Asia Highlights

Thanks to Kate for assisting in the coordination of the trip. Overall you were very responsive during the planning and reached out several times during the trip to check in. My only wish is that the daily itineraries were really evaluated and questioned from a time and location perspective, especially in Kyoto, as there was no way to actually achieve the intended itinerary in the time allocated.

Tokyo with Allan-san was fantastic!, our favorite of the trip -- he really set a high bar which was unfortunate for our future guides. He took us on a walking/subway city tour of the city one day and then again for a van-trip to Hakone. Both days were seamless. He was super knowledgeable, friendly, patient, and helpful. We modified the day based on what made the most sense rather than the pre-determined itinerary. We started in Asakusa, then took my teenage son to some gaming centers, and ended with Meiji Jingu. Then the next day we headed to Hakone with our driver Ho and enjoyed Hokone Jinja, the pirate ship (fun, but shorter than I would have liked), the tram and black eggs (they taste like totally normal hard boils) from the sulfer springs, Oshino for lunch and back to Tokyo. It was a long day, but gorgeous with all the sakura blooming (only caught one quick glimpse of Fuji). Before we left Tokyo, Allan went to great length to organize all the rest of our shinkasen tickets and explain how to properly navigate with multiple tickets. We can't thank him enough for that as when we got to the first station and made a small mistake, his explanations made sense and we were grateful as can be. Also loved our hotel in Tokyo.

Our time in Takayama wasn't as successful. First, ALL 7 of the restaurants in the hotel were fully booked before we even arrived, so we were required to venture out for dinner after arrival. Takayama is a bit sleepy and finding something open was a bit of a challenge. We walked to multiple places before finding someplace open on both nights there. Our guide was a sweet young lady, but came all the way from Osaka and had only been to Takayama once before and her English was weak. She had to use her phone to find her way around (we could have done the same on our own), and didn't really have anything to offer in the way of history, insights, or recommendations for our day in Takayama and Shirakawago. This was disappointing as I think Takayama was a really interesting and quaint town that we didn't really get a good feeling for. The highlight of Takayama was definitely the onsen at our hotel, my husband and I really enjoyed going each day. We also stayed in a Japanese-style room and although grateful for the experience, we would all probably not choose to do it again as we missed having comfy beds or chairs to lounge on before heading to dinner.

On to Kyoto, which is my favorite city in Japan and I was looking forward to the most. Unfortunately, there was some kind of confusion regarding our guide. We were told our guide would be a gentleman, but then changed to a woman the night before -- and then, the morning of the meeting, we discovered that the guide was at the wrong hotel about 30 minutes away from where we were. I think perhaps the two guides were exchanged by accident (maybe another group had the same happen?). It took about 45 min for us to adjust and meet somewhere in between. Our guide, was a lovely young lady full of energy and smiles, but again from Osaka. She knew Kyoto alright, but still not the level of expectation for a private guide fee and we often would listen in to tour group guides to get more details during our day. Additionally, there was no way that we could have gone to all the places on the initial itinerary as they are too far apart. (I wish this had been pointed out during the planning). Getting to the Kinkakuji Temple, Nishiki Market and then Fushimi Inari Shrine would have spent several hours in transit as they're quite far from one another. So unfortunately we only got to the Market and also Kiyomizu-dera Temple with the time we had. Guess I'll have to come back to Kyoto another time. (poor me - lol)

Our van-trip from Kyoto to Osaka included Slash as our guide -- and he was great! We had a lot of fun talking about music and guitars on our drive and then had lots of interacgtios with the deer and the amazing Todaiji Temple (just WOW) and Kasuga Taisha Shrine. Kudos to Slash for hanging with us as our family was starting to get on each other's nerves a bit after 9 days. He handled it with class and realized when to let us have a bit of space for our bickering. Luckily ice cream solves lots of problems. Slash renewed our faith in guides again and we're grateful for his energy and rocknroll spirit. The hotel was very comfortable, also with an onsen and an incredible massage chair (best 300 Yen spent on the trip). However, there was no restaurant for dinner (only breakfast) I think in the future I'd stay closer to Gion/Pontocho so we'd be a bit more central to the night life and key destinations.

Our last days were on our own in Osaka. This was the least favorite hotel of our trip -- small rooms, and lots of late night noise from the Dotonbori. We definitely had fun exploring the Dotonbori at night, but would be willing to travel a bit for a quieter space.

Overall, we appreciated all the coordination of the hotels, planning, guides, and drivers that KimKim provided. Except for the one confusion in Kyoto -- all guides/drivers communicated well about timing, meeting places, and were on time each day.

This trip cost over $1000/day BEFORE our lunch & dinner meals & non-KimKim activities -- which is high, even for Japan. We didn't stay at luxury hotels -- I can see that our hotel rooms could be booked online directly for between $250 to $550/night, and I can also see the shinkansen fees on the internet, and most of the entry fees to places were fairly minimal, seems like the majority of this cost was towards our guides/drivers, so I would expect those to be top notch/excellent in every regard. Allan definitely met the bar and Slash was close, but the other two, although nice and genuine people, just didn't meet the bill. This is the area where I felt most let down as we rely on guides to provide more than we can do ourselves as seasoned travelers. That means providing history, insights, and secrets hidden among the tourists, restaurant suggestions, recommendations for other experiences for our "own" time, well-thought-out plans for the day, etc. We'll probably give KimKim another chance in the future, but my expectations will be stricter in the planning phase regarding guides and what we want to achieve each day.

Hotels were good. Transport between different places with the van was good.
Tours guides took us from the hotel to the van and to the planned destinations. We had too many tourist guides, some of them were very unexperienced and they lacked any deep knowledge of the places that they took us to. It seems that the language was a barrier, too.
This trip was overpriced for the quality that we had.

All in all a memorable trip that gave us a good overview of Japan. Everything went smoothly. Guides and drivers showed up on time and handled all the details- the little things that can blow up a trip- efficiently. Our guides were personable and friendly and eager to help. Except for a period where Kate was on holiday she always responded to us quickly. (It might be a good ideas to have a back-up person to cover holidays)

We were a bit disappointed that our guides in general didn’t speak better English. I realize it’s kind of arrogant to travel to another country and expect to communicate like at home, but for a relatively high end trip like this we expected better.

Also, a couple of our guides were Chinese students studying in Japan. Delightful people but English was at least their 3rd language. We also found their knowledge of Japanese history to be lacking.

It’s also worth noting that the train system in Japan is pretty intimidating for Americans unfamiliar with train culture. We were given Shinkansen tickets by our guides but had to figure out how and where to use them. Thankfully the Japanese people are very helpful when the see bewildered Americans standing in an overwhelmingly busy train station. Just something to keep in mind when you plan future trips.

2 of our 3 hotels were great. Who is disappointing by the Ritz? After booking and paying for the trip our Kyoto hotel was changed from a 5 star to a 3 star. While the Resol Trinity was very pleasant and well located the rooms were very tiny and hard for two people to move around in. We put our luggage in the bath tub to get it out of the way.

All in all a delightful and well planned trip. Lots of moving parts and with so much that could have gone wrong but didn’t. All very professionally orchestrated.

Kate, the local specialist who helped me plan to trip, did a lovely job picking hotels that fit my specifications and finding guides for the different local adventures. She was very responsive to my questions and helped me make changes to the trip itinerary when it turned out the Kamikochi National Park was already closed for the winter. Amy, the local guide in Nagoya who hiked the Nakasendo Way with me, was truly amazing - I would HIGHLY recommend working with her for future travelers. The guide (Layla) and driver for a morning of sightseeing in Nikko area were timely and followed the itinerary.

Hotel Reviews

Ryokan Asunaro

Takayama

Amazing ryokan. Friendly staff who were aware of your personal preferences and spoke some English. Best onsen I visited in Japan. Many fun craft activities (paper making, soy bean grinding, coaster weaving) offered by staff. Beautiful, unique and extensive meals with local ingredients. Rooms were spacious with traditional ryokan set ups. Just be aware this hotel is in a very remote location, with a small village down the street with a few restaurants/shops - it was hard to see much without a car.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Very remote - but valuable if that is what you are looking for

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Nishitetsu Hotel Croom Nagoya

Grand hotel in great location in downtown Nagoya (10min walk from Nagoya station, main metro station in city). Beautiful views, clean, friendly staff. Breakfast buffet was unparalleled. Room was smaller (not as small as most Tokyo hotels though), but efficient and well appointed. Very nice onsen. I would definitely recommend to future travelers.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Full day Tour by Private Car with Guide: Transfer from Takayama to Kamikochi National Park to Nagoya

Takayama

These activities are completely incorrect- Dec. 2 was taking metro from Nagoya to Magome to hike Nakasendo Way with guide Amy, which was truly amazing. I cannot say enough good things about Amy or the Nakasendo Way hike. Dec. 4 was a private car and driver around Nikko. That was definitely less amazing. I never went to Kamikochi because after I had put down the kimkim deposit the local guide told me the park was closed for the year. Review for Dec. 4 private car with guide around Nikko: Guide Layla sent me WhatsApp messages in advance, but never introduced herself, explained the itinerary or confirmed pick up location. Also, she never vocalized plans on the day of the trip either (I'm not sure if this was a cultural or personal issue). Trip was billed as a "full day tour", but in fact was only 2 hours of sightseeing and 2 hours of driving from my hotel. There was no discussion or inquest about getting food before dropping me off at 2pm. Also, the driver seemed very tired and I was a bit worried about his driving at the beginning of the trip. I am a very active person and thought there was supposed to be some hiking/walking on this day trip, but at most we spent 15min meandering around the lake. The most interactive part of the trip was walking around Toshogu Shrine.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Both of our local guides were fantastic, very knowledgeable and willing to adjust the plan based on what we wanted. The only shortcoming of our trip was the choice of hotels. The Shinjuku hotel was right next to the red light district, not the best choice when traveling with an 11-year old. The ryokan in Kyoto was lovely but on the opposite side of town from our guided tour, which resulted in unnecessary travel time.