One of Japan’s greatest attractions is its blend of the modern and the traditional. On this 12-day trip, you’ll veer off the main island of Honshu and travel to the less-touristed southwest. Discover revived art on the island of Naoshima, wander the castle in Matsuyama and spend a night in a tranquil homestay in the village of Usuki. Steam away your worries in the onsens in Beppu and be treated to a night in the volcanic Mt Aso, staying right in the middle of a caldera in a traditional Japanese inn surrounded by rice terraces. Remind yourself of the sobering history of Nagasaki and end it all back where it began – in thriving Osaka. This adventure is the ultimate combination of modern art, bullet trains, countryside villages, traditional inns, delicious feasts and onsens, surrounded by impressive views of rice terraces, volcano craters and grasslands. If you’re looking for a new side of Japan – head to the south!
Take your tastebuds on an 11-day culinary journey through Japan’s most delicious hotspots, relishing the flavours of the land of the rising sun. Uncover the secrets of sushi in Tokyo, pick local produce with an expert in Kanazawa, feast on plant-based monastic cuisine in Koya-san, meet local farmers in Uji and go on a food crawl in Osaka. Take part in cooking classes, cooking demonstrations and market visits, feasting on local delights along the way. From temples to tempura, shrines to sashimi, seafood markets to sake breweries, you’ll join a local leader on a food-focused adventure that has all the best Japanese ingredients.
Loved it all. The usual mix of guided tours and free time, with excellent hotels and a good crowd on the bus. Of course in any country there is so much to see and one tour cannot see it all but this was certainly a great effort at experiencing as much as possible within my time and budget constraints.
China: fantastic trip, saw the sites, are good food, learned, Howard was top notch, pace and transport was perfect and all well-timed
Japan: Hidemi was great but there was too much trudging in the rail / metro system. Koyasan and Hakone were not worth it in my opinion for the amount of work it took to get there.
I liked the itinerary very much. Our tour guide Jose was very knowledgeable about the sites we visited. I was not informed beforehand that this was a English and Spanish mixed language tour, Joses English was good but sometimes hard to understand. I also did not know that we would be having people added to our tour almost every day and some leaving almost every day. I enjoy tours more when you have a change to get to know who you are traveling with and with a mix of English and Spanish it felt like I was on my own and traveling with strangers.
Terrific tour....
We stopped at choice locations..
David Solanes was our guide and he was amazing, taking considerable care of everyones questions be they related to the tour events, free time or other aspects of the country, culture and travel. He provided excellent contextual overviews and made the experience for everyone fun and most enjoyable. He was great at getting everyone moving through the events without a lot of waiting on others... truly passionate about the tour stops and ensuring all had a great time.
The hotels and locations were convenient and generally quite good.
Very well organised tour from the start to the finish. This was an extremely busy tour with lots of walking. The sites included in this tour were wonderful. The guides were very knowledgeable, friendly and fun. Transport on this tour was a little squishy.
Meeting new people from different parts of the world and traveling with them to different places and learning about the beautiful and unique culture of japan with the help of two incredible guides,i.e., Mr Reigutsu and Mr. David is what i liked most about the tour. Both of them were excellent guides and being in their company was truly enjoyable.
David Solanes is one of the best tour guides we have ever had and we have taken at least 25 tours. He was very professional, funny, attentive, accommodating, and very knowledgeable. Paco out of Tokyo was also great - he went above and beyond to accommodate our request to upgrade to first class on bullet train and made sure we are all ok during the train rides. The only thing that was tough was the monastery stay. Info from travel agent indicated it was an option but was not. It would have been better if there was a hotel option for the convenience of people who can’t rough it.
Tour guides were very punctual. The Geisha tour was not too clear as how the passengers were going to return to hotel. The Holiday Inn gave us 3 rooms in different floors which made it difficult to have access to each other since room keys are accessible only to designated floor.
Both David and Pablo were incredible guides. They both had extensive knowledge of the places we went to and they also allowed us to explore by ourselves and gave us time to take photos. Very impressive that they can speak english, spanish and japanese. Both our guides had a great sense of humour and knew how to keep the tour group entertained.
