Kyoto Full Day Sightseeing Tour from Osaka or Kyoto

Was a great day trip , very tiring from lots of walking. Anson was a good guide , knew many facts about all the sites as well as Japan in general

The guide( steven) is Japanese : it is hard to understand his English & his pronunciation. . Thus company did not provide the correct meeting point with proper map and building landmark. The driver contact info and your bus info was not provided until 5 mins before departures. We had to call & text the driver multiple times locate the tour bus departure point. This to our guide likes to communicate through WhatsApp: so if you don't have any WiFi on your phone in Japan, you are out of luck. The bus was parked at a different place than the original meeting point as mentionsd in the Viator app.: this guide does not know how to conduct a tour with people of all ages: he walks too fast for people over 50, and then he goes far ahead , and you lose him after the first 100 feet of a guided tour. Thus was really not acceptable way to conduct a tour like this.

Unfortunately it didn’t meet our expectations, clearly was miss advertised as it wasn’t clear that each stop would be “ self guided “, this was disappointing, moreover, the English speaking skills of our “ guide “ (who was not indeed a guide) were poor, making it difficult to understand. Additionally, the use of group chat, links and maps location, while useful, seemed inappropriate considering we wanted to be taken care off, not worried about everything.

Was a really great tour with a really great tour guide (Amy). The only complaints we would have would be maybe needing more time at the Golden Pavillion and a little less at Fushimi Inari Taisha. Otherwise perfect tour that we would recommend.

Brian was great and really knowledgeable about all the sites, the tour covered many of the most famous spots in Kyoto and we were given enough time to explore while also being able to shop and dine! Great day :)

Our tour guide was great and helpful and the sites were worth seeing. A little rushed but overall great for the money we paid

The weather was terrible! It rained all day, we got wet, and another passenger stole one of our umbrellas. There were too many stops, which included stops of picking up and dropping off other tourists, which used up too much time and therefore the amount of time to traverse the sites was too limited. We felt like we were always in a rush to get through and just check the box that we visited a site. All of that said, Theodore Chen-San was a nice guide. English was a little hard to understand at times and he spent too much time speaking about personal things instead of focusing on historical and interesting facts about the sites. We would’ve liked to learn more on the tour. Finally, it was a long day. We left in Osaka at 8:00am and didn’t arrive back until almost 7pm.

We had a great day touring the 4 main attractions with our guide Jackson. Everything went smooth and he was very knowledgeable and professional and spoke excellent English. He pointed out the sights not to miss and where best to have lunch etc. it was very crowded due to a national holiday but we still had a great day.

Fantastic experience and the place was beautiful , historical . Different from the places we visited.

First, we were almost left behind. We waited at the designated meeting point (as per the last information sent to us in Osaka), but the guide’s list showed us as a Kyoto pick-up. I messaged him with no response, then called, and he seemed surprised. He eventually came back for us but didn’t apologise. Once on the bus, he placed us at the very back while keeping the front seats free for passengers being picked up in Kyoto. The bus itself had a poor air condition, and unlike other tours we’ve joined, no complimentary refreshments were provided. Regarding the guide: he was not friendly, engaging, or approachable. He had a very strong attitude, did not make the experience enjoyable, and gave the impression of being unprepared. For example, at the Golden Pavilion he didn’t walk with us, just shared some photos and basic information anyone could easily find online. At the Bamboo Grove, he incorrectly stated that no tickets are required , but when I walked to two temples, both still required tickets. With more practice, training, and a friendlier approach, I believe this guide has the potential to create a much more enjoyable experience for future travelers.