Private Tour
Available languages
8 hours
Mobile ticket
If you have only one day in Kyoto and want to see all the top 10 must-see spots of Kyoto, this tour is the best for you.
A professional local guide shows you the best, comfortable and convenient way to the spots. And you can enjoy walking along with the beautiful sceneries, paths, and back alleys only the local people know.
We use taxis 3-4 times to save you time and energy. This tour is a mixture of public transport and taxis.
Thanks to taxis and a friendly local professional guide, you can visit the 10 most famous attractions such as the Fushimi Inari shrine (thousands of Torii gate), Golden Pavilion, Kiyomizu temple (with huge balcony), bamboo forest, Geisha district, and so on.
If you check the spots you can visit on this tour, you can notice that all must-see points in Kyoto are included!!
Please enjoy the top ten spots with the beautiful stories of your guide.
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Public transportation options are available nearby
Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
You will visit so many places only one day so you can not change the itinerary, lunch place and starting point.
If you have some food you can not eat, please inform us when you book this tour
This tour will take you to not only tourist attractions, but also to nice Japanese-style streets and back alleys. Please wear comfortable shoes.
Many places in Kyoto such as temples and taxis do not accept credit cards. Please be sure to have some Japanese yen ready before joining the tour.
*On very hot summer days, it is recommended to change to Plan B course, which requires fewer steps and takes you to Chishakuin Temple( a hidden gem indoor temple) and Sanjusangendo Temple(famous for a forest of Buddhist statues).
The cab can accommodate four people. 3 guests + a guide, so if there are 4 guests, two taxis are required.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Infants under 3 years old are free of charge.
English speaking Professional Guide
Age 3 and up are charged the same rate as adults.
Pick up service: not included
for all temples(1500yen par person)
*This tour uses both taxi and public transportation(1000yen per person)
Taxi: (7000 〜9000 yen per cab for all rides) If You are 4 or more people, you need two cabs.
Kinkakuji Temple
You can see the shining golden pavilion which used to be the political center of the Shogun(the head of Samurai warrior).It is one of the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites in Kyoto.
Bamboo Forest Street
You will go through the Bamboo forest. This beautiful bamboo forest appears many times in the advertisement poster of Kyoto.
929 reviews
Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor
velvin,
Sep 11, 2025
- Viator
We enjoyed exploring Kyoto with Hide - Takuhide"Hide" Kido. Hide made the tour personal and interesting, as he knew his history. Would definitely recommend.
Robert S,
Sep 10, 2025
- Viator
Our tour guide Naoko was very good and had an excellent day planned and coordinated for us while allowing flexibility. She met us right outside our subway gate at the beginning of the tour and we hit the ground running. Naoko was professional, having come prepared with a binder of additional pictures and information that she leafed through and added history and stories throughout each of our stops. She was friendly and knowledgeable, and we’d definitely recommend her. My wife and I had already seen fushimi inari-taisha shrine, which was one of the 10 must see spots on the tour, however we messaged Naoko ahead of time on WhatsApp and she was able to accommodate skipping that one at our request and adding another incredible recommendation and stop in its place. We instead went to Sanjūsangendō Temple with the 1000 Buddha statues which was very impressive and fascinating. Naoko also pointed out good photograph areas and took photos for us at many locations. The tour itself was great. We hit so many awesome spots in one super condensed day. We were in Kyoto for 5 days, but we’d especially recommend this trip if your time in Kyoto is limited. Be prepared to walk, we were at around 20,000 steps that day. Be prepared to take public transportation, and know that transportation and admission fees at the sights is not included in the cost of the tour. Admission tickets were usually around 500 yen per person. Subways and buses were a few hundred yen per person. We ended up taking two taxis for convenience and per recommendation which ran like 3500 yen or so. We were always given the option to say no to entering a location, as well as an option between modes of transportation.
Brooke B,
Sep 10, 2025
- Viator
We booked the tour on recommendation from a friend who recently had been to Japan. And we are so glad we did. Our guide Yuko was amazing. She was super friendly and super knowledgeable. We learnt so much about japans history, the meanings behind different things and were taken to some amazing locations. While it was a long day, it was worth every minute of it.
Susan A,
Sep 7, 2025
- Viator
In the past I've usually done sites like these on my own but honestly, having a guide is a much richer experience with far less effort! Yoshi was both knowledgeable and personable. He shared interesting stories at each spot, seemlessly guided us between locations, and found the most excellent spot for lunch. I had a great day and highly recommend this tour as a way of seeing Kyoto's highlights. *Do try to bring enough cash for all the taxis if you can - the taxi drivers appreciate it, so they don't incur financial EFTPOS costs.
Amy A,
Sep 7, 2025
- Viator
Hiro was super knowledgeable, very professional & you could completely tell that he loves what he does. Would recommend him & this tour without any hesitation. We even tried to book him for another day of sightseeing but unfortunately he was completely booked.
Operated by EE tour