Tea Houses in Gion

Im planning a trip to Kyoto next Spring. Im very interested in Gion and all its history. One point of interest is the Tea Hosues. Do you have to call and make reseravtions to visit the Tea Hosues or do you just enter one like a regular resteruant?

There are some tea houses that you can enter as a tourist. If you would like to be introduced to the real tea houses it is more difficult (some people say it's impossible). If you have some money you can go with a geiko and it will be more easy to enter a tea house. For more info you can contact Peter (Canada living 12 yrs in Gion, Kyoto now) at http://www.petermacintosh.com/
Luck!

I would like to tell you that even native Japaneses cannot visit Gion tea houses
without authoritated referral by a steady patron.
Please remind it that they are not discriminating you as foreigner,
but it is their (although it maybe out-of-date) custom.

You can find some account concerning this in English here.
http://homepage2.nifty.com/arumukos/yachting/gazette/nomi-ga...
Scroll down to find "Ichigen-san refusing"

But I've heard that they are changing,
and some tea houses accept guests without referral.
Unfortunately I couldn't find any information source
on internet by a brief googling,
but I think you have a chance of visiting tea house.
If you stay at a large hotel, maybe the concierge desk can arrange it for you.

I'll post comment again when I come up with some additional information.