Kiyamachi Dori චාරිකා

I was truly impressed with this trip. Every place we visited was absolutely beautiful. The guide took great care of us and gave us enough time at each destination to fully enjoy and soak in the atmosphere. The travel time between each stop was just right, and I loved every destination along the way. I would definitely love to come back and take this trip again!

I received my reminder and instructions the day before the tour and you are requested to join the WhatsApp group for the tour. We meet outside the Nippombashi Station Exit 2. A lot of other tour groups as gather there to London buses so make sure you arrive early enough and keep your eyes peeled for whatever marker they are wearing/carrying. For our tour we had two tour guides, Nox and Rex. They were engaging and shared stories of Japan’s history of Osaka, Amanohashidate, Ine fishing village, and Miyama. This was definitely the highlight of our trip! One tip I would like to share is, make sure you eat breakfast beforehand and also bring a few snacks in case you end up not having time to eat lunch while exploring. Plan to eat in Amanohashidate, because that’s the only place where you’ll have extended time. We opted to have our tour guides purchase tickets for the Ine sightseeing boat tour as well as the chairlift in Amanohashidate. Get the milk and milk pudding in Miyama!

Our guide Ms Shion was amazing! She is very enthusiastic and engaging. The walk covers quite a lot at a good pace but we didn’t spot any maikos or geishas which was my main objective. I wonder if the route could be reversed so there’s a higher chance of spotting the talented artistes at the the Queen of Geisha district?

පුදුමාකාර අත්දැකීමක්! ගේෂා/මයිකෝ කෙනෙක්ව මුණගැහෙන්න ලැබීම ඇත්තටම දුර්ලභ අවස්ථාවක් වන අතර, ඇය සමඟ මෙතරම් සමීපව ක්‍රීඩාවක් කිරීම ඉතා විනෝදජනක විය.

නයිජෝ මාලිගයේදී අයේ අපූරු සංචාරක මාර්ගෝපදේශකයෙක් විය! ඔහු ඇදහිය නොහැකි තරම් දැනුමැති වූ අතර, මාලිගය, එහි ඉතිහාසය සහ අපට තනිවම දැකගත නොහැකි වූ විශේෂාංග පිළිබඳ බොහෝ සිත්ගන්නාසුළු තොරතුරු බෙදා ගත්තේය. මම මීට පෙර මාර්ගෝපදේශකයෙකු නොමැතිව නයිජෝ මාලිගයට ගොස් ඇති අතර, මෙම අත්දැකීම 100% වඩා හොඳ බව මට අවංකවම කිව හැකිය. මම බොහෝ දේ ඉගෙන ගත් අතර මාලිගය සහ එහි ඉතිහාසය පිළිබඳ සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම නව ඇගයීමක් සමඟින් පිටව ගියෙමි. විශිෂ්ට මාර්ගෝපදේශකයෙකු වීමට අමතරව, අයේ ඇදහිය නොහැකි තරම් කල්පනාකාරී සහ අවධානයෙන් සිටියේය. අපගේ සංචාරය අතරතුර වැසි වැටීමට පටන් ගත් විට, ඔහු අපට කුඩ ලබා දීමට පවා ඉදිරිපත් විය! එය ඉතා කාරුණික අභිනයක් වූ අතර ඔහුගේ සංචාරවල සිටින පුද්ගලයින් ගැන ඔහු කොතරම් සැලකිලිමත් වනවාද යන්න සැබවින්ම පෙන්නුම් කළේය. මට අයේව ප්‍රමාණවත් තරම් නිර්දේශ කළ නොහැක. ඔබ කියෝතෝ හි නයිජෝ මාලිගයට යනවා නම්, ඔහුව ඔබේ මාර්ගෝපදේශකයා ලෙස සිටීම අත්දැකීම වඩාත් අර්ථවත් හා අමතක නොවන එකක් බවට පත් කරයි. එවැනි අපූරු සංචාරයක් සඳහා ඔබට ස්තූතියි, අයේ!

This is a great way to see Gion. Since most of the crowds are there during the day, the night time is the perfect time to go. Plus, if you get Jasmine, you will have an incredibly knowledgeable guide. Totally worth the money!

This was such a great tour! Reon was our guide and he was fantastic. he walked at a good pace, had a picture book to show us everything he was talking about and knew soooo much about the topics he was talking on. he was able to answer all the questions. a very exciting part was we got to see a geisha in training (Maiko) walk by and it brought everything to life. Reon was quick to point her out so we didn’t miss the moment. great tour , lots of really cool information and not difficult walking. would highly recommend. was awesome seeing Kyoto at night!

Our tour guide, who could switch between Chinese, Japanese, and English, and also spoke Korean, made sure every group member was taken care of. It was a huge benefit not having to research the history and stories of each attraction ourselves. They offered pre-ordered lunch, which allowed us more time to explore Kiyomizu-dera Temple and its surroundings, and the food was quite good. The itinerary was well-paced for the limited time (however, this tour is not suitable for travelers who prefer to savor sights slowly or spend a lot of time taking photos, as the time allotted for Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine doesn't allow for walking the entire Senbon Torii path!). The tour bus was clean and tidy, and the ride was smooth and steady. I'm prone to motion sickness and usually sleep on buses, and I didn't wake up due to poor driving.

I'm so glad I chose the Kyoto and Nara day tour for this trip to Osaka. Thanks to our cheerful tour guide, Oh Seok-bong, we had a wonderful time getting around. The explanations were fantastic, and above all, he is such a cheerful person that there were many funny moments along the way, so it was never boring! Plus, he shared all his best tips for restaurants and convenience stores and even handled all the reservations for us! I'd love to book another tour with them next time 😄😄 I had such an enjoyable trip and am leaving with great memories 👍