Gion and Fushimi Inari Shrine Kyoto Highlights with Government-Licensed Guide | 6 hours

20 Reviews | Kyoto
Likely To Sell Out
From $150.32 per person Lowest Price Guarantee
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Gion and Fushimi Inari Shrine Kyoto Highlights with Government-Licensed Guide
2 Adults x $285.60
$571.20
Approx Total
$571.20

Inclusions / Exclusions

  • Mobile ticket
  • Offered in: Japanese, English
  • Licensed Local English Speaking Guide
  • The pick up/drop off for this tour is on foot.
  • Meet up with guide on foot within designated area of
  • Private Vehicle
  • You cannot combine multiple tour groups.
  • Guide Entry fees are only covered for sights listed under What to Expect.

Overview

For the time and budget-conscious traveler, experience the Gion district with our government-licensed and experienced multilingual tour guides. You'll start your day by meeting your guide at the Tatsumi Daimyojin Shrine, the center of Gion. While exploring Gion, your guide will show you the history and culture of geishaā€•from their kimonos and hairstyles to rules and daily rituals. You'll walk down the cobbled streets of three Geisha areas in totalā€•Gion, Pontocho, and Miyagawachoā€•while you listen to stories of Kyoto's ancient past. If you're lucky, you may even spot a geisha on the street! This short but value-packed trip is a fantastic way of experiencing a side of Kyoto that most tourists do not get to see. This private tour is a walking day tour with a guide. A private vehicle is not included.

Meeting points

Tatsumi-jinja Shrine (Tatsumi Dai-myojin)
59 Motoyoshichō, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0087, Japan

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End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Itinerary

  • Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine

    Fushimi Inari Shrine (ä¼č¦‹ēØ²č·å¤§ē¤¾, Fushimi Inari Taisha) is an important Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto. It is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the shrine grounds.

    1 hour

  • Gion (Pass By)

    Gion (ē„‡åœ’) is Kyoto's most famous geisha district, located around Shijo Avenue between Yasaka Shrine in the east and the Kamo River in the west. It is filled with shops, restaurants and ochaya (teahouses), where geiko (Kyoto dialect for geisha) and maiko (geiko apprentices) entertain. Gion attracts tourists with its high concentration of traditional wooden machiya merchant houses. Due to the fact that property taxes were formerly based upon street frontage, the houses were built with narrow facades only five to six meters wide, but extend up to twenty meters in from the street.

  • Gion Shirakawa (Pass By)

    Another scenic part of Gion is the Shirakawa Area which runs along the Shirakawa Canal parallel to Shijo Avenue. The canal is lined by willow trees, high class restaurants and ochaya, many of which have rooms overlooking the canal. As it is a little off the beaten path, the Shirakawa Area is typically somewhat quieter than Hanami-koji Street. Many tourists visit Gion hoping to catch a glimpse of a geiko or maiko on their way to or from an engagement at an ochaya in the evenings or while running errands during the day. However, if you spot a geiko or maiko, act respectfully. Complaints about tourists behaving like ruthless paparazzi are on the increase in recent years.

  • Yasaka Shrine

    Yasaka Shrine (八坂ē„žē¤¾, Yasaka Jinja), also known as Gion Shrine, is one of the most famous shrines in Kyoto. Founded over 1350 years ago, the shrine is located between the popular Gion District and Higashiyama District, and is often visited by tourists walking between the two districts. The shrine's main hall combines the honden (inner sanctuary) and haiden (offering hall) into a single building. In front of it stands a dance stage with hundreds of lanterns that get lit in the evenings. Each lantern bears the name of a local business in return for a donation. Yasaka Shrine is well known for its summer festival, the Gion Matsuri, which is celebrated every July. Arguably the most famous festival in the whole country, the Gion Matsuri dates back over a thousand years and involves a procession with massive floats and hundreds of participants. The shrine also becomes busy during the cherry blossom season around early April, as the adjacent Maruyama Park is one of the most famous cherry blossom spots in Kyoto.

    10 minutes

  • Tatsumi Daimyojin Shrine

    The inner torii of the Tatsumi Daimyojin shrine in the Gion area of Kyoto. It is located near Shira-kawa, an area famous for ochaya (tea houses) and geisha activity. The story behind the shrine seems vague to me, but it appears that it was built to appease an foul-tempered tanuki who was bothering the geiko crossing the Kamo-gawa.

    10 minutes

  • Kiyomizu-dera Temple

    Over 1250 years have passed since the foundation of Kiyomizu-dera Temple. Halfway up Mt. Otowa, one of the peaks in Kyotoā€™s Higashiyama mountain range, stands the temple, to which large numbers of visitors come to pay their respects to Kannon, a deity of great mercy and compassion. For this reason, our temple is known as a ā€œKannon Reijo.ā€ ā€œReijoā€ is a Japanese word meaning a ā€œholy placeā€ with which the Kannonā€™s compassion is abundant.

    1 hour

  • Kennin-ji Temple

    Kenninji Temple (å»ŗ仁åÆŗ) locates very close to the bustle of Hanamikoji and Shijo streets, the grounds of Kenninji Temple are expansive and pleasant to walk, and the two karesansui (dry landscape gardens) here offer the visitor an oasis of tranquility. It is thought to be the oldest Zen temple in Kyoto.

    1 minute

Sample Menu

Additional Info

  • Wheelchair accessible
  • Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
  • Service animals allowed
  • Public transportation options are available nearby
  • Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
  • All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
  • Suitable for all physical fitness levels
  • This is a walking tour. Pick up is on foot.

Free Cancellation

February 05100% refund
February 06No refund

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

  • For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experienceā€™s start time.
  • If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experienceā€™s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
  • Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experienceā€™s start time will not be accepted.
  • Cut-off times are based on the experienceā€™s local time.
  • This experience requires good weather. If itā€™s canceled due to poor weather, youā€™ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews

4.4

20 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews
  • 5 stars
    14
  • 4 stars
    3
  • 3 stars
    1
  • 2 stars
    0
  • 1 star
    2

Reviews by TravelOne travelers

Showing 1-5 of 14 reviews with 5 stars

Great day out in Kyoto

Published on Nov, 2023

Our guide was Kazuo and he was very helpful in advising on what we should see on our full day tour of Kyoto. He was knowledgeable about all the sites and kept an eye on us as we negotiated trains and buses! Very enjoyable day.

Wonderful Gion evening...

Published on Mar, 2022

Wonderful Gion evening tour! We had a great night with our friends taking great pictures during the tour and getting to know the history of Gion district, the difference between Maiko and Geiko. Very informative tour! specially we had an awesome tour guide name: Mari san! Thank you so much!

Excellent tour!

Published on Mar, 2020

Our tour guide was Kazo and he was very knowledgeable about the gion area. He came prepared and had pictures to show us of the geiko and maiko in case we didn't see any (but lucky we did see one!). You get to see lots for only an hour including Yasaka shrine, gion entire area, gion corner, Yasaka temple etc. Highly recommend.

Great evening walk in Gion with Mr. Kazuo

Published on Feb, 2020

We had a lovely walk with guide Mr. Kazuo. He is a very experienced guide and shares a lot of information about Gion area and the sights. We really enjoyed our evening tour and will be back!

Attentive guide, enjoyable tour

Published on Dec, 2019

We were fortunate to have Kaeko-san as our guide. Apart from being knowledgeable, she was extremely patient and attentive to our needs. As we had a young child and a pram with us, Kaeko-san was always quick to ensure that our pram would be able to move along smoothly along the paths of Gion. An informative tour that was made even more enjoyable was the presence of a good guide who not only shared with us her knowledge but also ensured that we were well taken care of in the one hour tour.

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