Kyoto and Nara Day Trip from Kyoto including Nijo Castle

Kyoto, Japan

Explore the cultural treasures of Kyoto and Nara on a full-day tour from Kyoto. See all the highlights of Kyoto including visits to Nijo Castle and the Imperial Palace. Then travel to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Nara and some of the oldest Buddhist temples in Japan. Hand-feed the deer and see the Kasuga Shrine with more than 3,000 lanterns.

Known as the cradle of Japan's cultural heritage, Kyoto was Japan's capital and the emperor's residence from 794 until 1868. On your morning tour of the city you'll see the main highlights of wonderful, culture-rich Kyoto, including Nijo Castle, the Kyoto residence of the Tokugawa Shogun. The castle was built in 1603 and is noted for the contrast of its solemn appearance and gorgeous interiors.

You'll also visit Kyoto's most popular temple, Kinkakuji Temple, the home of perhaps the world's most authentic and exquisite Japanese garden, as well as the celebrated Golden Pavilion. At the ancient Kyoto Imperial Palace you'll visit the former residence of the Imperial family, which clearly shows the Japanese taste for purity, simplicity and calmness. Here you'll also visit the Shishinden Imperial state chamber where enthronement ceremonies took place.

Nara was the country's first permanent capital city, and has an abundance of UNESCO World Heritage sites, including some of Japan's oldest Buddhist temples. You'll visit the Todaiji Temple housing a great image of Buddha, colorful Kasuga Shrine with 3,000 lanterns, and the Deer Park, where tame deer freely roam and can be hand-fed.

USD $156.82

Review by: Alana H, Australia	June 2010
Get the best of both worlds Kyoto and Nara!!! A fantastic trip, my highlights were the Golden Palace in Kyoto and the Big Buddha in Nara. Just be mindful read the small print, if you book the trip for a Saturday you miss out on the Imperial Palace in Kyoto.

Review by: Anonymous, Australia	April 2010
Excellent. Our tour guide is very knowledgeable--we can't ask for more. I would highly recommend it to those who have very limited time and want to see popular places in Kyoto and Nara.

Review by: Anonymous, Australia	April 2010
Lots of top sites covered in one day and an interesting, highly recommended day trip. Great tour guide with interesting stories along the way.

Review by: Anonymous, Finland	April 2010
The tour guide Hiroko was excellent and the tour itself was always in time, included lots to see and I am very happy to visit all those places. The lunch in the handicraft center was brilliant, buffee style with delicious japanese food.

Review by: Yatin G, United States of America	March 2010
Excellent and easy way to get the best of travel services

Review by: Cindy B, United States of America	March 2010
The trip was well conducted and covered various points of interest. The tour guide was quite informative and I really enjoyed the sights on the tour. It was a wonderful experience.

Review by: Anonymous	March 2010
It was a good tour.

Review by: Anonymous	March 2010
Good access to sites.

Review by: Booker W, United States of America	February 2010
Excellent tour guide.

Review by: John P, Australia	January 2010
This was our first internet tour booking and I was apprehensive, but everything worked perfectly. The hotel pick up was fine, but not the weather. However it cleared as the day progressed and provided some interesting photos opportunities. Our tour guide "Miki" as in "Mickey Mouse" he jovially stated, was informative and humourous, but was also caring and was there to assist me on steep stairs I'm 78 and not as mobile these days. By the time we reached the Golden Pavilion in Nara the weather was clearing and a hazy sun played on this magnificent building, to the delight of the hundreds of photographers there, -many of them young students dressed in kimonos. I have visited many parts of the world, but Japan is very high on my "Must return" list and I would have no hesitation in booking the Viator Kyoto-Nara Tour again, -as well as looking at other Tours elsewhere in Japan.

Review by: Tara S, Australia	December 2009
This was a great tour! My husband and I are very sceptical of organised tours, and usually just travel and do things ourselves. But we only had one day in Kyoto, and from our research we could see that the things we wanted to see were fairly spaced out around the town. Then we saw that viator did a tour to the three main things we wanted to see in kyoto PLUS nara as well! The guide was great! So informative! Knew everything! WE had enough time at all the places. Longer might have been nice - but only about 20 mins longer just so we were a little less rushed - but I would rather hurry along a little and see more than be bored. We stopped for lunch at the Handicraft centre. This place is great for souvenirs! And compared to tokyo prices quite good. Unfortunaley we only had an hour here which included our lunch eating time, so we were rushed. I recommend coming back to this place if you can as there are floors of cool things to buy to go through. If your after typical japanese souvenirs THIS IS THE PLACE! Luch was pretty good, buffet so you can fill up.Just dont expect 5 star food. Its really just a bit of this and a bit of that and pile it on your plate. But tasty none the less. The golden pavillion was amazing! and the budda at todajii was unbelievable! I highly recommend this trip! I have always checked out viators website before travelling for ideas, but this was the first time i have actually booked a tour with them. From now on i think i will book many more tours! Everything was seamless - from pickup to drop off!

Review by: SzeYiing G	November 2009
We enjoy the day tour very much. Our tour guides are very helpful and friendly. However, it could be better if Kyoto part was allocated more time as we didn't manage to see much at imperial palace golden pavilion which was both fantastic places to visit.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	October 2009
The trip was well organized and professional.

Review by: Scott J, United States of America	September 2009
A full day but it hit many key attractions.

Review by: Gayle D, Australia	September 2009
Well worth seeing, just beautiful and both guides were very informative and helpful.

Review by: Daniels W, Australia	September 2009
A very busy day, but well worth it!

Review by: Anonymous	September 2009
A very busy day, but well worth it!

Review by: Anonymous	September 2009
We had two tour guides. One spoke excellent English, the other one I couldn't understand much.

Review by: Anonymous	September 2009
A full day but it hit many key attractions.

Review by: Anna Z, United States of America	August 2009
This is a great tour of Kyoto and Nara. It was an amazing experience that I recommend to anyone that visits Japan.

Review by: Hugo G	August 2009
We had a good guide in the morning and got lots of interesting information. This tour helps you to include a lot in the day and also gets round the hassle of arranging your own tickets for the Imperial Palace which is not easy! The guide for Nara in the afternoon was not so good and I recommend doing Nara independently. Kyoto is not so easy to get around as Tokyo so tours are much more useful.

Review by: Dee O, United States of America	August 2009
Very informative! The tour guide was very friendly and professional.

Review by: Janette S, Australia	June 2009
This was an exceptionally good trip. The guide was fabulous, the included buffet lunch was terrific, and I enjoyed all the sites we visited. It was great value for money and I would choose Viator for my next tour.