Best Free Tour in Osaka & Kyoto – Yamazaki Distillery Guided Tour
After our sushi lunch at Kyoto Station, we continued our sightseeing journey to Suntory Yamazaki Distillery, which is located in between Kyoto and Osaka.We took the JR Kyoto Station to JR Yamazaki Station (about 15 minutes) and from the station, it was another 10 minutes walk with proper signage along the way so you won’t get lost. We got our hotel front desk to make a reservation earlier before we came as the free guided tour has limited space on first come first serve basis. The tour was over an hour long and conducted in Japanese but they provided English audio guide for us for free (Chinese and French are also available).
We started in a group of 20 over people and were shown the entire whisky production process in different stages. I was paying attention at the beginning but got bored half way walking in the distillery…
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| The original whisky colour before storing in the wooden cask |
We ended our tour by browsing through the gift shops and the open bar. I should have bought some Yamazaki whisky back before it was voted the best whisky in the world last year but unfortunately, I didn’t. I will definitely go back to Japan and buy some the next time around! We spent quite a bit of time in the open bar by ordering some of the best whisky shots in the world. Best of all, the price was really cheap ( around ¥500 each shot) for good quality whisky so we all had a few to drink before we head back to Kyoto.In short, this free guided tour is highly recommended for people who enjoy good whisky! It took us a bit of effort to make the reservation and got on the short train journey but it was totally worth it. The official website (link below) has very detailed information and directions on how to get there so don’t miss it next time if you are in Kyoto or Osaka…
Yamazaki Distillery Address: 5-2-1 Yamazaki, Shimamoto-cho, Mishima-gun, Osaka
Tel: +81-75-962-1423
Yamazaki Distillery Guided Tour Official Website: http://www.suntory.com/factory/yamazaki/index.html
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Check out my other posts on Osaka here.
Check out my other posts on Kyoto here.
