While the tour covers the popular Fushimi Inari Shrine and Uji Byodoin Temple, we'll also spend some time in Fushimi sake district for sake tasting and local lunch at an old sake brewery. In Uji, the home of the best Japanese tea, we'll visit traditional tea houses and enjoy their special tea that many eminent Shoguns also appreciated.
PLEASE MESSAGE ME BEFORE BOOKING
At your hotel (subject to additional fee) in or selected JR/Keihan station depending on your hotel location
At your hotel (subject to additional fee) or JR/Keihan station
With this tour, not only visiting the photogenic Fushimi Inari and Byodoin Temple, you can also deepen the knowledge of sake and green tea, and enjoy the freshness and different kinds of sake and green tea served in a proper way.
Fushimi is a traditional sake district with 23 sake breweries including the giant "Gekkeikan" which was founded in 1673. We will visit the Gekkeikan museum to learn about sake making process and sake tasting, and have a local lunch in one of the sake breweries. You can also visit other shops and breweries for more comparison.
Uji is the home of Uji tea, where you'll see many traditional tea houses and different kinds of Japanese tea with opportunities to try special maccha sweets, green tea soba, maccha beer, etc.
Workshops are available if you're interested in making maccha, hojicha (roasted green tea), and green tea sweets.
This tour is also recommended for the foodies and those who get "templed out" in Kyoto!
Guide fee
- Transportation fee and lunch (you and guide)
- Entrance fee (Byodoin @600 yen and Sake museum with a bottle of souvenir sake @500 yen)
- Optional workshops and tea ceremony etc.
- Hotel pick-up
- Hotel drop-off (please request and pay 1,000 yen for transportation etc. upon the end of the tour)
Please note below before booking and contact me first for availability:
1. My schedule on GoWithGuide site is open for the next 3-month only.
2. All my listed tours include hotel pick-up fee and guide fee. Please ask for quote for custom tours.
3. For tours in the peak season, I am currently prioritizing mult-day tour requests (at least two "full-day" tours per group) and accept one-day request between the booked tours etc.
***Excursions ***
I can guide you in Okayama (including Naoshima and Kurashiki), Hiroshima (Onomichi, Shimanami islands cycling, Miyajima, etc.) and Shikoku (Iya valley etc.) if you pay for my transportation.
The above areas can be visited from Osaka/Kyoto in one or two days.
1. Morning tour starts @9:00. Fushimi Inari => Fushimi sake area and lunch => Uji.
2. Afternoon tour starts @12:00. Fushimi sake area & lunch => Uji => Fushimi Inari (evening visit in fall to enjoy lantern lights)
3. You must be 20+ years old for sake tasting.
4. If you'd like to do tea workshop, please let me know in advance.
5. This tour will be focused on green tea and sake. You can pick one of them and shorten the other part, but if you don't like either sake or green tea, you should not book this tour. Please make a custom booking.
6. As per your request, we can finish the tour in Gion area for the afternoon tour (extra hour required).
Seiko was an excellent tour guide for Kyoto with broad and deep knowledge about everything from the specialized shrines to history of sake distilleries. She met us at our hotel and even adjusted our schedule on the fly to try and avoid the expected rain that day. We toured the Fushimi Inari Shrine, explored the Fushimi district and ate at a local yakitori restaurant, went to Kimozu Dera, and explored the streets and alleys in Ninenenzaka/Sannenzaka. It was a very full 6 hours covering a lot of areas and we thoroughly enjoyed it all.
Thank you Tuan for your kind words. With your flexibility, no hesitation to walk further to see more, and trusting my recommendations, we could see both major attractions and true local scenes. Lucky us, we didn't get much rain during the tour despite the almost hopeless forecast:) Hope you enjoyed the rest of your time in Kyoto and your family trip in Japan! Best reagards to all of your sweet family members. Seiko
Seiko, my family and I can't thank you enough for such an amazing, information Kyoto cultural experience. Our tour was above and beyond our expectations, with bonus hidden attractions on the day that we would never of seen without you. I wouldn't hesitate booking with you again and highly recommend you to anyone looking for a friendly knowledgeable guide. Thank you again.
Thank you Alison for your kind words! It was the busiest week in Kyoto I've ever seen but thanks to your flexibility and willingness to walk extra miles to see hidden attractions, the tour went smoothly and most importantly, I am very happy that your whole family enjoyed the day in Kyoto! Hope you also had a great time in the other destinations of Japan. Seiko
We had an outstanding experience with Seiko-san as our guide to visit Fushimi and Uji! She's such a fun and super friendly person to show you around the sights, and she's fluent in English since she lived in the U.S. We spent the whole day with her learning about matcha and sake, and she took us to a wonderful sake tasting bar in Fushimi that we would have never discovered on our own! We are sad we did not book her for more days while we were in the Osaka/Kyoto area. She's the best guide we had while visiting Japan! Sorry for forgetting to submit the review sooner, Seiko, but we will definitely call you when we come back to visit - hopefully this year! Kim, Gary, and Sandra
Hi Kim! Super excited to hear from you about our tour in Fushimi and Uji as I also enjoyed the time with you guys so much! Glad to know it was not my one-way love, hahaha! I was also impressed how much planning you've done, which led to your having a great time in this special area. I also felt we didn't spend enough time together and have more to show, so hope to see you again in Japan! Seiko
Had an amazing time with Seiko for a day trip to Nara and Osaka. We managed to see all the main attractions and didn’t feel rushed. Seiko was very responsive, helpful, knowledgable and caring. Highly recommend
Thank you so much for your kind review. I had an amazing time with you as well! It was just so easy to go around with someone who loves to walk, see the nature, try to eat something new, and interact with the locals! Hope you'll have a great time for the rest of your trip in Japan. See you next time;) Seiko