Kyoto Arashiyama: Sagano Scenic Railway (Optional) & Sanzen-in Temple Day Trip | Depart from Osaka/Kyoto

Recommend this itinerary! The scenery of Arashiyama, Sagano, Bamboo Forest Trail, and Arashiyama Park is beautiful, and the surrounding cherry blossoms 🌸 are also in full bloom 😃! It was a weekend, so there were a lot of people, and there were bearers nearby. You could go boating on the lake, and there was also a small footbath. Fortunately, we had booked the small train tickets. The tour guide Minako carefully told us that the even-numbered seats have better views. She also took into account whether our seats would be facing uphill or facing up, and she also arranged for us to exchange seats on the return trip early in the morning, which made everyone happy. All have the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Moreover, she also sent us relevant maps with the key sights to see, and also accompanied the group members to introduce the scenic spots (because I will participate in other klook Japan day tours later, some tour guides will only stay on the tour bus and will not go in to introduce the scenic spots) . I feel that her service is considerate and dedicated, and she often offers to take photos for me (because I am a lone ranger this time). This group departs from Osaka and Kyoto. In addition, there is Sanzen-in (not many trips to visit, but it is quite peaceful to enjoy tea there), so the time schedule is quite sufficient.

Participated in the Kyoto Arashiyama, Sanzen-in + Sagano train one-day trip on December 4, 2023. Whether the scenic spot is good-looking or not worth visiting is a matter of opinion! However, the tour guide was inexperienced, did not grasp the rhythm, and the arrangement was a bit confusing. This was partly due to the group members themselves. When we arrived at the Sagano Small Train, we hurriedly boarded the train without counting the number of people (32 people) at Saga Station, and the station did not give us a ticket. Tourists got on the train. On the way, there were several tourists who were borrowing from the same group because there were no seats. It was discovered that several members of the same group who had not purchased small train tickets also got on the train (there were no individual tickets, only group tickets as mentioned by the tour guide). (I heard from other group members that some people had already paid and were not on the list). The incident lasted for more than ten minutes. Those who did not have tickets were kicked off the bus. They sat at the terminal and then got back to Arashiyama Station, but the station The staff refused to let us out of the station because there were previous passengers in the group that affected the train and caused a disturbance for about 20 minutes. The bus departed at 3:05 in the afternoon, and it was already 4:20 when we left the Arashiyama station. As a result, we did not have enough time to visit the bamboo forest and other scenic spots that we could have visited. The tour guide sent us the pick-up location via WeChat, but Her attitude was good and friendly, and she introduced some attractions, but she lacked experience! Therefore, when participating in these day tours, you have to "carry on life"

This time I went on a one-day trip with KLOOK. The tour guide was very kind and enthusiastic, and the service was great. I really liked this tour guide. I also received notification of the meeting place and car number the day before. The driver was also very kind and helped with luggage. The car was comfortable and the overall arrangement was great. It's also very good. The only flaw is that this itinerary does not include train tickets. You have to buy them separately to take the train. However, we looked at the train times 3:02 and 4:02 that can be matched with the one-day tour, and we chose 4: 02 Buy another ticket, but the on-site tour guide said that because the tour bus on the Arashiyama train must leave before 5 o'clock, it is impossible to take the 4:02 train, because the round trip is at 5 o'clock, and you can walk from the train to the tour bus It will take about 20 minutes. It is impossible for everyone on the bus to wait for us to leave until 5:20. The bus will leave at 4:40, so the small train tickets we bought separately were wasted, and we spent a lot of money to buy new tickets on the spot. Afterwards, I reported to the supplier. The supplier said that if we purchased additional small train tickets on his one-day tour page, they would ask the tour guide to work overtime to accommodate us. However, because we purchased the tickets separately, they did not know that anyone wanted them. I took the 4:02 bus so I didn’t make any other arrangements. In short, I recommend that you don’t buy the 4:02 bus. It is not recommended to buy the 3:02 train ticket, because the outbound journey is uphill and the return journey is downhill. It is recommended to take the train up and then walk down, otherwise you will have to walk a lot. We finally bought the 2:02 train ticket. After getting on, 2 :30 Take the return trip and get off at Arashiyama Station, and then walk back to Saga Station from Arashiyama Station. This way, you can walk downhill more easily and still go shopping. I would like to share it with everyone. If you are not sure, don’t buy train tickets first. You can buy them on site. However, if it is a popular season, it is recommended to book a small train first.

Participating in Klook activities makes traveling easier because it is impossible to book a small train online. Fortunately, there is such an activity to experience it😌 Our tour guide, Lei Yang, shared a lot of little stories about Kyoto along the way~ Many of them are unknown but not known. Interesting knowledge. Let’s have a deeper understanding of Kyoto! The interesting thing about traveling is that after learning the origin of a scenic spot from different people, you can feel it and transform it into your own experience. I look forward to participating in other trips next time❤️❤️

I definitely recommend booking this tour. Our tour guide was incredibly sweet and helpful. It was the most comfortable and fun tour I've ever had.

Oh I love this train and the romantic view of the autumn leaves along the way. The temples are educational too for our homeschooling family.

Thanks to the tour leader Ms. Lei Yang for her leadership. She managed the time very well👍 and was very attentive to the route of the scenic spots. She explained the history of Sanqianyuan and Arashiyama to the passengers on the way. Moreover, taking the train, the maple leaves are really beautiful. Especially the red maples from Saga Station to Kameoka Station are so beautiful, and the stationmaster sings Christmas carols a cappella. All in all, this Klook trip is highly recommended.

Director Hu is a Chinese tour guide. Don’t worry about not knowing Japanese. He has made good arrangements and is eager to help the group members. There are so many people in Arashiyama. It’s a pity that we can’t take the small train. I hope that the next tour group can arrange this. I like it very much. Senyuan, relatively speaking, does not have that many tourists, and the red leaves are also very beautiful. I will go there many times next time. Relatively speaking, taking a tour bus can save a lot of time and you can rest on the tour bus, which is a good experience.

the car arrived early and we were able to find our guide. the guide also was very accommodating, helping my mom find a restroom along the way. it was good that we were only 7 and we used a van so it was more manageable.

The tourist attraction train is great and highly recommended, but the Chinese tour guide Minako is really unprofessional. She didn’t check her identity when she got on the train and just set off after seeing that the number of people was correct. Not all passengers on the small train have purchased tickets. I gathered early before taking the train and did not check whether there were people who bought the train. Everyone was in a mess watching others lining up, and asked the tour guide if we needed to queue? I just said it was okay, but after everyone queued up, the tour guide showed up very slowly. Tragedy is coming! Sure enough, some people got on the train without buying tickets, which caused the train to stop for a long time. Finally, we asked them to get off. Unexpectedly, at the end of the return journey, the tour guide asked everyone to get off at Arashiyama Station, but the Japanese station staff stopped them and refused to let them pass. There were many elders traveling with us in the mountainous area. We were forced to stand for about half an hour due to the low temperature blowing. The tour guide did not handle the crisis during the whole process and did not explain the situation to everyone. In the end, we found out that it was our group that caused the train delay and we were punished so that we could not be allowed to go directly. However, everyone present had bought tickets and was detained. punish. After release, the tour guide only said that a navigation link would be sent to the group at the pick-up location. He did not say where to go to the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. In the end, tourists were even asked to ask the tour guide themselves. It was really the first time I encountered such an unprofessional person. I had already taken them. There are many groups, but the result is so bad. I hope that the guests in the future will not have to encounter such troubles.