Group of six friends

Japan | Oct 18 - Oct 30, 2025

We (group of six) had a fabulous vacation! Some highlights for me were the sushi class at Akemis Kitchen, the Kimono Tea Ceremony at Kyoto Maikoya, our Kyoto city tour especially Nijo Castle and Fushimi Inari Shrine, and Miyajima Island. Having tickets pre-purchased for many of the sites helped us avoid long lines and time spent navigating to entrances- a real plus when trying to see as much as possible in a few weeks.

All three of our city guides (Jack, Sunny, Masako) were wonderful, taking time to answer our questions and very knowledgeable of the sites. The drivers were excellent as well- communicated promptly and clearly and used translation apps when language could have been an issue.

Our hotels were comfortable and well located. Rooms were small as was expected but very clean and well maintained. I enjoyed the breakfast buffets everywhere as well!

There were one or two things we felt could be improved. First, if the detailed itinerary had been provided a bit earlier, it would have allowed us more time to plan our independent activities. As first time visitors to Japan we were overwhelmed when attempting to slot in activities for our free time at the last moment. The other area of confusion involved the train travel. While we managed to find our way eventually by asking folks along the way and in the stations, a bit more detail about ticketing processes and how the tickets would be dispersed would have saved us some worry.

To sum up, I will have no hesitation in recommending Kimkim or booking another trip through the company.