Private car tour in Kyoto (up to 9)

Posted By : Sheileen T
Our group of 7 was lucky to have the most awe inspiring tour of magical Kyoto guided by Ko.

Kosuke communicated promptly and clearly during the booking process. Make sure you book well in advance as his tours fill up quickly. We would have gladly booked him for two days but he only had one available.

What a wonderful time we all had! Ko safely and expertly drove us in his comfortable spacious Toyota van through many streets and back roads in Kyoto. As a native, he knows every back street, short cut, and traffic pattern.

He knew just the amount of time to stay at every stop so we could cover all the beautiful sites we wanted to visit.

We started the tour at the most peaceful Zen temple with a wonderful garden which was not on our list but was amongst our favorite.

We were then able to visit Fushimi Inari, Kinkaku-Ji, Otagi Nenbutsu-ji, Arashiyama monkey park and bamboo forest, the breathtaking Sanjusangendo temple and a small local temple
with beautiful cherry blossoms.

Ko was kind enough to stay with my 81 y old mother while we hiked up the mountain to see the monkeys. Well worth the trek! When we returned, she was happily drinking some apple juice he had gotten her.

For lunch, he suggested a delicious family run restaurant which we all enjoyed very much.
He even booked for us a fun traditional shabu shabu restaurant in scenic Pontocho for later that evening.

Thank you Ko for the most unforgettable tour of Kyoto! We all hope to return one day and will not hesitate to book another tour with you.
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Posted On : 2024-04-27 20:14:45

Posted By : juliabU9567VY
We enjoyed an excellent day with Kosuke as our personal tour guide. Kosuke communicated with me from the moment we made the initial enquiry via many emails. He gave lots of recommendations and was very accomodating to our needs. We only had one night in Kyoto and wanted to make the most of the time we had there to see as much as we could. I felt it was excellent value for money for the 5 of us. Kosuke was flexible with his pick up and drop off times and came exactly as planned, picking us up from our accomodation in the morning, taking our luggage for the day in his van while we sight saw, and dropping us at the end of the day at the Station. Not only did he take us to all the places we wanted to visit but he also explained so many details of the Japanese culture and customs that we never would have learnt about had it not been for Koh! With Koh we visited Kinkakuji temple (golden pavilion) - Bamboo forest - Monkey park - Nishiki market - Starbucks - Fushimi inari shrine. At each place Koh gave us a personal explanation for all the traditions and special places to shop and foods to eat! He even made sure my 14 year old daughter got to visit the special Starbucks with the tatami mats. He is also an excellent photographer and took many special photos of my family, ensuring we got great "profile pictures" for our social media. I could not recommend him enough. He was super friendly and we had a fantastic day! It also saved our legs from so much walking as Kyoto is much more spread out and bigger than we thought and we were worn out from our previous days of travelling around Osaka. Thanks Kosuke!
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Posted On : 2024-01-28 06:26:39

Posted By : Samplus4
We had an amazing day in Kyoto with Kozuke. From the time he picked us up to the time he dropped us back to our ryokan, we felt so comfortable. Kyoto is Ko's home so he knows it like the back of his hand. We visited Fushimi Inari shrine, Zen Garden, Nishiki Market, Higashiyami District, Arashiyama bamboo forest and Iwatayana monkey park. Despite our itinerary, we did not feel rushed and Ko was very flexible. We highly recommend Ko as a guide and we have made a new friend.
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Posted On : 2024-01-15 06:12:02

Posted By : Chris_L
Our 7-person family counted ourselves very lucky to have been able to book Kosuke and KSK Tour due to a cancellation in his pretty booked schedule. He is one of the best tour guides I’ve experienced! He was open to our interests and customized our experience based on them. He brought us to peaceful Buddhist temples off the beaten path so that we were able to really sense the beauty and awe of the places. Some of us love green tea, and though we didn’t have time to venture out to Uji, he brought us to a Temple that showed us how they prepared the tea and we sat in a room facing a beautiful garden to drink it. Even though everyone in the world was visiting Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine and the Arashiyama Bamboo grove at the same time, he navigated us and our father who walks with a cane, through areas where we could breathe and take pictures. We ate at a small intimate local sushi restaurant that was exactly what our dad wanted, and more! The way Kosuke shared the stories of each place piqued our curiosity and delight for what we were seeing. We found out he was available again for one more day before we leave, and booked him right away! Don’t hesitate to book KSK Tours. You’ll count yourself lucky too!
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Posted On : 2023-11-04 17:11:45

Posted By : O986OZtraceyd
Kosuke was recommended to us by other visitors and I regularly saw him recommended on social media - so this was the tour I was looking forward to most on our trip. It was 100% amazing!!! Ko was a brilliant guide. We went to:

Komyoin temple (zen garden)
Fushimi inari shrine
Nishki market - Lunch at Hiro
Golden pavilion
Arashiyama area for bamboo forest and Monkey park.

He was 100% flexible and planned the sights around our family and interests.

I cannot recommend this tour enough. Kosuke made the day fun and went above and beyond with recommendations for lunch, souvenirs, info on other tours, even offering to make a dinner reservation for us near our house. He accompanied us through every attraction, providing fun and interesting local facts and shortcuts to beat the crowds. He also took amazing photos always making it look like it was just our family at the attraction.

Such a great day - honestly plan your trip around finding availability on Kosuke’s schedule like we did! It’s worth it.

Thank you Ko for showing is around your beautiful city.

Tracey, Jason and Family
PS We hope you make it to Cairns, Australia one day soon.
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Posted On : 2023-10-28 07:54:10

Posted By : 270jianm
Ko-san is a terrific guide and we had such an amazing time! Spending all his life driving around in Kyoto, he knows all the local treasures and hidden gems. We were travelling with my in-laws in their late 70s. We asked Ko-san to arrange a tour to visit places with shade (the temperature was in the high 90s on that day) and relatively short distance they have to walk. He took us to a couple of places outside of the city with beautiful bumboo forest, over 1200 sculptured budda gods and so on. They are all pretty close to each other and have plenty of shade. The best part of it is that they are less known and don't have as many tourists. The green tea Ramen place he took us to have lunch at was awesome! The taste of the noodle is quite unique compared to all the Ramen we had before. In the afternoon, he took us on a tour of green tea tasting and explained the different kind of tea popular in Japan and identified the best products of each of the shops we visited. At the end of the day, everybody had a great time and we've all learned something about Japanese culture.

Throughout the tour, he's very engaging and patiently answering all our questions. My wife was learning Japanese and constantly asking him about how to pronounce various words in Japanese. He effectively gave her a lesson on Japanese during the entire tour. He's also very considerate and paid close attention to my in-laws' needs. We felt like he's taking good care of everybody and helping us make connections with the local culture and people. As a result, we had such a rich experience in one day. It's pretty amazing.

If you are looking for a tour guide in the Kyoto, Kobe, Osaka and Nara area, we highly recommend Ko-san. He's a great guide with a passion for the local culture and people. We also feel that he's an honest person and a straight shooter. If you decide to hire him as your tour guide, make sure you book well ahead of time as he's becoming very popular and his time slots filled up very quickly.
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Posted On : 2023-09-17 08:13:54

Posted By : jmforrester3
We spent a day with Kosuke Hiratsuka,
To say he is an excellent tour guide is an understatement. Kosuke picked us up at 9am and we first went to the bamboo forest. He took some wonderful pictures of our group. From there we visited an old tea house, Otagi Nenbutsu-Ji Temple of 1000 buddhas, and the Kinkaku temple(Golden Pavilion). We wished to have a sushi lunch at a local restaurant, that caters to locals, which he knew and recommended. The sushi was excellent ad we ordered A la carte. What a wonderful lunch. In afternoon we visited Sanjusangan-do temple of 1001 wood carved buddhas, a zen garden, and Fushimi inari shrine. Throughout the day Kosuke was an energetic, informative, jovial, and very accomodating guide. I highly recommend Kosake as your tour guide for Kyoto and the surrounding area.
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Posted On : 2023-09-14 04:31:49

Posted By : Rodney_W
Wanted a private day tour of Kyoto special places & the must see well known ones. English speaking guide Katsuke was very helpful in identifying places to visit & planning the day, & has excellent subject knowledge. Tour was thoroughly enjoyable & stimulating, he is highly recommended.
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Posted On : 2023-09-10 16:59:25

Posted By : Escape707476
Kosuke is an amazing and talented tour guide! We highly recommend him for a customized tour of Kyoto. He was incredibly responsive over emails, picked us up at the train station, and showed us favorite locations for both locals and tourists. He was able to show us exactly what we wanted to see and was very helpful in sharing the history of Kyoto. He took lots of good photos for us. He knows the perfect photo spots and angles. He also had good restaurant recommendations for us. I left my sunglasses at the restaurant during our lunch. He made arrangement with the restaurant and was able to stop by on our way back and picked it up. Thank you once again, Kosuke san.
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Posted On : 2023-09-02 11:34:06

Posted By : Culture18991051991
Kosuke-San is a special individual. His tour was really tailored to our interests and our desire to see a combination of quiet out-of-the-way places and the major sites of Kyoto. Not only is he knowledgeable and engaging, but as an owner-operator, one can truly see he has a deep love for Kyoto and for people and for what he does!

We visited with our family of 5 in August 2023. Kosuke-San picked us up at the bullet train platform and he immediately got a sense of what we wanted to see and do. We especially appreciated the small and quiet places that had deep local and/or historical significance that few if any foreigners know of. There is no way we would have found many of these beautiful and meaningful places on our own. As enthusiasts of Japanese aesthetics and history, my family had simply an unparalleled experience.

We also mentioned that we loved coffee and quirky coffee shops (he does too), and he took us to a lovely hole-in-the wall cafe run by an artisanal barrister. Lovely coffee - and my kids surprisingly had one of the best hand-made craft colas they (or my wife and I) have ever had. We liked it so much that we went there again by ourselves on another day!

Would highly recommend KSK-Tours, and will be sure to book a day or more with him when we visit the Kansai region again.

Thank you Kosuke-San for such a memorable experience.
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Posted On : 2023-08-18 07:58:36