and the sights we visited. Our guide was not actively looking for us at the meeting point but after that he was good. Navigated the train system well and took us to several sites including the Fushhimi Inari - Taisha Shrine and the bamboo forest.

We are a group of 4 friends over 70 years and in hind site should have booked a private tour with a van. We traveled from Osaka to Kyoto by train & metro changing about 4 times on route! We only visited 2 area's, Arashiyama & Bamboo Grove & also Gion as we had also booked ourselves tea with a Geisha ( which was a great insight ). We traveled back again by train & metro, all travelling was at our own cost at which we were quite amazed as other tours we did we didn't have to pay for petrol???? Our guide Jonathan left us in between trains on way back and unfortunately we got off at last stop instead of one before and had a taxi fare back to cruise port!! We enjoyed what we did but it didn't meet our expectations considering the cost of the tour per person. We used Viator for our day tours in Japan & Busan as they were highly recommended but on this occasion we were left disappointed.

Our fabulous guide Kalid met us at the port and did an excellent job of guiding us through the train journey to Kyoto. It was our first time using the rail system and we were very happy that he was there to help us. We went to the top of Kyoto station to get a great view of the city. We were amazed at all the shops and restaurants tucked into the station. The best part of the day was our visit t the zen garden and bamboo forest. After the forest we had a nice walk down to the river where we relaxed with a snack. Another walk to the beautiful “kimono forest” near the old railway. I enjoyed seeing the dragon ball pond. Our time with Kalid was far too short but it was a great day. Thank you Kalid!

We had a very limited time in the cruise port of Osaka. But we really wanted to see Gion section of Kyoto. Although very seasoned world travelers we realized an experienced professional guide was needed. We were very, very lucky to have Shu, a resident of Kyoto, as our guide! He picked us at the Osaka cruise port and arranged our travel to Kyoto. Enroute he presented options of how we could spend our limited time. We choose to concentrate on the Gion district, famous the Geshia. After the 1.3 hour travel to Kyoto Shu had the whole day planned out for us and we arrived prepared to make the most of our day. The highlights that Shu guided us to were prefect for an overview of Gion. Shu's in depth knowledge of Kyoto was the key. In addition he was very personable and considerate of our energy limitations (this was the 27 day of an 34 day cruise; 5 counties and 16 ports). Shu made sure we were safe in all high traffic/crowd situations. The conversations we had Shu during our visit, breathe life into the Japanese culture and enhanced our day. To add to our memories once home, he took over 30 excellent pictures of my wife and myself at the high points of our day and email them to us. We made the most of our day in Gion and then Shu traveled with us back to the ship in Osaka with 30 minutes to spare before the ship's departure. Perfect timing. My wife and I travel the world and this was our sixth time in Asia. However, Shu's professionalism, knowledge and caring made it the very best personal guided tour we have taken. Thank you Shu! If you are looking for a personal tour around Kyoto, Shu is your man.

It was a fantastic trip. Kyoto and the surrounding areas were stunning. Our tour guide, Khalid, set up a great itinerary for us, and we had a great day out.

I enjoyed seeing all the sights. We were able to see so much in a short amount of time. Out guide was very good about making sure we saw as much as possible and also getting us back to the ship on time.