Download a detailed PDF brochure and unlock an exclusive discount for this tour
Do you need help from our trip consultants?
If you have any question about this tour or need help with planning a trip, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.
Our travel experts are ready to help.
Why Book with Bookmundi
in travel credits
Best price guaranteed.
No credit card or booking fees.
100% financial protection.Bookmundi is a member of the Danish Travel Fund which guarantees for any payment made via us. Our guarantee covers all travelers, irrespective of nationality.
Carbon neutral tours.Algorithms and machine learning enables Bookmundi to calculate the carbon footprint for each tour. We then subsequently offset carbon emissions for all tour bookings on Bookmundi via investments in carbon reduction projects to help combat climate change.
25,000+ trip reviews, with an average rating of 4.8 out of 5.
Wonders of Japan - Small Group
BM-53703Share this tour link.
Best price guaranteed
No booking fees
E-ticket/Mobile-voucher
Carbon neutral
CO2 emissions resulting from all trips on Bookmundi will be offset via investments in carbon reduction projects.
What are customers saying about Bookmundi
4.67/5
Excellent based on 836 customer reviews from
Dudley
The process from finding the tour we wanted to take to getting set up for the tour was an easy process. The other reviews we saw gave us the security of using their website to book our trip. The only item we missed which would have given a 5* was the trip did not include see the Alps up close or a train trip. Well maybe next time there may be one and we would definitely take that trip.
1 week ago
11 daysDuration
Group TourJoin a group of travelers
48 peopleMaximum group size
5 - 99 yearsAge range for participants
EnglishGuide language
Easy
Light physical activity suitable for most people with average fitness levels.
Tokyo: Take in views across Tokyo from the observation deck of Tokyo Tower. From this landmark vantage point, you’ll see the scale of the city laid out below, from neighbourhood districts and commercial centres to the skyline that defines Japan’s capital.
Tokyo: Visit Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, founded in 628 AD and dating back almost 1,400 years. Tokyo’s oldest temple, it remains one of the city’s most important Buddhist sites. Enter through the Kaminarimon gate and see a temple complex that continues to serve as both a major place of worship and one of Japan’s most visited religious landmarks.
Tokyo: Join a bonsai apprentice for a hands-on introduction to this traditional Japanese art. You’ll learn about its history, principles and techniques through planting, pruning and tying, and gain insight into a practice shaped by precision, patience and discipline.
Izu: Ride the ropeway to the 452-metre summit of Mount Katsuragi at Izu Panorama Park. Alongside views across the Izu Peninsula and, on a clear day, Mount Fuji, at the top you’ll find Katsuragi Shrine, a historic shrine dating to the Heian period, still revered for protection from evil and disasters.
Shizuoka: Board Japan’s bullet train and travel between destinations on one of the world’s most efficient rail networks. Known for its speed, precision and comfort, the Shinkansen is part of daily life in Japan and an experience in its own right, giving you a closer look at the country’s seamless approach to modern travel.
Visit the Washi Paper Museum to learn about Japanese papermaking, a craft shaped by skill, patience and natural materials. You’ll create your own souvenir and gain hands-on insight into a tradition that continues to hold an important place in Japanese culture.
Gujo Hachiman: Watch a demonstration of Gujo Odori, the traditional dance of Gujo Hachiman, performed at the town’s festivals for generations. Dressed in yukata and wooden geta, the dancers bring local stories to life through movements inspired by the castle, river and mountains, and you’ll have the chance to try the steps yourself.
Gokayama: Explore Ainokura in the UNESCO-listed Gokayama region, where steeply pitched gassho-zukuri farmhouses rise from the mountain landscape. Designed for heavy snowfall, these traditional homes offer a closer look at the building methods and rural traditions of this part of Japan.
Kanazawa: Visit Kenrokuen, one of Japan’s three great gardens and a strolling-style landscape garden shaped over generations by the Maeda lords of Kanazawa. You’ll see why it is so celebrated, with its carefully balanced design reflecting the six qualities traditionally associated with an ideal garden.
Kanazawa: Discover the history and craftsmanship of Ohi ware at Ohi Gallery before taking part in a matcha tea experience. Served in authentic Ohi bowls, the tea offers a closer connection to a pottery tradition that has been part of Kanazawa’s tea culture for generations.
Kyoto: Explore Gion on a walking tour with your Travel Director, through a district known for its preserved wooden machiya townhouses, teahouses and long association with Kyoto’s geisha culture. As you walk its narrow streets, you’ll gain a clearer sense of the traditions and atmosphere that still define this part of the city.
Kyoto: Visit Fushimi Inari Shrine, where Inari was first enshrined in 711. As you explore the shrine complex, you’ll see how one of Kyoto’s most important sacred sites brings together multiple shrines in a setting that has long been associated with worship, ritual and pilgrimage.
Kyoto: Walk through Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, where tall bamboo lines the path in one of Kyoto’s most recognisable landscapes. Set in the Saga-Arashiyama district, the grove forms part of an area long associated with temples, river crossings and historic approaches into western Kyoto.
Kyoto: Visit Kinkaku-ji, first built in 1397 as the retirement villa of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu before becoming a Zen temple. Reflected in the surrounding pond, you'll see one of Kyoto’s most recognised views, while also revealing the legacy of the shogunate in the city.
Visit the Washi Paper Museum to learn about Japanese papermaking, a craft shaped by skill, patience and natural materials. You’ll create your own souvenir and gain hands-on insight into a tradition that continues to hold an important place in Japanese culture.
Gujo Hachiman: Watch a demonstration of Gujo Odori, the traditional dance of Gujo Hachiman, performed at the town’s festivals for generations. Dressed in yukata and wooden geta, the dancers bring local stories to life through movements inspired by the castle, river and mountains, and you’ll have the chance to try the steps yourself.
Gokayama: Explore Ainokura in the UNESCO-listed Gokayama region, where steeply pitched gassho-zukuri farmhouses rise from the mountain landscape. Designed for heavy snowfall, these traditional homes offer a closer look at the building methods and rural traditions of this part of Japan.
Kanazawa: Visit Kenrokuen, one of Japan’s three great gardens and a strolling-style landscape garden shaped over generations by the Maeda lords of Kanazawa. You’ll see why it is so celebrated, with its carefully balanced design reflecting the six qualities traditionally associated with an ideal garden.
Kanazawa: Discover the history and craftsmanship of Ohi ware at Ohi Gallery before taking part in a matcha tea experience. Served in authentic Ohi bowls, the tea offers a closer connection to a pottery tradition that has been part of Kanazawa’s tea culture for generations.
Kyoto: Explore Gion on a walking tour with your Travel Director, through a district known for its preserved wooden machiya townhouses, teahouses and long association with Kyoto’s geisha culture. As you walk its narrow streets, you’ll gain a clearer sense of the traditions and atmosphere that still define this part of the city.
Kyoto: Visit Fushimi Inari Shrine, where Inari was first enshrined in 711. As you explore the shrine complex, you’ll see how one of Kyoto’s most important sacred sites brings together multiple shrines in a setting that has long been associated with worship, ritual and pilgrimage.
Kyoto: Walk through Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, where tall bamboo lines the path in one of Kyoto’s most recognisable landscapes. Set in the Saga-Arashiyama district, the grove forms part of an area long associated with temples, river crossings and historic approaches into western Kyoto.
Kyoto: Visit Kinkaku-ji, first built in 1397 as the retirement villa of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu before becoming a Zen temple. Reflected in the surrounding pond, you'll see one of Kyoto’s most recognised views, while also revealing the legacy of the shogunate in the city.
Good to Know
Cancellation
Payment
Travel Insurance
Visa
Other Practical Information
Customer Reviews
This tour has not received any customer reviews yet. However, you can expect a PremierThis travel specialist is consistently delivering tours which receive customer ratings above 4.7 on average. tour and service level as the travel specialist who runs it has received 1253 reviews for other tours with an average 4.7rating.
What's Included
Accommodation
Prince Park Tower HotelMishima Tokyu HotelMariott Nagoya Associa HotelNikko HotelNikko Princess Hotel
Meals
Dinner (x3)Breakfast (x10)Lunch (x4)Tokyo: Join your Travel Director and fellow travellers for dinner in Tokyo, where Japanese small bites offer your first taste of the flavours and dining styles you’ll encounter through the journey.Izu: Visit Nakaizu Winery Chateau for lunch with paired wines in the heart of central Izu. Set within a 10-hectare estate opened in 2000, the chateau brings together vineyard views, local winemaking and a chance to experience one of Shizuoka’s best-known wine estates.Shizuoka: Enjoy a green tea-inspired lunch that brings another expression of Shizuoka’s tea culture to the table. Green tea noodle soup adds an earthy, savoury note to the experience, showing how one of the region’s best-known products shapes local cooking as well as what is brewed in the cup.Gujo Hachiman: Enjoy a kaiseki lunch, a traditional multi-course Japanese meal served as a sequence of carefully prepared dishes. Shaped by seasonal ingredients, balance and presentation, it offers a broader introduction to Japanese cuisine through a range of flavours, textures and techniques.Kanazawa: Enjoy a four-course lunch at Jardin Paul Bocuse, where the culinary heritage of Lyon is expressed through seasonal ingredients from Ishikawa and the wider Hokuriku region. Set within Kanazawa’s Shiinoki Cultural Complex, the restaurant brings French technique together with the produce of land and sea from this part of Japan.Kyoto: Come together on your final evening in Japan for a Kyo Kaiseki dinner, Kyoto’s traditional multi-course cuisine, accompanied by a performance from a maiko, an apprentice geisha, as part of one of the city’s best-known cultural traditions.Shizuoka: Meet Mr Noboru at his family-run tea farm in Shizuoka, where gyokuro is produced using methods passed down through generations. You’ll learn about the traditional techniques still used here, hear stories from the farm and discover how preparation changes the character of each cup through tasting.
Transport
Travel by coach
Guide
Experienced Driver Guide
Others
Seki: Join a private sword forging demonstration with a master swordsmith and his apprentices, where traditional techniques continue to be used to safeguard this important cultural heritage. Then visit the Sword Museum to learn how Seki became one of Japan’s leading sword-making centres, where blades were prized by samurai for their strength and durability. Your visit directly supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.Kyoto: Take part in sutra copying at a Japanese temple, hand-copying Buddhist scripture as it has been practised for generations. As each character is written, you’ll follow a tradition rooted in the careful repetition of sacred text.Kyoto: Choose a rickshaw ride through Arashiyama with a Local Expert and see this side of Kyoto from a different perspective. As you travel through the district, you’ll pass traditional streets and well-known sights while hearing more about the area’s history and character.Kyoto: Take part in sutra copying at a Japanese temple, hand-copying Buddhist scripture as it has been practised for generations. As each character is written, you’ll follow a tradition rooted in the careful repetition of sacred text.Kyoto: Choose a rickshaw ride through Arashiyama with a Local Expert and see this side of Kyoto from a different perspective. As you travel through the district, you’ll pass traditional streets and well-known sights while hearing more about the area’s history and character.
What's Excluded
Itinerary
See Japan through its cities, traditions and regional flavours on a Small Group journey from Tokyo to Kyoto. Ride the bullet train, explore temple districts and preserved towns, and experience the country through tea, bonsai, pottery, papermaking and cuisine. Along the way, meet local makers, take part in hands-on cultural experiences and spend time in places that reveal both the pace of modern Japan and its long-held traditions.
day 1Welcome to Tokyo
Welcome to Tokyo, Japans fast-moving capital, where long-held traditions sit alongside one of the worlds most dynamic cityscapes. On arrival, youll be met and transferred to your hotel, with time to settle in before meeting your Travel Director and fellow travellers. This evening, come together and enjoy your first taste of Japanese cuisine and get to know your small group as your journey through Japan begins.
