Kyoko Regular Tour Bus Day Tour - Keihan Bus
Kyoko Regular Tour Bus Day Tour - Keihan Bus
Kyoko Regular Tour Bus Day Tour - Keihan Bus
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Kyoko Regular Tour Bus Day Tour - Keihan Bus
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
3.5
35 reviews
Excellent
13
Very good
8
Average
2
Poor
8
Terrible
4
Carol C
Sheffield, UK34 contributions
May 2019 • Couples
As we only had very limited time in Kyoto and have previously used these type of buses to see some of the key attractions in a short time frame, we decided this was a good opportunity. We were much mistaken. I appreciate that the we are in a different country and can't expect that everyone speaks English, but we booked this as it advertised the taped commentary in other languages. This was virtually non existent, it was very limited and probably 75% of our time was spent listening to very annoying music whilst the tour guide clearly had a lot to say about the areas we were driving through and some of the incredible sites but nobody within the company had the deemed it important to put the information onto the recording for the foreign guests! It cost us over £40 - for what we got out of it we would have been better just using public transport.
Written June 9, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Fabi Daniels
11 contributions
Mar 2019 • Friends
The guide on this tour didn’t speak English. It was very frustrating because I didn’t understand any of the explanations about the places we visited.
Written March 16, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
chezza10
Townsville2 contributions
Mar 2018 • Friends
Sites are wonderful but Tour is really for Japanese. Headphones are provided for English but our guide spoke nonstop in Japanese into mic and we could not hear recorded commentary.
Most of the actual walking is self guided. We were all fit so not a problem with time, but could be challenging for others.
Not value for money as you are really just paying for transport to the sites.
Most of the actual walking is self guided. We were all fit so not a problem with time, but could be challenging for others.
Not value for money as you are really just paying for transport to the sites.
Written March 11, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Diane K
Christchurch, New Zealand2 contributions
Oct 2017 • Couples
Only do these tours if you can understand Japanese.
We did a half day tour visiting three temples. The tour guide spoke in Japanese which we did not understand. We were given headphones so we could listen to English audio. This was not good as the English audio was very sparse and clearly did not contain anywhere near the amount of information that the tour guide was giving others on the tour.
A dissapointing tour and too expensive considering the lack of English information available.
We did a half day tour visiting three temples. The tour guide spoke in Japanese which we did not understand. We were given headphones so we could listen to English audio. This was not good as the English audio was very sparse and clearly did not contain anywhere near the amount of information that the tour guide was giving others on the tour.
A dissapointing tour and too expensive considering the lack of English information available.
Written October 15, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
mayumiarvin
Shizuoka, Japan2 contributions
Mar 2017 • Friends
The tour is only in Japanese not a word in English.This tour is not for any elderly as the tour needs you to climb steps and uphill.the tour guide said depart at 450 Pm .At 1715 hrs we realised the bus had left from the place we were dropped. we had to ask the security at the bus park.We came back to hotel in a taxi.we paid neary 4600 yen x 4 for the tour.the only English speaking staff are at the Kyoto station booth who help you buy the ticket and bus boarding. Guides speaker volume too loud in the bus.
Written March 19, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Surya Tirtana
Indonesia129 contributions
Nov 2016 • Family
I think the capacity of the bus is not enough to accomodate the numbers of tourist. We had to stand and the space in the bus very squeezy.
It would be better for somebody incharge of the transportation system to limit the number of people in the bus.
It would be better for somebody incharge of the transportation system to limit the number of people in the bus.
Written November 23, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
DanTheTravelingTexan
Austin, TX6 contributions
Sep 2015 • Solo
Arriving Kyoto station early afternoon, I passed there kiosk and saw there were opening in an evening tour. I stopped to ask and the one I had inquired about was Japanese only. They recommend one that had translation devices.
Tour I took was Gion Maiko Show and Kyoto Cuisine which had these devices.
The devices were worthless.. we drove through the city passing temple after temple as the live guide was non stop. We would get a sentence once every 15 minutes.
I was enjoying the non stop Japanese so much I wrote this on the tour bus. That should express the value of the actual tour for a non Japanese.
The meal was good.
The performances were entertaining we went to Gion Corner an English program was available for the sections spoken in Japanese
For a note the tour was 8120¥
The show tickets were 2500¥ dinner would have cost about 2000 - 3000 ¥
The rest was for the tour and transport. If you don't want the hassle of getting around it might be worth it.
Tour I took was Gion Maiko Show and Kyoto Cuisine which had these devices.
The devices were worthless.. we drove through the city passing temple after temple as the live guide was non stop. We would get a sentence once every 15 minutes.
I was enjoying the non stop Japanese so much I wrote this on the tour bus. That should express the value of the actual tour for a non Japanese.
The meal was good.
The performances were entertaining we went to Gion Corner an English program was available for the sections spoken in Japanese
For a note the tour was 8120¥
The show tickets were 2500¥ dinner would have cost about 2000 - 3000 ¥
The rest was for the tour and transport. If you don't want the hassle of getting around it might be worth it.
Written September 21, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
JosieBoop
Florida99 contributions
Jul 2015 • Solo
I love hop ons/off. I get to see the city and listen to a little history and stories about what i am looking at.
First if you're not Japanese you have to pay to listen to the audio as well as leave a deposit. In every city i have ever done a hop on hop off the ear phone are free and there are many languages to choose. I've done Paris, Florence, Austria, etc.
The little stories were about a minute and were worthless info.
The bus stops were in places without shade. Bus is only once an hour. One bus just passed me and left me to stand for another hour in the hot sun.
Best solution get a day bus pass and do your own thing.
First if you're not Japanese you have to pay to listen to the audio as well as leave a deposit. In every city i have ever done a hop on hop off the ear phone are free and there are many languages to choose. I've done Paris, Florence, Austria, etc.
The little stories were about a minute and were worthless info.
The bus stops were in places without shade. Bus is only once an hour. One bus just passed me and left me to stand for another hour in the hot sun.
Best solution get a day bus pass and do your own thing.
Written July 26, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sonia Y
Auckland, New Zealand12 contributions
Apr 2014 • Friends
We booked the afternoon tour that leaves Kyoto Station at 12.30. We were with my Japanese Mum, so when the tour guide asked if we wanted translation devices, she said no. Big mistake #1. With the device comes a pack with greater detail about where you'll be visiting. Throughout the tour, the guide spoke so often (& so quickly) Mum couldn't keep up.
The first stop, Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavillion) is rushed - you get about half an hour to fight your way through the crowds, snap a few pics & then hit the shops before racing back down the steps to the waiting bus. We got furious taps on her watch from our tour guide for making her 2 minutes behind schedule.
Then we headed over to Kiyomizu-dera temple. We parked at the bottom of the hill & were told the bus would pick us up at a second car park closer to Kodai-ji temple. Big mistake #2. All we had was the vague outline of the tour map - no street names, numbers or indications of approximately how long it would take to get to the second car park - that none of us had ever visited before. We were given 2 hours to go through the area.
We walked our way around Kyiomizu-dera & gave ourselves an hour to find our way to the second car park. There are lots of steps, plenty of hills & a huge amount of walking - Mum is in her 80s & has a bad knee so we had to take things slowly. But even allowing an hour (with a drink stop) wasn't enough. We asked directions along the way, but we still couldn't find the second bus stop, and ended up missing the pick-up time & point. There was nothing for it but to catch a taxi back to Kyoto Station to retrieve the belongings we'd foolishly left on the bus.
The taxi fare back to the station was approx ¥1500, & I wanted to express my displeasure to the tour guide about our experience but Mum said that's not how things are done in Japan. The tour guide also 'forgot' any English at this point, & although she was aware that I was not a happy customer, she just spoke to my mother instead.
Having received exemplary service on our trip so far, this was a total surprise. Not only were we supposed to be sprinters to do the tour, we were meant to be mind-readers as well. There was no way for us to contact the tour guide for directions while at the temples, & she took no account of slow or elderly customers on the bus. I'm not sure where her customer service training was done, but she made me feel like I was an annoyance, not a paying customer.
I would not recommend you use this company to do this tour, but instead work out where you want to go & get a taxi for each trip. If you've got a few weeks before you travel, book a personal tour with one of the taxi companies. We were too late to do this, but saw plenty of people having detailed explanations from their drivers, rather than a hard time for messing up the schedule, like we did.
This was just the half-day tour, so I pity those who did a full day with this company - half a day was more than we could manage.
The first stop, Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavillion) is rushed - you get about half an hour to fight your way through the crowds, snap a few pics & then hit the shops before racing back down the steps to the waiting bus. We got furious taps on her watch from our tour guide for making her 2 minutes behind schedule.
Then we headed over to Kiyomizu-dera temple. We parked at the bottom of the hill & were told the bus would pick us up at a second car park closer to Kodai-ji temple. Big mistake #2. All we had was the vague outline of the tour map - no street names, numbers or indications of approximately how long it would take to get to the second car park - that none of us had ever visited before. We were given 2 hours to go through the area.
We walked our way around Kyiomizu-dera & gave ourselves an hour to find our way to the second car park. There are lots of steps, plenty of hills & a huge amount of walking - Mum is in her 80s & has a bad knee so we had to take things slowly. But even allowing an hour (with a drink stop) wasn't enough. We asked directions along the way, but we still couldn't find the second bus stop, and ended up missing the pick-up time & point. There was nothing for it but to catch a taxi back to Kyoto Station to retrieve the belongings we'd foolishly left on the bus.
The taxi fare back to the station was approx ¥1500, & I wanted to express my displeasure to the tour guide about our experience but Mum said that's not how things are done in Japan. The tour guide also 'forgot' any English at this point, & although she was aware that I was not a happy customer, she just spoke to my mother instead.
Having received exemplary service on our trip so far, this was a total surprise. Not only were we supposed to be sprinters to do the tour, we were meant to be mind-readers as well. There was no way for us to contact the tour guide for directions while at the temples, & she took no account of slow or elderly customers on the bus. I'm not sure where her customer service training was done, but she made me feel like I was an annoyance, not a paying customer.
I would not recommend you use this company to do this tour, but instead work out where you want to go & get a taxi for each trip. If you've got a few weeks before you travel, book a personal tour with one of the taxi companies. We were too late to do this, but saw plenty of people having detailed explanations from their drivers, rather than a hard time for messing up the schedule, like we did.
This was just the half-day tour, so I pity those who did a full day with this company - half a day was more than we could manage.
Written April 1, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
terry h
Houston, TX189 contributions
Jun 2013 • Couples
JTB Sunrise Tour one day course was very enjoyable, great introduction for the first time visitors. Niño-Jo Castle, Golden Pavilion, Gosho (Imperial Palace) in the morning, Heian Jingu shrine, Sanjusangen-do temple, and Kiyomizudera-Dera temple in the afternoon. Sure, I would like to add To-Ji temple near JR Kyoto station, Ryoan-Ji temple rock garden, etc., but then you may not have enough time to appreciate each of the sites. This tourallocated reasonable time at each site. English of our guide was sufficient. If you stay for a few days and have more time, get a day pass, and visit other attractions using bus and metro. the bus stops pretty close to the site though it takes more time to get there. We walked to To-Ji temple when we got Kyoto station late morning, leaving luggage in the coin-locker (500 yens). For Ryoan-Ji temple, we missed a bus and had to wait for the next one for 15 minutes from Kawaramachi-Oike area, then 30+ minutes of scenic :) ride. Like that.
Written June 20, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
punitchowdhary
1 contribution
We are a group, 4 adult and 3 children...need to do a full day tour of kyoto and nara...can we do a mini van and he can take us to all places of nara and kyoto...will it be cheaper..what will be the cost approx?
Kyoko Regular Tour Bus Day Tour - Keihan Bus (Kyoto) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go
Kyoko Regular Tour Bus Day Tour - Keihan Bus Information
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