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Kyoto Sake Brewery Tour with Lunch
4.6
11 Ratings
Kyoto
Explore Kyoto's Fushimi district, savor a seasonal lunch, and discover 400 years of sake brewing tradition on this immersive brewery tour.
Duration:
3 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
learn more
Highlights
- Softbank Fushimimomoyama [ Y!mobile Agency ] - Meeting Point - in front of Softbank in Otesuji Shotengai. Then join our 3-hour tour of Fushimi district, Kyoto’s Sake district.
- Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine - Fushimi Inari Taisha
- Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum - During the tour, you will eat a seasonal lunch in a local restaurant before heading out to the Gekkeikan Okura sake museum where a brief history of Japanese sake can be understood.
- Fujioka Shuzo - Ending Point - Bar
- Chokenji-temple - Chokenji temple
- Fushimi Park - Fushimi Park
- Teradaya - Teradaya
- Daigo-ji Temple - Daigo-ji
What's Included
- Several Sake tastings
- Local English speaking guide
- Local lunch in restaurant
What's Not Included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Gratuities
- Food and drinks, unless specified
- Transportation costs.
Additional Information
Beginning in the Fushimi district of Kyoto, your guide will take you through the streets of this charming, sake brewing district where you will see various traditional and modern sake breweries and get a sense of the area’s 400-year-old sake brewing tradition.
During the tour, you will eat a seasonal lunch in a local restaurant before heading out to the Gekkeikan Okura Sake museum where a brief history of Japanese sake can be understood. Since they have been making sake since 1637, with a nearly 4 centuries-old process, you will really see how things have been done for generations. You will also get a chance to see the Sake brewery and the traditional brewing process which involves a combination of water, malt, yeast and steamed rice.
You will visit both a small and large sake brewery to get a sense of the differences of scale and of course try their sake and other products.
- Minimum drinking age is 21 years old
- Actual active brewing areas are inaccessible
- For solo travelers, please email us
- Changes to tours and spots we visit may occur due to schedules of restaurants, public holidays, weather conditions and other unforeseen circumstances. Applicable substitutions will be made in this case.
- Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescetarian, Gluten-Free friendly
Location
4-chōme-291 Ryōgaemachi
Meet up point: In front of SoftBank Fushimi
ソフトバンク伏見桃山
Address: 4-291-1 Ryogaemachi, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto-fu, Japan, 612-8082
〒612-8082 京都府京都市伏見区両替町４丁目２９１−１
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.6
(11 Ratings)
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Brianna
Apr 6, 2024
Excellent experience! - We had an excellent time on our Sake Brewery tour! We learned a lot about different types of sake and how they are made. Sae our tour guide was wonderful and very knowledgeable. I would recommend this tour to anyone!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Pfk721
Aug 7, 2023
A great Sake tasting and education - I cannot say enough about our tour with Sae - she was such a pleasure to be with on our tour. We received so much information about sake and the differences between gingo etc. - she provided such great insight to enhance our experience. We have done a fair amount of sake drinking but this was by far the best. Great to see a part of Kyoto where we could never have visited on our own!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Joeyl977
May 3, 2023
Fantastic tour!! - Our guide Sae was wonderful — so knowledgeable and kind — and taught us so much about Sake! The tour was so fun and the lunch was delicious. My husband and I chose the tour on our honeymoon and it was definitely a highlight! We learned about Japanese customs, manners, sake, and more, and Sae was a perfect guide, adding helpful and interesting info as we strolled place to place. Definitely recommend for any trip to Kyoto!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Elizabethdm8143il
May 1, 2023
Kyoto Sake Tour - great for sake enthusiasts! - Me and my two friends ended up being the only people on our Sake Tour, so we unintentionally got a private tour. Sae was an amazing guide, she had so much knowledge but was also so friendly and easy to talk to! The Gekkeikan Museum was super informative, I learned so much about the brewing process that I didn't know before - we were really curious about the production process and both Sae and the museum staff were wonderful about answering our questions. Throughout the stops we sampled around 15 different kinds of sake, and Sae went above and beyond, asking us each which types we liked best and making sure we could read the labels and know the terms to ask for the kinds of sake we wanted. The tasting with a sake sommelier at the end of the tour was also a highlight. An amazing tour, 10/10 would recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Magentahobart
Mar 22, 2023
Kyoto Sake Tour - Thank you Sae for a wonderful introduction to the history of sake brewing in Kyoto. You were extremely informative and we thoroughly enjoyed every sip of Sake which warmed the soul! I will forever look out for the green cedar balls and head straight to that bar or restaurant.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Untetheredtogether
Jul 22, 2019
Amazing/informative/delicious sake tour! - My husband and I were led by our amazing guide, Hiroe and her assistant, Ayaka, through the neighborhood of Fushimi via back alleys and along waterways. We've been on tours about tequila, beer, wine, etc, but it was truly amazing to learn about the history and see the process that goes into making sake. There was a bit of walking involved, but nothing strenuous. We also tried several of the local spring waters around, which of course is a huge part of the flavor and creation of sake brewing. Our lunch was delicious and came with a sake flight that paired nicely with all the different aspects of our deluxe bento box. We also visited a food stall restaurant where we were able to try 18 (!!!!!) select sakes from the 20 breweries in the area along with some traditional (and delicious!) snacks and finished up at our favorite stop -- a local brewery where we were able to purchase sake that we watched them pour into a bottle straight from the tap! The tour was a great combination of tiny local places, trendy places, more manufactured places, and a palatable version of the history and sake making process. 10/10 would recommend!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Zanzibar747
May 2, 2019
The Saki Story - We had a really relaxed, informative and enjoyable tour with our guide, Mana. She shared with us the importance of the water used, the quality of the rice, the manufacturing process and the different tastes of the finished product. It was really interesting to see how saki was made at the museum. Our lunch was excellent and we had the opportunity to taste a range of different sakis - even saki ice cream - delicious!
Mana was really helpful answering our questions and gave us some brilliant ideas for seeing other interesting parts of Kyoto.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nataliaorlo
Apr 17, 2019
Sake tour in Kyoto - Had a lovely time with Russ in Kyoto!
My boyfriend and I decided to stop in Kyoto for 2 nights and really wanted to make the most of our time there. Booking a tour with a knowledgeable guide was definitely the best decision. The food was delicious, Russ was fun and informative and I ended up finding my new favorite sake. 10/10.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jk9024
Jan 16, 2019
Below average tour - I was initially very excited about this tour however that changed as the tour progressed. The Fushimi area was beautiful, the museum was nice, and tasting different Sake, unfortunately that's where it ended. Our tour guide was nice but we felt she was not enthusiastic as a guide should be, nor confident in what she was explaining - she kept referring to her notes, unfinished explanations of the process, and was very vague. The whole purpose of the tour was to get a comprehensive understanding from a local Japanese guide on Sake making and its origin. We did not get this. In addition this tour promised a 7 course lunch this was definitely not the case and we waited over half an hour just to be seated for lunch which wasted a lot of time. During the tour we were told that we would visit one of the famous sake bars which we didn't even visit. For the price paid and for what we got out of it we actually could've explored this area on our own without a guide. Some of the other tours with this company may be good but this one overall was very disappointing!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tara_n
Oct 31, 2018
Good Sake - Tour guide was nice, and the food and sake were good. However, the tour guide seemed to rely to heavily on her laminated sheets to convey the brewing process and history. Some of the concepts did not seem to translate well for her and it was only my own knowledge of the beer brewing process which is somewhat similar that helped with the conveyance of the concepts to my friend who knew nothing of this at all. I would say this tour is more for a beginner overall to brewery tours.
Review provided by Viator
