How much does a private guide in Tokyo cost?

A private guided day in Tokyo starts from ¥36,000 — and that number is for everyone with you, not per person. It's the walking day's shortest version, for one or two guests; more of you, or more hours, moves the number, and you see exactly what your day costs before anything is held. Here's how the pricing actually works, day by day.

01One price buys the day

We price the day, not the seat. Most tours you'll compare us against are listed per person, and the checkout multiplies that number by everyone standing next to you. Here, one price buys your guide, start to finish, for everyone who is with you. We quote it for exactly who's coming and how long the day runs — and the quote is the number: no per-person maths, no adult-and-child columns, nothing added at the door.

02The five days, and what each starts from

Tokyo Private Walking Tour

from ¥36,000 · 4, 6 or 8 hours · private for up to 10 guests

Tokyo Night Tour

from ¥72,000 · 4 hours, evening into night · up to 5 guests · dinner and drinks included

Mount Fuji Day Trip

from ¥84,000 · 10 hours, door to door · up to 6 guests · lunch and shrine entry included

Kyoto Private Walking Tour

from ¥36,000 · 4, 6 or 8 hours · private for up to 10 guests

Nikko Day Trip

from ¥98,000 · 10 hours, door to door · up to 6 guests · lunch on the shrines route

“From” is the price for one or two of you on a day's shortest version. Every day has its own ladder — the walking days come in four, six and eight-hour versions, the night tour is one evening with dinner and drinks in the price, and the day trips are flat ten-hour days — so a longer day or a bigger group steps the total up. It never multiplies it.

03How group size moves the number

The prices page prints the walking day's shortest version as the worked example, and it's worth repeating here because it shows the shape of every ladder we run:

One or two of you

¥36,000

Three or four

¥46,000

Five or six

¥56,000

Seven or eight

¥66,000

Nine or ten

¥76,000

Walking days book for up to ten guests, the night tour for five, the day trips for six. More of you than that? That's an enquiry, not a problem — we build bigger days by hand, and past six or so we plan the day differently anyway: different counters, sometimes a second guide.

04Your exact number, before you pay

Open any day's booking page and choose the date, the length, the start time and who's coming — the price updates as you choose, one total for all of you. Nothing is owed to see it: every set day shows its number before any card is asked for. Payment goes by card through Stripe's own secure form — your card details never touch our servers. A single day is one payment the moment your booking confirms; several days or a built itinerary confirm with a deposit, settled before you travel. On the day itself, nothing is owed.

If we ever have to move a confirmed day — it has happened, rarely — you choose: another date, another guide, or every yen back the same day.

05What the price includes — and what it doesn't

Your guide, start to finish — your people only, nobody else joining. The day planned around you before you arrive, and re-planned on the day if you want it to be. Plus what each day's page lists as included: temple and shrine entry on the walking days and day trips, lunch on the Fuji and Nikko days, the night tour's dinner and drinks.

What it doesn't: trains and taxis during the day are yours — your guide plans every route, and the fares go on your own IC card. Food and tickets beyond a day's listed inclusions you pay at the counter, at what they cost — nothing goes through us and nothing is marked up. Hotels, flights and transfers stay yours to book, though we'll happily tell you where we would stay. And for Mount Fuji, travel to the mountain is quoted separately, before you confirm — so the number you say yes to is the whole picture.

06Itineraries are quoted, not listed

A custom day has no list price, because it has no fixed shape until we've built it with you. The rules are the same ones: one price for everyone with you, and you see the number before anything is held. Any of our five days can also be the first draft — take one as it stands and tell us what to change.

07One thing we're not

We're guides, not a travel agency. People write asking us to book only an airport transfer, or hotels, or a car for the day — and the honest answer is that we don't sell those. We sell our own day with you, and we'll gladly tell you where to stay and how to get about. If what you need is transport without a guide, we're the wrong booking, and we'd rather say so here than in your inbox.

08When to book

As early as you can for cherry blossom — late March into early April, a two-week window rather than a season — and for the autumn colour; those two fill first. The price doesn't jump; the calendar just runs out. The rest of the year is far more forgiving, and last-minute is always worth asking.

09The tipping question

Tipping isn't part of the culture in Japan and it is never expected. It does happen in tourism, and if you want to, that part is between you and your guide. Bring some cash either way — a good many of the small places we'll take you to are still cash only, and your guide will tell you when you'll want it.

10Private day, or group tour?

What a private day buys is a person, before it buys a plan — a local who chose this work because they love handing people their Japan, and whose day is yours alone. The plan follows from them: shaped around what you're curious about before you arrive, reshaped street by street when something catches your eye, through the neighbourhoods the buses don't know, to six seats at a counter your guide can call ahead to. Read our reviews and you'll see the same sentence keep coming back — by evening, it felt like a day with a friend. That's what the number pays for, and it's why the price is for the day, not the seat.

A group tour does a different job, and does it honestly: one seat on a set route, the famous sights covered, priced per person — and if you're travelling alone and that's the trip you want, it's a fair buy. The two aren't rivals so much as different days. When you want the day to be yours — built for your people, changed on the spot, ending somewhere none of you had planned — that's ours.

The full picture is on our prices page, and every day's booking page shows your exact number before you pay. If your day doesn't fit a template, tell us what you're after — that's rather the point of the whole thing.