How much does the Hozugawa river boat ride cost?

A walk-up adult ticket at the Kameoka pier is ¥6,000. Children from infants to elementary school age pay ¥4,500. That is the whole ticket price, and it has not been the expensive part of anyone’s day in the years I have worked on this riverbank. The expensive part is the two transfers around it, which is why the guided packages cost more than the ticket and why most visitors book one.

Ticket prices at the pier, in yen

These are the operator’s own walk-up prices, not tour prices. The discount rates need a certificate or a school booking, and the charter figure is for the whole boat.

Passengers under 80 cm tall cannot board at any price, carried or not, because the life jackets do not fit them. Wheelchair users can board with a companion. The charter boat is covered on the private tours page, along with who it actually suits.

What the guided tours add

Every tour except the rafting trip has the ¥6,000 boat ticket inside it. Tour prices move with season and demand, so I do not print them here — the live figure for each is on its booking panel.

The rafting trip is the cheapest because it is not the traditional boat ride. It is a raft down the same gorge, and it is the most-booked product on this river. The Osaka day is the dearest because somebody else solves the transfers for you at both ends. Full breakdowns of all six sit on the tours page.

A do-it-yourself day, priced honestly

Here is the arithmetic I would do myself. JR Kyoto Station to JR Kameoka takes 20–30 minutes on the Sagano line and costs ¥410, then it is roughly a 10-minute walk to the pier. There is also a 15-minute bus from Torokko Kameoka Station for about ¥500 if you would rather not walk. The boat lands you in Arashiyama, 15–20 minutes on foot from JR Saga-Arashiyama Station, and that last train fare back into the city is the one number I am not going to invent for you.

So a bare do-it-yourself ride starts at ¥6,410 and takes the best part of a day once you add the waiting, the two walks and the trains. The value package covers the same boat plus the Sagano Romantic Train plus the Arashiyama temples, guided, with the transfers handled. I am not going to convert the yen figures into your own currency here, because the rate moves and the stale — check both figures on the day. What I will say is that the gap is narrower than people assume, and it closes completely the moment there are two of you and a missed connection.

What the tour price buys that the ticket does not

An English-speaking guide travels with the group on the packages; the boatmen’s commentary itself is in Japanese. You also get the Kameoka transfer, usually the Sagano Romantic Train through the same gorge in the opposite direction, and a plan for the Arashiyama end of the day. Most of these tours carry free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure. If the operator itself cancels for weather or water level, online bookings are refunded in full automatically. The mechanics of both are on the booking page.

Frequently asked questions