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Day Trip to Kawagoe: Temples, Local Food, Castle & More!
Joined 2014
Hidden in Saitama Prefecture, Kawagoe, also known as Little Edo, still retains the atmosphere of ancient Japan during the Edo period. If you wish to escape from the bustling city of Tokyo, this Kawagoe private tour will not disappoint you. In this small peaceful town, there are many traditional Japanese shrines, temples and other amazing attractions, such as Kawagoe castle and the old warehouse district of Kurazukuri. Take a day trip outside of Tokyo and discover the historic Kawagoe.
Itinerary
This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!
Meeting Point
At your hotel
- I will meet you near the reception. I will show your name on my iPad.
At your hotel
I will pick you up at your hotel near the reception.
10:00-11:30 Travel from Tokyo to Kawagoe
Take a train from Ikebukuro station to Kawagoe station and take a local bus there.
11:30-12:00 Nakain Temple
Nakain Temple; Enjoy strolling around this small, peaceful temple and be impressed with the spectacular architecture and traditional Japanese garden. Founded in 830 AD, by a Buddhist priest Jikaku Daishi, the temple relatively resembles those in Kyoto. In Spring, all the flowers, including Sakura will bloom together.
12:00-13:00 Kitain Temple
Kitain Temple; One of the most famous Buddhist temples in Kawagoe, attracting both locals and foreigners to visit. The over 500 mysterious Buddhist pupil statues, called Gohyaku Rakan, make this temple more amazing. Most of the buildings in this temple are part of the former Edo Castle, which is worth visiting. (Admission: 400 JPY per adult)
13:00-13:30 Lunch
Lunch; Please try Japanese noodles with crunchy tempura or BBQ eel, which are the most famous dishes of Kawagoe.
14:00-14:30 Kawagoe Castle
Kawagoe Castle; We will visit the spectacular Kawagoe Castle, which used to be a residence of Tokugawa’s allies, and witness amazing cultural estates, such as the tranquil traditional Japanese garden, tatami rooms, and paintings. (Closed on Mondays, Admission: 100 JPY per adult)
15:00-15:30 Hikawa Shrine
Hikawa Shrine; Enjoy walking around this lovely shrine with its relaxing atmosphere. This shrine is very famous for love and relationships. One of the highlights is that the shrine houses the largest wooden Torii gate in Japan, which was moved from the Meiji Shrine. (Admission free)
16:00-17:00 Kurazukuri Street and Kashiya Yokocho
Kurazukuri Street and Kashiya Yokocho; No visit to Kawagoe is complete without walking through this historic pedestrian street. In the Edo era, this street was the center of trade, thus there were many warehouses. Now, they became restaurants and souvenir shops. Visitors also can find rare Japanese sweets and desserts in Kashiya Yokocho Alley.
17:00-18:00 Take trains to Tokyo
At your hotel.
End of the tour
Ending Point
At your hotel
Want to personalize this tour?
This tour can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Click below to send me a message with your requests.
Inclusions & Exclusions
Tour guide fee and hotel pick-up service
On this Kawagoe private tour, the transportation fees, admission fee, and lunch costs of the visitor and tour guide are additional fees and as following:
- Transportation fee: approximately 2,000 yen per person
- Lunch: approximately 1,000-2,000 yen per person
- Admission fees: for Kitain temple, 400 yen for entering the special room in the former Edo Castle and for Kawagoe Castle, 100 yen.
Tour Important Information
- Kawagoe Castle, museums and some shops in Kurazukuri Street are closed on Monday.
- The tour guide is not available on Monday.
- Please, send a direct message to the tour guide for confirming the availability before booking
Not available on Mondays.
Important message from the supplier
There is little restriction due to COVID 19 in Japan since 2023. I was vaccinated six times with the Pfizer one.
Cancellation Policy
- Free cancellation - 8 days prior to meeting time
- 50% Refund - 3 to 7 days prior to meeting time
- No Refund - Within 2 day(s) prior to meeting time
Joined 2014
About Tour Guide Yuki K.
I was born and grew up in Yokohama. I used to work in Tokyo for more than 20 years. I became the National Government Licensed Guide Interpreter in English in 2013. At first, I had attended a volunteer group which provided a tour of the Imperial Palace East Gardens until 2015. I guided more than fifty times in the garden as a volunteer and studied about Japanese history and culture. Based on this experience, I became a tour guide of this online site in 2015.
Since then, I have guided more than 500 tours in Tokyo as well as Yokohama, Kamakura, Hakone, Kyoto, Nikko, etc., while improving my tours. My tours are very flexible and I always do my best to customize them according to the interests of my guests. I studied about the places and will provide you knowledge to appreciate them more deeply than just visiting there by yourself or a member of group tours. I like foods and I know many restaurants which provide typical Japanese lunch with reasonable price without waiting too long. Therefore, I am sure that I can provide you the best tours customized to your interests. It will be my great pleasure to help you to enjoy your stay in Japan. So please be my guest!!
Reviews
Catherine T.
One day Door to Door tour of Kyoto from Tokyo
“Great overview of Kyoto!”
We had a great time on our one day tour to Kyoto! Everything was very well timed and we felt like we had plenty of time to view each site. The restaurant where we ate lunch was especially nice. Yuki was friendly and professional and even helped us purchase our train tickets to the airport for the next day. I would definitely recommend this tour!!
Yuki K.
(367 reviews)Dear Catherine Thank you for the review. We visited most popular places in Kyoto; Fushimi Shrine, Tenryu-ji Temple in Arashiyama, Bamboo forest, and Kinkaku-ji Temple. Everything went well except the rain but it was not so hard as anticipated. Thank you very much for taking my tour. Best regards to your friends; Kara and Rachel. Yuki
“Very expensive and Disappointed ”
We met Yuki at our hotel at 9:00. The weather was overcast. Yuki leant us his passes to travel to Kegon waterfall and Lake Chuzen . By the time we arrived it was impossible to see the falls or lake, we returned to Nikko. While a guide cannot determine the weather an experienced guide would have checked ahead, avoided wasting 2 hours on a bus and suggested an alternative itinerary…..that’s what a guide with local knowledge would have done. We suggested a stop at Nikko Botanical Gardens. Yuki had not visited them …surprising again lack of local knowledge. After lunch we toured the various temples and shrines. Yuki did not tell us anything that was not on the notice boards walking ahead with no attempt to add to our knowledge. We finished about4 returning to our hotel where Yuki was helpful ….we wanted to send some luggage ahead and he compiled the necessary forms In summary very expensive…40,000yen to GowithGuide and another 20,000 to Yuki for “travel and accommodation “ a total of 60,000yen Yuki added little to what we could have done by ourselves. Yuki is not a knowledgeable guide for Nikko and should not be marketed as such We look forward to your response.
Yuki K.
(367 reviews)Dear Ian Sorry for your disappointment. I usually take my guests from Tokyo fort one day tour. You should have known that from my offer. It was very unfortunate that it was so foggy to see anything near the lake on the upper part of Nikko mountains. I planned to take you to the waterfall and lake cruise but neither seemed to work well. So I followed your request to visit the Garden. Then, I took you to Tosho-gu shrine and Rinno-ji temple after Futabasan Shrine which I added as your wife asked me. Please enjoy your trip to Japan and give my best regards to your wife. Thank you for taking my tour. Yuki
“Overcast with gusty winds at Hakone ”
This was supposed to be an eye opening experience on the Shinkansen to Hakone. Not long after we transferred to the mountain train, all power shut down so we were stuck on the train for 2 hours before the authorities allowed all passengers to exit thru the train’s emergency exit in the first car, one by one down a narrow ladder. Of course we sat in the 1st train and were the last ones to exit. We never made it to Lake Ashi or the ropeway, but had a decent lunch before heading back to Tokyo. It was a much shorter trip than originally planned, and quite expensive. Our guide Yuki was attentive and tried his best to find alternative transportation. I only wished he had offered a partial refund.
Yuki K.
(367 reviews)Dear Nina Thank you for writing a review of my tour. It was so unfortunate not only the weather but also the loss of power of the train. I had been advising you not to visiting Hakone on the day based on the weather forecast. But you insisted Hakone so I took you there. Sorry not to think of refunding you. Best regards Yuki
$192/ per group
Reserve
