Discover the sights of Kyoto that interest you the most on this customizable sightseeing tour. Alongside a private driver-guide, make an itinerary of your desired attractions or get recommendations to create your perfect day. Whether you want to focus on temples, culture, shopping, or Japanese history, this tour has everything covered for you.

Learn about Kyoto’s history and culture from your guide
Get a comprehensive overview of Kyoto in a day
In case of traffic, extra time is given free of charge
A private tour means a personalized experience

What's Included

Air-conditioned vehicle
Private transportation
Fuel Fees, Toll Fees

Entrance Fees
Accommodation Fees
Meals (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner...)
Parking Fees

Meeting And Pickup

You can head directly to your preferred meeting point, or request pickup.

Meeting points

Select a meeting point

Type to search

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Pickup details

***This is a door-to-door service. Other than hotels, ryokans, and ports listed above, we pick up and drop off all guests at other types of accommodation like AirBNB, Train Stations or their desired destinations within the traveled city. ***Pick up and drop off time could be arranged according to your convenience. ***Extra Charge will be applied for Kansai International Airport (KIX) Transfers.

What To Expect

Arashiyama

1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Kinkakuji Temple

40 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine

40 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Kiyomizu-dera Temple

1 hour • Admission Ticket Not Included

Gion

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Sanjusangendo Temple

40 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Ginkakuji Temple

1 hour • Admission Ticket Not Included

Nishiki Market Shopping District

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Kyoto Imperial Palace

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Nijo Castle

1 hour • Admission Ticket Not Included

Eikando Zenrinji Temple

1 hour • Admission Ticket Not Included

Yasaka Shrine

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation

Infant seats available
Most travellers can participate
This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

Cancellation Policy

This experience is non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason. If you cancel or ask for an amendment, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Traveller Photos

Reviews

4.0

46 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 46 reviews

Our Gide was absolutely...

Roger_H, May 2023

Our Gide was absolutely incredible, she helped us every step of the way, we will miss her and wish her well!!!!

Tour Guide did not know history, facts etc. of Kyoto

Steven_P, May 2023

Be careful of this operator. This tour included a tour guide and a driver to take us to the various sights. My guide, although a very nice young man, knew very little of Kyoto's history, culture, the temples/shrines/sights we went to, etc. He was not from Japan, was not a certified tour guide and did was unable to make the tour an informative experience. I realized this at the very start of the tour, and I asked my guide to call his supervisor and change guides. They didn't make a change. The tour was not informative. I was pretty upset. If you want to take a few pictures and be able to say "I was there", then the tour is fine, albeit expensive. The tour was about US $900 and that basically paid the car/driver fare.

Response from Host, May 2023

Dear Steven, Thank you for your review. This tour provides car and driver. However, we provided you with a private car, Japanese driver and English speaking assistance on that day. The driver and assistance did walk and guide you at each site. We do recommend you to read carefully before booking as it’s not fair for our company, our driver and assistance to be blamed by your mistake or expectation in this case. It’s clearly shown on our product that the driver will drive and guide you. The tour doesn’t include any licensed professional tour guide. It’s not okay to use our car, driver and assistance for 8-hour then request for refund after the tour. If you think this tour is expensive, you should not take it from the beginning. It’s not okay to cancel or request for any changes on the day when the car, driver and assistance already at your hotel and ready for the tour.

Nice trip

Vimal_P, May 2023

Guide was helpful and friendly. He showed us and explained various important sites. He was very knowledgeable about the place and it’s history

The best thing I did!

Sharadha_K, May 2023

Fatima and our driver (I am sorry I dont recall the gentlemen's name) were phenomenal. It felt as though we were traveling with family and touring the place. I highly recommend!

Wonderful day in Kyoto and Osaka!

Jane_V, May 2023

This is a top notch tour! Erico showed us so much of the Kyoto/ Osaka area. She took us to everything we wanted to see and so much more! We loved the Golden Pavilion and the Nishiki Market. One of our favorite areas were the Gion Area. The most interesting area was the Fashimi Inari Taisha Temple. Erico taught us how to be respectful in all of the temple areas. Our last stop was Dontonbori Street. Very busy area and fun to walk around in. I would highly recommend this tour and Erico! We saw so much in a limited time in this port!

Sadly disappointed

Lyone_H, May 2023

Having travelled half way around the world and looking forward to an exciting and informative private tour we only had a driver with limited English language skills. HE WAS ON HIS CELLPHONE AND TEXTING a good deal of the time and virtually all during the driving. We had to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention with his earphones in. We received no history or description during the 8 hours. I had communicated with the Viator tour operator and done extensive planning only to be sadly disappointed. This was the worst tour we have ever had. Don’t be disappointed and use another company.

Highly recommended for Family!!!

Jonathan_A, Apr 2023

For family of 7pax with 3 senior citizens this tour with toyota hi-ace van rental is highly recommendable!!! I want to commend our driver/tour guide/photographer Naoya!!! I would like to give credit to his service is 5 star⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ superb and excellent service. He really made a great effort to converse in English eventhough he is not that fluent; Google translator is the key 😅 The tour itinerary is spot on, with the 8-hour rental span they efficiently customized the schedule to make sure that we enjoy the best tourist spots of Kyoto.

Nara Kyoto tour

Kalinga_Y, Apr 2023

Our tour was very good ,we completed most of places within short the day. Our Driver/Guide was a good understanding person . He tried cover as much as possible .One negative remark was he was not a real guide, didn't do guide job ,but driving only .

Great experience!

Linnea_H, Apr 2023

We had a great time! It was a busy schedule, but we wanted to see as much as humanly possible. The guide was very kind and accommodating.

Terrible

VonKrieger, Apr 2023

Your firm was supposed to be working with the tour operator regarding a refund, the guide spoke NO ENGLISH (English was promised), and the Guide was sick. I have not heard a word from you for two weeks after you promised me a resolution in one week. Your organization is weak.

OK tour

John_H, Apr 2023

The tour was OK…the guide could barely speak English and spent a lot of time on his phone…The tour content was good, however the guide was not personable.

Ichiro made our tour just amazing!

HEATHER_S, Apr 2023

Such an amazing experience with Ichiro! It was Misty rain most of the day but he made sure everything was still just perfect. Can not recommend this tour enough. I can only wish that you get him as your guide as well! So personable and patient! Everything we chose was planned out just right. Highly recommend!

Terrible experience

Claudina_V, Apr 2023

Our initial tour guide contacted us but then he cancelled and another person turned up to pick us up. The car in which we travelled from place to place smelled HORRIBLE. It was a torture every time we had to get into the van. The guide didn’t talk to us, he just drove us around stopped at places and would accompany us barely saying anything. He would talk on the phone all day long. I don’t recommend this tour at all.

Dalivanh was very helpful...

Ellie_T, Apr 2023

Dalivanh was very helpful and fluent English speaker. She worked with us in our pace and overall very pleasant and professional.

Exploring Kyoto!

Rex_H, Apr 2023

Seiya was an outstanding driver and guide. Regardless of the rain the day of our tour with him, we still made all the stops we wanted to make. He made adjustments as needed to deal with the problems created by the rain. He was very attentive to our individual requests and needs throughout the day and we really enjoyed his energy and sense of humor. Unfortunately, his English was quite limited, but we used Google Translate and one of our friends spoke Japanese, so it didn’t pose much of any problem.

Felt let down.

Narinder_S, Apr 2023

The tour itself was good and covered a lot of excellent spots. However, our Guide could speak very little English and did his best to communicate using Google Translator. This was an expensive, private tour so we felt let down that the Guide was neither too knowledgeable about each place we visited nor did he speak good English. To give him credit, he made a big effort!

Well recommended

Alexa_S, Apr 2023

Seiya San was such an amazing Guide and Driver too. He made the day goes smoothly even with the rain. He was very accommodating and understanding of our needs. He gave us such an amazing tour an insight (it helps that he is born and bred in Kyoto). Great experience for us and our family and I created memories to last a lifetime.

Whilst we enjoyed what we...

Helen_W, Apr 2023

Whilst we enjoyed what we saw it wasn’t our suggested itinerary. Our main issue was we asked for an English speaking guide and whilst he did speak some english it was very little.

You will see all the tourist spots

Cody_N, Apr 2023

This was our main tour of Kyoto. We are two adults and a 12 year old seasoned traveler. Taka our guide was very nice and seems incredibly kind. He drove us to all of the tourist spots on the list and one extra as we had a bit of extra time. Taka is a master of taking great pictures and sent them to us on what’s app. Taka is wonderful. The three stars, which means average, not bad were given because the tour was average. All the tourist spots were absolutely and completely full of people. We didn’t get any insight into the real Kyoto. Taka’s only flaw was that he didn’t speak much English so everything was through Google translate, while we appreciate his efforts there is a lot lost when you can’t talk to the guide. We are used to finding the off the beaten path spots and seeing the real city rather than just doing the typical tourist spots and this didn’t do that. This is just our preference.

Kyoto area was one of the best days of our vacation

Catherine_B, Apr 2023

We had the best day in Kyoto with Noaway - he was hilarious. He did not fully speak English, but we were notified and okayed this prior to the day of the tour. We used a translation app when needed and we had the best day with this high energy guy. We were able to pick our stops (Bamboo Forest/shopping in area, Kinkakuji Golden Temple (beautiful!), Fushima Inari (Tori gates/temple) and Gion. I would recommend picking a specific lunch place in advance or, picking up food to go. The restaurants are very busy, and it takes extra time if eating in. We only did the first portion of the Tori gates, it is a 3-hour trek to go to the top and back, but for this trip the first portion was well worth the stop (very impressive). We added Gion last and didn't have much time there but were able to drive around and see the city and some Geisha. There are also many Kimono rentals, but this would be added time if you chose to do that as part of your trip. The entire area is beautiful and definitely a highlight of our trip.