Kyoto·Arashiyama丨Passeio de um dia pelo Trem Romântico de Sagano (experiência opcional) e Sanzen-in丨Partida de Osaka/Kyoto

I highly recommend this tour! Arashiyama, Sagano, the Bamboo Grove, and Arashiyama Park offer beautiful scenery, and the cherry blossoms 🌸 were in full bloom 😃! It was a weekend, so there were quite a few people. There were also rickshaw services nearby, and you could go boating on the lake, plus there was a small foot bath. Luckily, we had booked the Sagano Romantic Train tickets. Our guide, Ms. Minako, thoughtfully informed us that the even-numbered seats offer better views and also considered whether our seats would be facing uphill or downhill. She even arranged for us to swap seats on the return journey in advance, ensuring everyone had a chance to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Furthermore, she provided us with relevant maps and highlighted key sights to see, and she accompanied the group to introduce the attractions (as I later joined other Klook Japan day tours where some guides would only stay on the tour bus and not enter the attractions to explain them). I felt her service was attentive and professional, and she often proactively offered to take photos for me (as I was traveling solo this time). This tour departs from Osaka and Kyoto, and it also includes Sanzen-in Temple (not many tours go there, but it's very peaceful for tea tasting). The schedule felt quite ample.

I participated in the Kyoto Arashiyama, Sanzen-in Temple + Sagano Romantic Train day tour on December 4, 2023. Whether the attractions are beautiful and worth visiting is subjective! However, the tour guide was inexperienced, didn't manage the pace well, and the arrangements were a bit chaotic. Part of this was also due to the group members themselves. When we got to the Sagano Romantic Train, at Saga Station, the guide rushed us onto the train without confirming the full headcount (32 people). The station also allowed tourists to board without checking tickets. Midway through the journey, several foreign tourists in our group, who didn't have seats, led to the discovery that several other group members had also boarded without purchasing train tickets (there were no individual tickets, only the group tickets mentioned by the guide; other group members said some who had paid were not on the list). The incident caused a delay of over ten minutes. Those without tickets were asked to get off. We rode to the final station and then back to Arashiyama Station to disembark, but the station staff wouldn't let us exit because a previous group from the same tour had caused disruptions to the train service. This caused another delay of about 20 minutes. The train that departed at 3:05 PM meant that by the time we exited Arashiyama Station, it was already 4:20 PM, which resulted in insufficient time to visit the bamboo grove and other attractions we could have seen. The tour guide did send us the boarding location via WeChat, and her attitude was good, friendly, and she also provided brief introductions to some attractions, but she lacked experience! So, when joining these day tours, you need to be resourceful yourself.

This time, I joined a KLOOK one-day tour. The tour guide was very kind, enthusiastic, and provided excellent service; I really liked this guide. The day before, I also received notifications for the meeting point and vehicle number. The driver was also very friendly and helped with our luggage. The car was comfortable, and the overall arrangement was good. The only drawback was that this tour did not include the Sagano Romantic Train ticket; we had to buy it separately to ride the train. We had considered the 3:02 PM and 4:02 PM train times that could be paired with the one-day tour and chose to buy tickets for the 4:02 PM train. However, the guide on-site said that the tour bus had to leave the Arashiyama Romantic Train area before 5:00 PM, so it would be impossible to take the 4:02 PM train. The round trip alone would take until 5:00 PM, and it would take about 20 minutes to walk from the train station back to the tour bus. It would be impossible for everyone on the bus to wait for us until 5:20 PM to leave, as the bus would depart at 4:40 PM. So, the train tickets we bought separately were wasted, and we had to buy new tickets on-site, incurring extra cost. Afterward, we reported this to the supplier, who said that if we had added the train tickets through their one-day tour page, they would have arranged for the guide to work overtime to ensure we could take the train. But because we bought the tickets separately, they didn't know someone wanted to take the 4:02 PM train and thus didn't make separate arrangements. In short, I recommend that everyone not buy tickets for the 4:02 PM train. I also don't recommend the 3:02 PM train, because the outbound journey is uphill and the return is downhill. It's better to take the train up and then walk down; otherwise, you'll have to walk a very long way. We ended up buying tickets for the 2:02 PM train, took it up, and then took the return train at 2:30 PM, getting off at Arashiyama Station. From Arashiyama Station, we walked back to Saga-Arashiyama Station. This downhill walk is easier and allows for sightseeing. Sharing this with everyone. If you're unsure, don't buy train tickets in advance; you can buy them on-site. However, if it's a popular season, it's recommended to book the train tickets in advance.

Participating in Klook activities makes traveling much simpler. We couldn't book the scenic train online at all, so it was great to have this activity to experience it! Our guide, Lei Yang, shared many interesting stories about Kyoto along the way – many of which were fascinating facts we wouldn't have known otherwise. This gave us a deeper understanding of Kyoto! The fun part of traveling is hearing the origins of a place from different people and then experiencing it yourself, transforming it into your own personal memory. Looking forward to joining other tours 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 also educational for our homeschooling family.

Thanks to our tour guide, Ms. Lei Yang, for her excellent leadership. She managed the time perfectly and thoughtfully planned the itinerary, attractions, and routes. Along the way, she explained the history of Sanzen-in Temple and Arashiyama to the passengers. Also, the maple leaves were truly beautiful during the scenic train ride, especially the stunning red foliage from Saga Station to Kameoka Station. And the station master even sang Christmas carols! All in all, this Klook tour is highly recommended.

Tour guide Hu is a Chinese tour guide, so there's no need to worry about not speaking Japanese. The arrangements were well-organized, and he was enthusiastic about helping the group members. Arashiyama was incredibly crowded, and it was a shame we couldn't ride the scenic train. I hope the tour group can arrange this better next time. I really liked Sanzen-in; relatively speaking, there weren't as many tourists, and the autumn leaves were beautiful. I'll definitely go again next time. Relatively speaking, having a tour bus saved a lot of time, and we could rest on the bus, which was a good experience.

El coche llegó temprano y pudimos encontrar a nuestro guía. El guía también fue muy complaciente, ayudando a mi madre a encontrar un baño en el camino. Fue bueno que solo fuéramos 7 y usamos una furgoneta, así que fue más manejable.

The scenic train is highly recommended, but the Chinese tour guide, Meinaizi, was truly unprofessional. She didn't check IDs when we boarded; she just counted heads and departed. Not everyone on the train had bought a ticket, and even though we gathered early for the train, she didn't reconfirm who had purchased tickets. Everyone was confused, seeing others queueing, and when we asked the guide if we needed to queue, she just said it was fine either way. Everyone queued, and the guide appeared very slowly from the back. Then the tragedy struck! Sure enough, some people who hadn't bought tickets boarded, causing the train to stop for a long time. They were eventually asked to get off. Unexpectedly, on the return journey, the guide asked everyone to alight at Arashiyama Station, but we were blocked by Japanese station staff and not allowed to pass. Many elderly people in our group were left standing in the cold mountain air for about half an hour. Throughout the entire process, the guide showed no crisis management skills and didn't explain the situation to anyone. We later found out that our group had caused the train delay, and we were being penalized by not being allowed to proceed directly, even though everyone present had valid tickets. After we were finally allowed to pass, the guide only said she would send a navigation link to the group for the boarding location, without telling us which way to go for the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. Even at the very end, tourists had to ask the guide themselves. This is truly the first time I've encountered such an unprofessional guide. She has led many groups, yet she was so incompetent. I hope future customers don't have to experience these troubles.