This tour is for those who want to visit Kyoto and return to Tokyo within a day. We will use the fastest bullet train "Nozomi" for our round trip between Tokyo and Kyoto station, which costs about 30,000 JPY per adult (you and the guide), in addition to my guiding fee. You can choose one route from the list bellow. 1. Miyabi route (Most popular places) 2. Golden route (Most scenic places) 3. History route (Most quiet and historical places)
at your hotel in Tokyo
I will pick you up at your hotel near the reception.
We will take the bullet train from Tokyo about 9:00AM to Kyoto. I will book our train with the seats on the Mt. Fuji view side so please pay me about 30,000 JPY per adult, including our return trip (you and the guide) in cash. If you want to buy our tickets at the ticket office with your credit card, we won't get good seats together as the bullet trains are busy with business trips in the morning. Moreover, I can get the tickets for the green seats (1st class) with 20-25% discount for you if you book me more than three days in advance.
1. Miyabi:This route covers my favorite places and shopping area, but a lot of walking.
I modified the Miyabi route in Nov. 2022 to include newly renovated Kiyomizu-Dera Temple.
2. Golden: The most popular route of mine covering No.1 stops in Kyoto. Suitable to those who come to Japan for the first time.
3. History: This route is suitable to those who are interested in Japanese history. They are not so popular abroad so not so busy and relatively quiet.
Fushimi Shrine; The most popular place in Kyoto according to Trip Adviser. This shrine was established in 8th century by Hata family. It is good for the harvest and business. Many companies made donations and get Torii gates in return. There are more than 10,000 Torii gates now. We will visit its main shrine and walk through the 1000 red Torii Gates area. (Admission free)
Lunch: We will have a quick lunch near Fushimi Shrine. Inari Sushi is the speciality of the area which is a piece of vinegared rice wrapped with a fried tofu cooked with sweet soy but they have simple Japanese food such as noodles, as well.
Sanjusangen-do Temple; This temple was established in the 12th century by Kiyomori Taira under the order of Emperor Emeritus Goshirakawa to save people from suffering. There are 1001 statues of golden Buddha in the building. They are Kannon Bosatsu with 11 heads and 40 extra arms. Note: Taking photos are not permitted in the worship hall.
(Admission: 600/400/300 JPY per adult/student/child)
Kiyomizu-dera Temple; This temple was the oldest temple in Kyoto established in 778 and was very influential during the Heian period.
Current building was constructed in 1633 during the Edo period. It is famous for its large balcony to overview Kyoto city. The renovation of the balcony was completed in 2020.
Nostalgic Kyoto walking: We will walk down the nostalgic streets of Kyoto from Kiyomizu-dera Temple to Gion via Yasaka Pagoda. There are many souvenir shops and traditional houses along the streets.
Gion area; Traditional Kyoto street, good for shopping. There are many Miko houses in this area but it will be difficult to see them. Note: Taking photos are not permitted in the area but I can take you the other area where you can photo.
Fushimi Shrine; The most popular place in Kyoto according to Trip Adviser. This shrine was established in 8th century by Hata family. It is good for the harvest and business. Many companies made donations and get the Torii gates in return. There are more than 10,000 Torii gates now. We will visit its main shrine and walk through the 1000 red Torii Gates area. (Admission free)
Lunch: We will have a Japanese lunch with Kyoto cuisines.
Arashiyama area; It is a scenic area with the Katsura River and Arashiyama mountains. We will walk the popular traditional Togetsukyo bridge to enjoy the view.
Tenryu-ji Temple; This temple is the World Heritage and has been to be the rank No. 1, Zen temple in Kyoto. It was first established in the 14th century by Takauji Ashikaga who started the Samurai period of Muromachi. We will walk through the temple including the popular Japanese garden Sogenchi pond. (Admission: 500/300 JPY per adult/student)
Bamboo forest in Sagano; We will walk through the trail in the bamboo forest to enjoy its unique view.
Taxi: We will have a taxi for 30 min. to move to Kinkaku-ji Temple to save time. The fare will be about 3,000 JPY per a taxi.
Kinkaku-ji Temple; The World Heritage, first built in the 14th century by Yoshimitsu Ashikaga who was the leader of the Samurai who governed Japan. It is popular for its golden three story pagoda and Japanese garden with a mirror pond. (Admission: 400/300 JPY per adult/student) We will visit the Temple in late afternoon when it looks the most beautiful with a reflection of the golden pagoda on the pond by a lowering sun.
Sanjusangen-do Temple; This temple was established in the 12th century by Kiyomori Taira under the order of Emperor Emeritus Go-shirakawa to save people from suffering. There are 1001 statues of golden Buddha in the building. They are Kannon Bosatsu with 11 heads and 40 extra arms. Note: Taking photos are not permitted in the worship hall.
(Admission: 600/400/300 JPY per adult/student/child)
Gion area; Traditional Kyoto street, good for shopping. There are many Maiko houses but it will be difficult to see them on the street during day time. Note: Taking photos are not permitted in the area but I can take you to other area you can photo.
Lunch: We will have lunch at my favorite restaurant in the gourmet area of Kyoto called Ponto-Cho,
Nijo Castle; This castle is the World Heritage which consists of traditional buildings with many Japanese paintings as well as beautiful Japanese gardens. (Admission: 1030/350 JPY per adult/student) This castle was built in early Edo period as the residence of Shogun in Kyoto. It was renovated to invite the Emperor in 1626 and famous for the announcement of termination of the Tokugawa shogunate at the end of Edo period.
To-ji Temple; This temple is the World Heritage which was established about 1,200 years ago. This temple practices the esoteric Buddhism (Shingon sect), which was brought by monk Kukai (Kobodaishi) from China. We will see the 3D Mandara, which is the organization chart of Buddhism with numerous statues of Buddha. (Admission: 500/400/300 JPY per adult/junior high/elementary)
We will leave Kyoto station by the Shinkansen.
End of the tour
at your hotel in Tokyo
This tour is for those who want to visit Kyoto and return to Tokyo within a day. We will use the fastest bullet train "Nozomi" for our round trip between Tokyo and Kyoto station, which costs about 30,000 JPY per adult (you and the guide), in addition to my guiding fee. You can choose one route from the list bellow. 1. Miyabi route (Most popular places) 2. Golden route (Most scenic places) 3. History route (Most quiet and historical places)
Guide fee
Hotel pick-up (no charge)
Transportation cost of you and the guide (about 30,000 JPY per person, including that of the Shinkansen)
Lunch (from 1,500 JPY per person for you and guide)
Entrance fee of you (unit JPY, no charge for the guide)
-Kinkaku-Ji Temple: adult 400, child 300
-Sanjusangen-Do Temple: adult 600, child 400
-Tenryu-Ji Temple: adult 500, child 300
Ryoan-Ji Temple: adult 500, child 300
-Nijojo Caste: adult 1030, child 350
-To-Ji Temple: adult 500, junior high 400, elementary 300
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan has been closed to foreign travelers since March, 2020. This restriction has been eased since October 11th, 2022 and there is little restrictions now in 2023. Please ask me the availability of the tour before you book it. I was vaccinated five times with the Pfizer one.
Not available on Mondays.
This tour uses public transportation and we have to depend on trains and buses in Kyoto.
This tour is for those who stay in Tokyo area.
I will book your seats of the bullet train if you agree to pay me about 30,000 JPY per adult for you and the guide in cash at our tour.
We might have to use a taxi to same time.
We can't use JR pass because of the following reasons.
-We can't take Nozomi by JR Pass, which is 30 min faster than Hikari available by JR Pass.
-We need previous reservation of our seats, but I can't reserve yours if you use JR Pass.
About 30,000 JPY per adult including the guide and 15,000 JPY per children under 12 years old
This includes the cost of about 28,000 JPY per adult for the Shinkansen.
No, you can't because of the following reasons.
You can't take Nozomi by JR Pass, which is 30 min faster than Hikari available by JR Pass.
We need previous reservation of our seats, but I can't reserve yours if you use JR Pass.
Yes, you can but please pay my trip back to Tokyo.
Yes, you can.
If you take two days of this tour, I will discount my lodging cost in Kyoto.
It takes about three hours for the return trip from Narita to Tokyo in addition to 12 hours of this tour from Tokyo to Kyoto.
That means you need at least 15 hours of waiting time of layover at Narita.
Moreover, you have to come to Tokyo as it will be too early for me to pick you up at Narita.
Besides being a highly knowledgeable guide, Yuki went out of his way to ensure that my husband had gluten-free food for lunch. He also made valuable suggestions for sight seeing on our own, both of which we very much appreciated.
Dear Andrea, Thank you for writing the review of my Tokyo tour. We visited Asakusa, Meiji Shrine, and Shinjuku Gyoen Garden. We had GF lunch at Roppongi. Thank you very much for taking my tour. Yuki
Hi Yuki San, Thank you very much for bringing me to Mt Fuji, I enjoyed the trip very much, as the weather was good and we could see Mt Fuji clearly and managed to eat the Hoto noodles! Thank you for taking the time to bring me to Shinbuya to buy traditional mochi for my family, they are delicious and visited various drug stores to get some supplements. See you again next time! Rachel
Dear Rachel, Thank you for the review of my tour to Lake Kawaguchi. We visited Koreito Pagoda to see Mt. Fuji then Kimono Museum after lunch. It was a perfect day for the tour, despite of the poor weather forecast. Thank you for taking my tour. Yuki
Yuki arrived promptly at the scheduled time and was pleasant however he was not clear with time limit at the 1st stop ie 10 mins only and our group of 10 were not able to view 3 of the scheduled tour highlights even though we only over stayed at the budha about 15 mins extra. In fact we were only able to view 2 out of 5 which was disapointing. His selection of a lunch location was good and he introduced us the the Subway system in Japan. The tour would have been more dynamic if he had a mic system so we could all hear him.
Dear Frank, I apologize your dissatisfaction. The time schedule is shown 30 min. at the Great Buddah in the itinerary. I am very flexible about the time, but your family takes too much time to take photos at a distance from the Buddha while other families finish visiting tthere. So I asked you to hurry up several times. I delayed our reservation time for lunch to cover the planned place, but you asked me to have lunch on time, so I had no choice but to skip one place. Then I took you to Hachiman-gu Shrine and Komachi street as planned. So I covered three places out of four places. Please understand the difficulty of handling ten people consisting of three different families. Thank you for taking my tour. Yuki
Yuki-san was very well mannered and patient, he took the time to show some extra areas of Hakone whenever we had extra time to spare. He took us to a great place to eat and I enjoyed the meal and experience so much. Thanks Mr. Yuki.
Dear Frank, Thank you for writing the review soon after the tour. Everything went well except we missed Mt. Fuji. But it would be better than the coming typhoon. Best regards, Yuki