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Tailor-made journey · Japan
Tailor-made, always
Every itinerary shaped around your dates, pace and preferences.
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Two adults. No compromises. A private week in Japan’s most refined city, followed by three nights in a rural ryokan.
Kyoto is not a city that rewards rushing. Its most extraordinary experiences, from a private tea ceremony in a Higashiyama machiya to early access to Fushimi Inari before the tour groups arrive, require time, and the absence of distraction.
This itinerary is designed for two people who want to be genuinely present in one of the world’s great cultural cities. Seven nights in Kyoto, structured around private guides, carefully chosen access, and the slower neighborhoods most visitors skip entirely. Then north by train to the Kinosaki Onsen coast, where three nights in a traditional ryokan bring the trip to exactly the right kind of close.
Kinosaki operates on a different clock. Wooden bathhouses, yukata-clad evenings, and crab season from November onwards. The antidote to overstimulation that every serious Kyoto trip deserves at the end.
Day 1
Your private driver meets you at Kansai International Airport and transfers you directly to Kyoto, approximately 75 minutes by expressway. Check in to The Mitsui Kyoto, a Luxury Collection Hotel, where your room is prepared for early arrival. The afternoon is yours. A short walk through Nijo Castle’s outer gardens is the only thing on the agenda.
Day 2
A private guide leads you through the Higashiyama district in the early morning, before the lanes fill. Ninenzaka, Sannenzaka, and the approach to Kiyomizudera without the crowds.
After lunch, a private tea ceremony in a restored machiya townhouse with a practitioner whose family has held the same Urasenke lineage for four generations.
Day 3
Early start. Your guide has arranged pre-opening access to Fushimi Inari Taisha, the vermillion gate shrine that climbs the forested hill south of the city. Back in Kyoto by mid-morning, the afternoon takes you to Fushimi’s sake breweries, a quieter pleasure that most visitors miss entirely.
Day 4
Private car to the western outskirts of the city. The bamboo grove, Tenryuji’s moss garden, and a private lunch at a kaiseki restaurant overlooking the Oi River. Boat transfer back along the river to the city in the late afternoon.
Day 5
A morning at Nishiki Market with a guide who knows which stalls to stop at and which to walk past. Lunch in a small counter restaurant in the covered arcade. The evening in Gion, where your guide has arranged a private dinner introduction to a kappo restaurant not listed in any guide.
Day 6
Private car to Nara, 45 minutes south. The deer park, Todaiji Temple, and the quieter Kasuga Taisha shrine trail through cedar forest. Back in Kyoto by late afternoon, with the evening free.
Day 7
A slow morning walk along the canal-side Philosopher’s Path, north to south, taking in Nanzenji, Eikan-do, and the Silver Pavilion at Ginkakuji. Lunch at a tofu restaurant in the temple district. The afternoon and evening are entirely unscheduled.
Day 8
Private car to Kyoto Station, then the Ltd Express Kounotori service north to Kinosaki Onsen, approximately two hours and twenty minutes. Your ryokan is a short walk from the station. Yukata and geta are waiting. The evening is for the seven public bathhouses, moving between them at your own pace.
Day 9
No schedule. The ryokan breakfast, the bathhouses, a walk along the willow-lined Otani River. Optional crab boat trip arranged on request between November and March. Kaiseki dinner prepared in-room by the ryokan’s kitchen.
Day 10
Private car transfer from Kinosaki Onsen to Osaka Itami or Kansai International Airport, approximately two hours depending on routing and departure time.
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Our team brings over 35 years of experience in luxury travel, shaping bespoke journeys for discerning clients worldwide.
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