Gion · Kimono Dressing and a Tea Ceremony · About 1.5 Hours
Kyoto Kimono Experience
Choose a kimono from more than 200 designs, have it put on by the staff, then make your own matcha in a tea room with an English-speaking instructor, in groups of up to 10. Rated 4.9 from 2,031 reviews (October 2026).
- 4.9 / 5 2031+ Reviews
- 1.5–2 h Dressing and tea
- Up to 10 Guests per group
- Free Cancellation
The Experience
What Happens at the Kimono Tea Ceremony
Picking a kimono, being dressed, the tea room, whisking your own matcha and the sweets that go with it.
Highlights
- A tea ceremony with the etiquette explained
- Enjoy a small-group experience with a maximum of 10 guests
- Enjoy wearing a kimono—an expert helps you dress
- Leave with a new skill in matcha preparation
What's Included
- Snacks (Wagashi & matcha)
- Kimono Set Rental
- Tea Ceremony Utensils Rental
- Japanese Calligraphy Set Rental (Only included when selecting the Japanese Calligraphy Experience option)
- Hairstyling (simple style)
- All Fees and Taxes
- Licensed Guide
Good to know: Travelers are responsible for their own expenses to and from the meeting point
How a Kimono Experience in Kyoto Works
Book a time, choose a kimono, get dressed, then the tea room.
Pick a Time
The calendar below shows each start time with its price. The plain experience takes about 1.5 hours; the option with Japanese calligraphy takes 2. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Choose a Kimono
At the shop in Gion you choose from more than 200 kimono designs, and the staff dress you. Women get a simple hairstyle. You make your own way to the shop.
The Tea Room
An English-speaking instructor takes you through the tea ceremony, then you whisk your own bowl of matcha with a bamboo whisk (chasen). Groups are limited to 10.
Matcha and Sweets
You drink the matcha you made with wagashi, traditional Japanese sweets. The kimono set, the tea utensils, the sweets and all fees and taxes are included.
Photo Gallery
The Kimono Tea Ceremony in Gion
The kimono, the tea room and the matcha.
Book Your Experience
Check Availability & Prices
Select your preferred date and time. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure.
Four Kimono Experiences in Kyoto Compared
The kimono tea ceremony in Gion, the tea ceremony with a full day in kimono near Kiyomizu-dera, a day's kimono rental with hairstyling, and the kimono makeover with a photoshoot. Prices and ratings as listed on GetYourGuide in October 2026.
| Feature | MOST REVIEWED Kimono Tea Ceremony, Gion | KIMONO ALL DAY Tea Ceremony & Full-Day Kimono | LOWEST PRICE Kimono Rental with Hairstyling | WITH PHOTOS Kimono Makeover & Photoshoot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | From US$49/per person | From US$63/per person | From US$21/per person | From US$30/per person in current promotion (usually US$31) |
| Rating | 4.9 from 2,031 reviews | 4.9 from 311 reviews | 4.8 from 1,473 reviews | 4.9 from 266 reviews |
| Length | 1.5 hours (2 with calligraphy) | About 2 hours, kimono until 5:30 PM | One day, return by 5 PM | About 2 hours dressing, then the shoot |
| Where | Orizuruya, Gion | Near Kiyomizu-dera | Near Kiyomizu-dera | Gion and Yasaka Shrine |
| Tea ceremony | Yes: make your own matcha | Yes: matcha and sweets | No | No |
| Wear it outside | Not stated | Yes, until 5:30 PM | Yes, until 5 PM | Yes, until 5:30 PM |
| Good to know | Groups of up to 10; women get a simple hairstyle | Yukata June to September; not for under-7s | Avoid heavy makeup; not for pregnant women | Photos included only in the photoshoot options |
| Check Availability | See the Full Day | See the Rental | See the Photoshoot |
More Options
Other Kimono Experiences in Kyoto
Day-long kimono rental, tea ceremonies near Kiyomizu-dera and Shijo-Karasuma, photoshoots in Gion, and shops that dress men and children.
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The Guide
Wearing a Kimono in Kyoto: Which Experience, and Where to Walk
From an hour and a half in a Gion tea room to a whole day in kimono on the slopes below Kiyomizu-dera. Here is how they differ, and how to wear one well.
A Kyoto kimono experience is a booking in which a shop dresses you in a kimono and you wear it for something: most often a tea ceremony, sometimes a photoshoot or a day’s walk through Gion and Higashiyama. A plain kimono rental gives you the kimono for the day and leaves the rest to you. For a first time, the one we would book is the Kimono Tea Ceremony at Orizuruya Gion, the kimono experience in Kyoto with the most reviews on GetYourGuide: you choose a kimono from more than 200 designs, the staff dress you, and an English-speaking instructor takes you through the tea ceremony, rated 4.9 from 2,031, from US$49 a person (checked October 2026).
Check dates for the Gion kimono tea ceremony →
Kimono rental or a kimono experience?
A rental is the kimono for the day. The shop helps you choose one, dresses you, often does your hair, and keeps your clothes and luggage; you walk out and return it by about 5 or 5:30 PM. It is the cheaper way in, and the right one if you want to spend the day on the streets around Kiyomizu-dera.
An experience puts the kimono to use. At a kimono tea ceremony you are dressed, then you sit in a tea room while an instructor shows the ritual and you whisk your own bowl of matcha, in about 1.5 hours. At a photoshoot a photographer walks you to the spots in Gion where the photos come out best. Some bookings do both: a tea ceremony and then the kimono for the rest of the day.
If you have half a day, book an experience. If you have a whole day and want to walk, book a rental, or a tea ceremony that lets you keep the kimono afterwards.
The kimono experiences, by what you want
A tea ceremony in kimono. LINKTIVITY runs the Kimono Tea Ceremony at Orizuruya Gion and the same programme at its Orizuruya Nishiki shop, from US$49: 1.5 hours, 2 with a Japanese calligraphy option, groups of up to 10. GLOBA’s Shijo-Karasuma kimono tea ceremony, rated 4.9 from 746, is led by a tea master in sessions of about 12 to 14 people, with chairs on request for anyone who cannot sit on tatami. Traveling Tokyo’s kimono and matcha tea ceremony, from US$44 in current promotion (usually US$63), adds photo time in the tea rooms; the kimono stays inside.
A tea ceremony, then the kimono all day. Kaouka’s tea ceremony with a full day in kimono near Kiyomizu-dera, from US$63, lets you sightsee in the kimono until 5:30 PM after the ceremony; from June to September it is a yukata.
Just the kimono. YUUKAGA’s kimono rental with hairstyling and accessories, near Kiyomizu-dera, includes the undergarments, sandals, socks, a bag and luggage storage, and is rated 4.8 from 1,473. The same company’s kimono or yukata rental near Gion, from US$14, is the plainer option, with hairstyling charged extra.
A photoshoot. Liulian Travel’s kimono makeover with a photoshoot in Gion and at Yasaka Shrine, from US$30 in current promotion (usually US$31), gives you a professional photographer and the retouched photos in its photoshoot options; the kimono-only option has no photos.
Privately. Yours Japan’s private tea ceremony and calligraphy, from US$63 in current promotion (usually US$70) (kimono only in its Kimono Plan, priced higher), reserves a 125-year-old machiya townhouse nine minutes’ walk from Kyoto Station for your group alone.
Prices and ratings from GetYourGuide, checked October 2026. Shops price by date and plan, so treat them as the shape of the market, not a quote.
Which one should you book?
Pick by how much of the day you want in kimono:
Kimono Tea Ceremony, Gion
More than 200 kimono to choose from, dressing and a simple hairstyle, then a tea ceremony where you whisk your own matcha.
Check dates →Tea Ceremony & Full-Day Kimono
A matcha tea ceremony near Kiyomizu-dera, then the slopes of Higashiyama in your kimono until the shop closes.
See the full day →Kimono Rental with Hairstyling
The kimono, the undergarments, sandals, a bag and a hairstyle near Kiyomizu-dera, returned by 5 PM.
See the rental →Prices and ratings from GetYourGuide, checked October 2026; shops change prices, so treat them as a guide, not a quote.
How much kimono rental costs in Kyoto sets out the price ladder, and the kimono tea ceremonies compares the tea rooms.
Where to walk in a kimono
Most kimono walks follow the same line through Higashiyama, east of the Kamo River. Start at Kiyomizu-dera, then walk down Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka, two stone-paved slopes lined with wooden shops and teahouses, towards Yasaka Shrine and Gion. Kyoto’s official tourism site suggests starting early: tour buses crowd the approaches to Kiyomizu-dera later in the day.
Gion has one rule to know. Since 2019 the residents of Gion’s Minamigawa district have banned photography on its private side streets and unsolicited photos of maiko and geiko, and signs warn of a 10,000 yen charge for entering the private alleys. Hanamikoji, the main street, is a public road; take your photos there, and leave the alleys alone.
Before or after
The kimono shops close at about 5:30 PM, so the walk is a daytime one. For a night near the slopes, a hotel in Gion or Higashiyama puts you a few minutes from the shops:
Hotels in Gion Hotels in Higashiyama Hotels near Kyoto Station
Experience details, prices and ratings from the GetYourGuide listings, read in US dollars on 28 October 2026. The Higashiyama walk from Kyoto’s official tourism site (kyoto.travel); the Gion photography rule from reporting on the Gion Minamigawa district council’s 2019 rule and its 2024 signs.
Wear a Kimono for the Tea Ceremony in Gion
Choose a kimono from more than 200 designs and be dressed by the staff (simple hairstyling for women), then a tea ceremony with an English-speaking instructor: whisk your own matcha and taste it with Japanese sweets. About 1.5 hours, or 2 with the calligraphy option, groups of up to 10, as listed in October 2026, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before. Starting from US$49 per person.
Check Availability & BookCan't Make These Dates?
Browse More Available Options
Find a tour that fits your schedule. Dates and cancellation terms are on each listing.
Kyoto Kimono Experience FAQ
The questions people ask before wearing a kimono in Kyoto, answered in the first sentence and explained in the ones after.
A kimono experience is a booking in which a shop dresses you in a kimono and you wear it for a cultural activity, most often a tea ceremony, or for a walk and photos around Gion and Higashiyama. A plain kimono rental gives you the kimono for the day and leaves the rest to you; an experience adds the activity. The Kimono Tea Ceremony at Orizuruya Gion, the most reviewed of them on GetYourGuide (4.9 from 2,031, October 2026), takes about 1.5 hours: you choose a kimono, the staff dress you, then an instructor takes you through the tea ceremony and you whisk your own matcha. The kimono tea ceremonies compared.
A day's kimono rental with the dressing included starts at about mostly US$14 to US$25 a person on GetYourGuide (October 2026); a kimono with a tea ceremony costs about US$19 to US$76, most between US$44 and US$63, and a kimono with a professional photoshoot about US$30 to US$157. Hairstyling is included in some rentals and charged extra in others: one Gion shop lists hairstyling at 1,500 yen, makeup at 6,600 yen and a photographer at 8,800 yen per half hour. Kimono rental prices in Kyoto sets out the ladder.
The shop gives you the undergarments; you come in a thin, simple layer, such as a t-shirt with leggings or shorts. One of the largest Kyoto rental shops lists the undergarments, socks, sandals and bag as included and recommends a simple t-shirt and leggings or shorts underneath for comfort. Avoid heavy makeup, which can stain the collar. What to wear under a kimono covers bras, the toilet and the weather.
A yukata is a light, unlined cotton summer kimono, worn with a narrower obi; a kimono is lined, usually silk or polyester, and worn over an undergarment. In Kyoto the rental shops switch by season: several list a yukata from June to September and a kimono from October to May. A yukata is quicker to put on and cooler in the summer heat; a kimono is warmer and more formal.
Yes. Kyoto's kimono rental shops exist to dress visitors. Two things show respect: wear it the right way, left panel over right (right over left is how the dead are dressed), which the staff will do for you, and behave in it as you would anywhere in Kyoto, especially in Gion, where the private side streets are closed to photography.
On the main streets, yes; on Gion's private side streets, no. Since 2019 the residents of Gion's Minamigawa district have banned photography on the private alleys and unsolicited photos of maiko and geiko, with signs warning of a 10,000 yen charge. Hanamikoji itself is a public street. A photoshoot booking takes you to the spots where photos are welcome.
Yes. Several Kyoto shops dress men and children, and one Gion and Kiyomizu-dera shop lists more than 700 kimono including men's and children's sizes and welcomes plus sizes. Men's kimono are worn with a narrower obi, and some photoshoot plans offer a formal hakama; children's kimono are sized to them. A family-focused shop in Gion dresses children with a simple hairstyle and a kanzashi hairpin. Kimono rental for men and children.
Yes, if you will spend the day walking Higashiyama and Gion, and if you book a shop close to where you plan to walk. The dressing takes about an hour, and the streets around Kiyomizu-dera look their best with you in one. It is less worth it on a hot, crowded summer afternoon, or if you only have an hour: then a kimono tea ceremony gives you the kimono and the culture in 1.5 hours. Is kimono rental worth it?
Allow about an hour for choosing a kimono and being dressed, and 30 minutes more for hair and makeup. One central Kyoto shop says the preparation takes an hour, and 30 minutes extra with hairstyling and makeup; a Gion photoshoot studio asks for about two hours for dressing and hair before the shoot. At a kimono tea ceremony the dressing is part of the 1.5 hours.
Usually by 5 or 5:30 PM on the same day. Several shops offer a next-day return for an extra charge or, at one Gion and Kiyomizu-dera shop, free if you arrange it before leaving. Check the return time on your booking before you plan an evening in kimono.
Still have questions? Email us at info@kyoto-kimono-experience.com