A thousand vermilion gates, one bowl of matcha, and the lanes of Gion by lantern light.
Which tea ceremony seats six instead of sixty. What a Gion walk costs once the lanterns are lit. Whether Nara or Fushimi Inari earns the spare morning. Reviews of the tours you can book in and around Kyoto.
Tea in a temple, Gion at dusk, the mountain behind the gates, the bamboo.
Four bookings a first week in Kyoto can hang everything else on, with what each one costs.
01The first sittingTea Ceremony Ju-An at Jotokuji TempleMatcha whisked in the tea room at Jotokuji temple, seventy minutes from the first bow to the last sip.
02The evening walkKyoto Geisha Walking Tour: Gion District & Hidden GemsTwo hours through Gion with a guide who knows which teahouse doors to watch as the lanterns come on.
03The mountain morningFushimi Inari Hidden Hiking Tour (Private Option Available)The back paths up Mount Inari, where the gate tunnels empty out above the Yotsutsuji crossing.
04The bamboo dayKyoto Arashiyama Walking Tour: Bamboo, Monkeys, Gardens & SecretsArashiyama on foot: the grove, the monkey park above the river and the gardens most day-trippers skip.
Gion before breakfast, at dusk, or after dark. Choose your hour.
The old teahouse district changes character three times a day. Pick the hour that suits you, then the walk that fits it.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · Kyoto Geisha Walking Tour: Gion District & Hidden Gems · from $25
Geisha walksHanamikoji, the stories behind the lanterns and a chance of a maiko hurrying to work.
After darkLantern light along the Shirakawa canal, then the tiny bars in the alleys behind it.
Before the crowdsThe famous sights with the streets still quiet, out ahead of the tour coaches.
All 110 Gion tours →
Seventeen World Heritage sites in Kyoto, and the six that fill the morning queues.
The vermilion tunnel up Inari-san, the wooden stage at Kiyomizu, a gold pavilion on its pond, the bamboo at Arashiyama, a shogun’s castle with floors that sing, and the temple circuits that tie them together.
Tea bowls, kimono and a samurai sword: the old Kyoto arts, one lesson at a time.
Kyoto kept its old disciplines alive in small rooms all over the city. Kneel for a tea ceremony, get dressed for a stroll through Higashiyama, or take a sword class with a master of the form.
Kyoto’s most-booked days.
All Kyoto reviews →The tours more Kyoto visitors book than any others, and what earns each of them the place.
1
PERFECT KYOTO 1-Day Bus Tour
Spend 8 to 9 hours visiting Kiyomizu-dera, Sanjusangendo, Arashiyama’s bamboo path, Tenryu-ji, Kinkaku-ji and Fushimi Inari by air-conditioned coach. An English-speaking guide leads the day, with audio guidance in several languages. Admission is included at four temples, and you can add a Japanese buffet lunch.
From · $129
Read our review →
2
Fushimi Inari, Kinkakuji, Bamboo Grove 1 Day Bus Tour
from $122
3
Tea Ceremony in a Traditional Tea House in Kiyomizu
from $49
4
Kyoto Geisha Walking Tour: Gion District & Hidden Gems
from $25
5
Tea Ceremony Ju-An at Jotokuji Temple
from $29
6
Gion Magical Night Walking Tour with Geisha Trivia
from $24
7
45-Minute Tea Ceremony Lesson Experience
from $22
8
Gion Geisha District Walking Tour – Stories of Geisha
from $20
Kyoto eats from one narrow market and a hundred tiny counters.
Pickles and tamagoyaki down the covered lanes of Nishiki, sake from the Fushimi brewhouses, a ramen class, the yakitori smoke of Pontocho after dark.
Three things Kyoto does that nowhere else quite manages.
Temples and tea exist all over Japan. A city that still trains geiko, Zen halls that take in visitors, and whole hillsides of lanes made for walking in kimono do not.
Geiko and maiko
Kyoto never stopped training geiko, as the city calls its geisha. Apprentice maiko live in okiya houses across five districts and spend years on dance, music and conversation before they turn their collars. You may glimpse one hurrying to an engagement at dusk; a show or a teahouse evening is the polite way to actually meet one.
- 1Kyoto Geisha Walking Tour: Gion District & Hidden Gems★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 3,273 reviews
- 2Gion Magical Night Walking Tour with Geisha Trivia★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,393 reviews
- 3Gion Geisha District Walking Tour – Stories of Geisha★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,187 reviews
Sitting in a temple
Rinzai temples here have taught zazen since the thirteenth century. A session is a short talk, a long sit facing a wall or a raked gravel garden, and the crack of the keisaku stick for anyone who asks for it. Most end with tea and a sweet.
- 1Kyoto Zen Meditation & Garden Tour at a Zen Temple with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 441 reviews
- 2Zen Experience in a Hidden Temple★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 437 reviews
- 3Tea Ceremony Meditation – Make Matcha with Tea Master★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 406 reviews
A day in kimono
Rental shops near Kiyomizu and Gion dress you in kimono, obi and sandals in under an hour, and the stone steps of Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka do the rest. Plan to be back before the shop shuts in the early evening.
- 1Kimono Tea Ceremony at Kyoto Maikoya, NISHIKI★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 911 reviews
- 2Kimono Rental with Hairstyling and Accessories★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 653 reviews
- 3Kimono Tea Ceremony at Orizuruya Gion★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 618 reviews
From Kyoto Station, the day trips worth the train fare.
Kyoto
Fushimi Inari
Uji
Osaka
AmanohashidateKyoto on three budgets, from kimono hire to a private car.
Three budgets, three kinds of Kyoto day. Plenty of the best mornings here cost less than a kaiseki lunch.
Tea ceremonies, Gion walks, kimono hire and the castle tours.
Full-day coach loops, cooking classes, sake brewery visits and the bike mornings.
Private guides with a car, the long food nights in Gion and days built to order.
Blossom and maple weeks: four Kyoto bookings that will not wait.
For a fortnight around early April and again through the November leaves, Kyoto is the busiest city in Japan. These four sell out first in those weeks.
- 01Kyoto Early Morning Tour with English-Speaking GuideIn blossom and maple season the famous sights are packed by nine. The dawn tours are the way round it, and they take small groups.
- 02Tea Ceremony in a Traditional Tea House in KiyomizuTea rooms seat a handful of guests per sitting, so April and November weekend sittings go weeks ahead.
- 03Kyoto Gion Cultural Walk & Geisha Show with Dining OptionsMaiko performances run on set evenings with a set number of seats, and the season brings the crowds that fill them.
- 04Kimono Rental with Hairstyling and AccessoriesRental shops dress a fixed number of people each morning, and the early fittings go first while the cherries are out.
When Kyoto’s rainy season sets in, head under a tiled roof.
From early June to mid July the plum rains settle over the basin, and the August that follows is hot and close. The fix is a kitchen, a craft bench, a sake cellar or a stage, booked for the wettest part of the day.
By district and day trip
By kind of day: tea room, temple, kitchen or bike
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