KYOTO TOUR GUIDE Recommendation

[perrysburg]

2024 July from Celebrity Millenium "Best of Japan"

KYOTO TOUR GUIDE:

Highly recommend Ken S. on Tours by Locals for tour of Kyoto from the ship. Paid Ken S through ToursBy Locals for his guide service. He reserved Jumbo Taxi which we paid on the day in cash for our group of 8. The Itinerary was:

 

- Meet at the cruise ship terminal in Osaka harbour at 8:00 am

- Leaving the pier by a specially arranged private van (jumbo taxi) with 9 passengers seats (including mine) for 9 hours ride (including 2 hours round trip from Osaka to Kyoto) we arrive Kyoto around 9:00 am. During the transit, you can have a Q & A time with me for whatever question on Japan or the tour

- At Nijo castle, we walk in the national treasured palace. (No shoes & no picture are allowed inside the palace). Enjoy strolling along the garden, stone wall and moat

- Lunch stop at restaurant. At Golden Pavilion, we enjoy taking pictures of the Pavilion

- At Ryoanji temple, we step in Zen temple after walking along the pond garden

- Final stop at shrine 1000 Tori gates - Drop by at Gion district with short time walk on the street - Return to the pier at 17:00. (but we took deviated from this plan and took shinkansen train back to Osaka instead of riding in van back to ship.

 

We paid the guide in advance with credit card through ToursByLocal. It was $325 or so, as I remember it for the day. We needed a jumbo van because we had 8 people so that was an additional 80,000 yen paid in cash on the day. All costs discussed up front, no surprises.