Cycling Around Kyoto 1day with Lunch & Hotel Pickup
If you come to Kyoto, be sure to join this tour on your first day! We’ll tour both Kyoto’s famous spots and hidden gems on a high-performance E-Bike with a local guide. Your own trip to Kyoto from the next day onwards will be much more enjoyable.
E-Bikes are the best way to enjoy Kyoto more than any other form of transportation!
Duration
7~8 hours
9:00~16:00
Difficulty
★★★☆☆
Mileage
37km (23mi) ▲240m
Meeting
Start at your hotel in Kyoto
Available Bikes
E-Touring Bike
4-500Wh, Range 90km~
E-City Bike
3-500Wh, Range 60km~
E-Kids Bike
300Wh, Range 50km~
Guides
Local English-speaking guide
Eji
Masuda
Include
Transfer
Available from hotel in Kyoto city*08:30
Admission fee
Admission to all temples and shrines is included.
Private
1 group only
Lunch
Ramen, Sushi or meat dishes
Drink & snack
Water, tea & local sweets
For the people who are
Masuda Kazuki
You might think this course is a little different from my usual designs.
My usual preferences are cycling through the great outdoors and deeply exploring hidden alleys in cities.
However, I recently realized that a slightly “silly” cycling trip like cycling around Kyoto in just one day can be surprisingly interesting.
Kyoto is such a deep city that it would take a week to fully explore it.
Each of the spots you stop at on this course offers rich and vast content that you could spend a whole day enjoying at your own pace.
But if I were a customer, I would also think that a tour that allows you to enjoy a little of each spot, get a grasp of Kyoto as a whole, and then enjoy your favorite spots in depth after the tour is necessary.
And above all, this course truly allows you to enjoy cycling.
If you simply cycle around Kyoto, you’ll end up waiting at traffic lights and cycling alongside cars.
But after more than a year of cycling around Kyoto, we’ve developed a route that is safe, fun, and varied.
The course is 37km long and not for complete beginners, but with a high-performance e-bike, anyone with cycling experience can do it, and it’s also nice to give up along the way.
Start Cycling or Pick-up from your hotel
A dedicated support vehicle will pick you up from your hotel or station in Kyoto city.
Fitting & Instruction
We will teach you how to use the E-Bike and the basics of cycling in a spacious and safe place.
If the size of the bike doesn’t fit your plan, we will stop by our base to adjust the size.
Arashiyama
The cycling tour starts in Arashiyama, on the western edge of Kyoto, and passes through beautiful bamboo forests, rivers, and pre-modern cityscapes.
Nenbutsu-ji
The highlight of Arashiyama is Nenbutsu-ji Temple, famous for its thousands of stone statues.
Riding a bicycle through the rice fields
Of course, you can also enjoy an exhilarating cycling experience. North of Arashiyama, there are historically significant rice fields that have been preserved since ancient times, and you can cycle through them while learning about the history of rice cultivation in Japan.
Tea / Coffee brake
Along the way, you’ll take tea breaks, visiting a tranquil teahouse within a vast temple complex, or, for coffee lovers, a cafe in the city.
Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion)
Visit the famous Golden Temple. It’s crowded with people so if you’re not interested, skip it.
Lunch (Conveyor belt sushi or others)
For lunch, we usually go to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. They also serve ramen, meat dishes, and tempura, so it’s okay if you’re not a fan of sushi. It’s the perfect place for a quick lunch while cycling.
Of course, we ask our customers about their preferences during the tour, and if they want ramen, beef bowls, hamburgers, or authentic Japanese food, we’ll go to those restaurants.
Lunch is included in the tour price.
Kamo River
This is a representative river in Kyoto, and has a bicycle path. Upstream you can enjoy the beautiful riverbanks and nature, while downstream you can see hundreds of restaurants lining the river.
Philosopher’s Path
The Philosopher’s Path is a canal-side path connecting Ginkakuji Temple and Nanzenji Temple, and was named after the philosopher who walked there every morning about 100 years ago.
It’s a beautiful path overlooking Kyoto city, and with both pedestrian and bicycle paths and a variety of small shops, it’s a really enjoyable spot to stroll around.
Nanzen-ji
Nanzenji Temple is the head temple of the Zen sect, and offers a panoramic view of Kyoto city from its huge gate. It is also fun to stroll around the extensive grounds.
Gion Shirakawa
Gion is Japan’s oldest entertainment district. It is also home to some of Japan’s most prestigious restaurants. Explore this traditional restaurant district while avoiding the crowds.
Beginners may want to finish here.
Fushimi Inari Shrine
This shrine is famous for its thousand torii gates. It is one of the busiest shrines in Japan, but you can visit it by taking a back road to avoid the crowds.
Nintendo Headquarters
Nintendo is a global company with billion dollar annual sales and headquartered in Kyoto, but its headquarters is surprisingly plain. We Kyoto residents suspect there’s a vast Mario-like dungeon underground.
Just passing through, nothing special! (If you want to enjoy the Nintendo Museum, you need to make a reservation several months in advance.)
To-ji & Kyoto Station
The final destination of the cycling trip is Toji Temple, the tallest wooden building in Japan, and Kyoto Station. You can be picked up and dropped off at your hotel from the station, or if your hotel is close to Kyoto Station, you can cycle there and finish the trip there.
There’s a busy shopping district in front of the station, so we’ll recommend some restaurants. You can enjoy dinner and drinks there before taking a taxi back to your hotel.
