The story
About this journey
This journey is small on purpose. Six travellers, six tea masters, and a city that rewards slowness in unusual ways.
The tea practice
Each morning begins with a tea session, led by a different teacher. Some are formal; some are conversations over a kettle. By the end of the week you will have made tea many times, and you will have begun to understand why it takes a lifetime to do well.
The walks
Afternoons are spent on foot — through Higashiyama, along the Philosopher's Path, into less-walked temple complexes. We avoid crowds where we can.
Itinerary
Day by day
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Fly into Kansai (KIX) by 16:00. We meet at our machiya u2014 a restored merchant house in the Higashiyama district. A welcome dinner is laid on the low table: a few small dishes, miso soup, rice. The first tea of the journey is offered in silence.
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A short walk to the home of Kanae-sensei, our first tea teacher. She has practised for forty years and teaches in the back room of her family's seventy-year-old house. The morning is given to watching her make tea u2014 not making it ourselves yet. The afternoon is yours: walking, resting, the bath at the machiya.
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A 4-kilometre walk along the canal that gives this trail its name, with quiet stops at temples that most visitors hurry past. Lunch at a tofu restaurant where everything is grown within fifteen kilometres. Evening: our second tea session, where we begin to make tea ourselves.
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A train and a long climb to a hilltop monastery few tourists find. We sit in on a portion of the morning service. Lunch is shu014djin ryu014dri u2014 Buddhist temple cuisine u2014 eaten in silence. We descend slowly, in our own time.
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The morning is for the moss gardens u2014 Saihu014d-ji or Ku014dke-dera, depending on the week. Time alone, without speaking, with one of the most carefully tended green spaces on earth. Evening: our final tea, made by each of us in turn for the others. There are no words required.
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Breakfast together, slowly. We leave the machiya by 11:00. You can stay on in Kyoto, or fly home from KIX in the afternoon.
Practical
What this asks of you
Fitness
Easy
Walking
4–8 km
Climate
Cool spring · 8–18°C
Group size
Up to 6
What's included
In and out of the price
✓ Included
- Small group (max 6)
- Local guide on the route
- Curated lodging
- Most meals
× Not included
- International flights
- Travel insurance
- Personal expenses
- Tips for the guide
Where
The route
About the guide
alderan Guide
alderan
Host since 2026 · 10 listings
Travira gathers a small number of journeys each year — quiet, paced, walked with care. We work with hosts we have known a long time, in places that ask something of you.
Contact details open to you after purchase.
Voices
From those who came through
I came back changed in the way that matters — slowly, quietly.
Travira chose well for me. I trust them now.
The kind of attention to detail you only notice afterwards.
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Why slow
Travira makes a small number of offerings, with small groups and long timescales. Slow, for us, is not a marketing word. It is the only honest way we know to do this — to give a thing enough room to change you.
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Kyoto Tea Pilgrimage
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