Kimkim Trip Reviews for Japan

Our trip was fantastic! It was well organized and we were delighted by our experience. The guides were so nice and gave us a great experience. The private car drivers were great as well. Local train reservations were very well organized. This was one of the most relaxing trips we had. Thank you for all the local travel planning as well.

From our earliest interview with Kim Kim, we felt heard and were accommodated throughout. We always received prompt replies to all our questions from Christine over several months of planning and while in Japan. Our accommodations were convenient, comfortable and of high quality. Our booked activities were exceptional. Our guides were knowledgeable, prompt and flexible. We wholeheartedly recommend working with Kim Kim on your next adventure.

Activity Reviews

Arashiyama & Kyoto Landscape Views

Kyoto

We visited in the rain but it didn’t dampen our amazement of this beautiful park.

Quality of Experience

Toyosu Fish/Tsukiji Market Food Tour

Tokyo

Great sites and food! A bustling indoor/outdoor market.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Sumo Tournament

Tokyo

A one in a lifetime experience! Just magnificent to attend the Grand Sumo Tournament thanks to Kim Kim.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

14-Day Ordinary JR Pass

Japan

This is a must for any foreign traveler. The mass transit system is pretty amazing and the JR pass provides easy access without having to figure out tickets and fares.

Quality of Experience

Irish planned a wonderful family trip to Japan! She covered every detail needed, from our airport transfers, JR pass, and info needed for Universal Studios as well as the Shimanami Kaido, to selecting very conveniently located hotels which made moving from place to place very easy and comfortable. She encompassed all the experiences we were seeking - the excitement of Tokyo and Osaka to the very different experience of a peaceful mountain onsen in Hakone to the very sad yet well done peace memorial of Hiroshima.

Hotel Reviews

NOHGA HOTEL UENO TOKYO

Tokyo

Stylish and chic hotel, located very close to the ueno train station.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Nohga Hotel Kiyomizu Kyoto

Kyoto

Stylish and chic hotel.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Zentis Osaka

Osaka

Stylish and chic hotel in a great location, 5 minute walk from the main train station.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Granvia Hiroshima

Nice hotel with a grand lobby conveniently located adjacent to the Hiroshima train station.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Beacon Onomichi

Onomichi

Modern hotel conveniently located directly in the onomichi train station. I would book their loft rooms as the other rooms are a bit smallish, but very comfortable.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hakone Kowakien hotel

Hakone

Beautiful onsen in an amazing and peaceful mountain location.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The Tokyo Station Hotel

Tokyo

Lovely upscale hotel with excellent service and conveniently located in Tokyo station. Every attention to detail is met.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

14-Day Ordinary JR Pass

Japan

The 14-Day JR Pass was very fast and efficient. Though it took me a while to get the hang of using the NaviTime app, which was crucial for navigating the trains and subway system. My kids and husband loved the bullet train experience, but it wasn't my favorite due to the high speed and being on rails. It’s an excellent and efficient way to travel. But I think it is important to note that they do travel at a very high rate of speed - 200+ miles/hour. I got used to it. The JR Pass did not cover all trains, so it's important to be aware of which trains are allowed.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Traditional Tea Ceremony

Kyoto

The tea ceremony was a lovely experience in a nice old Japanese neighborhood. We got to make and taste matcha tea, and my son even bought some matcha powder to take home. The ceremony was very enjoyable and I would highly recommend it.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Both our local guides were excellent. They were knowledgeable and assisted us with transportation issues. The local tour company did not communicate clearly to them or myself about a driver from Tokyo hotel to the airport. I’m not sure where the break down in communication was. Our local guide Yumi, went beyond what I expected by giving us details about train and bus transportation to the airport in Tokyo. She even noted that a driver was not included on her itinerary.

Hotel Reviews

Shibuya Excel Hotel Tokyu

Tokyo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Courtyard by Marriott Shin-Osaka Station

Osaka

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Kyoto Tokyu Hotel

Kyoto

Within walking distance to restaurants and shops

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full Day Tokyo City Tour

Tokyo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Yumi was excellent

Transport

Half Day Arashiyama Bamboo Grove and Tenryuji Tour (Private Guide+Public Transport)

Kyoto

Too much walking, a break to rest would have been nice

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Sonny was very knowledgeable

Transport

Too much walking

Full Day Tour with Tea Ceremony

Kyoto

The tea ceremony was great. Way too much walking

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide,Sonny was excellent

Transport

Tsukiji Market & Sushi-Making Workshop tour

Tokyo

The experience was fun and educational but the raw fish did not agree with my western stomach

Quality of Experience

Food

Vegetarian option

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guide was excellent

Transport

Full Day Osaka Discovery For Families

Osaka

So much walking, we were too tired to eat out. Called room service.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Less walking in subways

One of our dream destinations to visit was Japan, and the whole experience booking with kimkim was great! From the planning phase, Christine was able to grasp our needs quickly and was able to make all the adjustments we were looking for our 16 day long trip. The activities booked (shout out to the Osaka food tour and the Kyoto tea ceremony) were very memorable and the accomodations (shout out the the Ryokans on the Nakasendo trail) were also great! During the trip, Christine was also available to answer our questions and get us a functioning pocket wifi devices quickly after we received a faulty one upon our arrival. All in all, our trip was simply amazing.

Hotel Reviews

Ryokan Echigoya

We had the Ryokan to ourselves, it had a ton of Edo japense charm. Our host was amazing, the food was delicious, the room was comfy and beautiful and the overall experience was exactly what we were looking for in a Ryokan.

Authenticity & Character

Old building with a ton of character and authenticity

Location

Directly in the middle of Narai's main street.

Staff

Yutaka-san was an amazing host.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Kaidou Roman Onyado Tsutaya

Kiso

Authenticity & Character

A little more "hotel" vibes, but still very nice.

Location

A little far by foot from the station, but still well located.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very nice outdoor Onsen bath.

Kisoji-inn Daikichi

Nagano

Awesome Ryokan, staff super friendly and one of the best meals of our whole trip.

Authenticity & Character

Very authentic and amazing food.

Location

Very cute location in Tsumago

Staff

Super friendly and welcoming

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sanco Inn Nagoya Shinkansenguchi

Nagoya

Nothing fancy, but clean and well located.

Authenticity & Character

Nothing remarkable

Location

Directly in front of Nagoya station

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Windows were facing another building, so no natural light in the room. Besides that the room was comfortable.

Ibis Osaka Umeda

Osaka

Authenticity & Character

Typical hotel, not much character.

Location

Super close to the subway, well located in Umeda.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Comfy beds!

Kinosaki Yamamotoya

Awesome Ryokan with a lot of character and good japanese breakfast.

Authenticity & Character

Alot of 60-70s vibes with old-school japanese charm.

Location

Great location in Kinosaki, close to everything.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean, but futons were not the most comfortable.

Wayfarer Hotel Kyoto Shijo

Kyoto

Nice little hotel, the tatami room was nice and comfy for 4 people.

Authenticity & Character

Tatami room was pretty nice ! Bathroom a little small for 4 people.

Location

Close to the subway stations and buses

Staff

Very friendly

Cleanliness & Comfort

The futons were very comfortable!

Sotetsu Fresa Inn Daimon

Tokyo

Good breakfast and helpful staff.

Authenticity & Character

Relatively basic hotel, but the japanese breakfast buffet was delicious !

Location

Even if Minato City is not as vibrant is Shibuya or Shinjuku, it's close to transportation (and Tokyo Tower as well).

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Super clean, rooms a little small for western standards, but totally ok for Japan.

Activity Reviews

Tokyo Departure

Japan

Not an actual activity, but we were very sad having to leaving Japan :( But we left with a ton of awesome memories!

Exploring the Facades of Tokyo

Tokyo

Yabuhara to Narai Hike

Japan

Awesome little hike, nice fews atop the moutain in Yabuhara and very nice forest landscapes. Narai is probably the nicest post town we visited!

Quality of Experience

Magome to Tsumago

Japan

The hike was great, going through small towns and the country side! We saw watermills, water falls and awesome forest and mountain landscapes. The tea house on the way was really cool and the trail was well indicated.

Quality of Experience

Welcome to Osaka

Osaka

One of the best nights of our trips, we ate and drank to our hearts content! We hung out with some locals, tasted delicious food and even went down a slide !

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Big shout out to Levy!

Visit Kinosaki Onsen

Kyoto

It was very nice being able to visit and use mutiple onsens.

Quality of Experience

The onsens were so nice and relaxing!

Day trip to Nara and Uji

Kyoto

We didn't have a chance to stop in Uji, but even though it eas raining, we had a great time in Nara!

Quality of Experience

Tea ceremony and see shrine, temples

Kyoto

This review will only be regarding the Tea ceremony in Kyoto (Maikoya). It was really fun, relaxing and authentic!

Quality of Experience

We got to wear kinomo/yukata, the tea was good, awesome experience!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The staff was very insightful and nice !

Arrive in Tokyo - Train to Tokyo Station

Tokyo

It was nice to have a greeter help us buy our IC cards and bring us to the train, but she seemed in a rush and we were expecting to have our wifi devices atthe airport, which would have helped us find our hotel faster.

Quality of Experience

We were expecting pocket wifi and passes upon arrival, which weew at the hotel. Thus, getting the hotel was not the easiest

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our greeter was nice but a little in a rush.

Transport

We made it, but instructions could have been a little more detailed.

The trip went smoothly and the bookings and recommendations aligned with our vision of the trip and were extremely enjoyable. I found it not always clear what was included and what wasn’t, but once I did, I had no issues.

Christine did an amazing job and was very responsive to all our questions during the trip. Koyasan was a great suggestion that I would not have thought of and I loved it.

Malissa did a wonderful job working with us to put together a fantastic itinerary for our ten-day trip through Japan (Tokyo > Hakone > Kyoto > Osaka). During the planning phase, she provided numerous options based on interests and budget and was quick to respond to questions. The itinerary documentation was detailed and allowed us to focus on enjoying our experiences. We had friendly and knowledgeable guides: Jared was welcoming when we arrived rather jet lagged and helped get us situated, Harold took us on unique activities and Seiho gave us lots of ideas for our free time. We loved soaking in the onsen baths at Hakone Kowakien Ten-y and making sushi at Cooking Sun Osaka.

Activity Reviews

Rickshaw Ride in Arashiyama

Kyoto

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Tour of Kyoto

Kyoto

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sushi-making Experience

Osaka

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tea Ceremony in Kyoto

Kyoto

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tour of Hakone

Hakone

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

This trip was amazing! We loved everything about Japan. Initial process with Terry started slow but our trip was well organized and the itinerary was very detailed & precise. During the trip everything worked according to the plan. Our guides Yumi Takasi and Tanaka Masaaki were excellent. They were very knowledgeable and helpful. They were very friendly and became like family members with us and went above and beyond duty to make our trip comfortable and memorable. Kigami Masako was also very good and knowledgeable.

Tsuyama Hiro seemed more reserved and like just a translator than a guide but he did make sure we got on the right train. We felt like we didn't get the benefit of a knowledgeable guide like the other guides.

Overall, we were very happy with our trip.

Hotel Reviews

Hilton Hiroshima

Hiroshima

Authenticity & Character

Location

Beautiful hotel right in the middle of town.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel MYSTAYS PREMIER Dojima

Osaka

Authenticity & Character

The breakfast arrangement was very disappointing. There was very limited choice.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Kyoto Tokyu Hotel

Kyoto

Authenticity & Character

Location

perfect

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hakone Suishoen

Hakone

Authenticity & Character

Location

Family style modern Riokan in a beautiful mountain setting

Staff

Extremely friendly, courteous, helpful and polite.

Cleanliness & Comfort

The rooms, beds, bathrooms were amazing. The hot spring tub attached to private rooms were amazing!

Shibuya Excel Hotel Tokyu

Tokyo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Staff was very friendly, courteous, helpful and polite.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

One Day Miyajima Island and Hiroshima Tour

Hiroshima

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full day tour to Koyasan

Osaka

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Arashiyama and Kinkaku-ji Tour (Private English-speaking Driving Guide)

Kyoto

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Drive to Hakone with Mt. Fuji Tour (English-speaking driving guide)

Japan

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Tokyo City Tour with Imperial Palace East Gardens (Private English-speaking Driving Guide)

Tokyo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Odynovo Tours did a wonderful job planning and executing our trip to Japan. From the beginning, working with John to agree on a 2-week trip plan that was best for us, to Kalinda's travel coordination including obtaining transportation and tour tickets, it was all done very efficiently and with good and prompt communication.

Our individual tour guides as booked by Kalinda were all excellent and we learned a lot about the sites we visited with them. These guides were all very flexible and adjusted the tour visits to match our wishes and tastes. The group tours in Kyoto covered a lot of ground and were well explained.

The train stations were at times somewhat challenging to find our way around, but there was always someone to help us out very politely.

We would definitely book a trip through Odynovo again in the future.

Japan is an amazing country! We really loved our trip there! I'm so glad we had KimKim to help us plan a lot of the logistics, book, lodging, and make recommendations for experiences. I really loved all of the hotels that we stayed at. And the sushi making class that we did, renting kimonos in Kyoto, as well as staying in Hakone to experience natural hot springs. Christine also made reservations for us at an incredible restaurant called Nadaman which was a 5 star meal. The one thing I would have loved more of is more recommendations for restaurants and places to eat. We understood that a lot of restaurants were already booked up for Golden Week, and that reservations were not always possible. However, it would have been great to have a list of a few casual, walk-in type of restaurants/eating establishments that we could check out. We did have to do a bit of our own research, which is fine, but some guiding parameters from KimKim would have been really great. We were expecting a little more help and guidance with where to eat, which was really important for us as travelers!

Our specialist travel advisor Christine, started planning our trip from a blank slate…. we really didn't know what we wanted to do or see. We had limited days between other pre booked legs of our round the world trip, so a custom itinerary made more sense. We also wanted to travel independently rather than in a group. Christine made this all possible. She made several suggestions which together, we fine tuned, and within a couple of days of emails back and forth we had a firm plan.

The plan included Tokyo, Kyoto and Harkone.

The plan included Japan Rail Pass for our major travel requirements, all hotel bookings, a greeter on arrival at the airport who set us up with pocket wifi, which was invaluable for finding our way in a new country, Our greeter further helped us on our way through the crush of the start of a major public holiday.

Christine made suggestions for what to see in each city and to finish off a wonderfull adventure, a driver to whisk us back to the airport on the day of our departure.

The Hotels Christine booked for us were each of high quality and close to our arrival point in each city, in most cases right at the train station which made traveling by train with luggage so easy.

In summary Kim Kim and Christine made our dream come true.

This trip was organized by my daughter with KimKim. I enjoyed the trip thoroughly and I sense the joy and opening up from my family members as well. The trip brought us to Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and Tokyo to experience the different aspects of Japan. The Osaka city life and food, the religious and cultural aspects, the hotspring and nature (flowers, parks, mountains), the complex efficient transport network, unforgettable crammed hotel rooms, the demeanor of Japanese, the theme parks and Japan commercial products. There is also the interesting spring weather to experience in different locations from cold street weathers, gale in the mountain top, icy cold in Mount Fuji, beautiful sunset in a cherry blossom village Oshino Hakkai. The personal local guide and local transport driver add a touch of freedom and enjoy and experience Japan in a deeper manner. It seems to be costlier compared to the Japan trips made by others but the ability to experience so much in a 10 day trip make this a wonderful trip for me.

Not everything was perfect. Example, the driver came 30mins earlier than expected; the local guide detail was provided a little late than what we would be comfortable; an easier way to understand the complex Japan transport system which to be frank I doubt is very very hard. I like to think the imperfectness is what spices up also the trip in a different manner.

This is the second time I used KimKim for my family holiday. Kudos to them, I am glad to say that they have again done a nice trip for me and my family.

As this was such a big trip with many facets, I will split the review into 4 parts: kimkim’s service, the guides, the hotels and the places we saw.

KimKim’s service:
I have used KimKim before to book a similarly long trip to Indonesia and had an excellent experience so I was excited to do so again for Japan. It was an okay experience the 2nd time around but definitely not as polished or as organised. Our specialist (before she left the company) was Kristy. She was generally amenable to our changes but we noticed she was off on leave alot and did take quite a long time to respond to queries, often having to be messaged twice in a row. This was frustrating at times but when she was present, things were generally done well.
Once she left the company just before our trip, Claudia took over. She was generally on the ball and it must have been difficult picking up a huge itinerary with so many last minute things to organise but she did it generally well. There were, however, a couple of things we were not happy about. Some of the itineraries put together for us seemed to ignore the fact we couldn’t do long hikes up mountains and had no interest in doing so, yet put aside 3 hours of a day (in one instance in Miyajima) to do so.
Another thing that was a major source of frustration was the bullet train tickets. We were told in advance that we would need to book these in Japan and so we did (at huge time expense, standing in a queue for hours at JR booking office). However, we were very annoyed when we were messaged mid-holiday asking if we had booked our tickets to Miyajima. We were annoyed because we were not told at any point how we were getting to Miyajima (Hakone, for instance, was a coach tour and we knew this in advance) so did not book tickets. We stood in a line for a further hour on April 8th in the evening after a long day tour waiting to book tickets for a trip we could have booked days before, and when I expressed my dismay at this on the KimKim chat, did not even receive an apology for the lack of organisation and huge inconvenience this caused us. There was no recognition that your company had committed an oversight at the expense of their customer. To make matters worse, I was asked to put the details up on the chat, which I did on April 8th (that same evening) so that KimKim could pass on the details of the bullet train to our guide. Imagine my surprise when, one the eve of the trip to Miyajima, our guide messaged me asking me for details of our bullet train booking because KimKim hadn’t passed the details on like they said they would. This was 2 days after I had put the details up to be passed along…

The guides:
I will start by saying that in general, the guides were lovely and helpful. We understand there is a real issue with English language speakers in Japan and a lack of guides in general, so will not spend too long going on about language barriers.
Teruko, Kuniko and Noriko were all very friendly guides who showed great flexibility to amend itineraries in our best interests and to change routes to help with my mother-in-law’s difficulties walking and my pregnant wife. They all tried their best with restaurateurs who didn’t want to change menu orders for my wife who couldn’t eat many foods due to her pregnancy sickness. Overall they did a great job.
Special mentions go to Stephanie and Momoyo, who we absolutely loved. Our day in Nakameguro with Stephanie was a blast and she was very knowledgeable. She took us to excellent food places, got involved with the picture taking, which pleased the ladies in the group and took us to a mansion at the end when we couldn’t eat any more which showed excellent flexibility and understanding of her clients.
Momoyo was with us for 3 separate days and we loved her! Her English was excellent and she went out of her way frequently to help us with any and all difficulties. If we had her all trip, we wouldn’t have minded at all! She helped us book that bullet train to Miyajima, negotiated food orders and worked out the least tiring routes for us. By day 2, she knew our likes and dislikes and had planned in things to do with food for instance, that met all our criteria (like planning in a visit to Rikuro’s because my wife mentioned wanting Japanese cheesecake in passing on day 1)
She even bought us a gift at the end (which we of course had done for her too!), which was so sweet but showed how much we bonded with her.
Overall, the guides were a highlight of the trip.

The Hotels:
Park Hotel - we spent 6 days here and we generally loved it. It was a 2nd choice after we couldn’t quite afford the previous recommended hotel (the Pullman) but it worked out well. Amazing lobby, free hot chocolate and coffee, a good breakfast with excellent views, attentive and well-spoken staff, who wanted to help. The rooms weren’t on the same quality level, but they were comfortable enough and had everything we needed. They were cleaned immaculately! They also helped us when we lost our camera and had to have it delivered specially to the hotel. They paid for it while we were out and put it on the room, really allowing us to enjoy our time out in the city without worrying about payment etc.

Sakura Terrace The Gallery - we spent 5 days here and we would not recommend this hotel to anyone. We generally like luxury hotels and at the very least, need our creature comforts. This hotel, though very pretty, well located and offering big rooms, lacked in most departments and I am surprised this was recommended to us. The website made it look great but a specialist like KimKim should have known what its shortcomings were and that we wouldn’t be happy with it. Issues included hotel staff not always being available to help, a pointless breakfast ticket system that had us waiting in the cold when the breakfast room was full, no safes in the rooms (!), no wardrobes either just a small rail to put all clothes on, no plug sockets anywhere near the bed, incredibly poor cleaning standards (the room wasnt cleaned once the entire time we were there and hadn’t been cleaned well before we got in there) and finally, we had 2 rooms next to each other with completely different furnishings - we had a couch in our room but our parents didn’t have anything but the bed to sit on. All in all, a poor hotel experience.

Hotel Intergate Umeda - we stayed for 2 days and this was an excellent hotel. In a lovely area, incredibly clean and smart hotel, helpful staff always on call, a decent breakfast and the rooms were fantastic and immaculately cleaned and there was even a vending machine on our floor for if we needed extra drinks on top of the free water. We thoroughly enjoyed staying there and would have stayed there for longer.

The places we saw:
Japan is quite an experience! Tokyo is madcap and brimming with people and noise, Kyoto is filled with history and Osaka is a smart and elegant city.

Pleasant surprises:
We loved the Nakameguro food tour recommendation (with its cherry-blossom lined streets) and Nara was also an excellent day trip (the deer park was a fun experience with deer chasing us for food and crossing the road at zebra crossings). Arashiyama was a lovely place also but as a tip, the biggest photogenic sites like the bamboo forest should be put earliest on the day’s agenda before the crowds set in (our guide changed it round and rightly so! We wouldn’t have got any good pictures of the bamboo forest otherwise).
In addition, Shin-Sekai in Osaka along with a beautiful park our guide Noriko took us to in Hiroshima were wonderful surprises filled with many photo opps/moments of laughter and serene beauty respectively.

Expected but still wonderful:
Most of the other places we already knew about and requested but it is worth mentioning Kinkakuji, Osaka Castle and Fushimi Inari shrine. These were excellent places to visit early in the morning before the crowds got in. It rained heavily at Kinkakuji and it was still wonderful and awe-inspiring. Sanjunsangendo temple and Todai-ji temple were marvellous and jaw-dropping examples of Buddhist statues and worship. The gardens nearby to Todai-ji were picturesque and well worth a visit and stroll.

Overall, although the experience with KimKim wasn’t as smooth as in the past, the holiday itself was magnificent. The guides were well worth the money we paid for them and in terms of affordability, KimKim still provides bang for your buck. Japan is truly amazing and an experience never to forget!

Hotel Reviews

Park Hotel Tokyo

Higashi Shimbashi, Minato-ku

Incredibly clean, great lobby, excellent views, friendly and well-spoken staff, good location, nice breakfast

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Ieva was excellent but everyone was just as good - just didn’t catch their names!

Cleanliness & Comfort

SAKURA TERRACE THE GALLERY

Kyoto

Poor cleaning standards, no safes, no wardrobes just a small rail, poor pillows, no plugs near the bed, absent staff. Good location, excellent breakfast, pretty, big rooms.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Right next to Kyoto station

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Beautiful Arashiyama

Kyoto

Bamboo forest is excellent but make sure you see it first thing in the morning if you want good pictures. Will be too packed with people otherwise. Monkey park, kimono forest (which isn’t a forest but a modern art installation) and tenryuji temple are nice things to see and do. Lots of nature and walking! Arashiyama is a lovely place and well worth a day-trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Miyajima 1-day Private Tour from Osaka

Japan

The Itsukushima shrine and torii gates are excellent, lots of food choices on the island too.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

All on time, efficient

Transfer to Osaka - The Kitchen of Japan - Guided

Osaka

Osaka is a classy, elegant city. Lots of modern skyscrapers, squeaky-clean, not as busy or intimidating as Tokyo (people are a little more laid-back here), Shin-Sekai is quirky and fun and filled with photo opps, the food is cheaper and you are spoiled for choice, shopping is just as plentiful as Tokyo (so a HUGE amount available). Osaka Castle is an amazing building and very thorough and worthwhile tour if you like history or 360 degree views from a height.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Nara Day Tour from Kyoto

Kyoto

Nara is beautiful and the city of deer. Deer park is an unforgettable experience, Todai-ji is one of the most impressive temples in the whole of Japan with rare opportunity to take pictures of Buddha statues (generally not allowed in Japan) and the gardens on the site are some of the best (cherry blossoms trees, a huge pond and every type of flower and colour imaginable!)

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Nakameguro Food Tour

Tokyo

Stephanie was an excellent guide, Nakameguro is a lovely, trendy neighbourhood lined with cherry-blossoms. Excellent food too!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Very grateful to Malissa for putting together our 2-week trip to Japan. Accommodations and schedule were a perfect fit. We had two great guides -- Michie around Mt. Fuji and Yano in Kyoto -- and did fun sushi and archery activities. This level of attention worked out great for us as we're pretty experienced travelers, however, some people might want to request more guidance. Travel logistics can be a lot on days without a guide. Definitely get contact info via WhatsApp as calls often didn't go through on our cell phones. AND, ask for maps as well as addresses for activities as google maps didn't always land us in the right place.

Our family of three generations (grandmother, 74, daughter & husband, and grandchildren, 18 & 14) all absolutely loved our first ever visit to Japan. Our first overall impressions were of the politeness and respect, the cleanliness (of streets/stations/trains/shops/hotels) and the efficiency and punctuality of the trains. Our guide, Suzuki san, on our first day in Tokyo, was so informative, interesting and friendly. He realised that on our first day a quiet walk along the river with beautiful cherry blossoms was a good introduction - then we ventured to the shops, which the grandchildren especially loved. We all thought the Meiji Shrine was wonderful, and the Togo Shrine, where they were celebrating an anniversary, so there were monks chanting, and stalls outside. The next day another guide, Yoshiko, took us to Sensoji temple, which although impressive, with all the stalls, was extremely crowded. Earlier we visited the fish market at Tsukiji, which was fascinating. Moving on to Kyoto, which we loved, and June, our guide was really good and explained everything so clearly. The Golden Temple was one of the highlights, and we loved the Nishiki street market. We had a tea ceremony, which was impressive, and went through the bamboo forest in Arashiyama, which we all liked very much. We changed our planned itinerary the next day, as it involved many hours travelling to see cherry blossoms in Yoshino, and we all thought that would be too tiring, and we saw many, many beautiful cherry blossoms in and around Kyoto. We gave June the day off, and looked after ourselves in Kyoto.
On our way to Osaka we had a tour of the Suntory Whisky Distillery, which the adults enjoyed, particularly my son-in-law - the children weren't allowed on it, so had to wait outside. On to Osaka with June, who showed us the beautiful Castle Gardens. Thence to Hiroshima, and the wonderful Japanese garden, followed by the memorable and thought-provoking Peace Memorial Park. Our guide, Fumiko, was very interesting and sympathetic. Finally, our fabulous Onsen hotel in Hakone. It was wonderful to be in the countryside, out of the cities, and we all enjoyed our Onsen baths immensely. The six course Japanese dinner was delicious, and beautifully served. Then back to busy Tokyo! Our hotel was by the Shibuya Scramble - so we were in the thick of it! We found a karaoke bar, which for me was a novel experience and fun.

Hotel Review

The Gate Hotel Kyoto Takasegawa by Hulic

Kyoto

The hotel is so comfortable, and very well located. The staff are friendly, and polite. The breakfasts were so good! We really loved the lounge/bar/restaurant up on the top floor, with stunning views.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Discover Hakone

Hakone

This was heavenly, being right in the countryside, in the hills, and experiencing the wonderful, relaxing Onsen baths. The hotel was amazing - the rooms were large. Our 6 course Japanese dinner was truly memorable. We didn't want to explore Hakone the next morning - as it was our last proper day, so it was relaxing to enjoy the hotel and garden, and then make our way back to Odawara to catch the train to Tokyo in our own time. It would have been tiring to check out/go to Odawara/do the tours/come back to the hotel to pick up our bags, then back to Odawara station, then to Tokyo.

Hiroshima & Miyajima Day!

Japan

The Shukkeien Garden was beautiful and peaceful and not too crowded, despite the cherry blossom season. We then visited the Castle briefly, which was quite a warrior-like building, reminiscent of the samurai. Then we went to the Peace Memorial Park, which was very special and thought-provoking. We didn't go to Miyajima as it was so crowded, with long queues, and it would have been very tiring. We were very happy with what we did see. Our guide, Fumiko, recommended a very good Okonomi-yaki restaurant for our supper.

Transfer to Osaka - The Kitchen of Japan - Guided

Osaka

The Castle Garden was beautiful, but very crowded. We didn't do the food tour.

Suntory Yamazaki Whiskey Distillery

Japan

A very interesting tour, and even if one didn't like whisky, the tasting was worth doing!

Traditional Tea Ceremony

Kyoto

We all enjoyed this very much, learning about the traditional rituals, and tasting the matcha tea.

One-day trip to Arashiyama, a true cherry blossom paradise!

Kyoto

A beautiful place, with lovely traditional houses, shops and restaurants

Visit Kyoto's most famous temple- Fushimi Inari - Taisha

Kyoto

Very impressive, and a special place

Nishiki Market

Kyoto

Really fun and interesting, with all the different foods on display, and eating/tasting available

Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji) and Ryoanji

Kyoto

A beautiful, peaceful place

Explore Asakusa

Tokyo

Impressive, but very crowded

Toyosu Fish/Tsukiji Market Food Tour

Tokyo

I've already reviewed this earlier

Quality of Experience

Modern Tokyo Tour and cherry blossoms

Tokyo

I've already reviewed this earlier

Quality of Experience

Arrival to Japan

Japan

We had very long queues, due to Covid checks and immigration, which was quite tiring, after a long flight, even though we had done all the QR codes on the Visit Japan Web. Our greeter met us successfully, but didn't seem to know about our driver, who was also waiting for us. Eventually, we rang him and met up. Our greeter sorted our our Suica cards. Our driver gave us a comfortable journey to our Pullman hotel.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our recent trip in last two weeks of March 2023 entailed travels to Tokyo, Kanazawa, Takayama, Kyoto, and Osaka. The arrangement of the trip by our Guides Claudia, Xavier and Irish was superb in the form of being responsive to all our questions., queries and concerns. The selection of Hotels and their locations was great, well thought out, convenient and excellent. The itinerary was great. We did get to see a lot of Japan in variety of settings and it’s rich history and religious diversity and tolerance. The guides and people that we interacted were very helpful in all possible ways.

My only concern with the trip was that compared to travels around the world, travel in Japan entailed a lot of time was spent getting from point one to the next and I think about more than Thirty percent of stay involved in walking, finding the right train stations and connections. These train train stations are large and getting to the correct. Entrance point and exiting the correct exit was confusing at times and tiring to say the least. This cut down a lot of time that we could have spent on seeing things we were suppose to visit. The trains, train schedules, train stations and and exits were not just confusing for us but at times was also too much for the Local Guides who were accompanying us.

There is to be better way of getting around Japan than what we had encountered.

My last concern was getting back to Airport there was never any instructions about making reservations on Narita Express . Our assumption that we could get on the direct Narita Express from Tokyo made us almost miss our Flight. Trying to get to the JR Rail offices and getting reservation is almost exhausting and all the great fun and excitement of the trip kind of evaporated in the last hours.

This is not Kim Kim.s fault but I conclusion was that Japan after being shut off for three years is not ready for the onslaught of Tourists that seem to have converged during our visit. The staff at Japan Rail was significantly lacking in their knowledge to respond to the questions from Tourists not just us but people in front of us at all their offices or at Information centers was very obvious and added to the long queues.

Overall Thank you for making this great trip possible.

Kirti and Ila Patel

Our trip was well planned and executed.
Irish was very responsive.

We just returned from Japan. Had a great time. Working with Malissa was good but it would often takes multiple days for her to get back to us. We wish she was able to have given us more information on the non organized days. For example she recommended going to the Imperial Palace but it is closed the day she indicated. The hotels she helped pick turned out great. The detailed travel worksheets were very helpful and the experiences were great.
We really enjoyed our guide Pedro. We were lucky to have him. He even helped us on days he was not with us. He was great about answering all of our questions.
We would use Kim Kim and Malissa again.

We were initially very happy in dealing with Andy as he seemed to understand our interests well. Subsequently due to Covid delays and his change of jobs we ended up interacting with other specialists who were sometimes pretty unresponsive (1-2 weeks to reply) and didn't see to know our interests as well

Thanks to Irish and Kristy our first family vacation to Japan was a success! They found us great hotels in Tokyo (Karaska Hotel Premier Tokyo Ginza) and Hakuba (Hakuba Highlands Hotel) and helped us navigate the JR Rail Pass process to get us around Tokyo and to/from Nagano. They also arranged for a driver to pick us up and drop us off at the airport - which was a bonus with the luggage.