Get a deeper experience of Kyoto food culture than would be possible on your own by joining this guided tour. Stroll through the districts of Gion and Pontocho, stopping in to small bars and restaurants to sample traditional drinks and food, as you explore.

Get a richer experience of Kyoto food culture than possible alone
Includes 4-5 food tastings and 3 drinks
Learn about local culture and history from your guide
Small-group tour (maximum 7) ensures a personal experience

What's Included

Full dinner course with a dessert (Vegetarian menu available / vegan & gluten-free are unavailable)
3 drinks (Alcohol and Non-alcohol available)
Tour photos
3 hours with a local guide

Additional drinks and food fee (available for purchase)

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

Statue of Izumo-no-Okuni
Japan, 605-0076 Kyoto, Higashiyama Ward, Kawabatachō, 川端四条
Gion Shijo Station, right outside of Exit 5, in front of Izumo no Okuni Statue. Your guide will be holding an orange board saying "Magical Trip".

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Gion Shirakawa (Pass By)

Gion

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Pontocho District

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Kawaramachidori

1 hour • Admission Ticket Not Included

Kamogawa River (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation
Infants must sit on laps
Infant seats available

Not recommended for travellers with back problems
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Most travellers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 7 travellers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveller Photos

Featured review

Nancy_K

Our tour guide was the best. She was very considerate, and she spoke excellent English. Our group had a superb time and the food was delicious! I would highly recommend this tour.

Reviews

5.0

528 reviews

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

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 528 reviews

Don’t skip this tour if you’re in Kyoto!!!

Ruth_S, Sept 2023

This food tour was beautifully designed. We met at an easy to find location. The three establishments we visited were excellent. The foods and beverages were all unique and delicious. We ate so much we couldn’t finish dessert.

Great experience!!!

Wiebke_R, July 2023

We had a great tour with Nami and Tomoe. Both were incredibly nice and explained a lot to us. We visited a total of 3 different restaurants - a good mix of main courses, drinks and dessert - everything was delicious.

Fun, delicious, relaxed

Paul_M, July 2023

Our guide Hugo was fantastic! Even it was extremely busy in Kyoto he didn’t hurry and made this a great relaxed food experience. We received some recommendations for some nice bars as well.

Intro to nightlife/restaurant scene

Zaineb_S, July 2023

Had a lovely time trying out local restaurants and our guide Yuka was very nice and very knowledgeable. I highly recommend to do it your first night in Kyoto as it will provide you with enough info about nightlife for the rest of your stay.

Yummy time in Osaka tasking all of the local food choices

Nancy_K, May 2023

Our tour guide was the best. She was very considerate, and she spoke excellent English. Our group had a superb time and the food was delicious! I would highly recommend this tour.

Fab food tour

Karen_Y, Apr 2023

We had a great tour with Gizel who was delightful and very knowledgable. Great company and fab food. We were taken to places we wouln’t have known about.

A must do

abhinav_r, Feb 2023

If you want experience Japanese Cuisine and Sake, this is your one stop shop to do what locals do. Keep your stomachs Empty is what I would recommend

A really nice way to spend an evening

Jay_B, Nov 2022

We had a great tour with Nobu as our guide. After 2 weeks in Japan, we were still taken to try food and drinks that we had not yet seen anywhere else. The locations were great, and the variety of options allowed for everyone to match their preferences. Would absolutely recommend to anyone in Kyoto looking for guidance and a good evening with others.

Give it a pass

Diana_K, Nov 2022

We’ve done food walking tours in many cities around the world, this one was not the best. Our guide, Akari, was so sweet and nice and tried so hard to make the evening successful. However, the company, Magical Trips, sets the 3 restaurants that you choose from a special Magical Trips menu specific to the tour. It felt like we were the American tourists being fed at the restaurant with discounts for the tour. Rather than introducing us to foods, people chose what they knew. The first restaurant was not good at all although the other 2 were very good. We’ve done 2 food tours in Tokyo which were far superior in every category. It would also be helpful and interesting to hear the history of Kyoto, the areas we were visiting or stories about the food. We walked away not knowing anything more than when we started. For the money spent, we could’ve eaten at a high level restaurant with incredible food. We were lucky we had a good group of people and a nice guide which made it a pleasant evening.

Response from Host, Feb 2023

Hi, Thank you for your feedback and Thank you for the good review to our guide. We are sorry to hear about your experience. We are sorry that we couldn't offer food that fits your preference on your tour. Most of our customers love our original menu chosen by locals. And, we carefully select a variety of authentic food and drink loved by locals. Our apologies again & best wishes for your future journey. Yours sincerely, Magical Trip Support Team.

Don't waste your time

Katherine_R, Dec 2019

Interested in learning about local cuisine through carefully curated local restaurants? Want to explore Kyoto with a friendly and knowledgeable guide? Well then this is NOT the tour for you. Our guide clearly did not want to be there and couldn’t answer simple questions about food / culture / recommendations in Kyoto, and specifically the Gion area that we were paying to hear his expertise about. He said that he had only led tours in Gion twice and that the company puts their guides all over the city on different days. He also mentioned that personally he doesn't spend time in Gion as it's too expensive, which is fine but awfully strange.that he's then considered our "expert" guide in that area. We have done food tours all over the world, and typically love them as they’re a fantastic way to learn more about the culture while eating delicious local foods. On this tour, rather than arriving at Stop #1 and being presented with a specialty dish of that restaurant, we were handed a TOUR-branded menu and told to pick whatever we wanted off the list. No recommendations given about house specialties. No knowledge shared about traditional eats in that establishment. Nothing that we were paying for. When I finally asked our guide how the restaurants were chosen (as it was abundantly clear he hadn’t done the choosing based on his own experience), he said he thinks his manager picks based on tourist reviews online. If this is in fact the case, what were paying for? Certainly not expert local knowledge and off-the-beaten-path experiences if we were being handed a tour-branded menu and given zero recommendations on food orders. That was the last straw for us so we left only 1 stop into a 3 stop tour, not wanting to waste any more of our precious evening in Kyoto.

Response from Host, Feb 2020

Hello, thank you for choosing our experience and taking your time to leave us the honest feedback. It is disappointing to hear you could not enjoy the tour. We chose the restaurants carefully but we are sorry for not being able to provide you with an experience meeting your expectation. Sincerely, Magical Trip Support Team

kyoto foodie tour

Philip C, Sept 2019

Good value food and drinks. the first stop in a traditional building upstairs was great. the rest lacked atmosphere. Host was pleasant but young and limited on history, good on current life in Japan.