Japan Intense: Local Delights & Northern Wonders

Customer Reviews

• Karl

  · August 25th, 2024
  My son is a fan of Japan. Reason enough to invite him on a trip. As we wanted to see the cities on our own, we looked for a variant where everything would be organized by a tour operator, but where we would be independent in exploring the sights. This worked out wonderfully. We spent some impressive days in Tokyo, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Hiroshima/Miyajima and Osaka and were able to get to know something of the Japanese way of life.
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• Markus

  · July 13th, 2024
  All in all, a really great experience and a trip to remember. If I could make a few points for improvement: 1. as the trip was made on the Shinkansen trains, hotels near the station would just be more convenient. Some of the hotels were really far away (sometimes almost 6km as in Osaka). This means either unnecessary dragging of luggage (which is cumbersome and time-consuming given the temperatures and routes) or high cab costs or, again, cumbersome, arduous use of local public transport. I have seen really nice hotels near the station and that would have really enhanced the trip. Especially because at the beginning you are not yet familiar with the customs of local public transport. 2. if you are traveling as a young couple (and we explicitly asked for this), then a double bed would of course be nicer on vacation than two single beds. Even when we asked, this wish could not be fulfilled in some hotels despite "24-hour travel assistance". If I were to book the hotels myself, I could pay attention to this, but unfortunately not with this package tour. 3. the costs of the Suica top-up have still not been reimbursed (after almost 3 weeks). It's not a shame, but this is simply a bank transfer, how long can it take? 4. the booking was a bit bumpy, first the wrong price was confirmed to us, then a transfer of the correct amount was requested (although the website said that the amount would be debited from the credit card). Everything was sorted out, but you have enough other things to do with travel planning. Just yesterday (3 days after our return) we received 2 more emails stating that the payment had been received (we had already received this email before the start of the trip) and wishing us a pleasant trip. The documents "will arrive 1-2 weeks before departure". Please what? The trip is already behind us. It all tarnishes the professionalism a little and shouldn't really happen like this. 5 Finally, I would like to point out that I assume no one from the travel company has ever taken this trip themselves. If they had, they would have realized that it would have been better to visit Koyto and Osaka one after the other. So we basically drove past Osaka, to Hiroshima and then back to Osaka. In our opinion, this could have been better planned if we had traveled the route in a different order. In the end, we were pleased that the sim cards were included, which were very often helpful and useful. We particularly liked the Reysol Hotel in Kyoto, it was an absolute recommendation. Great rooms, very modern. The Knot Hiroshima had a great location (right next to the Peace Park) and a nice roof terrace, albeit with very small rooms. Likewise the Joytel in Osaka, very small rooms and a wild location in the Shinsekai gaming district, relatively far from the city center. The Square Kanazawa was well located and also quite nice rooms in terms of facilities and size. Moreover, the possibility of onsen on the rooftop was really great.
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• Celina

  · November 24th, 2024
  Super organization!!!
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