Kyoto Private Day Trip - Enjoy Your First-Time Visit to Kyoto!
Description
This is a one-day tour of Kyoto's must-see sights, very popular in any season and safe for first-time travelers to Kyoto. You will visit Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, Kiyomizu Temple, Nijo Castle, and Kinkakuji Temple, all of which are the main attractions of Kyoto! Select the "customizable tour " option and contact your guide 2 weeks in advance to create a fully personalized itinerary. At Fushimi Inari, enjoy the mysterious 'Senbon-torii'. Kiyomizu-dera Temple offers a unique view of Kyoto from its stage, while Nijo Castle showcases gorgeous old architecture. Kinkaku-dera Temple, known for its golden building, is said to be the origin of the 'Golden Land' ・Enjoy a jam-packed itinerary without worrying about planning ・Mastered guide - our guide have a great guide experience and have deep knowledge of Kyoto ・Avoid language barriers—no worry about the language barrier! ・If you would like to request a limo service by which you can go around with private car, select "with limo" option
Tour Options
Itinerary
Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine： The shrine is famous for the fantastic scenery of the thousand torii gates that line the approach to the shrine. These torii gates were placed at the shrine to pray for the safe fulfillment of wishes and as a token of gratitude for the fulfillment of wishes. Visit the shrine, which has been widely worshipped not only by emperors, aristocrats, and warriors, but also by the general public.
Kiyomizudera： It is a World Heritage temple that represents Kyoto. Kiyomizu-dera, one of the most visited temples in Japan, is said to have started with the enshrining of a statue of Kannon (the name of Guanyin in Japanese), known for her compassion. You can get a full view of the beautiful streets of Kyoto from the famed stage of Kiyomizu-dera that protrudes from the mountainside.
It is part of the approach to Kiyomizu Temple and is said to have been used by Toyotomi Hideyoshi's wife Kita no Mandokoro. Along with Ninen-zaka, it is designated as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings in Kyoto City. The winding stone pavement and stone steps are lined with old-fashioned buildings on both sides, and it is one of the focal points for sightseeing at Kiyomizu.
Gion / Hanami-Koji Street： This place, popular with tourists, is the main street of the Gion area. There are many Kyoto-esque buildings both within and around the avenue, such as Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, as well as teahouses, all lined up next to each other. If you are lucky, you may even spot geishas and maikos making their way in the back alleys!
Nijo Castle, the place of glory and demise of the Tokugawa Shogunate, is a valuable castle holding Japanese history. Here you can sit in the garden and enjoy the view, a small break after the busy tourist rush.
Also known as the Golden Pavillion. It is busy all year around, but this is a must-see!
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- All transportation costs, entrance fees, food and drink costs, etc. incurred at the visited spots, will be borne by the customer.
- Please wear comfortable clothing as you will be walking a lot.
- If you choose the "Taxi Preference", all taxi fares incurred during the tour, including those for the guide, are also the responsibility of the guest.
- For customizable tour option: Please note that if you do not respond to us, the tour will be conducted according to the standard itinerary.
- For customizable tour option: The hotels that can be designated as meeting places must be in the city of Kyoto.
Reviews(136)
We had an incredible day exploring Kyoto and experiencing so much of its history, culture, and amazing food with Osuga Eriko. One of the highlights was visiting Fushimi Inari Taisha with the beautiful 10,000 torii gates winding up the mountain. Walking through the endless gates was unforgettable. We also visited Nijō Castle, the shogun’s residence, where we learned more about Japan’s feudal history and enjoyed the beautiful architecture and gardens. The Tō-ji temple with its gorgeous pagodas and Kinkaku-ji’s Golden Pavilion and gardens were stunning. Kyoto was a beautiful blend of history, tradition, and amazing food. It was a wonderful tour.
This was a personalized tour. The tour guide (Tokiko Inoue) was fantastic. Very friendly and extremely patient and accommodating to our needs. My husband hurt his back before the trip and had mobility issues during the tour which was also on a hot (90 degrees) and humid day. Tokiko paced the tour beautifully so we could hit all the right spots. She is very knowledgeable of Japanese history and made the tour very interesting around all the temples, shrines and castles we visited.
Kyoko was an amazing tour guide! She was so sweet and knowledgeable and her English is FABULOUS. She was also so great helping accommodate my family and their dietary needs. 10/10 recommend
An amazing experience. Kyoko was an amazing tour guide. She was very kind and super knowledgeable. The best tour in Kyoto!
Kyoko was such an incredible tour guide for our family. We did a private family 1 day tour to cover the main sites in Kyoto as we were only visiting Kyoto for 2 days. Kyoko’s English was perfect. She was so personable and easy to learn from. The highlights she picked out for us and her explanations of the history was so interesting. She was so organized. We saw a ton of sites… 1. ⛩️ Fushimi Inari Taisha 2. 🍱 Nishiki Market 3. ⛩️ Kinkaku-ji — Golden Pavilion 4. 🌿 Arashiyama Bamboo Grove 5. 🏯 Tenryu-ji Temple + Garden Lunch was one of our very favorites experiences focusing on all the tofu delicacies. Everyone in our family LOVED the experience and food. Highly recommend this experience and highly recommend Kyoko as a guide. We have been touring for 10 days and Personally feel Kyoko is the Best guide in Japan. Thank you Kyoko for a wonderful day🩷
We had a great time! Lots of walking!!
I booked a 7hr Private Customizable Tour with Expert Guides, with OTOMO tours. The tour included a private driver and car - the tour guide and private car cost 990.78USD. I filled out a survey (well in advance) of the sites we wanted to see and gave some specifics of interest for one particular shrine. Our tour guide should have been well prepared. What this young man did was pull out his phone and READ a BRIEF paragraph for each of the spots we visited - I had read more online and was better informed (and I didn’t put that much work in, since I was paying for an expert guide). It was insulting, to hear other tours being conducted in a professional manner, while he just walked around taking pictures with his phone. I asked him a question at one of the temples and he pointed to a placard. It took everything inside of me to be polite. The final straw was when we went to the temple where I had written prior, temple specific places of interest, and he had zero idea of what I wanted to see, or where to find the buildings - I had to look at a map with him. It was obvious he didn’t even bother to read my pre-tour survey that OTOMO tours had me fill out. Oh, and to add insult to injury, the cost of the tour does not include his entrance fees - my husband and I felt like we like he was taking a tour with us, not giving one … we were paying on both ends - for nothing. Beyond insulting. We ended the tour 2 hours early - we were not going to pay the entrance fees anymore and we could just as easily do a internet search on our own. I contacted OTOMO tours during our tour to express my profound disappointment. They apologized and said they would speak with him - this kid shared with me that he is moving to France for college - he made a quick, easy buck and is gone. We would have been better off just hiring a private car - we would have saved a ton of money. We feel completely taken advantage of - we do not recommend this tour company for such a high dollar tour. What a waste of time and money.
We sincerely apologize for the disappointing experience you had during your tour. We take your feedback very seriously, especially regarding the guide’s preparation, level of explanation, and handling of your pre-tour requests. We are currently confirming the details of the situation directly with the guide and will take the necessary actions based on our review. We will also contact you directly again regarding this matter. Once again, we deeply apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment caused.
We had a private tour with Yasuko from 11 am to 5 pm. It was a WONDERFUL experience. We went to the Nishiki market where she helped us find great new foods, purchase a Japanese knife, and more! We also rented kimonos, visited a temple where she taught us how to pray properly, did a tea ceremony, and learned a lot about Kyoto history and culture. Yasuko was a great tour guide and a very kind person. She helped a ton with booking the activities and easing language barriers. I would recommend her to everyone!
KIYOSHI was a fabulous guide. He was very attentive to our wishes of what we wanted to see and he adjusted the itinerary as it got quite hot and very crowded. He took us to some beautiful out of the way places with very few people in attendance. We very much appreciated his efforts, enthusiasm and flexibility!
Kiyoshisan was an excellent guide and showed us many beautiful historical places. As it got hot and crowded he quickly shifted the itinerary to temples and shrines in quieter locations with fewer people which made the experience more enjoyable. We spent a delightful day with him and I would highly recommend his services.
