宇治ウォーキングツアー：平等院と茶道体験（京都から）

Masa was an exceptional guide, pleasant and informative.

It was a very nice experience, seeing a part of a tea ceremony. Especially pleasent was the helpful guide, who offered tips on tea leaves and tea bags as well as matcha. Add a pleasent visit to the temple and the morning is well spent.

Historic architecture is well worth seeing especially in Uji apart from a good green afternoon tea . Highly recommended this landmark for Kyoto tour.

While the tour guide was lovely, this tour was unfortunately very badly time managed. We arrived at the Byodo-in Temple and were told we only have 15 mins to walk the ground and the museum. We were literally rushed through the museum without any opportunity to stop and look at anything in order to make it for the tour of the Phoenix Hall (which is the paid ticket part). After this, we were supposed to have time to shop in the street before being given a ticket back to Kyoto. When we finished with the Phoenix Hall tour, our guide said that the other participants had to catch a train to Nara and so we (who were not going on to Nara) either had to immediately leave with her or forfeit the train ticket (that was included in the price of the tour). We had no choice but to choose the latter so that we would be able to see more of the Uji street market. Our experience with the tea ceremony was also quite lacking despite our guide saying that she had studied it for 10 years. We were given some information on how to use the bowl and what to do but not much on the background, history and details of the tea ceremony. We felt short changed and would not recommend this tour.

Uji is a very nice place to visit. The tour was good, covered a walk along the Uji river, tea ceremony and Byodoin temple. The best part is that the group is small, so easier to get around. The transportation included is a JR train ride. The pace is fast, almost impossible to keep up if you stop to take photos.