Tea ceremony and kimono experience at Kyoto, Tondaya

Kyoto, Japan

Tea ceremony party at traditional townhouse in Kyoto Nishizin Tondaya

1 hour 30 minutes
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Enjoy a quintessential traditional Japanese experience in the heart of Kyoto. This tea ceremony experience takes place in an historic wooden townhouse ("machiya") where you can soak up traditional Japanese culture. You'll have the opportunity to wear a kimono while experiencing the tea ceremony and learn all about its artful rituals.

Traditional Japanese ceremony in an historic Kyoto house
Learn all the important rituals: No need to fear making mistakes
Opportunity to wear a traditional kimono during the tea ceremony
Lunchtime experiences included a lunch box

What's Included

Tea ceremony experience
Kimono experience
Tour of a townhouse

Lunch

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Tondaya -Nishijin Japanese Cultural Experience Museum
697 Ishiyakushichō, Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto, 602-8226, Japan
※Please bring socks to protect cultural assets. ※Please avoid wearing tight-fitting clothing such as turtlenecks during the kimono experience.

Start time

03:00 PM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible

Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 30 travelers

Operated by 冨田屋

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

Juliet_W

The tea ceremony and kimono experience were so unique and memorable. The first group of women helped get everyone in our group ready in kimono and set up, while our guide gave us the history and cultural significance of the tea making and serving process. We were guided around the 140+ year old tea house and told about the rooms, the furniture and items in each, and how the tea ceremony process came to be. It was a fantastic experience and I would highly recommend others to try this at this tea house.

Reviews

4.0

57 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 57 reviews

Such a memorable and rich tea house experience

Juliet_W, Apr 2024

Vacation

Anait_S, Apr 2024

This was not worth the money. The tea tasted very bad and didn’t get anything out of this show or learned anything new. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to go to this show. Seen a lot better shows in Japan before. Would love to get my money back if possible. Thank You

Ok experience

Jen_M, Apr 2024

We had an ok experience. The place was difficult to find. After being dressed in a kimono, we took a few pictures and got a tour of the tea house. Then we had the ceremony which in our opinion was lacking. We were expecting to learn about the history or the steps of the tea ceremony but it was basically watching someone make the tea and being taught the proper way to drink it. It was not what we were expecting and in our opinion overpriced for the whole experience. The people were nice, but it wasn’t what we were expecting. We wouldn’t do this again for this price.

Not worth it, only if private

Faisal_A, Apr 2024

Too many people, tea ceremony was not quite, couldn't see a thing or hear. Lasted only 5mns with no proper expalnation. Tea was served cold, the sweet provided wasnt good and dry, not fresh. Only wearing the kimono was great in the beginning, after that the experience wained. I would recommend doing a private tea ceremony but not at this place.

Not worth it

Kimberley_P, Apr 2024

This was very expensive for one hour, three mouthfuls of tea, wear a kimono for photos and a five minute walk around a house

Complete farce and tourist trap

Jay_V, Apr 2024

I should have read the previous reviews before booking - it was a complete tourist trap and the tea ceremony was a complete farce. Everything written in previous reviews turned out accurate -50 people crammed into a small space, terrible narration and all in all a commercial show versus a tea ceremony conducted in a serene space. Viator should cancel this experience.

Do not go. Waste of money

Denise_K, Apr 2024

It was chaos. 49 plus people and no one to organize. We were squeezed into kimonos and then we were left. When I asked about a tea ceremony they sent us upstairs into the middle of a group with a ceremony in progress. We were ignored. After the first group was done the room filled 30+ people We were given a very brief description of the making of the tea. No history or background. Then we were served tea made in a back room as there were too many of us. The sweet was out of a package- low quality. I have been to a proper tea ceremony- this was horrible

Disappointing

Andrew_W, Apr 2024

Far too many people on this experience. The English spoken was of very poor quality. The whole experience was rushed and superficial.

We enjoy the tea!

Jeffrey_L, Apr 2024

It’s really an experience to learn about the tea ceremony, one of a kind Japanese culture! The family house is amazing and the tea master is fun and teaches us a lot! It feels special to dress in kimono and attend the tea ceremony. Wonderful experience.

Underwhelming

nancy_s, Apr 2024

Enjoyed the experience of putting on a kimono with beautiful areas to memorialize in photos; however, disorganized and chaotic. Too many people, activity started late because participants were tardy and it took time to put on kimonos. Difficult to understand the woman’s English providing history of tea ceremony. Very, very distracting as another tour group transversing up the stairs while explanation and ceremony going on. Not worth the cost.

Not great

Sarah_W, Mar 2024

We were pretty excited about this, as a tea ceremony was recommended by a friend who had visited Kyoto before. The kimonos were lovely, and the staff were nice. Unfortunately, the group size was much too large to allow a good experience. We were bumping into each other throughout the tour of the house. The actual tea ceremony had us crowded into a room that was SO HOT. We could t really see the lady doing the tea ceremony and everyone was sweating and looked really uncomfortable. Despite this, they seemed to be trying to fill the time by letting people ask questions and talking about flowers. We ended up leaving about 20 mins early because we couldn’t sit in the hot crowded room any longer.

Definitely Do This!

Todd_M, Mar 2024

The tea ceremony was everything we expected, including the fact that we got to dress up in Kimono outfits! Very cool experience!

Very expensive cup of tea with no explanation of the ceremony itself

Mary_S, Mar 2024

It was an expensive dress up session and cup of tea. They were very nice but I was hoping to learn about the different aspects of the tea ceremony and the “why” behind the details. I was also hoping to learn about the history of the traditional Japanese attire we were wearing especially since it is a wholesaler of Japanese attire. The home and ceremony were interesting but I didn’t walk away with an understanding of the tea ceremony and the reasons behind all the nuances.

My experience

Manasa_M, Feb 2024

The tea ceremony is wonderful. The host wonderful person she explained each and every step the tea brewing and why is done. They showed the place and explained in detail about the house and answer questions we had.

Wonderful

Magdalena_C, Dec 2023

Wonderful experience. Enjoyed tour of traditional Kyoto home, brief history and tea ceremony. Kimonos beautiful!

Excellent experience

vikitaru, Dec 2023

Really enjoyed this tea ceremony. We took a. Cab there and it was a tad hard to find but the house and the tea ceremony were very enjoyable . It was a young lady from Holland living in Japan who guided us and she was very good ( do not remember name ) she even waited with us when we left in a Uber. Enjoyed wearing the kimonos and of course the tea

Great afternoon! We learnt so much about the Japanese tea ceremony and Japanese culture.

Siobhan_B, Nov 2023

The ladies hosting were so lovely and the tea ceremony was so beautiful. The tour of the house was very educational and so interesting. Would highly recommend.

Perfect experience for what we wanted

Diana_F, Nov 2023

We were able to find the location with GPS. Very old but traditional setting. The kimono experience isn’t elaborate but exactly what we wanted. We were able to take a lot of pictures with props after the fitting and dressing. The tea ceremony was simple but full of tradition. I also like that we were able to take pictures of the tea ceremony and equipment

Tea Ceremony in Kyoto

Rebecca_M, Nov 2023

We so enjoyed the entire experience. It was fun to wear kimonos. The tea services was thoughtful and carefully done and explained. It was educational and fun

Ummmm

Akira_K, Oct 2023

1. The location on email or website were not correct 2. The tea ceremony experience was taught by a lady not familiar enough with the ceremony which you can tell by her logging move 3. The tea ceremony experience only shown how to make the tea and introduced by the lecturer, no chance to try by yourself 4. The lady led a house tour while using many of "whatever", "I don't know", "I'm not sure too but yea it's like that" and at the same time some concepts she told is not right 5. Seems like no matter you are joining solo or family/couples, it'd be a class instead of 1 : 1 family/couple/solo guest which didn't mention in the email or website - Recommendations and compliments All staff is friendly and able to communicate in English For the lecturer, I'd suggest that if you don't know something abt the history/concepts/story, it's better to not mention instead of telling guest you don't know or whatever. It makes people feel you don't have enough respect even maybe deep down you didn't think that way.