Bus Tour Kyoto--Nara--Kyoto then Osaka! - The tour was very nice. I thought the tour guide was very nice and cool, the way he spoke English and Mandarin one after the other! The bus was also very comfy because I fell asleep twice 😴😴. We went to Nara Park and fed at least 38 deer 🦌! I thought the tour was very nice 🙂🙂🙂🙂.

A Great Day Out - This was a great day tour and myself and my 8yr old daughter loved it. As for the long day comments in previous reviews, they are correct BUT you get to see everything and have more than enough time to see the stops. Our tour guide Mike was so fun and enjoyable and made the day 💯 If you are looking at this trip you won't be disappointed, so book it and take it all in just like we did.

Great experience! - For a day trip, this fully exceeded my expectations. My siblings and I went on this adventure together, and was thoroughly impressed. It was very thoughtful to have different pick up and drop off locations, as I saw some people were coming straight from the Osaka airport. The VIP lounge that we met as was a very short distance from the Kyoto Station. We were chartered along on a spacious bus and our tour guide, Lisa, did a wonderful job mixing history and humor in her presentation as we ventured throughout Kyoto and Nara. We covered a lot of ground visit 3 sites in Kyoto and the deer park in Nara, and while I would've enjoyed more time to explore our stops, but overall this was a great introduction into Japanese culture. We learned about the beautiful Kinkakuji temple, and the mountain with the 1,000 tori gates. Lisa also taught us about the importance of religious/spiritual customs in Japan and how its expressed in different holidays and during shrine and temple visits. During drops there was about an hour at each place to explore by ourselves, however, Lisa mentioned how she was available to guide people at each stop. She showed us to the bamboo forest in the midst of the busy streets of Arashiyama. I would definitely do this again, and I look forward to other bus tours with this company at different stops. Worth the money!

KOYTO NARA TOUR FROM KYOTO. - We took this tour in 2016 and it was excellent. This time it was disappointing. 1. The bus was 20 minutes late at the meeting point in Koyto as it came from Osaka. 2. People were unsure of which bus to get as there were 4 or 5 tours from the same point. 3. The tour guide was excellent and organized the bus seating well. 4. There were long walks from the bus parking to the attractions. 10 to 20 minutes. 5. When booking, the bamboo forest, a highlight for us,was advertised, however due to a change in laws, we could not go there. Very disappointing to find this out on the tour and not before as we then missed this attraction altogether. 6. So the trip from Kyoto to Nara was only for the deer park a long way for a small attraction. The best viewing was the temple in the park but the ticket was not included. Due to the late start, for slower walkers, it was impossible to visit and enjoy this attraction and the deer park as we were rushed. The bus, guide and other attractions were fine, but overall very disappointing compared to last time. Please advertise the tour without the bamboo forest from now on. Thanks. Anthony Wilson.

Was a good tour - The tour guides should lead the people and go with them to visit the places and not only leading them to a place and leave the group to their own. They park the bus in places that are sometimes difficult to find

Don’t waste your day. - We left from Osaka, the tour lasted 12 hours and most of that was on the bus. When we did get to our stops there wasn’t enough time to enjoy the shrines/temples/town. Felt like this tour was just for the perfect instagram photo and then move on. In hind sight, this tour would have been better to be done by yourself via the trains. The tour guide didn’t contribute anything historical or interesting, very limited information given. Trains in Japan are easy to navigate and very quick. Consider this an an option for those that are interested in more than just one quick photo of the site.

Disappointing - We had high hopes for this tour. We arrived at the VIP Lounge on time and were given no information from the women at the desk other than to wait for Bus #2. Very disorganized. The bus was late so we already lost 30 minutes from the tour. Several days prior to the tour I received an email that due to government restrictions on how long bus drivers can work, the tour was cutting out one of the stops (the bamboo forest). This was extremely disappointing as it was a major highlight that we wanted to see. The tour was very rushed and we had little time to spend at each of the other 3 stops. While I understand that the drivers can't work more than a certain number of hours, the tour was cut by 25% only several days prior to the date of the tour, with no way to schedule with a different tour outfit (everyone else was already sold out). I emailed Viator and asked for a 25% refund since they cut 25% of my tour. They replied back that they don't provide refunds. We are extremely disappointed.

Changed your ahead of time and missed Arashiyama - Booked the one day tour that included Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, some temples and Nara deer park. However on the day they skipped the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. Blamed change in driving hours. Should have notified ahead of time as I would have changed tour. Disappointing day.

Useless guide, wastes your time and money. Delays the trio and you miss the spots - Bus arrived late at Kyoto pick up point due to which tour started at 9:20 AM instead of 9 AM. Next the tour started 21 minutes late from first stop kinkakuji temple due to wait for delayed passengers, 11:01 instead of 10:40 AM, wasting passenger time. Tour guide didn't have their contact information. The following stop the guide Kaori slept in the bus even though everyone had boarded the bus and the bus didn't move since she was sleeping. So we started late from the next stop ie. arashiyama bamboo forest as well. She asked to return to bus at the fushimi inari shrine at 3:40PM to leave for Nara. At 3:40 PM, she announced that it will take an hour to reach Nara. After reaching Nara at 4:40 pm she announced that the Todaiji temple closes at 4:40 pm. First and foremost if she asked us to come back at 3:40 PM and it takes an hour to reach Nara and that the temple closes at 4:40PM, then why didn't she tell us earlier and why did we go to Nara. Secondly she misled us about the closing time for the Todaiji temple. We got to know from the temple that the ticket purchase closes at 5PM and entrance closes at 530, the same is mentioned online too. So it is incorrect information being provided to the tourists. As you may appreciate we have tight schedules and packed itineraries in Japan and given the time at hand we cannot afford to go to the same place again, we could have utilised the time to go somewhere else. We couldn't visit due to the guide's fault. The tourists felt she is quite elderly to take a tour and should not be allocated as a tour guide by the company. She walked ahead without turning back, only to realise that not a single tourist from our group was with her. She sleeps when she is supposed to move the bus. She asked the tourists if someone is missing, how would tourists know if one couple or family is missing as a whole. She should take head count. She explains things only to the tourists in the first row despite being given feedback by all tourists to use a microphone. Please do not take a tour with your guide Kaori and agency VIP tours.

Disappointing - Delayed bus arrival, only time to literally run through the two most important visits. English guiding was minimal compared to other language.