Japan Cultural, religious and historic sites Trips

A lot of walking but mostly flat surfaces and some steps into temples. Bring small cloth in your purse as most restrooms don't have anything to dry your hands on. Fun experiences like sushi making but for us non raw fish eaters they have vegables. Try the hot baths - clean and a nice experience. Try new things. If our guide said something taste good i tried it. Went in fall so not as busy as cherry blossom time but just as memorable as the leaves changed. Clean country as they take their garbage home to recycle. Loved everything.

Many of the temples, shrines and castles were extraordinary, but the one that stands out was Matsumato Castle. I liked the opportunity to do craft activities and the performance by an actual Geisha during the farewell dinner was another highlight.

All of the temples, shrines, and castles were amazing, especially the Golden Temple.. I learned many things about Hiroshima that were new to me. The performance by the Geisha at the farewell dinner was very special.

The Simply Japan tour is excellent for introducing visitors to the geography, history, and culture of Japan. I highly recommend it. I rated the itinerary good, rather than excellent, as this trip felt like a "full on" trip to me rather than moderate, as advertised. There are many, many stairs involved in public transportation and in visiting shrines and temples. Also, luggage forwarding is an additional complexity. And there are crowds of people to maneuver through. We were fortunate to have a terrific tour leader, Henrik Roslef. I cannot imagine a better tour leader for this type of trip which relies heavily on public transportation. Henrik is well-organized, has great command of both English and Japanese, gives clear instructions, and goes above and beyond to ensure all visitors have a memorable holiday. If you've never been to Japan before and are still on the fence about going, just go! You'll love it, especially if Henrik is your tour leader.

We had a wonderful time on this tour. The hotels, including the Monsteray and Roykan, were excellent. Some of the breakfast dining rooms felt a little crowded, but it was still manageable. We also enjoyed travelling on around five bullet trains—such a great experience. The IC card provided, pre-loaded with 5,000 yen for train travel, was very useful. Our trip highlights included the snow monkeys, Kyoto, the Hida No Sato thatched-roof village, Hiroshima, and Miyajima—where the floating Torii gate was absolutely stunning. In Kyoto, we especially loved the bamboo forest and the beautiful zen garden that followed it and a river boat trip We also enjoyed as the impressive 10,000 Torii gates at Fushimi Inari. The itinerary was excellent. Yes, there were a few free days, but with a little planning they were fantastic. For example, during our free days in Tokyo we booked Shibuya Sky, Tokyo Skytree, and TeamLab, which made those days memorable. However, we did encounter some issues with the guide. Our first guide, Marika, was new and often seemed irritable. She dressed entirely in black and did not use a flag or marker, which made it difficult to keep track of her in busy stations. She was soft-spoken, and when asked to repeat information she sometimes appeared annoyed. She rarely waited for the whole group to gather before speaking, and when those who arrived moments later asked her to repeat instructions, she looked frustrated. On several occasions, she even raised her voice. This was particularly upsetting when directed toward an older couple in the group (aged 80 and 70). She seemed to lack patience if they couldn’t hear her, walked more slowly, or needed clearer explanations. At our introduction meeting she advised us that we shouldn't tip staff in restaurants etc but she continued to say that would be happy to accept a tip from us at end of our trip..... When Marika fell ill, she was replaced by Parisa, who was also new and not Japanese. Unfortunately, she too treated the older couple poorly and showed a lack of professionalism. Both guides seemed to forget that many of us are well-travelled and experienced. Instead of trusting us and engaging confidently, they tended to speak down to the group or act with unnecessary caution. We do feel grieved by our guides - initially we were meant to have someone called Antony/Antio. Given that we paid £5,500 each (including flights), we were very disappointed to end up with two inexperienced guides. After reading previous reviews praising “exceptional” guides, my husband and I felt let down and didn’t feel we received the value for money we expected. The tour is operated by 80 days Japan

Good tour in general. However, it is important to know that even if you book an English tour, it will likely be conducted in Spanish and English. We had two guides explaining the same thing in both languages. The English spoken but a couple of the guides was not very good. The hotels are excellent. The food included was also very good. The buses are good but I would like them to have a little bit more leg space. The total days of actual tour is less because the first and the last day there are no activities. In addition, the day before the end there is only one activity and a short bus ride to Osaka. We got to the hotel at 10:30 AM and that was it. Therefore the last two days you are basically on your own.