Essential Free walking tours of Kyoto

We had a great time with Hannah. Highly recommend it. She was informative, very knowledgeable yet not overwhelming and very aware of the groups, the pace and our needs.

Highly recommended!

Great tour with Ayumi and would recommend to do this if you’re in Kyoto. Felt like I got good bearings on Kyoto both through walking through the area and the information given. Also the guide shared is helpful recommendations at the end for the rest of our time in Kyoto.

Jay was a terrific guide. Very knowledgeable, entertaining, and enthusiastic. While he places he took us to were in the guidebooks, he had so much additional information and so many stories that these sites came alive. I highly recommend Jay and this tour.

Bel giro della città . Poche opzioni di lingua parlata quindi avrei gradito che la guida parlasse più lentamente scandendo bene le parole .

Great guy, great guide. Loved it (the honeymooners)

Jay was one of the best guides ever! He leveraged his being a history graduate with a multicultural background. Used a broad multidisciplinary approach to make the KYOTO tour educational and entertaining. Jay’s innate helpfulness and accommodating personality ensured all of us would be comfortably see the well- chosen sites. The tour’s pacing and q&a were well- designed. He even brought small snacks, provided insect repellant, volunteered as photographer, etc. It was a wonderful privilege that, even if he is actually the tour company executives, he still leads tours with consistent energy and enthusiasm.

This walking tour was brilliant! I was very impressed with the information, scenery and route. Our tour guide was energetic and funny, overall making it an enjoyable experience. Over the three hours that the tour took place we took in multiple sites, took in loads of information and had a good time learning about the history of Japan. Highly recommend!

Ayumi was amazing tour guide in Kyoto! Her personality and was super informative about the Japanese history. My kids had a great time and made it to the whole tour 😍

Kazu was an excellent tour guide. He was very knowledgeable about the area, good at answering all questions and super friendly. This was the first walking tour we did in Japan and it was so good that we are now looking for more GuruWalks for the rest of our trip.

Ayumi was an outstanding guide—knowledgeable, warm, and engaging. She brought Kyoto’s history and culture to life. Highly recommended for anyone visiting the city!

Interesting, warm, nice sense of humour .

We had the wonderful and bubbly Ayumi as our tour guide - she was very informative and entertaining as she took us around Kyoto. We visited amazing historical sites and with Ayumi’s knowledge, we had a deeper understanding of their significance. Would definitely recommend partaking this tour if you were a solo traveller or in a couple/ friend group. 10/10 and would do it again! Thanks Ayumi :)

I have never enjoyed a tour like this before. Ben is such an amazing guide, with his humor, execllent knowledge about the place, it was a fantastic tour! I hope Id get one of Ben's tour again un the future.

Ben gives a fantastic tour of Kyoto. I can wholeheartedly recommend taking this tour, preferably on your first day in the city.

We took our GuruWalk tour with Kazu today (June 2025), and it was an incredible experience from start to finish! From the very beginning, Kazu was prompt and professional, setting the tone for a well-organized and enjoyable day. His deep knowledge of Japanese history and culture really enriched our visit—he clearly explained the differences between Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, and his insights into the world of the Geishas were both fascinating and respectful. What we appreciated most was Kazu’s flexibility. He adapted the format and itinerary to suit our interests and pace, making the tour feel personalized rather than rigid. At the end of the tour, he even helped us with useful logistical information for the rest of our trip, which we really appreciated. We’re so glad Kazu was our guide—his kindness, expertise, and professionalism made this experience truly memorable. Highly recommended!

Inexperienced guide with superficial knowledge and not very conversant in English. Route was very crowded and made no attempt to mitigate because of his inexperience. Learned more from reading Memoirs of a Geisha. Do not recommend.

Kazu was delightful, very informative of local customs and traditions and gave is all a new perspective on Japanese culture and history. Thank you so much, the Air Canada Crew. 💖

Kazu was a fantastic guide! He was super friendly and engaging. We learned so much and the tour was great in helping us get oriented at the start of our time Kyoto.

Excellent tour, Ben was extremely knowable and friendly. Highly recommend this tour! Ben’s sushi restaurant recommendation was amazing!!

Ayumi made kyoto come alive. Very energetic and engaging she weaves the gone by stories with a lively narrative. Loved the journey through ayumis lenses. All the best to her

Kazu was a wonderful tour guide. He shared so many interesting facts about the places and culture. He kindly answered all our questions. We had an amazing time!

Enthusiastic and friendly guide gave us lots of information along a fascinating route. The pictorial information was useful. It would have been good to have some personal recommendations but appreciate there wasn’t much time. Would recommend

We joined Scott’s tour by accident, but we were very impressed with the tour. Scott is Japanese and his English was perfect. We really enjoyed the tour and learnt so much about Tokyo SHIBUYA. I’ll come back to shibuya and hopefully bump into Scott again.

We loved our walking tour in Kyoto! Exceeded our expectations! Our guide was very informative, easy to listen to and a wealth of knowledge about the history. Absolutely would recommend this walking tour!!