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Loved this tour, it covered all the major sites for a first time visitor and left some free time to follow your own preferences. Tour leader was EXCELLENT and so knowledgeable. Transport links worked fine, we did not have our own tour bus, we used public transport and occasionally sent our luggage on by road, that worked fine. A great trip!

Initial booking was made easy by friendly and attentive staff. The guide was well prepared, knowledgeable and had good presentation skills. He related to the entire group and went out of his way to attend to everyones demands. He offered several extra tours for those who did not want free time. We however, relished free time to explore some different areas. The itinerary was a great overview of Japan especially for those of us visiting for the first time.

This was an amazing trip. The early starts were well worth it and it seemed that everyday there was something unexpected to enjoy. We visited so many different placed and experienced so many different things. It's hard to choose a favourite but I think staying in and experiencing the monastery were highlights for me. Also experiencing a different culture which appears very western on the surface but is totally different was fascinating. Our guide, Vania was amazing and probably the best guide I have encountered. She was very friendly, professional, knew everyones names and needs very quickly, got us to and into places very efficiently and was extremely knowledgeable about all things Japanese. I travelled with a small carry on bag as suggested and this was perfectly adequate especially as there are really good, easy to use laundry facilities in the hotels. I loved this trip. Thank you Explore

The main reason I chose this particular tour was to walk the kumano kodo and complete my dual pilgrimage status. While this was the highlight of my trip, enhanced by the lovely local guide Jennifer, the whole tour was superb. We covered a lot of ‘must see’ places for a first time visitor in Japan led by a very organised, capable and delightful Zilola. We were a group of 9 some couples some solo travellers of varying nationality. The hotels exceeded my expectations and were all comfortable. I particularly enjoyed the ryokan experience where we stayed during the main hike. I would highly recommend this trip for anyone wanting to see the stunning kii mountains as well as Tokyo, Kyoto, Matsumoto and Osaka

To do justice to Japan you would need much longer than two weeks but this trip packs in quite a lot at a manageable pace. I would recommend to anyone doing these types of trips to explore additional nights either at the start or end or both ends of the trip. You can book additional hotel nights and different days to fly and still be ATOL protected if the additional nights and flights are booked through Explore. I spent an extra night at the end of the trip and visited Nara, a city with a huge Buddha and Osaka, another huge city. I recommend getting an eSIM for your phone and registering and activating this in your home country before travelling. You really do need Google to help navigate and translate during free periods in the trip to make the most of your time. And you can send WhatsApp photos back home to make your friends jealous. On this trip, you travel with just day bags quite a bit. You really want two small day bags plus your main luggage. You'll be without your main luggage for a couple of days and you want one small day bag for your toiletries that you will leave at a hotel several hours before checking in and you want a separate day bag with perhaps your umbrella or fleece for the day. There were a few people in our group that had booked the group transfer and this caught them off guard a little as the transfers are not escorted. The transfers at the end of the trip use the public trains. Finally, don't underestimate the size of Japan, our guide Geoffrey was excellent. With a guide from Explore you will save so much time just trying to navigate the huge train stations. This means you'll have more time exploring and less time looking for directions.

Enjoyed everything about this holiday. We packed in so many sights and experiences, without it being overwhelmingly full on, and the balance between guided and free time worked perfectly for us. A big shout out for our guide Vania - she is absolutely superb.