Kyoto/Nara one-day tour

[Annegelic]

Hi all,
My friend and I were hoping to book a full one-day tour to Kyoto/Nara departing from Osaka. I've done the research and looked at about 10 or so sites that are offering this exact tour:

Kyoto > Nijo Castle, Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion), Kyoto Imperial Palace, Kyoto Handicraft Centre.
Nara > Todaiji Temple, Nara Park (Deer Park), Kasuga Taisha Shrine.

The problem is none of them are offering it for the day we want which is Sunday Feb 21st (they've either emailed me personally or it says on their site). And this has screwed up our very tight, compacted 10-day itinerary. Feb 21 is the only day we've left for it and we can't change anything else around.. we planned this in Oct-Nov and have only started booking the tours this week.

So my questions are..
1) What is so bad about this day?
Apparently Jan-Feb Tue/Thu/Sat are the only days available and March-Dec it's offered daily. We really don't want to miss out on seeing Kyoto and Nara :S
2) Is it possible to see most of those places by ourselves on that day WITHOUT the tour group?
3) If not, any suggestions on a substitute trip that's available for that day that's equally worthwhile?

Cheers if anyone can help.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Annegelic

Hi all,
My friend and I were hoping to book a full one-day tour to Kyoto/Nara departing from Osaka. I've done the research and looked at about 10 or so sites that are offering this exact tour:

Kyoto > Nijo Castle, Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion), Kyoto Imperial Palace, Kyoto Handicraft Centre.
Nara > Todaiji Temple, Nara Park (Deer Park), Kasuga Taisha Shrine.

The problem is none of them are offering it for the day we want which is Sunday Feb 21st (they've either emailed me personally or it says on their site). And this has screwed up our very tight, compacted 10-day itinerary. Feb 21 is the only day we've left for it and we can't change anything else around.. we planned this in Oct-Nov and have only started booking the tours this week.

So my questions are..
1) What is so bad about this day?
Apparently Jan-Feb Tue/Thu/Sat are the only days available and March-Dec it's offered daily. We really don't want to miss out on seeing Kyoto and Nara :S
2) Is it possible to see most of those places by ourselves on that day WITHOUT the tour group?
3) If not, any suggestions on a substitute trip that's available for that day that's equally worthwhile?

Cheers if anyone can help.

You could absolutely do it by yourself, but that would be one long day.

[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by Annegelic

So my questions are..
1) What is so bad about this day?
Apparently Jan-Feb Tue/Thu/Sat are the only days available and March-Dec it's offered daily. We really don't want to miss out on seeing Kyoto and Nara :S
2) Is it possible to see most of those places by ourselves on that day WITHOUT the tour group?
3) If not, any suggestions on a substitute trip that's available for that day that's equally worthwhile?

1. Just isn't high season for traveling.

2. Possibly, yes. But it will be really tiring as MMM stated. You may have to skip a couple of places from that list.

3. Use MK taxi. Sightseeing in Kyoto - MK TAXI