Hidden Tokyo Experience

Customer Reviews

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  Vadim

  · July 15th, 2024
  Had an overall great time with the tour! The itinerary is pretty laid-back and was tailored for our group interests, and the people were all very fun to hang with! Would definitely take some time after the tour to explore outside of the Tokyo area, but this is a great launch pad if you want to learn the ropes of navigating the island without too much stress.
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  Trip date: June 2024
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  Jose

  · July 10th, 2024
  This has been such an experience, I will never forget my time in NY. The tour guide, Lloyd, was the best, he showed us the best places to eat and took us to the most beautiful temples and historical spots, which he knew the history of so well. I feel like not only I visited and experienced Japan in a special way, I learned so much from Japan's culture and lifestyle in a way I never would have learned if I went on a different tour.
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  Trip date: May 2024
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  Anonymous

  · February 9th, 2023
  Much improved. I have been to Japan twice now both times with Discovi and this was by far the best trip I could have imagined. There are new guides all local Japanese every single one of them is amazing (Shinya was exceptional!) and a brand new Hotel not a hostal like before but even the hostal option is better this time. But the hotel has breakfast and it was AMAZING a mix of Japanese and American food. Great start to the day. And the PUB CRAWL!! Crazy night so much fun, thanks Discovi!
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  Trip date: September 2019
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  Anonymous

  · February 9th, 2023
  I expected this to be more touristy but I WAS SO SHOCKED This is a local tour! I felt like we had the nicest guides all Japanese and they knew so many little spots that you would never find yourself! Take this tour if you want to see the real Japan
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  Trip date: April 2019
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  Kylie

  · November 13th, 2019
  BUYER BE AWARE. If you are looking for a good experience with great food and included activities for the steep $600 cost, this tour probably isn't for you. If you are looking to meet some wonderful people and form some solid friendships with people you might not have otherwise met, and money isn't an issue for you, this tour could be for you. At first glance, Tokyo might seem expensive -- and it can be. But it is even more expensive if you pay for a tour that doesn't cover any of the daily activities, and provides you with a US$1 onigiri breakfast every day that barely fills you at all. The public transport costs were not covered effectively either (see Charmaine's review for further details). Accommodation was nightmarish. I'm not a fancy person by any means, but if I see black mold in the shower I'm using, I'm going to be concerned and wondering why I'm paying so much money when I could've spent the same amount on a modern pod hotel. The beds were also inadequate and thin, and the air conditioning did not work, so most night were boiling hot. It didn't smell or feel clean in any way, which was really disappointing to me, because the rest of my experience in Tokyo gave me the impression that it was a very clean, crisp place. I wish I didn't feel so rushed for the entire duration of the trip. The host was very friendly, but there was very little flexibility, and I felt like an 11am start every day really set up the group to fail at reaching all the places we wanted to go. At one point, we could not find or get in contact with the host for an entire day, which caused us all a great deal of worry. He messaged that evening saying he had slept the entire day. Overall, I'm not impressed. I had a terrific time in Tokyo, but only during the hours I traveled solo or with one other friend from the tour group. I highly recommend doing your own research if you are a solo traveler, and just sticking to making your own itinerary. Tokyo is incredibly safe and tourist friendly. You would be fine without a tour, and I wish I hadn't booked one myself.
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  Discovi Travel commented on this review

  We are sorry to hear that you didn’t have a great time with us. Our company is created for budget travellers, who want to explore the world at an affordable price, so we choose to make our activities optional. We have stated which ones are included on... Show more
  
  Trip date: September 2019
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  Charmaine

  · October 4th, 2019
  Please READ before booking. This is not to badger anyone but I want people to be aware of the facts and my experience with Discovi. The description provided at the time of booking and the additional details provided after booking were misleading. The additional details were also provided very late (2 weeks before departure) and there was no time to cancel the trip. I'm not sure if the public description has now been changed by the tour operator (as one of the group members spoke about the issues to the host/tour operator) but I have my original itinerary and description that I booked based off of in my e-mails and my review is based off this. From the beginning, where it was described that we get picked up from the airport, it leads you to believe that you have private transportation with a group leader. This isn't the case and you are asked to get on a public train from the airport on your own and get reimbursed for the cost by the host later. The host meets you at a station in Tokyo (if you're at Narita, it's an hour away from Tokyo). The train transport is fine however the description isn't accurate and you think you are actually being "picked up" by Discovi and you're not so just a fact to be aware of. The description stated that the first night, guests would be provided a welcome dinner. I expected that all the breakfasts and 1 dinner would be included by Discovi, however on my first night after the "welcome" dinner, I was asked to pay for my meal. I was taken aback as it was portrayed that it would be included. The description stated that there would be a Discovi photographer on our trip with us to capture all our moments however this was a friend of the host who is not a professional photographer and he was helping out just this time as a favour but he was not there for the entire tour. I had no issues with him, he was good company but these things are all misleading and the tour was described to be a lot more than it actually was. The accommodation provided was quite bad. The showers were described as modern and they were far from that. The bathrooms were dingy, there were things in corners where you shouldn't look so as to not notice things. The place was old and tired and this was disappointing considering all of the nice capsule hotels that exist in Tokyo. The beds were described as deluxe however the mattresses were incredibly thin making the wooden beds extremely hard for your body. A lot of people were trying to double up the comforter provided and sleep on top of it. We were told breakfast would be provided everyday, which it was not. The breakfast itself was 1 small item (onigiri) from the convenience store which cost $1 USD for the host. This was not filling even on the days it was provided and with the vast selection at the convenience store (bento boxes, sandwiches etc.), it was very disappointing that this was the only thing that was provided repeatedly. Out of the 7 mornings, it was provided on 4 or 5 days and for 1 of them, I had to ask. So what am I paying for, when a decent breakfast costing more than a dollar wasn't even provided everyday. In terms of the itinerary, most of the things did not take place. This is actually my biggest issue. We were told we would go to Yoyogi park and have a bento lunch. This never happened. We didnt even step foot in the park. There was a bit of a delay with the group and we had a later start than scheduled but things should have been pushed out into the evening since we had the evening free. The host was very inflexible and simply cancelled things out of the itinerary instead of asking the group or moving things around. We generally had 3 people in the group (very small) but 2 additional people came on certain days with us. The Odaiba trip was cancelled without me knowing until I got to Tokyo for the tour because the host wanted to go to the Tokyo game show. Only 2 people from the 5 on the tour went to this. I understand it is once a year thing, however Odaiba should have been rescheduled for an evening or another morning where nothing was planned. Why wasn't I even aware of this cancellation? Kamakura also did not happen because by the end of the trip the group fell apart since things were not satisfactory for different people and everyone just wanted to do their own thing. I did not want to go to Kamakura without the group and make the host take me alone, I could have just done that on my own then. We spent unnecessary time walking through buildings, looking at virtual reality or a mall, but we didn't get any time to actually enjoy it. Although I did not care about going to the Samsung Galaxy store, once we were there, I would have liked to play the games/VR but the host was always in a rush to get to the next thing, regardless of whether the group collectively wanted to do something. What is the point of showing us what's where without actually giving us any time to explore, or partake in things. One time 3 of us in the group stopped for lemonade at a stand and the host was visibly frustrated because this wasn't a planned activity and it was taking up time from where he wanted to go next. There was no flexibility and time to enjoy things when we were actually there. We can't go back to every single spot on our solo time since there is so much to see, once should be sufficient if it is done the right way and that's what we expected from this tour. I am very disappointed because I feel like I spent $600 on something that I could have done on my own for a better experience, better breakfast and definitely better accommodation. Out of the $600 paid to the host to take us around by public transport and see things that could be done on our own, nothing was actually covered by Discovi during the tour. Not even one collective dinner. Any activity we did as a group, we still had to pay for during the tour so I'm not sure what my $600 was covering. For eg. the $13 (each) cost of the animal cafe we went to as a group could surely have been covered by Discovi. When you book a tour, you expect to be taken places and for certain group activities to be included on the trip since that's precisely why you have paid an initial lump sum amount The transportation metro passes were not provided to us smoothly either. I expected to be given a pass to cover all 7 days on the tokyo metro (as described**) regardless of whether it is a solo day or not since the tour duration is for a week, however it was given in installments and was always a different pass. One time a few of us were on our solo time and we ran out of money on the pass and had to spend our own for the metro. We had to ask for another pass and all of this just made the experience a frustrating one. This led to the host disclosing that he was only covering the metro for the days we were doing group activities. However this is not what was described in the tour description and was a very unfortunate thing to do to your group. The host however did provide us another pass after some discussion about the unfairness of this with one of the members. I felt very sad and disappointed and I don't know whether this was a one off or what in terms of the itinerary and transport at least but the rest are facts and this is not what I signed up for. If I could get a partial refund I would. This left some bad memories for me and I feel like I was heavily misled and wasted my money.
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  Discovi Travel commented on this review

  We are sorry about your experience. This is not usual. Due to the typhoon, a lot of plans had to be changed, delayed, or cancelled. We tried our best to navigate through it, but it seemed there are still some problems that we should have communicated... Show more
  Trip date: September 2019
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  shanara

  · October 3rd, 2019
  great trip! such nice tour guides and an amazing group. the time spent with my tour group and the memories we made are unforgettable ♡
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  Trip date: September 2019
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  Jade

  · September 9th, 2019
  As somebody who appreciates my alone time, I can say that the tour catered to this aspect whilst still having a nice balance of socialising with the group. Fortunately, I had the chance to see a lot on this tour from: shrines/buildings/shops and experiencing Virtual Reality and Tokyo's effervescent hi-tech, however it was a bit fast-paced for my liking and sadly too fast for it to make much of an impression.
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  Trip date: September 2019
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  Kelly

  · June 20th, 2019
  Had a great time, great balance of group time and solo time, and made awesome memories. Truly a hidden experience, you really do feel like you are living in Tokyo like a native citizen.
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  Trip date: June 2019
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  Elijah

  · June 11th, 2019
  An excellent tour for people who want to learn how to travel Tokyo and Japan in general comfortably alone and on a budget! Also check their own website for hotter deals.
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  Trip date: June 2019