Kyoto One Day Tour with a Local: 100% Personalized & Private

Name: Kyoto One Day Tour with a Local: 100% Personalized & Private
Brand: City Unscripted
SKU: 30791P245
Price: 280.84 USD
Rating: 4.5 (29 reviews)

Badge of ExcellenceKyoto, Japan

PERSONALISED FULL DAY IN KYOTO WITH A LOCAL

8 hours
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

This personalized full-day Kyoto tour with a local is ideal for first-time visitors to the "City of Temples". You won’t waste a moment visiting places that don’t interest you as this tour is fully customizable based on your interests. Choose the neighborhoods you’d like to visit, and see many of Kyoto’s top sites. Exploring the city with a guide means you won’t get lost, and you'll learn lots of local tips that you wouldn’t discover otherwise.

A great way to see Kyoto from a local’s perspective
A personalized tour means you’ll visit only the places that interest you
A walking tour takes you to places you couldn’t get to by car or bus
See multiple top Kyoto sites on one tour such as Kinkaku-ji Temple

What's Included

Private and personalized experience
8 hours with a host
Walking experience (if required, your host can suggest public transport or taxi options)
Hotel meet-up (available on request for central location)

Food and drinks
Tickets to any attractions
Transportation costs
Gratuities (optional)

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Starbucks Coffee - Kyoto Sanjo-ohashi Bridge
Japan, 604-8004 Kyoto, Nakagyo Ward, Nakajimachō, １１３近江屋ビル 1F
(The host will be waiting in front of Starbucks Coffee) After booking, you can adjust the meeting point to fit your preferences with the help of our Experience Planners.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Kyoto Station Building (Pass By)

Kinkakuji Temple (Pass By)

Kitano Tenmangu Shrine (Pass By)

Kamishichiken Kaburenjo Theatre (Pass By)

Kiyomizu-dera Temple (Pass By)

Sannenzaka Ninenzaka (Pass By)

Hokan-ji Temple (Pass By)

Yasui-Konpiragu (Pass By)

Yasaka Shrine (Pass By)

Gion (Pass By)

Teramachi-dori Street (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Private groups are normally no larger than 6 people (if your group is larger, please make this known so that arrangements can be made)
Stroller accessible

Service animals allowed
Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

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

Reviews

4.5

29 reviews

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

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 29 reviews

Excellent introduction to Kyoto

carey_a, Apr 2024

Excellent and knowledgeable guide who very quickly and perceptively figured out our interests, how much ground we could cover, and what “extra” experiences we would like.

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Providing personalized and memorable experiences is always our goal, and we're delighted that our guide could exceed your expectations. Thank you sincerely!

Definitely Recommend

Aiden_F, Dec 2023

I had Alex as my tour guide and he was very knowledgeable and very friendly. Five stars all around!!

Response from Host, Dec 2023

Hey Aiden! I'm genuinely thrilled that you had such an awesome time with Alex. It sounds like it was more than just a tour – more like hanging out with a knowledgeable friend, right? We can't wait to have you back for another round of fantastic experiences!

Best Way to See Kyoto in 1 Day

Andrew_G, Oct 2023

My tour guide's name was Alex, and he was fantastic! I had very limited time in Kyoto during my trip to Japan (only about 48 hours), and he helped me maximize that time with this tour. While I wish I could have spent more time in such a wonderful city, Alex's tour helped make sure I left Kyoto feeling like I got a proper experience... wanting more time to go deeper into the city because it was so spectacular, but fulfilled where I feel like I had spent much more time there than I actually did. He picked out a great ramen spot for lunch and showed me all over the city. I highly recommend starting your visit to Kyoto with this tour... it's especially good if you want to fit a lot into a limited amount of time like I did!

Great to learn the city on first day!

Katherine_S, May 2023

We had a wonderful experience exploring Kyoto with our guide! The tour organizers provide a survey when you book, which you can use to specify the types of experiences you are interested in. We found this helpful, but our guide went above and beyond by emailing us separately to ask for more information about what we wanted to do during the tour. We were able to see lots of different areas of the city and got to use public transit -- very easy to use but it was helpful to have our guide show us how the bus/train systems work. We did the tour on the first day of our 5 days in Kyoto to get a sense of the city, and we got lots of ideas and recommendations for the rest of our trip. Definitely recommend!

Eko is the best tourguide

Yelena_E, Apr 2023

We had an amazing experience with Eko, who took us around Kyoto for two days. He is very knowledgeable and very good at navigating public transportation. We were able to see many sights very efficiently. Eko was very thoughtful, patient and attentive to every request we had.

Great guide and personalised tour!

Dominic_W, Mar 2023

Great day and tour with Oussama! Oussama contacted me a few days ahead of schedule to organise the tour to maximise time so I could enjoy Kyoto !!! Great guide who suited my tempo and lead to a fantastic day! Also helped me takd tons of photos!!!

Vanessa was fantastic....

Victoria_K, Nov 2022

Vanessa was fantastic. Highly recommend a private tour. Custom itinerary was well thought out. Vanessa shared valuable information and brought meaning to the gardens and temples. We look forward to returning and booking Vanessa again. Thanks !

Felt Like A Local

Kadian_W, Apr 2022

I had a most memorable day with Taibi! It didn't feel as if I was with a guide. I felt like I had known him all my life. He's Moroccan, but has lived in Japan for over 20 years so had extensive knowledge of Kyoto. He took me to the places where the locals hang out and made sure that I didn't feel like a tourist. Hands down the best experience I've had and I travel quite frequently. I legit didn't want to leave. Saw so much of Kyoto in 8 hours and now I'm planning my next trip back! 🙌🏾

Kyoto on foot

Peter_E, Mar 2020

Excellent walking and public transport tour Helped us find spots we didn’t even know existed. Our guide was most informative about history and also everyday life in Japan.

Kyoto

Eric_G, Feb 2020

Juraj (pronounced “your I”) was an absolutely amazing tour guide. He catered the tour to the types of sites we wanted to see and was so knowledgeable about the sites, the history, and the legends. We had ample time at each location and learned so much about the area. In addition to the tour highlights, he showed us little local places to eat, to shop, and to explore. At day’s end, he recommended a fantastic local hot pot restaurant, which was both delicious and reasonable. Definitely ask for Juraj on your next tour of Kyoto, Tokyo, or Osaka. In addition to being a great guide, he is also a really nice and interesting person, which made the day fly by.

City unscripted personal guide

Robert_F, Jan 2020

Eko was outstanding! Kind, friendly, knowledgeable, and completely accommodating to our wish list of sites to see. Our first personal tour experience, and we will do nothing else in the future.

Response from Host, Jan 2020

Hi foglerbob, We provide private and personalised experiences because we believe that this is the best way to connect with the city in your own way, and to get the most out of your limited time when you travel. So happy to hear you loved your experience with Eko! Hope to see you soon in one of our 46+ destinations! Anna Kerekes Co-founder | City Unscripted

Great overview of the city

Keith_M, Nov 2019

Justus was a great guide, knowledgeable and insightful on historical and cultural details. We used taxis to get round, not cheap but we saw a lot more of the city.

Not what was expected! Beware of hidden fees!

Kathleen_B, Jul 2019

When I book this private tour, my confirmation indicated that my tour guide would meet me at my hotel..However, the guide called me from Japan and indicated that he would require payment for his transportation to my hotel...I explained that my confirmation indicated that it was included in my price. The tour guide said he would have City Unscripted reach out to me about this. I waited 3 days and never heard back from them and I had to board the plane to Japan and the tour was scheduled for the next day. Well, the tour guide did show up to my hotel the next morning, put required me to pay his transportation fees BEFORE the tour would begin. (I felt bullied and trapped). He also expected me to pay his entire day on transportation and lunch....which I did and included train and bus day passes..This was NOT indicated on the "what is included or NOT included" and really put my in a financially stressed position...Since I had only arrived late the night before, I only carried a small amount of Yen ($100 US dollars worth) with me..This, then, was spent on transportation fees for him that I was not expecting, did not allow for me to buy any lunch for myself. Luckily he was not a big eater and ate from the street food. My guide was nice, but his english dialect was hard for me to understand. Though he talked alot-(mostly about western girls) he shared very little about the history, culture or information about the places and temples visited. So... I feel this tour would be good if you are only expecting to get from one place to another.