Discover the history and religions of ancient Japan during this full-day exploration of Kyoto and Nara. See Kyoto’s UNESCO World Heritage-listed Kinkaku-ji and Nijo Castle, along with its Imperial Palace. Then drive from Kyoto to Nara to explore its own World Heritage Site, Todai-ji Temple, plus Kasuga Shrine. This hassle-free day trip includes a guide and hassle-free air-conditioned transport between sites.

Full-day sightseeing tour of the ancient sites of Kyoto and Nara
Check off top sights, including Nijo Castle and Kinkaku-ji
Travel to the city of Nara to see the Great Buddha of Todai-ji temple complex
Stress-free air-conditioned transport is included

What's Included

Professional English guide
Air-conditioned vehicle
Lunch (If you choose "With Lunch" option)

Gratuities
Entrance to Treasures Hall and Manyo Botanical Gardens at Kasuga Shrine
Hotel pickup and drop-off

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

JTB SUNRISE TOURS DESK KYOTO
Japan, 601-8003 Kyoto, Minami Ward, Higashikujō Nishisannōchō, ３１ B1F AVANTI
Please meet at Kyoto Avanti B1F(Sunrise Tours desk) by 8:20am, the tour departs at 8:30am.

Start time

08:30 AM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

See the best that the historic cities of Kyoto and Nara have to offer during this full-day tour of the cities’ top temples and sights. It’s a great introduction to the culture and traditions of ancient Japan, along with some time at a nature park thrown in for good measure.

Begin your excursion by stopping by two of Kyoto’s most important highlights with your guide, starting with a stop at Nijo Castle, which was the home of the Tokugawa Shogun until the mid-1800s. This World Heritage-listed site, constructed in 1603, is renowned for the contrasts between its intricate interior and solemn exterior façade.

Head next to Kinkaku-ji, the city’s most popular religious site and what is considered by many to be one of the world’s most elaborate Japanese gardens. Check out the temple’s Golden Pavilion, a 3-story building sheathed in gold leaf and situated beside a picturesque pond, where you can take some great photos.

Move on next to Kyoto’s Imperial Palace, where you have a chance to see the Shishin-den, a key site for important state ceremonies, before wandering the palace’s beautiful grounds.

If you’ve chosen the upgraded option, take a break for an included lunch, then re-board your bus for the drive south to Nara, where you stop by two of the temples and shrines that form the city’s own UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visit Todai-ji, a religious complex known for housing one of the world’s largest statues of the Buddha (Great Buddha Hall) before continuing to the adjacent Nara Park.

Make your next stop of the day at Kasuga Shrine, renowned for the more than 3,000 lanterns lining its interior. Finish your excursion at Nara’s Deer Park, a famous section of Nara Park with free-roaming groups of deer.

Nijo Castle

50 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Kinkakuji Temple

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Kyoto Imperial Palace

40 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Todai-ji Temple

1 hour 10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Kasuga Grand Shrine

50 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation
Infants must sit on laps
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
At reception, please show your reservation confirmation sheet, a printout of the reservation confirmation e-mail, or show the e-mail on your mobile device screen to staff.
The Kyoto Imperial Palace is closed to visitors on Mondays, Tuesday if Monday is a national holiday, and whenever there is an Imperial Household event. As such, the tour will visit Kitano Tenmangu Shrine instead. If the closed day falls on the 25th, the tour will visit Nishi Hongan-ji Temple.
Nijo Castle is closed on Tuesdays in January, July, August, and December. (Closed on the following day if Tuesday is a holiday.) If closed, Ryoan-ji Temple will be visited instead.

Participants will walk from the parking lot to Todai-ji Temple (about 15 min one-way). Thank you for your understanding. Please inform us at the time of booking if any person in your group is using crutches or a wheelchair, or has a chronic illness that makes it difficult to walk for long distances.
At Kasuga Taisha Shrine, the tour does not include entrance to areas requiring admission.
The order of activities and arrival times may differ depending on road conditions and congestion at destinations.
Seats may not be designated.
When "With Lunch" option is selected, a set menu meal will be served for lunch. For those who would like a vegetarian meal, please make sure to inform us at the time of reservation. If requests are not provided in advance, same-day changes cannot be accepted. Halal, gluten-free, and other meal requests are not available.
This tour promotes Environment(Eco)-friendly efforts and Cross-cultural Understanding as stated under Sunrise Tours' Sustainable Development Goals. We advocate for responsible travel, and urge one and all to become responsible travelers.
This is a carbon offset product where a portion of the tour booking charge is spent on renewable energy. By converting some CO2 emissions during the tour to green energy, it's possible to contribute to activities protecting the planet's future.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 40 travelers

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.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Leanne_H

I highly recommend this experience! It was a great way to see a lot of key historical sites (and pet and feed some mostly friendly important deer) in Kyoto and Nara. Miyuki really brings the meaning of her name. Happy beauty! She was an excellent guide and had a lot of information that she could provide and was happy to answer any and all questions and take a few pictures as well. Mr. Kawabata was an incredible driver and also incredibly polite! We had a great time, learned a lot, and saw incredible sites. Definitely recommend if you're an English speaker visiting Japan for the first time! Arigatou gozaimasu!!

Reviews

4.5

404 reviews

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

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 404 reviews

Day full of amazing experiences

Roberto_Q, Apr 2024

Be ready to have a day packed with amazing views and great photo opportunities. The service provided by Momo and the driver was amazing. Please, be on time on the bus! So the tour can work great for everyone.

Keicy the tour guide was...

William_B, Apr 2024

Keicy the tour guide was was knowledgeable, informed and excellent. The bus was comfortable and the lunch was exceptional.

Awesome experience.

Gregory_S, Apr 2024

This was an absolutely great tour. Our guide, Momo, had the perfect personality, was very engaging and entertaining and was very skilled at keeping everyone on time in a kind, gentle but firm way. Sites visited were awesome, lunch (italian) was a pleasant surprise and the bus very comfortable. Great Job!!!

Excellent for English speakers seeing Japan for first time!

Leanne_H, Apr 2024

They entire day was...

Amanda_K, Mar 2024

They entire day was amazing! Our guide, hands-down, made this an unforgettable tour!!! We were a family of 9 and a bus full of tourists that didn't listen or follow the plan and he still made it enjoyable and educational for all!!!

Sick passengers

JENNI_S, Mar 2024

We were very disappointed with this tour. We discontinued after 1.5 hours. Unfortunately there were many sick passengers on the bus without masks. We addressed our concerns twice with the tour guide but we were dismissed. We had people behind us that clearly had the flu - coughing, sneezing and snorting. We were not prepared to put our own health at risk. Very disappointing response from Viator when we escalated a complaint with no refund,

Great Tour!

Alice_H, Feb 2024

Great way to see many sites at once in both Kyoto and Nara! Guide was great and informative! Bus was clean.

Don’t miss this.

Jim_M, Dec 2023

An incredible experience. The sites were amazing and our guide Etsuko was knowledgeable and gracious. I would highly recommend this tour to everyone.

They need to organize the tour more professionally.

Veronica_G, Nov 2023

The person on the bus spoke very poor English. Had difficulty communicating with the passengers. As a result, when we came back to the bus at exact the time he had indicated to us in Nara, the bus had already left without us. The local company did not provide any contact information. They did nothing to contact us.

Do not waste your money on this tour. It os BAD!

Maria_M, Nov 2023

My experience in the Kyoto and Nara tour was very disappointing. The tour guide's English was really bad, making it challenging to comprehend his explanations, which were overly simplistic. The meeting point was unclear, leading to confusion and the risk of getting lost. Regrettably, the agency failed to send vital information via WhatsApp the day before, and attempts to contact them went unanswered. Overall, a frustrating and poorly organized trip.

Great!

Mary_G, Nov 2023

All of it was very enjoyable. Excellent tour guide and bus driver. Got separated from group and both were very kind and helpful.

Good but let's eat togethjer

Bryn_P, Nov 2023

Everything was great about this trip, but I have one thing that can be improved upon. The solo travelers were all isolated at separate tables during lunch. It would have been so much nicer to have had the opportunity to share experiences and talk to each other. Otherwise - great site, a safe driver, a friendly and informative guide. I'd use this company again.

Beautiful sights

Monica_T, Oct 2023

It was a full packed day. Our group was a large one and we would have benefited from having whispers (portable listening devices ) to hear our guide . She was extremely nice and kind but due to the size of our group it was impossible to hear her .

Comfortable travel, pleasant staff and guide

Donna_S, Oct 2023

A lot covered in one day but did not feel overly rushed. A great way to see beautiful historic sites when you don’t have much time.

Good tour

LUIS_G, Oct 2023

Very interesting Tour. Good coordination by KC a very good guide. Only point not so good, lunch time around 50 minutes in Avanti a little bit in a rush after a morning walk and after lunch up and down to go to the meeting point and take the bus for the afternoon Nara visit

Tour was great in...

lucrezia_l, Oct 2023

Tour was great in particular due to our morning guide who was excellent the bad part is the lunch which was terrible in fact we went to McDonald’

Amazing tour

Clarence_E, Oct 2023

We had the most amazing time with this tour. Explored Kyoto in the morning and Nara in the afternoon. Thank you to our tour guide Michi and our driver Kubo. Such an informative tour. Highly recommended

Disappointing

Jane_B, Sep 2023

We booked a day tour which turned out to be a combination of two half day tours; the morning in Kyoto and the afternoon in Nara. That meant that we had to return to the pickup point at lunch time to collect the additional passengers and we had to listen to the same introductory talk and jokes for most of the bus journey to Nara. We would have much preferred to hear more information about Japanese culture, history and religions. Lunch was barely edible. Considering the cost of the tour and the availability of reasonably priced Japanese street food, it should have been very easy to provide an interesting and satisfying meal.

All the best!!!

Trev_T, Sep 2023

Great guide! Covered all the best places in Kyoto and Nara!!! The bus was comfortable and the A/C was welcome!

👍🏽

Vinita_B, Sep 2023

Enjoyed the 1 day tour to Kyoto and Nara. Apart from the hot and humid weather, the whole experience was great. Be prepared to walk a lot. The guide was very knowledgeable and funny.

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