Kyoto Night Foodie TourDive into the Kyoto's food culture at hidden restaurants in Gion & Pontocho
★★★★★- 3 hour tour
- Small group tour
- English speaking guide
What makes this tour unique
- Experience Kyoto's authentic local foods in the backstreets of Gion and Ponto-cho and learn about the food culture of Kyoto
- Stroll through beautiful Gion area at night
- Share a table with a local guide and listen to real, local voices
- A family-friendly experience for travelers interesting in Kyoto's local foods
Tips and recommendations by our official guides
Kyoto is a very special place in Japan where you can really feel the authenticity and tradition of Japan.
This is because Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan for a thousand years, and a lot of Japanese culture started here. Just by walking around the streets, you can still feel the remnants of ancient Japan.
This feeling turns magical at night, when the warm lights of the restaurants and bars turn on, and the locals go out to enjoy some drinks and good food.
Kyoto's restaurants and bars look very different from those in other areas of Japan. It's often a challenge for even the locals to gain entry to them, as they are often elegant and crowded. In this Kyoto night food tour, our friendly local guide will take you to 3 different authentic places that are normally hard to find for tourists.
There, we can eat and drink together like the locals do. Each of these restaurants has a strong concept and atmosphere.
To start, we'll walk around the Gion area and head to the first restaurant. On the streets, we'll see many old Kyoto-style buildings with "machiya" architecture, as well as tea houses.
At the first location, we'll enjoy Kyoto vegetables or meats with simple seasoning in order to taste the ingredient's pure flavors. You can enjoy Japanese sake made in Kyoto, too!
At the second restaurant, we'll enjoy mouth-watering tempura skewers or fish paired with Japanese sake or local beer, basking in the retro (Showa-era) atmosphere.
At the last stop, we'll enjoy dessert & coffee!(You can order food and alcoholic drinks instead of the dessert, too.)
Any type of traveler can enjoy this food tour, whether you're traveling with family, friends, or are a solo traveler.
Don't worry if you don't know what to eat or drink. Our guide will help you order and will explain everything!
Let's try local food that you can only find in Kyoto, and explore the backstreets of this beautiful city with our local guide!
Official guide
What's included
Try Kyoto's traditional, seasoned dishes at a hidden restaurant in Gion
The tour's meeting spot is in front of the Izumo no Okuni statue at Gion Shijo station. After meeting up, we'll walk around the Gion area where many old Kyoto-style buildings can be seen. Our local guide will provide insight into how locals enjoy their nights. If you are lucky, a geisha may pass by! While strolling through the streets of Gion, you'll come across the first place we'll stop by; a Japanese traditional restaurant. It is host to a restaurant that, unless you know about it, you would never find. We will enjoy simple, seasoned Kyoto appetizers like obanzai (cuisine native to Kyoto), oden (Japanese stew), or yuba (tofu skin) in a traditional atmosphere with Japanese sake!
Enjoy many kinds of Kyoto sake with guide's explanation.
In this course meal, we offer Kiki sake, which provides 3 different kinds of Sake produced in Kyoto. Therefore, you can enjoy Japanese sake while having authentic Kyoto dishes! After tasting Kyoto traditional foods at the first location, we'll walk to the second cafe in the Ponto-cho area!
Finish the tour with Kyoto's local dessert or even more foods!
After trying many traditional dishes, we'll round things up with the tour to the Kyoto's cafe around Pontocho, where you can taste Kyoto's local dessert in traditional building!
Photos from the Recent Tours
Meeting Point
Gion Shijo Station, right outside of Exit 5, in front of Izumo no Okuni Statue
- Your guide will be holding a board saying "Magical Trip"
Itinerary
- Meeting Place: Gion Shijo Station in Kyoto
- Restaurants/Izakaya in Gion or Pontocho
- Bar / Izakaya around Pontocho
- A sake bar or matcha dessert bar around Gion or Pontocho
- Return to Gion Shijo Station
- (You can stay at the last place if you like)
- Because most Japanese restaurants are not fully ready for providing vegetarian menus, limited choices of vegetarian foods in our tour is available.
- For any dietary request, please request in advance (by the day before). We are unable to accept any request on the day of the tour.
- All ages can join this tour
- Please note that there may be other participants
- You do not need to pay for the guide's food and drinks
- Please inform us ahead if you need a vegetarian course meal (Vegan and Gluten-free course meal is not available.)
- Please bring some cash for extra drinks and food you may want to order, as some restaurants don't accept credit cards
- Only persons over 20 years of age can drink alcohol by Japanese law
- This tour could possibly visit places where smoking is not prohibited. Please note that we may not be able to change the tour venues in this case.
- The itinerary for this tour includes some locations that are not accessible by a wheelchair or stroller.
- This tour is not recommended for people with mobility issues, if you have walking problems we recommend booking a private tour.
- Please inform us at least one day before the tour if you have any dietary requests or allergies to mention.
- Note: Requests made on the day of the tour cannot be accommodated.
- Please note that we are unable to guarantee allergy-free or cater to dietary restrictions as the food is prepared in kitchens that do not belong to MagicalTrip. Additionally, there may be instances where substitutions are not possible at certain stops; however, we will make every effort to compensate at different stops throughout the tour.
- Japan's climate has become more extreme, with summer highs of 40°C (110°F) and winter lows of -5°C (20°F). Please prepare accordingly for the tour.
- Out of respect for our other guests and to ensure the best tour for everyone, we must start the tour on time.
- You will not be able to join the tour, get a refund or reschedule if you are late for the tour and miss the group.
- For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the tour starting time.
- Free date/time change up to 24 hours till the tour starting time.
- Cancellation after the starting time or no show, we offer no refund or date/time change.
- We will start the tour on time. Being late for more than 5 minutes without contacting us will be regarded as a cancellation without any refund.
Yes, vegetarian course is available. Please select the vegetarian menu on the checkout page. Please note that we have only two types of menu:
- No Preferance Course (serving meat, seafood, vegetable)
- Vegetarian Course (serving only vegetable)
We do not have any other courses than above.
If you don't drink alcohol, we also offer soft drinks that you can choose from our menu.
Yes, you are welcome to bring your young children and baby on this tour. children age 4 -15 can get the full dinner option.
Not dress code for food tours. Wear comfortable shoes.
Please visit Help Center for general inquiries.
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