Japan Unrivalled

Japan Unrivalled was amazing! It took me everywhere that I wanted to go for my first trip to Japan! Our trip manager was so knowledgeable (and funny), as were our incredible local guides. I learnt so much and saw so much, I can’t wait to come back to Japan!

Taking the time to write this review to share information I wish I had before booking this trip. 1) Travel manager: was immature and unprofessional, making very inappropriate sexual jokes throughout the trip and playing the flute poorly on purpose on the coach bus as another supposed joke. He was also relentlessly engaging in self promotion. I understand that timeliness is important in Japanese culture, but he seemed to care very little about the safety and wellbeing of travelers and often abandoned part of the group if they were lagging a bit behind. He also seemed to know little about the culture (kept mentioning travelers always taught him more than he knew) and always recommended going to/eating at touristic and overpriced locations. Based on his performance, I would have given 0 stars... 2) Local guides: The local guides were amazing and a definite highlight of the trip. 3) Accommodations: most were average at best. I was traveling with a partner and had made the request to have a double bed instead of two twins at the time of booking. This was only arranged at the first hotel. There are also two stays where accommodations are arranged by gender in groups of 4. This was not mentioned anywhere in the material available ahead of the trip, and we were not given the option of arranging/booking alternative accommodations to stay together. 4) Food: Most breakfast buffets were pretty good, and the Hida beef dinner FTA was great. However, not having breakfast included for half of the trip was definitely a drawback and including all breakfasts would greatly improve the travel experience. 5) Activities: The activities in Tokyo were all in very touristic locations and going to Shinjuku and Shibuya Crossing was not memorable. The rest of the itinerary was very good and interesting, and helped us discover areas of Japan we would not have visited otherwise. We enjoyed having a lot of free time to explore on our own. 6)Transport: Transport was generally very well organized. Our main complaint is that the cost of returning to the hotel from included activities by public transport was not included in the ICOCA card balance, which feels quite cheap... 7)General vibe/ group: the composition of groups will definitely vary, but we were very surprised to find out that a trip to Japan attracted a very young party focused crowd. There is nothing wrong with that, but we were mostly interested in sightseeing and discovering Japanese culture, and found that the trip was definitely organized for the younger/party demographic.

I would not recommend the Japan Unrivalled tour. Contiki was extremely lacking in their communication prior to and during the trip. I had a complaint to make through the tour as mix-gendered couples are unable to stay in the same room on Special Stay nights (not stated prior to booking) and have still yet to receive any response. The Special Stays are dirty and gross, and one even requires bathing in a shared facility naked. The tour also covers only around 1/2 of the transportation costs and most hotels are below average. Please refrain from booking this tour if you are wanting to experience Japan for its beauty and welcoming culture as travelling with Contiki definitely ruined our experience.

if was a good mix of structure and free time. Had things you wouldn't usually find on your own but allowed for us to find things each of us were keen to do/see as well

Busan was the highlight!

Adventure of a lifetime. Highly recommended this trip to anyone wanting to visit Japan.

Was Amazing sure looked after us and was very Knowledgeable.

Enjoyed exploring some of Japan's more popular destinations and experience things that are truly unique to the country. The big cities and small, Loved them both. Though I really got a sense of Japan in the quiet pockets of Tokyo, Takayama, and Kyosan. This is where I could sense the history and people of Japan, and what I had grown up seeing through tv, movies, and books. I would have loved seeing more of this on top of the cities explored, which I also loved.

The tour manager seemed to be a genuinely pleasant people person. While she likely had her frustrations and moods, she maintained a friendly demeanour. The tour was well organized with only minor unpredictable hiccups happening. The people were mostly good, but I didnt converse with everyone. Everyone seemed to agree that the best part of the trip was the balance of big cities and smaller towns. Happy I went.

Trip was very well organized but more days in Osaka would be nice

It’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. Everything turned out amazing & can’t wait to plan my next one.

This trip was amazing - hits the main places people visit in Japan as well as a couple I wouldn’t have chose on my own. Our trip manager really made the trip with her additional activities and recommendations for free time. Overall a good balance of scheduled activities and free time!

Japan was amazing definitely going to be back one day Loved seeing all the highlights food was so delicious so much variety Some of the hotels were not big enough for 2 people but they weren’t bad The Onsens were not really my thing but I still enjoyed it Overall I would say the trip was worth it and I definitely enjoyed the experience the people on my tour were so nice and friendly

Japan unrivalled was amazing! My only wish is that it was longer, but did a wonderful job of highlighting the unique areas of the country. I would advise travelers to give themselves a few extra days to go back to places they want to explore more when the tour ends (like Kyoto!). I really loved the smaller size of the group (21) as it was a good number for group cohesion and bonding. Trip manager Yujir handled logistics beautifully, it was so nice to have that burden removed. Accommodations were well selected and comfortable, and I really enjoyed all the add on options as well. This trip had a great variety of transport methods (train, bus, cable car, coach, ferry) which gave a more authentic “traveler” feel as opposed to being taken everywhere in a coach. Our guide had the best food and photo recommendations, so much so that in our free time we chose to follow him to wherever he was going to eat because we knew he wouldn’t miss! This was my 5th contiki and I swear they get better every time- I’m glad there are reunion trips now so I can continue the fun past 35!