Arashiyama Backroads: Private Half Day Walking Tour
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Arashiyama Backroads: Private Half Day Walking Tour
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Arashiyama Backroads: Private Half Day Walking Tour

5 h
Private
Half Day
By walk
About this activity
Your guide will meet you at your hotel or lodging and you'll head to Arashiyama together via private taxi. Most tourists only visit the popular river area and bamboo forest, but you'll be starting your tour up in the foothills at one of Kyoto's best secret temples. Enjoy 1200 handcarved stone statues, and learn how the musician monk at this forest temple blends art and spirituality in a unique way. A truly special location that most visitors never experience due to its remote location.

From there, begin a 2.8km walk (all downhill) through some of Kyoto's best rural scenery. Along the way, you'll enter at an ancient cemetery with thousands of intricately arranged headstones, explore a private villa's maze-like hedgerows and pathways, visit a haiku poet's traditional farmhouse, marvel at Kyoto's best moss garden, and pass through a preserved village street with 400 year old thatched roof houses. This route takes you down the quiet backroads of Arashiyama with a rural countryside setting that is hard to imagine still exists within the Kyoto city limits.

This tour is perfect for nature lovers, photographers (pros and Instagrammers alike), travelers seeking to spend some time away from crowds, as well as anyone hoping to shop for traditional Kyoto handicrafts and gifts. You'll pass a variety of shops that sell locally made bamboo goods, folkart, paper, pottery, incense, fans, and other specialty items. This tour has a tendency to become the "I never thought I'd do so much shopping today" tour!

Upon arrival in central Arashiyama, you'll be treated to cup of matcha tea and handmade sweets in a garden teahouse before walking through the famous Sagano bamboo forest. From there, your guide will give you a choice of seeing one more fantastic temple garden or continuing on through the second half of the bamboo grove. Up to you!

At the ending location on downtown Arashiyama's main street, your guide can direct you where to get a late lunch, do some shopping, or see additional sightseeing spots nearby like the famous Iwatayama Monkey Park. You will also be shown how to return into the city on your own via train or taxi. This tour usually runs about 4.5 to 5 hours, but may vary depending on your hotel location and pace.

Throughout the tour, your guide is at your disposal to answer all sorts of questions. With a guide who is a fellow foreigner, this is your chance to ask all the stuff that you can't ask Japanese guides! We love discussions about what it's like to live here as a foreigner and can help you better understand the realities of Japanese culture, both traditional and modern, without any language barrier. Additionally, your guide is happy to offer suggestions on sightseeing and dining for the rest of your time in Kyoto.
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Features
Tourism
90%
Cultural
70%
Original
25%
Sport
20%
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