Kyoto Private Tour

A Kyoto private tour solves the one problem every visitor to the city runs into, which is that the famous sites sit at opposite corners of it. Kinkaku-ji is north west, Fushimi Inari is south east, and the buses between them are slow and full. With a car and a driver you cover all of it in a day. Hotel pickup is included from anywhere in Kyoto city or Osaka city.

What you see in Kyoto

The day starts at Kinkaku-ji, the pavilion covered in gold leaf standing over its own reflection, best seen early before the paths fill. Ryoan-ji is next, fifteen dry rocks in raked gravel, a garden nobody has fully explained in five hundred years. Then the bamboo grove at Arashiyama. Lunch is Nishiki Market, a covered lane of food stalls running five blocks through the middle of the city. The afternoon crosses to the east: Kiyomizu-dera on its wooden stage above the hillside, the stone lanes of Higashiyama below it, and the old teahouse streets of Gion. The last stop is Fushimi Inari, where thousands of red gates climb the hillside in a tunnel and the crowds thin as the light goes.

How the day is paced

Pickup is at 9:00 from your hotel or any address in Kyoto or Osaka city, and the early start is deliberate. Kinkaku-ji and Arashiyama are both far calmer before eleven. Driving between the stops runs twenty to thirty minutes, and your English-speaking guide will drop or add a temple depending on how the crowds are running that day. Fushimi Inari has no closing time, which is why it sits at the end.

Who this tour suits

Right for a first visit to Kyoto and for anyone on a tight schedule, including travellers stopping between Tokyo and Osaka. It also works well for older guests, because the walking is spread across seven separate stops rather than one long day on foot. Kiyomizu-dera and Fushimi Inari both climb, but the first stretch of gates is close to the entrance and the rest is optional. Our drivers hold a Japan Class 2 commercial passenger licence, and your English-speaking guide is the same person driving the car.

Best time to visit Kyoto

Late November is the peak of the maple season and the city is at its busiest, so an early pickup is the difference between a photograph and a queue. Early April brings blossom and the same crowds. May and October are the quieter months with comfortable weather. Kyoto summers are genuinely hot and humid, which is when an air conditioned car between stops stops being a luxury.