Kyoto in One Day: Ryoan-ji by taxi — Guide Nori

August, 2026

This is a private guided tour report by Japan Guide Agency (JGA Inc.), a network of 1,000+ government-licensed, English-speaking local guides across all 47 prefectures of Japan. Not affiliated with the Japan Guide Association.

Tour Itinerary

  • 09:00 Meeting point: Kinkaku-ji entrance
  • 09:00 Sightseeing ①: Tour of "Kinkaku-ji"
  • 09:50 Move to Ryoan-ji by taxi
  • 10:00 Sightseeing ②: Tour of "Ryoan-ji"
  • 10::30 Move to Arashiyama by taxi
  • 10:50 Sightseeing ③: Stroll through the "Bamboo Grove"
  • 11:20 Sightseeing ④: Tour of "Tenryu-ji"
  • 11:45 Walk to "Togetsukyo Bridge" and sightseeing
  • 12:00 Lunch and break at the udon restaurant "Arashiyama-tei"
  • 13:00 Sightseeing ⑤: Tour of Iwatayama "Monkey Park"
  • 14:00 Sightseeing ⑥: Shopping in Arashiyama
  • 15:00 End of guided tour and dispersal in Arashiyama

Tour Itinerary in Detail

This private tour of Kyoto began at 09:00, when the guide met the guests at Kinkaku-ji entrance, and finished at 15:00. The day ran to 6 hours from start to finish. It included lunch and break at the udon restaurant "Arashiyama-tei" at 12:00.

From there the group visited Sightseeing ①: Tour of "Kinkaku-ji" at 09:00, Ryoan-ji by taxi at 09:50, Sightseeing ②: Tour of "Ryoan-ji" at 10:00, Sightseeing ③: Stroll through the "Bamboo Grove" at 10:50, Sightseeing ④: Tour of "Tenryu-ji" at 11:20, Walk to "Togetsukyo Bridge" and sightseeing at 11:45, Sightseeing ⑤: Tour of Iwatayama "Monkey Park" at 13:00 and Sightseeing ⑥: Shopping in Arashiyama at 14:00.

# What's a Private One-Day Kyoto Tour Like? A Licensed Guide's Report on Kinkaku-ji, Ryoan-ji, and Arashiyama

This time the guests were a group visiting Japan from North America while traveling. For the advance planning of the places they wished to visit, I communicated with the guests beforehand. Since this was their first visit to Japan, their request was, "We would like to enjoy the culture and nature of Kyoto, but we will leave the choice of destinations to the guide."

Because the guests' hotel was located near Kinkaku-ji, I proposed the following route: "Kinkaku-ji ⇒ Ryoan-ji ⇒ Arashiyama (the Bamboo Grove, Tenryu-ji, and the Monkey Park)." The guests accepted this proposal. However, since they wanted to use their time as efficiently as possible, they asked to "meet up at Kinkaku-ji, the first destination." Regarding this, when I rechecked just before the tour date, I noticed that "Kinkaku-ji opens at 9:00 a.m.," so I pushed the meeting time back by 30 minutes.

On the day of the tour, the heat had returned and conditions were very challenging, so I made an effort to avoid walking between destinations as much as possible, using taxis whenever I could, and to walk in the shade as much as possible at each site, in order to ease the burden on the guests. At each place we visited, the guests were able to fully enjoy Japanese culture. At the end, since we had about an hour to spare, they enjoyed some shopping in Arashiyama.

Click here for more details: Kyoto Customized Private Tour in 1 Day with Licensed Guide

Tour Report by Nori

Hi, everyone! I’m Norifumi Kamon, a government registered guide interpreter. Please call me “Nori”, or “Kamon-san”.
Let me introdece myself. I was born on April 17th in 1952 in Miyazaki prefecture in Kyushu island. I used to be an English teacher of Osaka Prefectural high school. When I retired from a teacher ten years ago, I decided to get a professional guide license. I wanted to play a role of the bridge between Japanese people and the people from all over the world as a second life of mine. After two years efforts, I finally got the guide license. Since then, I have guided several handreds of foreign people mainly in Kyoto and Nara for about five years except Corona Pandemic period. Almost all the tourists were deeply impressed by the beauty of nature, traditoin, culture, and art of Japan. I can surely help you enjoy and be satisfied with the sightseeing in Japan. And I’m looking forward to seeing you soon.

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