Uji Tea Ceremony and UNESCO Heritage Walking Tour

Our guide can only be rated as first class happy to discuss local law sites and general history. the stop being tranquil and well explained (courtesy of guide) tea ceremony. Then fully informed Byodin visit with plenty of stops for great photos of which of course he is very happy to help with

Fantastic experience. My husband and I walked away feeling so informed about the history of Uji. Book early (3 days+ ) so you can get the full tea ceremony experience. We booked the night before and could only get a shortened experience, but that’s our bad. our guide was very friendly and welcoming, spoke good English and so knowledgeable about the history and area. We are very happy. Thank you Miyu

The guide waited for me, as I got lost in the station on the way out. I really appreciated that. I was with another family, so I felt a bit alone at times. The ceremony was really too short.

our tour guide was really nice! we were a bit late for the tour and he waited for us. highly recommend!

Nombusa Miyake-san was a kind and patient guide who was knowledgeable, prepared, accommodating, and funny.

Great little tour of Uji. Learned a lot. Highly recommend.

We went into this tour with high hopes and left feeling underwhelmed – it ranked lowest in our activities throughout our trip. A three-hour tour (already lengthy) went 30 minutes long and was led by a tour guide whose strong Ukrainian accent made it difficult to understand what was being explained. We have no doubt Uji has a lot to offer, but we believe the tour should have been more condensed even with the tea ceremony, which was short and not very well explained. We did a tea ceremony at home that was much more extensive. Our tour guide’s musings sometimes went off topic and other times we later learned were inaccurate. For example, he pointed out “tea plants” that were actually ornamental shrubs and told us flowering trees in the hills were cedar or pine. Our tour guide was a nice person and it’s certainly possible he wanted to make sure we got our money’s worth by going on a long walk with multiple sites. We had to rush off to partake in other activities on our schedule.

This tour did not deliver at all, and, Klook customer service would only provide a 25% refund. The tour said it would provide a tea ceremony, but upon arrival, the tour guide told us she forgot to schedule it and it was sold out. She offered a tea and sweet tasting instead, but that consisted of us standing in the back of a public tea house for an hour waiting for a table to clear and then getting one drink. We didn't get to see Byodo-in Temple, our guide walked us pass it and then showed us a couple things in the museum and regurgitated whatever information was already provided on the information plaques on the wall. This tour was over-priced and run poorly. I normally don't like writing bad reviews, but it was really bad and people should know. Klook was very responsive, but they refused any refund even though everyone on the tour was highly dissapointed and reached out. I won't be using this company again.

I booked a tea ceremony months in advance and was told when I arrived that it was sold out, which obviously doesn't make sense. It was the reason I booked the experience at all. Very disappointed.