Kyoto Arashiyama & Sagano Walking Food Tour

Our guide (Mika) was fantastic. We got to eat food we wouldn't have otherwise ordered. She brought us to some less busy areas and gave us plenty of time for pictures. We learned so much more about the area and Japanese culture in general than we would have just going ourselves. 10/10 would walk again!

This tour was extremely well design. The designer made sure the walking and food were well balanced. We walked 6 miles in 5 hours and by the end non of us (4) was tired. Of course our tour guide Mr. Kantani Koji was wonderful. He was well informed and knowledgeable about the site who spoke perfect English. He was more than a tour guide, it felt like we were visiting a friend in Japan. It was indeed a pleasure to be in his company. Thank you

This small group tour of Kyoto's Arashiyama and Sagano districts was one of the highlights of our or multi-day stay in Kyoto. Arashiyama and Sagano, in the past were lesser known to many who visit Kyoto, but for those willing to experience more of Japan, I highly recommend these lesser known districts for its beauty, food and culture. That aside, let's dive into tour a bit more. It is important to mention that this tour unlike others, does not provide transportation and is predominantly a walking tour, therefore some level of fitness is required. However, do not let that intimidate you as guide can be very accommodating to guest's preference. Another important detail to point out is that meetup with guide in Arashiyama requires a bit of travel on your own as there will be no pickup or drop-off service from your hotel. Personal Travel to meetup location is relatively straight forward from Kyoto Station to Saga Arashiyama station, covered by JR Pass and takes abut 30 mins. Guide will also provide details of meetup at Saga Arashiyama Station with pictures a few days prior to your tour. For our tour we we were fortunate to have Kazu as our guide who spoke excellent English and was able to make our visit to Arashiyama and Sagano fun for adults and children within our group. Understanding that guides usually make or break a tour experience, Kazu provided our group a memorable Kyoto experience for years to come. Main highlights of our tour were the many local foods to sample, Bamboo Forest, and Tenryuji Temple with its zen garden that has the picturesque mountain landscape in the backdrop. Highly recommend this tour for those who are willing to go off the beaten path to experience more of Japan's beauty.

The Arashiyama Bamboo Forest was worth the visit and Sirako San was the best guide I had on this first trip to Kyoto. Since I was the only one on this Food Tour, Sirako was like a friend showing me around Kyoto and helping me taste the best street foods Kyoto can offer. This tour is highly recommended and I hope you'll have Sirako san as your guide.

Wonderful tour guide - remembered everyone's name very quickly - food tasting was great. Well looked after with interesting commentary as we walked around

We had two guides to take care of us - (Risako and Kazuyashi) one of whom was supervising the other as a learning experience, yet both were so knowledgeable it was impossible to tell the difference! They were both so friendly and helpful and answered all of our questions happily! They explained all of the food we ate and the places we visited so we got a cultural lesson as well as the food tour!

My wife and I were very lucky to get Akiko as our guide for a 4 hour walk around the area surrounding the Sagano/Arashiyama Train Station. I guess there is a similar street food walking tour near the Kyoto station but this tour is excellent as it is on the other side of the city, in its own neighborhood and has great street food. The tour also involves visiting several shrines and experiencing the neighborhood both at the street level and through the eyes of a local guide. My wife and I were lucky that we were the only ones on tour with Akiko. She is absolutely fantastic in explaining everything but also helping you experience everything. We also appreciated that the tour company really thought about the entire experience from the paths you walk and the places you visit and where and when you stop to eat a specific type of food. Each item of food we ate was really delicious although I think our favorite was the pancake. Also, each place we stopped at was not something you would easily know was the best or a local experience without being on the tour. My wife and I are big foodies and during our week in Japan we felt this was one of the best foodie experiences we had during our visit to Japan including when compared to all the Michelin starred restaurants we ate at. Wa Yamamura in Nara was the highlight of our trip and there was a great neighborhood sushi restaurant in Tokyo called Sushiya no Matsukan Azabu Honten no English so have the hotel call, only a few seats, Omakase so just enjoy what the chef offers but this experience ranked third ahead of other high end restaurants and therefore is a must do while in Kyoto. In addition to the food and just walking the neighborhoods with an experienced guide we also enjoyed the shrines we visited in this area. We did two other bus tours and walking around and eating local food at the same time is a great way to experience the culture of the area. Although I see from other reviewers that many of the guides are great, ask for Akiko.

Kazu and Woody were excellent guides. They made sure that we were comfortable with everything on the tour and even catered to our personal interest. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone who likes food and experiencing nature and Japanese culture. Our guides were very informative and super nice.

Simply amazing. If you are going to be in Kyoto for more than a day I would put this a must do! Akito was a wonderful and engaging guide and the neighborhood of Arishiyama is simply gorgeous. You will get to see some wonderful views of the city from mountain side temples as well as have an amazing selection of food personal favorite the beef croquette but everything was good. Probably one of the best tours I have done in Japan.

Kazu is the best! Great food and we got some great pictures. A must do