Kimkim Trip Reviews for Japan

We have traveled around the world but our visit to Japan was one of our best trips so far. We have seen so many wonderful sites, both man-made and nature-made, that have exceeded our expectation. From a beautiful and very modern cities of Tokyo and Osaka through more traditional places such as Kanazawa and Kyoto, we experienced the new styles and ways of living with the old traditions. We will never forget the skyscrapers of Tokyo and Osaka and their amazing skylines and vibrant night life. But also, we will always remember the honesty and openness of people who helped us navigate the subway and train system in many cities. What surprised me the most were the lavish and green forests with many familiar and unfamiliar species of flora and fauna. We enjoyed hiking the Old Takayama Road with an amazing views of Mount Fuji, taking a boat trip across a lake in Hakone, visiting many Japanese gardens and learning the skills of making the matcha tea, ramen noodles and sushi.
The food was superb in every place we visited. The sweetness of strawberries that we bought at the local markets was the highlight of our culinary experiences. Although we wish that some of our hotels were in a better localizations or the rooms were a bit bigger, Simon tried to solve the problems and provided solutions to our satisfaction.
Our tour guides, specifically Slash and Johnny were superb! We enjoyed Johnny’s sense of humor and Slash’s gentle and patient guidance!
All of our drivers were courteous, prompt and punctual. Thank you!
We highly recommend taking this trip!

First time using KimKim and the service was exactly what we were looking for. Eleanor did an amazing job curating the trip + tours based on our interests. Eleanor checked in every day of our trip and was so helpful when we left a personal item at a hotel -- she coordinated having it sent to our last hotel stay. Our tour guides in Tokyo (Yumi), Kanazawa (Fumi) and Kyoto (Hiroko) were all wonderful. We especially enjoyed our tours in Kanazawa and Kyoto -- both Fumi and Hiroko were so knowledgeable and it felt like a friend was showing us around! We will definitely use KimKim and Eleanor for future travel!

Hotel Reviews

Asakusa View Hotel Annex Rokku

Excellent hotel, great location in Asakusa. Would stay here again!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Kanazawa Zoushi

Kanazawa

Our favorite hotel of the trip! The staff was so kind & the location was on a beautiful, quiet street. We loved the suite + amenities - very comfortable & cozy!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Gajoen Tokyo

Tokyo

Wonderful hotel; more remote but enjoyed the spacious room + museum inside the hotel. Wonderful staff.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Wood Takayama

Takayama

We had issues with our initial, but Eleanor and the hotel were quick to move us to a different room! Wonderful amenities and central location.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cross Hotel Kyoto

Kyoto

Great hotel & convenient location in Kyoto!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Tokyo Highlights Day Tour with Tsukiji Outer Fish Market

Tokyo

Great tour with Yumi!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Kenrokuen, Kanazawa Castle & Tea Culture Tour

Kanazawa

Wonderful tour with Fumi who was our guide for 2 days. Fumi curated our tour based on our interests and shifted to off the beaten path, indoor activities when it started to rain. We highly recommend tours with Fumi!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kyoto's Cultural Treasures: Fushimi Inari-Taisha, Nijo Castle and Kinkaku-ji

Japan

We had a wonderful 2 day tour with Hiroko. She was very knowledgable and shared so much history on the various sites. Hiroko also adjusted the tour based on our interests which made the tour even more memorable. Hiroko also worked magic taking photos of us without crowds in the background.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cory and team made it super easy to plan our first trip to Japan. Using kimkim made the planning so much less stressful and the detailed itinerary made it pretty easy to do everything we wanted.

This experience was phenomenal! From the bus from the airport and back on the day of our departure. Yumi & Yoshiko were fantastic tour guides. All of our excursions provided us with amazing memories. Our two sons enjoying exploring Tokyo and Kyoto. My wife and I are already planning to return. Thank you (ありがとうございます) for this experience KimKim team.

Hotel Reviews

Shibuya Excel Hotel Tokyu

Tokyo

This hotel was perfectly located in Tokyo. Access to literally everything that you would want to experience.

Authenticity & Character

Location

The Shibuya Scramble was right outside the door. Exceptional location!

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Kyoto Tokyu Hotel

Kyoto

Great location! Very close to Amida-do temple. Not a far walk to shops.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Ryokan Aura Tachibana

Hakone

Authentic Japanese experience. My wife enjoyed the onsen.

Authenticity & Character

Very authentic. The food was very traditional. No ramen, etc dishes so make your konbini run while you’re there if the food isn’t to your liking.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full Day Kyoto City Tour with Samurai Sword Experience for Families

Kyoto

Our guide Yoshiko was great! Very helpful. We enjoyed the tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

From Hakone to Kyoto

Japan

The Shinkansen was awesome! Tried bento for the first time and enjoyed a self-heating one.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The arrival and departure time was precise! Very impressive.

Full Day Tour of Arashiyama Bamboo Grove & Sagano Scenic Railway

Kyoto

The bamboo forest was a bit crowded., but Yoshiko helped us take good pictures. She also provided good background history of the areas we visited.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tokyo Highlights Day Tour - East & West

Tokyo

Our tour Yumi made this excursion amazing! Our whole family enjoyed this experience.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Yumi and our driver were great. The driver came out of the vehicle to greet us as we approached the vehicle after every stop.

Transport

Very timely!

Full Day Mt. Fuji with Lake Kawaguchi with Oishi Park

Tokyo

Even though the weather was cloudy, we were able to see Mt. Fuji peeking through the clouds. Great fun on this day! We were actually sad to leave Yumi.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Eleanor organised everything beautifully for us.
The private guides in Hiroshima, Okayama and Matsue were all excellent as were the hotels.
Many thanks to all.

Sandy was able to fulfill all the requests we asked of her. The responses to e mails was exceptional.
The accommodation was varied in style ,with all of them being excellent. Highly recommend the Miyako City in Osaka, Ryokan Koho in Kyoto, Metroploitan in Sendi and Shibya Excel in Tokyo. All for different reasons. The Kanazawa Zoushi and Hotel Wood in Takayama were also unique. We could not have managed such unique stays on our own.
Thanks Sandy for all the train bookings. Each trip was wonderful, and seating could not have been better. We managed to have luggage room on all trips and did not need to "on send" our luggage. All vouchers and tickets for tours and travel arrived well in time for the experience. The one time we had to book train tickets on our own-we had a minor issue. It pays to use the professionals!!
The suggestions for free time were invaluable -as we did them all.
The private drivers ,although most had limited English ,added their own uniqueness to each day.
High lights for me were:
Nara park
Bike ride in Kyoto(so many cherry blossoms),
Full day bus trip with Kaci in Kyoto, Sunrise Tours. Kaci was one of the best tour guides-so knowledgeable and witty.
Matsushima bay cruise - Despite the fact that the weather was wet and cloudy
Sky tree in Tokyo
Trip to see Mt Fuji and the visitors/museum on Fuji .This suggested by the driver and well worth the visit.
Hike and chair lift on Mt Takao. Also saw street theatre and musical performances by the ticket office.
Day walk in Kanazawa. The guide- Yasuko- was the best we had.
Bike ride in Hida hagiwara. A long train trip to get there but the young man was knowledgeable and informative. He helped us get a bus back to the hotel due to an unprecedented train delay.
Bus trip to Shirakawago
These least inspiring tour was the Yanaka historical tour in Tokyo- Nezu shine was stunning with the azaleas, however too much time making the maneki-neko cat and not much else.
We also had two hiking tours amongst the time planned with Sandy.(with another tour company) She managed to make it all flow seamlessly. In hind sight I did not realize the number of trains we were catching-however it was the best way to see Japan at its most picturesque-cherry blossom time. We managed to see the blossoms in every town and city at their very best apart from Tokyo. I would highly recommend Sandy and Kim Kim to other travelers.
Big thankyou to Sandy for managing to satisfy all our requests and added suggestions.

Wonderful experience, will use this service again in the future!

All of our guides were really great and I absolutely recommend all them for future travelers.

The whiskey tasting was good, but you only taste whiskeys from Suntory because the bar has an exclusive deal with the distillery. That was a bit limiting, but it was still good to learn more about Japanese whiskey and then we tried other distilleries on our own. Hiro was a good host. Overall, I would suggest a stop at Suntory's distillery for a guest already going from Tokyo to Kyoto.

There absolutely needs to be a guide for the Sumo experience. If not for a guide with another group, I wouldn't have learned or understood a single thing going on in that practice. You have to be completely quiet the whole time and no one from the facility talks to you, explains anything, etc. We really liked going to practice though and immersing more into that historical part of Japanese legacy so I highly recommend for other guests, but absolutely with a guide.

Nick was a good guide for Tokyo. He showed us a few cool spots that only a local would know like the view of Tokyo Station from the corporate business next door.

Yukari, our guide in Kyoto, became a friend during the trip. She quickly pivoted and took us to places with fewer crowds. Absolutely 10/10 guide.

Both Yokos were wonderful and very knowledgable too.

One of our favorite parts of the trip was the Tea Tasting in Kyoto. I wish we had done more immersive experiences like that.

Our hotels were all 5 stars except in Hiroshima, but I know we were a bit budget conscious on that one. I'm also glad we upgraded to the green car for the longer train rides. AND THANK YOU SO MUCH for booking us on the correct side of the trains so that we could see Mount Fuji, what a treat on a beautiful blue day from Osaka to Tokyo on our way home. That was absolutely wonderful!!!

Overall...Sandy was really good, but I just didn't feel like I was working with someone currently local. We asked her about a HUGE event in Osaka - the World Expo - and she didn't know about it but when we got to Japan, everyone knew about it. We should have pushed her more on alternative places to go versus mainstream tourist hotspots. Thankfully we were able to work with our tour guides in each city to learn a little more about what crowds to avoid and how we could see similar sites without as many people.

Hotel Reviews

Asakusa View Hotel Annex Rokku

Odd that we were literally annexed from the main hotel, but I liked that it was smaller and felt more "boutique" from the main location. I loved that we were able to take advantage of the larger hotels high rise breakfast buffet though. One of my favorite pictures from the trip was from the location. Also, the hotel had on floor self serve laundry which we took advantage of twice! It was amazing and I wish more hotels offered that. The biggest issue with this hotel was the smoking room on the 2nd floor, you could smell it so strongly anytime we were around the front desk.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Cleanliness & Comfort

Laundry facilities!

Zentis Osaka

Osaka

This hotel was incredible, very modern. The staff were very friendly and spoke great English. The breakfast was limited to a Japanese and English preset option, but both were very good. We loved our room and the location was pretty good, maybe a little closer to the subway would have been nice.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Sumo Stable Tour

Tokyo

This was a wonderful experience, one of our favorites! That said, you absolutely need a guide if you want to learn about sumo and what's going on during practice. Thankfully there was a guide for another group so we could learn some from her, but we still missed out on much of what she was sharing with her guests.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Japanese Whisky Tasting Experience at Local Bar in Tokyo

Tokyo

Good, guide was informative but only tasted Suntory whiskey.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Osaka Local Foodie Tour in Dotonbori and Shinsekai

Japan

So much fun! We loved our private tours, but it was fun to have a group activity for the food tour. Our guide Yuki was wonderful, very enthusiastic. Would recommend to others!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Tea Ceremony in Kyoto FLOWER TEAHOUSE

Kyoto

WOW! What a highlight of our trip. We felt taken back in time. I wish the experience had been a little longer but otherwise it was perfect.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our group of six had a very good experience in our recent two week trip to Japan, and we enjoyed visiting Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Hiroshima. Eleanore was our Kimkim trip specialist and we are grateful for her help in planning and making arrangements for tours, bullet train tickets, private drivers, and well informed English speaking guides in all cities. She was attentive and listened to our concerns. She addressed each concern and provided excellent and timely advice before and during our trip. We handled our own hotel reservations and dining arrangements. I am confident we were able to have such a wonderful cultural and educational experience was in large part due to the amount of information and behind the scenes work she did on our behalf. Thank you to Eleanore and the Kimkim team for your guidance and support.

Leny and her team were extremely responsive and always available for anything that came up during our trip. They made sure that we had everything we needed and followed up on any last minute changes that had to be made to the arrangements. Overall, they did a great job and we had a wonderful experience in Japan.

This was our first visit to Japan and started as a 25th wedding anniversary trip, which eventually lead to a family vacation. We are a family of five, with 3 teenagers ranging in age from 16 to 19 years old. The interests within our group varied from wanting to explore big cities, learning about the history and culture, to experiencing life like a local. Despite these differences, we all had fairly high expectations and Japan did NOT disappoint!

Our itinerary was fairly ambitious - Tokyo, Disney Seas, Hankone, Mt. Fuji, Kyoto, Nara, Miyajimaguchi/Hiroshima and Osaka. Perhaps we could have scheduled more 'down time' but we wanted to see and do as much as possible in our two weeks. Our Kim Kim travel expert Sandy was outstanding! We had 5 or 6 trip versions before we made our final itinerary and Sandy was always prompt to respond to our requests and questions. Even while on the ground in Japan, she was in touch and checked in to ensure the trip was running smoothly. She went above and beyond to ensure it was a once in a lifetime experience for us and even arranged a surprise anniversary cake during our trip!

We also arranged a few guided tour days during our two weeks and it was money well spent. And while all of our guides were friendly and extremely knowledgable, we would like to specifically thank Nick Sakurado in Tokyo for helping us on Day 1 to navigate the city and the subway/train systems. This allowed us to confidently use public transportation for the remainder of our trip. He was also brilliant in his lunch food recommendations!

We'd like also thank Tsuyama Hiroshi (Hiro), for walking us through Kyoto and Nara. He thoughtfully planned out our days to ensure we would avoid the peak tourist times at the more popular attractions. And lastly, we would like to express our appreciation to Kigami Masako for her patience and sharing her knowledge of Hiroshima both past and present. This travel day was very warm and she thoughtfully made lunch accommodations to allow those of us in the group extra time to cool down, before continuing on with our day.

I could go on and write much more but it would be a book length review. Each member of our travel group simply loved every minute of our trip and Japan exceeded all of our expectations. I know we will be back again one day. Arigato gozaimasu!

We worked with Jasmine and Hiroshi of Oshinobi Travel, and regret the decision.

Although their service did provide several memorable experiences (Miyokaiku carpentry tour, Yoko the guide for Nikko, Emi's help in coordinating connections), these were overshadowed by repeated disappointments:

The wrong ryokan was booked for the Nakasendo trail, and this was a major disappointment. But even more upsetting was the lack of response to making any correction or taking any responsibility for the oversight. Instead, fault was seemingly placed on us (via the Kim Kim dialog). I requested a refund, and was denied.

Even when we cancelled planned arrangements--such as a guide we no longer needed--no compensation was offered. We enjoyed most of their guides, but some did not have the requisite knowledge / experience of the places we visited (temples, gardens, etc.)

The hotels they selected on their own were standard Western rooms, except for specific requests we had made. We did enjoy the ryokan they booked in Kyoto. The places you stay matter in terms of the experience you have.

The train bookings were also standard / basic, and could have easily been upgraded, given the cost of the trip.

Overall, for the ~$30,000.00 we spent for 10 days, we felt we had an average experience. We had booked with Esprit Travel in the past--and for less--and had trip experiences that were exceptional. We will book with Esprit next time we visit.

Hotel Reviews

Shourekiji Temple Stay

Ayabe

Enjoyed the interactions with the hosts, especially the participation in the Buddhist traditions.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Very remote--1.5 hours from Kyoto

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Kyoto Yuzuya Ryokan

Kyoto

Loved this place, and its location. We will return.

Authenticity & Character

A true ryokan experience.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hatago Tawaraya Ryokan

Nakatsugawa

The Wrong ryokan, and hence our disappointment. Not much of a Soul, but clean.

Okunoin Hotel Tokugawa

Nikko

Also sterile, western experience.

The Tokyo Station Hotel

Tokyo

Simply a Wonderful hotel... With History, a Soul, and wonderful staff and food.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private Transportation Service

Japan

The private transportation was very expensive. We requested a car after we cancelled a previous arrangement, and Hiroshi gave me a price of $350-400 for the morning of the request. We walked instead, had immersive experiences in Kyoto, and then simply took a cab back to the ryokan for a total cost of $8.00.

Embark a Special Himeji Miyadaiku Carpentry Tour and Castle Exploration

Japan

Our best arranged experience, overall. We met the master carpenter at his shop, where he educated us about joinery and various techniques. And then the carpenter himself took us on the tour of the Himeji castle, which he himself had restored 10 years earlier. The guide / translator also did an exceptional job.

Leisure Time at Nikko

Nikko

Our guide, Yoko, did an amazing job here. Although she had been told we were planning to hike, we went to Nikko for the temples and World Heritage Sites. This took some adjustment on her part, which she did artfully, and took us on an amazing tour. At the end of the tour--which included almost Everything at a leisurely pace--she even sent us off by taking us to various food spots (including saki) for the train ride home.

Tokyo: hotel Cerulean was amazing! Excellent service and spacious room. One of the best hotels we have ever stayed in. Our guide Yumi was not great. It was a rainy day so she finished the tour at 2pm but did not give much suggestions on what else to see. The Yanaka historical walking tour was very nice.

Kyoto: Our hotel was convenient because we did lots of buses. The room was spacious, but nothing like the Cerulean in Tokyo. Our guide Masaaki Tanaka fooled us because we saw him at first and he is an older gentleman but he was quicker and more fast paced than us. He was excellent, very knowledgeable and very interesting. Took us to eat in a beautiful noodle house and it was raining as well so instead of going to Kiyomiu-dera Temple we went to the indoor museum where there is 1000 buddas. Very fascinating.! Had another full day with him in Nara and temple there and he was excellent.
Our other guide was Yuki, she was soft spoken and very good as well. Had a long great day with her in the Bamboo forest.

Osaka: The Westin Osaka was very nice and had good service as well. There is alot of construction going on around it there so it was a bit of a walk to the main city and train station that had all the restaurants and stores. Would have prefer to stay closer to that area. Met with Yuki again and she took us on a city tour of Osaka. The museum was very interesting, probably would have skipped the Osaka Castle, was alot of walking. The food tour at night was alot of fun and the guide was funny and very quick. She took lots of pictures, would love to see them. Hiroshima guide, was very knowlegeable and spoke great english. Gave us a full tour and great place for lunch. Forgot her name, but Im sure you must have it.

Hakone: AMAZING!!!!! The hotel was first class, the buffets were fabulous, the springs were so relaxing and the scenery was spectacular. Our guide to see Mt. Fuji was May - excellent and a great photographer too! He was witty and bought us alot of local treats so we could enjoy them. Extremely knowleagable of the area and took us to an open air museum, including Picassos, that was not on the itinerary. This Hakone open air museum, should be on the list. Our driver, Joan was professional, on time and a sweetheart! This was the perfect ending to a hectic tour of Japan. Thanks to Angel and KimKim for all the assistance and patience with us!
Arnie and Carmen

Leny did a great job planning and the whole team provided excellent support while we were in Japan.

Hotel Reviews

Dusit Thani Kyoto

Great hotel but the location is not ideal. Perhaps something in Gion would have been better.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Okura Tokyo

Tokyo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Fufu Hakone

Hakone

Cool and interesting authentic Japan experience.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Aoyama Grand Hotel

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Mt. Fuji and Hakone Full Day Tour with English Speaking driver (Private)

Japan

Harry was great and Hakone beautiful. But lots of car time -- maybe a bit too much.

Half-Day Tokyo Tour with English-Speaking Guide

Tokyo

Probably the weakest link in the itinerary. Guide's English was not great. We spent a lot of the day on the subway going from location to location, which could have been better curated.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Best Of Shibuya Food Private Tour - Evening

Tokyo

Half-Day Kyoto Tour with English-Speaking Guide (Private)

Kyoto

Good, well-informed guide. But we really only saw the Nijo-jo castle,

Hidden Arashiyama Nature Half-Day Tour

Kyoto

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kyoto Nishiki Market Food Tour - Daytime (Private)

Kyoto

We were very happy with all the arrangements made by Angel. She was exceptional in her communication and coordination to make the travel seamless.

Shona was wonderful! She was always responsive and we really liked the itinerary she planned. Shona planned a great trip that my husband and I and our kids age 5 and 8 enjoyed.

We had two exceptional tour guides this trip. Fumi in Kanazawa and Nao in Osaka. Highly recommend these guides.

Katsu planned us a beautiful trip to Japan during the first two weeks of May. We had an in depth discussion when we first started talking about our priorities for the trip. We centered in on food and nature experiences as the most important focus of our 12 days in Japan and Katsu put together the perfect itinerary. From basking in onsens to wandering through moss gardens and eating delicious Japanese food in between we had truly special experiences surrounded by the unique natural beauty of the mountains and sea side towns of Japan. Katsu was kind attentive and kept an eye out for our best interests in the entire time ensuring that each activity we did allowed us to spend our time in the best way possible.

We had an incredible experience! From the beginning we felt heard and considered in what we were planning. We felt our trip was made to reflect our passions and desires while also trying new things. The little things really shown through in how Eleanor picked things for us and the tiny details we wouldn’t have known to consider ie booking trains after hotel check out times so we didn’t have big gaps where we had to lug bags around, booking our trains tickets closest to the door so we could find them easier.. we really felt as though she thought of us and ease of travel in a new place. She communicated so well throughout the trip but just enough for us to know she was there supporting us if needed.

Hotel Reviews

the b asakusa

Tokyo

Kind wonderful staff, lovely location and easy for travel

Authenticity & Character

Location

Quieter walkable neighborhood near the temple

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Kyoto Takasegawa Bettei

Kyoto

Incredible spot. We were so cozy and loved the quiet space by the canal and river. The staff was amazing and we loved the traditional Japanese touches.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Forza Osaka Kitahama

Osaka

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Osaka Local Foodie Tour in Dotonbori and Shinsekai

Japan

Fun food tour! A bit rushed and crowded at moments

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Master Tokyo's Must-Sees: 5-hour Tsukiji, Akihabara & Asakusa Highlights Tour

Tokyo

Really fun walking tour to explore the different neighborhoods of Tokyo. Our guide was informative and his insight into different foods to try was wonderful!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Wonderful Day in Uji & Nara

Kyoto

Wonderful day! Loved our guide and had an amazing experience in Uji and Nara

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tokyo Night Foodie Tour in Shinjuku

Tokyo

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Mt. Fuji with Lake Kawaguchi with Oishi Park

Tokyo

Amazing day! We had an incredible day on this tour. Our guide was AMAZING and we learned so much from her. Thank you for a wonderful day at Mt Fuji!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kimono Tea Ceremony at Kyoto Maikoya

Kyoto

Fun experience!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Fushimi Inari Hidden Hiking Tour

Japan

Super fun! Loved that we got away from the crowds and learned so much from our guide

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

An amazing trip from Tokyo to Kyoto to Osaka. Our trip involved a number of private or small group tours and each guide gave us a different perspective of Japan. Loved Ghibli, tried calligraphy and were shown many historical places. Lots of walking and good food.

Activity Review

Japanese Calligraphy Class (Nara)

Japan

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Overall a great experience once we got there. Some of it seemed too rushed. We should have selected a higher tier accommodation as the Tokyo and Osaka hotels were in less desirable areas, especially the Osaka Candeo Hotel, which was on a street strewn with garbage everywhere. The Tokyo hotel in Shinjuku was almost as bad. These were the only two areas in all of Japan that we visited where there was litter and garbage on the streets, but the Osaka one was by far the worst. It was disgusting.

Eleanor did excellent planning fir our tour and she is very professional

Hotel Reviews

Centara Grand Hotel Osaka

Osaka

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

SIGNIEL SEOUL

Nice hotel with very modern facilities, staff was very nice and humble.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Location

Center in downtown

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Thousand Kyoto

Kyoto

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel

Tokyo

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Grand Josun Busan

Great locstion

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full Day Tokyo City Tour

Tokyo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Mt. Fuji with Lake Kawaguchi with Oishi Park

Tokyo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Nishiki Market Food Experience

Kyoto

Quality of Experience

Transport

Tokyo Night Foodie Tour in Shinjuku

Tokyo

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kyoto's Cultural Treasures: Fushimi Inari-Taisha, Nijo Castle and Kinkaku-ji

Japan

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Gamcheon Cultural Village, Songdo Sky Walk and Jagalchi Fishery Market Tour

Busan

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kimono Tea Ceremony at Kyoto Maikoya

Kyoto

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, Sagano Scenic Railway & Tenryuji Temple

Kyoto

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

One Day Miyajima Island and Hiroshima Tour

Japan

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Haedong Yonggungsa, Haewundae Beach and Traditional Market Tour

Busan

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Gyeongju Tour with Bulguksa Temple and National Museum

South Korea

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Seoul City Tour with Gyeongbokgung Palace and Bukchon Hanok Village

Seoul

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Seoul Han River Moonlight Music Cruise

Seoul

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Korean Full-Course Meal Cooking Class at Local Home with Local Market Experience

Seoul

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport