Kawagoe Private day Tour from Tokyo: Cultural Escape

A Kawagoe day trip from Tokyo reaches the closest thing to an intact Edo town anywhere near the capital, about an hour north. Tokyo lost its old wooden streets to fire, earthquake and war. Kawagoe kept its clay walled warehouses because they were built to survive fire, and a row of them still lines the main street. Hotel pickup is included and the price covers the vehicle rather than each seat.

What you see in Kawagoe

Hikawa Shrine opens the day, with a tunnel of wind chimes in summer and a fishing game for paper fortunes all year. Kurazukuri Street follows, the row of black clay warehouses that gives the town its name of Little Edo, and the Toki no Kane bell tower standing above it, which has marked the hours here for four centuries. Kashiya Yokocho, Candy Alley, is a lane of old sweet shops around the corner. Lunch is at Koedo Kurari, a food hall in a converted sake brewery. The afternoon covers Kawagoe Castle's surviving Honmaru Goten hall and Kita-in temple, where 540 stone rakan statues sit in rows, each with a different face.

How the day is paced

Pickup is from your hotel or any address inside Tokyo's 23 wards, with about an hour of driving each way. Kawagoe is compact and most of the day is on foot between stops that sit within a few streets of each other, so the car mainly carries you there, back, and to the two temples on the edge of town. Your English-speaking guide will adjust the order to avoid the coach groups on Kurazukuri Street.

Who this tour suits

Right for a second or third day in Tokyo when you want old Japan without the distance of Nikko or Kamakura. It suits families, because Candy Alley and the wind chimes give children something of their own, and it suits anyone short on time, since this is our shortest drive. The walking is flat throughout. Our drivers hold a Japan Class 2 commercial passenger licence, and your English-speaking guide is the same person driving the car.

Best time to visit Kawagoe

Summer brings the wind chime tunnel at Hikawa Shrine, which is the town's best known photograph. Autumn is comfortable and quieter. The Kawagoe Festival in the third weekend of October fills the streets with tall wheeled floats and is worth planning a trip around, though the crowds are heavy and parking is difficult, so tell us early if you want that date.