Kyoto Arashiyama & Golden Pavilion One-Day Walking Tour
Description
In this tour, you will enjoy Japanese nature including animals and landscape at the foot of Mt. Arashiyama which is located on the west side of Kyoto and famous for its scenic beauty. Once this district was open only to the nobles. Located not so far from central Kyoto, this natural environment has been very well maintained up to the present day. That’s why you can interact with wild monkeys very closely. In the afternoon, you will visit the Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji Temple), one of the most famous Zen temples in Japan that you won’t forget for the rest of your life.
Tour Options
Itinerary
A 15 minute walk from Saga Arashiyama Station, you will reach a paradise of wild Japanese macaques after climbing a slightly steep mountain path. There are about wild but friendly 120 monkeys including cute baby monkeys living in this area. You can watch them play very closely and feed them from an enclosed resting area. In addition, you can enjoy a panoramic view of the whole Kyoto city from an altitude of about 190 meters. Admission: Adult 550 yen. Children (Aged 4 to 15) 250 yen.(as of Aug,2019)
Arashiyama is one of the most famous resorts in Japan and was once off-limits to all except the aristocrats. They enjoyed boating, watching the scenery and the moon reflected in the river and composed Japanese tanka poems about them. The elegantly curved bridge has been praised by the nobles including the Emperor for its beauty. Your heart will be healed by this scenery full of nature.
This park rich in nature is set on the other side of Arashiyama. From the park's observatory you can enjoy the spectacular view of steep cliffs and the river flowing at the bottom of the valley.
We will take a walk through the world-famous Bamboo Grove with its incredible beauty and serenity. The sky-high green bamboo pillars softly rustling in the wind are an awe-inspiring sight.
This venerated temple was built by the shogun in 1339 to appease the late Emperor's spirit and is registered as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. Its garden is one of the most famous Japanese gardens featuring a magnifient landscape with Arashiyama as its background. Admission fee is 500 yen.
Kinkaku-ji Temple is very well known as one of Japan's leading tourist attractions and some may notice that the admission ticket appears in one scene in the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody”. The reflection of the Golden Pavilion in the pond with beautifully trimmed pine trees and precious rocks around it is truly something reminiscent of Buddha’s Pure land. Admission fee is 400 yen.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Wheelchair accessible
- Accessible for those with limited eye sight
- Accessible for those with limited mobility
- Animals or pets allowed
- Infant seats unavailable
- Infants must not sit on laps
- Not stroller accessible
- Not wheelchair accessible
Reviews(7)
Great day, saw many interesting places, and heard interesting stories about each of the locations. One of my favorite surprises was stopping at a sushi restaurant where the locals in Kyoto eat. Sampling some fun desserts, and a couple of surprises along the way made for a great day. He shared so much history and information- very prepared. Grade A+
We're so grateful for your positive review and thrilled that you had an informative tour with some nice surprises! Thank you very much for taking the time to write a review.
This was a great way to see key points of interests. Our tour guide was informative and accommodating to our group ages 17-70. Great experience for the entire family. Lots of walking, so wear good shoes and sun protection.
Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback! We're delighted to hear the whole family enjoyed the tour and that our guide could accommodate everyone. We also appreciate your helpful tips for future guests!
Total tour and tour guide was great. Couldn't ask for any better. Thank you very much. We enjoyed it
Thank you so much for your kind review! We're thrilled you enjoyed the tour with our guide. We’re happy we could be part of your travel experience.
Toshi was a great tour guide through Kyoto - he picked the perfect spots. I enjoyed the monkey park, bamboo forest and golden pavilion the most!
Thank you for taking the time to leave a positive review! We're glad to know that you enjoyed the sites in Kyoto with Toshi.
Barbara provided an outstanding tour with historical and cultural highlights. Extremely knowledgeable, professional and friendly. Highly recommend this tour!
We are very grateful for your wonderful review! Happy to know that you enjoyed the highlights and your guide's knowledge and professionalism. Thank you for taking the time to write a review.
We had the best guide ever! He knows who he is. :). His English was excellent, informative history and had a great personality! We were lucky and blessed to have had him show us the ropes and
We're so grateful for your positive feedback and to hear that you had an informative day with a great guide. Thank you so much for having taken the time to write a review!
My partner and I stayed in Kyoto for a few days and this was a great tour to experience many of the places that we wanted to visit in the small time that we had. We thought there would be more people on this tour but it happened to just be my partner and myself which was great and made the experience more intimate. Our tour guide was Koichi and he was fantastic!!! Koichi was very professional and highly knowledgeable about all the locations we visited and he had a great sense of humour as well. As tourists we often explore places admiring its beauty without knowing the meaning behind them, however this tour allowed us to learn about the histories and significance behind each as well as so many interesting facts about the nature, buildings etc. which made it more meaningful. Koichi went out of his way to make the tour enjoyable for us - he took wonderful photographs of us and even took us to a few additional locations that weren’t included in the tour such as Nishiki Market, where he recommended many different foods / restaurants for us to try and we also tasted his favourite dessert which was delicious! He also took us to the different districts to see some Maiko. Thank you Koichi san for a wonderful day! I would recommend this tour to anyone visiting Kyoto :)
Thanks for joining our Kyoto tour and for taking the time to write a review! We are very happy to know that you enjoyed the "private" tour with Koichi. He loves food and apparently his enthusiasm was contagious. Thanks again and take care!
