Where to Start: the 6 Best Temple Walking Tours in Kyoto

1.Kyoto Arashiyama Walking Tour: Bamboo, Monkeys, Gardens & Secrets

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 1,216 reviews · from $65Our pick

Review of Kyoto’s Arashiyama walking tour, covering bamboo, temples, gardens, Togetsukyo Bridge, and the Monkey Park hike.

“The glory of nature in the green bamboo forest and in the almost- autumn leaves of trees in the gardens! Our guide, Aron, had surprise stops for us, to sake tasting and the kimono park. We walked through alternative, less crowded routes and covered more sites without feeling rushed. A great guide, a great tour!”

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2.Kyoto Tea Ceremony & Kiyomizu-dera Temple Walking Tour

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 115 reviews · from $109

Review of Kyoto’s small-group Kiyomizu-dera walk and tea ceremony, with temple views, local snacks, practical tips, and honest value advice.

“Great cerimonial and great views and sightseeing experience … history and also scenery all together …”

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3.Fushimi Inari Shrine Walking Tour

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 72 reviews · from $39

Review of Kyoto’s Fushimi Inari walking tour, with shrine insights, fox folklore, forest trails, views, price, timing, and practical tips.

“Hugely busy for the evening tour and quite a climb but the guided tour was excellent, providing useful context to the shrine”

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4.Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine Walking Tour with Guide

★★★★★★★★★★4.8 · 18 reviews · from $34Best value

Review of Kyoto’s Fushimi Inari walking tour, with certified guides, public transport, Sekiho-ji Temple, costs, timing, and practical tips.

“The guide was very friendly, knowledgeable, and had clear communication. It was a very nice tour and we specially enjoyed walking in the local neighborhood and visiting the Zen garden.”

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5.Private Walking Tour with Kiyomizu Temple & Gion

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 7 reviews · 3h 30m

Walk Kyoto’s Kiyomizu Temple, Yasaka Shrine, Gion, and Nishiki Market with a private English-speaking guide in 210 minutes.

“Phillip was a great guide. He explained the history of all of the places we visited in much detail and made the whole tour very interesting. He is very knowledgeable, and I couldn’t recommend him enough”

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6.Kyoto Tea Ceremony & Kiyomizu-dera Temple Walking Tour

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 4 reviews · from $63

Explore Kiyomizu-dera, Yasaka Koshin-do, Kyoto streets, local snacks, and a hands-on matcha ceremony on this guided three-hour tour.

“We were really excited for the tour given its breadth and activities included and would really reccomend this tour, our guide was really lovely if a little nervous as she was new to this tour, however she gave us some wonderful insights into the shrines & temples and history around them, I particularly enjoyed Kiyomizu-dera - however as we were walking through Gion I personally would've loved a bit of knowledge around the area, its culture and history. We unfortunately missed our tea ceremony due to a timing misunderstanding, but our guide was wonderfully considerate and did her best to get us booked back in another day, or refunded those…”

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