Private Car Tour: Unveil the Secrets of Majestic Kyoto's Unexplored Historical Sites

Uncover the hidden historical sites of Kyoto on a private car tour. Explore off the beaten path spots with a passionate guide, and enjoy personalized service and insider tips.

Duration: 7 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine - This shrine offers a breathtaking view of thousands of torii gates. The entire mountain is part of the shrine grounds, featuring a long stretch of bamboo forest trail and the peaceful sounds of birds chirping. The large gates and buildings at the entrance are pristine and beautiful, but as you venture deeper, you will…
What's Included
  • Completely private and personalized experience
  • Hotel pickup and dropoff
  • Tips of local good restaurants for lunch and dessert shops
  • In-vehicle air conditioning
  • Gas, toll, and parking fee
What's Not Included
  • Lunch
  • Dessert
  • admission fee
Additional Information

The English-speaking Japanese guide offers a unique experience with a 10-passenger van ride. Kyoto, known as the former capital before Tokyo, has a history spanning 1,000 years. While it’s a beautiful place, the main sights are often too concentrated. My mission is to take you to lesser-known spots and immerse you in the culture.
This tour will give you…

Location
Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine
68 Fukakusa Yabunouchicho, Fushimi-ku,
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.7
(35 Ratings)
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Amy
Feb 6, 2025
Best option for exploring Kyoto - This tour was a great way to explore Kyoto and I highly recommend it. My husband and I booked this tour with no real preference on where to go and trusted Takashi to take us to great spots after reading the website. Takashi exceeded all expectations and was a very fun guide. The hidden Buddhist temple was a particular highlight and I was able to sneak in a little souvenir shopping at one spot. We also avoided crowds all day long which made the experience better. I am so glad that we booked this and would encourage others to do so.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Gracebyuen
Jan 21, 2025
Fun way to explore Kyoto! - Touring Kyoto with Takashi was a really memorable experience. We had fun exploring and seeing new sights that we never would have on our own. We also enjoyed learning more about the culture from Takashi and his personal experiences. The van was comfortable and Takashi’s personal knowledge made the tour one of our best activities while in Japan! Highly recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Traveler317537
Jan 10, 2025
Amazing Kyoto Experience tour - Takashi was the perfect tour guide for our first time trip to Kyoto. He took us off the beaten path whilst showing us some beautiful sights in Kyoto. He was able to tailor our experience based on the needs of our family, and was incredibly helpful and patient. Thanks again Takashi, will be recommending your services to any friends who visit Kyoto in the future!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
J1041qialexf
Jan 9, 2025
A Great insight into Kyoto and Nara’s hidden and some popular gems! - Takashi was very knowledgeable and great to deal with regarding our private tour around Kyoto and Nara. We covered a lot of areas in one day and he was very accommodating to our young family. Would definitely recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Global00113847194
Nov 25, 2024
So Grateful we chose Takashi! - The day we had with Takashi was one we will always cherish. We had heard that many of the popular temples & shrines in Kyoto were experiencing high volumes of tourism & crowds. My teenage son & I knew we wanted to experience Kyoto in a more peaceful & authentic way while still seeing very special & sacred places. Spending the day with Takashi was like spending the day with a friend that knows all the best places to visit & eat. It felt easy! It was wonderful to visit these hidden gems, and experience them as they were meant to be. Being able to ride in the car between locations was relaxing. Takashi’s energy is calm, fun & easy going. We learned a lot but in the most relaxed way. He knows the perfect balance between sharing history, culture, stories & just letting us experience the place we were visiting. This was the best money we spent on our trip & set the tone for the rest of our time in Kyoto. I can’t wait to return & spend another day having Takashi show us around. My son, who is 18, said that he loved it because it was more like spending the day with a companion than a tour guide. Takashi is a very special person & anyone who gets to spend a day with him will leave loving Kyoto.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tony_c
Nov 18, 2024
Fantastic day of touring of Kyoto - We really enjoyed our private car tour of Kyoto. Takashi is a very friendly and knowledgeable guide and took our large family group on an enjoyable and comfortable tour through four key Kyoto locations and lunch during the one-day tour. Since he has his own van, we were able to cover a lot of ground. We highly recommend his private tour of Kyoto.
Review provided by Viator
Daviddd6729qh
Nov 17, 2024
Great day in Kyoto! - Takashi was recommended to me by a friend and I can honestly say I’m so glad that I hired him. He showed us a part of Kyoto that was different from the main areas. We got a chance to sit back and enjoy a little bit of the countryside and saw places/temples I would have never have found on our own. His English is very good and although we did a lot in a day it never seemed rushed. Takashi was very flexible and fined tuned the day according to our desires. I will use him again whenever I’m in the Osaka and Kyoto area. His email communication was very good and he even helped us plan our free day in Kyoto… Thank you Takashi!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Siubun_t
Oct 29, 2024
BEST DAY in Kyoto!! - Private Car Tour Let’s Uncover Secret of Majestic Kyoto History is what you’d expect from a 5 stars tour! Takashi went above and beyond to customize the perfect itinerary for my whole family. Throughout the tour, we had plenty of restroom breaks for my 80 yr old parents and snack time for my 11 yr old and 8 yr old niece and nephew. Takashi is fluent in English and he clearly narrated each place’s story. He even made jokes to make the tour fun and entertaining! We visited Kyoto’s most famous spots such as Kiyomizu-Dera Temple, Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, Iwatayama Monkey Park, etc. However, the biggest highlights were the hidden temples away from the main tourist spots! We visited a beautiful moss garden nestled inside an old temple building dating back to 1661. In another temple, the locals let us tried free samples of various Japanese delicacies. We even had the chance to try the tea ceremony. Another highlight of the tour was the food. After hearing everyone’s preferences, Takashi recommended a restaurant call Chojiro for lunch. Everything was amazing; the food, service, the ambience. The restaurant even offers kids menu. I highly recommend this private tour for anyone who wants an authentic Kyoto experience. You will visit many unique places without long lines and advanced reservations. This is an adventure not to be missed!
Review provided by Viator
Road20269456878
Oct 21, 2024
Amazing Experience - Amazing Experience. Highlight of our 12- day Japan trip. I absolutely recommend touring with Takashi. We toured with Takashi for two days and I must say that these were the best tours that we encountered on our trip. He took into account my boyfriend’s hip surgery and tried to shorten the walking time by getting us a rickshaw on the longer tour of Arashiyama. We did so much in two days thanks to him. Takashi picked us up at our hotel in Osaka and then we toured Osaka and then off to Nara and then Kyoto. Takashi took us to the Monkey Park then off to the Bamboo Forest (where we rode the rickshaws). The hidden temples were the best, so peaceful and lacking the crowd, so you could go right in and have matcha tea sitting on the floor of the temple. The tour far exceeded all our expectations and with Takashi’s expertise we were able to see so much more than we thought we would be able to. Our trip of a lifetime was made so much better having Takashi as a guide. He was patient, kind, very articulate and flexible so that we could pick and choose what we wanted to do, and he made suggestions on what we might like to see. We want to go back to Japan in a few years and will be contacting Takashi to take us around longer than a couple of days. If you want to have fun with your tour guide and learn more about the culture, Takashi is your guide.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Bubblegirl13
Feb 24, 2025
Disappointed - After reading such glowing reviews we didn’t hesitate to book this tour for two families - 7 people in total. Unfortunately we just felt like Takashi drove us around for the day and didn’t really tell us much at all. We certainly didn’t feel like he wanted to be doing a tour in the snow which of course was out of our control. We were given no real information about Kyoto at all and given tiny snippets of information when we asked. I wanted Takashi to guide us more, teach us some history and show us the highlights of Kyoto. Unfortunately this is not what we were provided. It’s the worst tour guide experience I’ve ever encountered the world over. If you do book with Takashi, give him your plan of where you want to go and what you want to learn so you get value out of your day. Otherwise you will feel short changed as our family and friends did.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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March 2025
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