I’m Ben. I moved to Kyoto eight years ago after marrying my wife, who’s from here, and over time this city really became home for me. I’ve been working as a guide for the past few years, leading history walks, food tours, and cultural experiences all around Kyoto. If you’re curious about geisha(geiko) culture, kimono, tea ceremony, or just want to know where locals actually go—I’d be happy to point you in the right direction. Feel free to reach out anytime. I’m here to help you enjoy Kyoto in the most authentic way possible.
We thoroughly enjoyed our morning tour with Ben. He lives in the area, he shared not just information about the area, history, culture…, but we also talked about daily life and many many other things. As it was a low season, we were the only two visitors and Ben did the tour just for us, which we really appreciated. We highly recommend this tour - it was not crowded in the morning and Ben can easily adjust to one’s interests. He is an experienced guide. Many thanks, Ben, for this super nice walk!
Hi Free Walkers, If you want to do a guru free walking tour in Kyoto, I can warmly recommend you to choose the one guided by Benjamin. Why you might wonder? Well, because it was good :) But what is good? It is hard to define good since it's very personal how one experiences something as good and many factors in which we have no control can colour these experiences. I can only tell you that the experience I had, this cold and rainy, early December morning was good. And it was mostly because of him as a person and his presentation, trust me. Before the start he contacts you so you know that what you're about to attend is a sure thing. He gives you a warm and friendly welcome with a big smile. Personally, I'm not easily impressed, but he had my attention pretty quick and ongoing and that's a good thing. He knows the story and the history, he tells it in a good spontaneous way, he is open for debate and parole and drinks his coffee latte & cold. Truly, he is a nice warm guy and does a great job as a guide, it has to be told.
Mostly enjoyable and fascinating tour with Benjamin. His comprehensive information with good knowledge were appreciated.👍
Benjamin was an awesome tour guide. He was very considerate of us walking a little slower. He explained all the stops with sufficient information for us to understand. Very informative and beautiful views and breathtaking bamboo forest