Let's enjoy Lake Biwa cruise and National Treasure Castle!

Day Trip

Yuriko S.

4.87 / 5
(23 reviews)
Shiga
English
7 hours
Private tour (only you and your group)
Up to 15 people

Hikone Castle is one of the five National Treasure castles. The castle is on the hilltop and you can see beautiful scenery of Lake Biwa and castle town. Beside the castle, there is a beautiful Japanese garden, named "Genkyu-en". If you like, you enjoy a cup of green tea with Japanese sweet. After lunch at the castle town, let's enjoy cruise to a small sacred island, Chikubu-jima. In the sacred island, there are a famous temple and a National Treasure shrine. I'm sure you like it!!

Meeting Point

At your hotel or Hikone Station

10:00 AM

Hikone Castle

Let's enjoy National Treasure castle and beautiful Japanese garden!

12:00 PM

enjoy lunch time at nostalgic castle town

You can choose your favorite Japanese food at many restaurants at nostalgic castle town.

02:00 PM

Hikone Port for Lake Biwa cruise

Let's enjoy cruising for 40 minutes to Chikubu-jima island.

02:40 PM

Chikubu-jima island

strolling around the sacred small island, you can see beautiful shrine and temple.

04:30 PM

return to Hikone Port

You can ride the shuttle bus from the port to Hikone Station

Ending Point

Hikone Station

What to Expect

You can enjoy National Treasure Castle and beautiful Japanese garden. In the castle, you see cute mascot, "Hiko-nyan". You also enjoy a cup of green tea and Japanese sweet in the beautiful garden.

After lunch and strolling the nostalgic castle town, you enjoy Lake Biwa cruising to the small island where has a shrine and a temple. I'm sure you will like it!!

Want to personalize this tour?

  • Our tours can be customized according to your needs and preferences
  • Click below to tell us what you are looking for:

Inclusions & Exclusions

What‘s included

guide fee, hotel pick-up fee, transportation fee for guide

What‘s not included

transportation fee for you, lunch for you and guide, cruise fee and admission fee for you and guide

Important Information

I will guide you every day except for the day that my schedule is not vacant.

I'm a local guide of Gifu, Nagoya and Aichi, but I can guide you around Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Kanazawa, Takayama and Shiga if you pay my transportation fee.

I also dress you kimono if you want.

admission fee for Hikone Castle and Japanese garden include cruise fee is 3300 yen per a person

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

Reviews

Kristaps V.

5 / 5
May 18, 2023

Kanazawa highlights

We arrived in Kanazawa at the rainy day. Yuriko was waiting was ahead of time and very well prepared. As it was rainy we adjusted our travel and used buses and Yuriko prebooked a nice place to take a lunch, very nice visit of Kanazawa, thanks.

Yuriko S.

Thank you for your excellent review and kind comment. I'm so happy to read your comment and it reminded me of wonderful memories with you and your guests. Some of you gave me good questions and I could talk a lot about Kanazawa and Japanese culture. We had a wonderful half day in rainy Kanazawa, right? Arigatou Gozaimasu, Kristaps san! Your guide, Yuriko(Lily)

M

Margarita M.

5 / 5
Apr 5, 2023

great spring tour in beautiful Kyoto!

Thank you for the great experience, Yuriko! She helped us a lot with the organization, even contacted the restaurant in Gion for our groups. We appreciate it! Yuriko is a knowledgeable guide and provided interesting information during the tour. We will be back soon! :)

Yuriko S.

Thank you so much for your good review and warm comments! I had a great experience during Kyoto Tour with your guests and charming tour conductor. I look forward to guiding around Osaka and Nara next time. Thank you for giving me such a nice experience, Margarita!!✨ Yuriko

S

Serene T.

5 / 5
Mar 26, 2023

Superb tour!

Yuriko-san was very accommodating and patient with our needs as we were travelling with young children. She tailored the tour to meet our pace, allowing my boys ample time to run around and explore. We had a delightful and enriching tour!

Yuriko S.

Serene-san, thank you for your nice review and comments. I was so happy to meet your family with two little kids and have a wonderful time at Nagoya Castle with full-bloom cherry blossoms and Nagoya City Science Museum. In Nagoya, there are some nice spots to visit, such as Toyota Museum of Science and Technology, Tokugawa Museum and Arimatsu Nostalgic Town. Please come again! Jeika-kun and Joe-kun (Sorry if I misspell), there is another wonderful castle named "Gifu Castle" in Gifu, my hometown. Please come to Gifu someday! See you again(^-^)/ Yuriko(Lily)

Nir N.

5 / 5
Mar 24, 2023

Wonderful and pleasant day in shirakawa-go

We are group of 4 friends travelling together, and we book a day tour with Yuriko in Shirakawa-go, and it was a lovely one! From the first moment we met her at the bus stop, Her kindness, her knowledge and the pleasant way she shared it with us was exactly what you would expected from a tour guide. Also her flexibility when it started to rain was well appreciated. We learned a lot about village life and Japan’s culture and history. Yuriko is a special person and she made our day unforgettable. RECOMMENDED!

Yuriko S.

Thank you for your heartwarming message. Thanks to you and your group members, I had a wonderful time in Shirakawago Village. I also felt happy to share the history and villagers' wisdom with you. Actually, I love rain. I appreciated the rainy weather because we could talk much with a nice soft drink at a cozy coffee shop. Yuriko(Lily)

$179/ per group

More tours by Yuriko S.

Let's enjoy early morning Kyoto and maiko experience

Kyoto
6 hours

Kyoto is one of the most popular places to visit, but so crowded. If you want to enjoy quiet Kyoto, I recommend you visit there early morning. In this tour, you can enjoy bamboo grove, morning coffee at a Japanese style coffee shop and beautiful river and mountains scenery from a wooden bridge. After that, why don't you try 'washoku', or Japanese cuisine and maiko, or cute apprentice geisha's dancing? My special early morning tour will give you wonderful and unforgettable memories in Japan!!

FROM$157/ per group

Enjoy sightseeing in Nagoya on route bus

Nagoya
8 hours

Nagoya is located in the center of Japan. It has both "samurai" culture and modern technology. If you visit Nagoya, you can enjoy traditional culture as well as modern technology. Why don't you come and enjoy Nagoya with me?

FROM$107/ per group

Wondeful one-dayTakayama tour from Nagoya

Takayama
7 hours

Takayama is located in the north of Gifu, central Japan. It takes about 2 and half hour from Nagoya by highway-bus. While bus riding, you can enjoy beautiful mountainous scenery, especially in winter, the snow-covered landscape from the bus window is wonderful!! Takayama is an old castle town, I am sure you will have a wonderful time while walking through the nostalgic town street!! Takayama also has a lot of high quality craftsmanship, you can experience such a skillful art by yourself!!

FROM$157/ per group

Let's enjoy Lake Biwa cruise and National Treasure Castle!

Shiga
7 hours

Hikone Castle is one of the five National Treasure castles. The castle is on the hilltop and you can see beautiful scenery of Lake Biwa and castle town. Beside the castle, there is a beautiful Japanese garden, named "Genkyu-en". If you like, you enjoy a cup of green tea with Japanese sweet. After lunch at the castle town, let's enjoy cruise to a small sacred island, Chikubu-jima. In the sacred island, there are a famous temple and a National Treasure shrine. I'm sure you like it!!

FROM$179/ per group