Depart Heathrow.
You will be met on arrival at Tokyo Narita Airport today and taken by shuttle bus to your hotel in Tokyo. Please note that as other people will be in the same bus there may be a few stops before you arrive at your hotel (maximum of 3 other stops). Journey time is around 2 hours and this is a comfortable and easy way to make today's transfer. Look out for some great views as you ride the elevated highways into town.
Today you will have the services of a local professional guide for a private tour of Tokyo. Our guides speak excellent English and have a wealth of knowledge to share. With the guide’s expert help, you'll get to grips with Japanese culture and history while gaining a useful orientation of the city.
Your guide will meet you at your hotel at 9:00 AM (or any time you choose). Together you'll travel around the city by public transport as the Tokyoites do, using your included IC card. Please note you will need to pay for lunch and any entrance fees on the day. Your day of guiding will finish at 5:00 PM with the guide either dropping you back at your hotel or anywhere else in the city you wish to spend the evening.
Robot Restaurant
Are you ready for the weirdest, kookiest experience Japan has to offer? Welcome to Shinjuku's Robot Restaurant which obliterates the rest of Tokyo in the bizarre stakes. Forget the food - you're here for the hour long show: a "robot cabaret" accompanied by a garish kaleidoscope of strobe lights, lazers, techno music and dancers in glittery bikinis. You'll even see giant dancing pandas, dinosaurs, ninjas and of course plenty of robots.
We will include a voucher for the robot show in the early evening today. Please note, despite being called a "restaurant" the food is pretty terrible, so we will just make a reservation for the show - not the bento box meal.
You will be taking the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Odawara Station, the gateway city for the Hakone National Park. You will be using your Japan Rail Pass for this journey which will take just 40 minutes.
3 Day Hakone Freepass
Upon arrival at Odawara you will start using your 3 Day Hakone Freepass. The pass is valid for three days from today and entitles you to unlimited use of 6 different forms of transport in the Hakone region. These include the mountain buses and railway, one of the longest cable cars in Japan and a funicular railway as well as a pirate ship which cruises across Lake Ashi! These all criss-cross the region making it easy to explore and enjoy the surroundings as well as some of the many top quality art museums. The pass also gives you small discounts at many attractions in the area so be sure to show your pass when purchasing tickets. And of course, if you are lucky with the weather, you will be rewarded with stunning views of Mount Fuji.
From Odawara Station you will use your Hakone Freepass to take the bus up into the mountains of Hakone and on to your accommodation, the Ichinoyu Shinanoki Annex. The road twists and turns as you head higher passing through several small villages en-route.
Exploring the Hakone region is a lot of fun, with a great mix of scenery, culture and history. The classic circular sightseeing loop will take you around the major points of interest, including some great viewpoints for Mount Fuji (weather permitting!), the boat cruise on Lake Ashi, and the Hakone checkpoint, highlighting the region's important historical role. There are many excellent museums in Hakone, so you might like to step off the classic circular loop to visit some of these. The other major attraction is of course the hot-spring baths, so you may like to do as the Japanese do, and spend some (or all!) of the day soaking in the famous waters of Hakone.
After your time in Hakone you will use your Hakone Freepass to make the journey by bus down from the mountains to Odawara Station.
From Odawara you will use your Japan Rail Pass to take the Shinkansen on to Kyoto. The journey will see you racing down Japan's eastern seaboard by Shinkansen and takes 2 hours 10 minutes.
Full Day Private Guide Service in Kyoto
We will arrange for you to be accompanied by a local professional guide today. This is the best way to explore Kyoto, a city so rich in UNESCO World Heritage sites that it can be hard to know where to start! Our carefully-selected guides will reveal Kyoto’s intricate culture, introducing you to famous must-see spots as well as secret corners of the city that only the locals know.
Your guide will meet you at your hotel at 9:00 AM (or any time you choose). Together you'll travel around the city by public transport. While Kyoto has an extensive bus network we recommend taking a few taxis to speed things up. Please note you will need to pay for transport, lunch and any entrance fees on the day. Your day of guiding will finish at 5:00 PM with the guide either dropping you back at your hotel or anywhere else in the city you wish to spend the evening.
Afternoon Tea with a Maiko
For many people the quintessential image of Japan is a graceful geisha in an exquisite kimono darting through a sliding screen door into a traditional tea house. It’s a scene that embodies both the geisha’s beauty and mystery, as the geisha and their maiko apprentices move almost in secret through a world largely hidden behind closed doors. Often misunderstood in the West, geisha are essentially artists, highly skilled in traditional arts such as fan dancing and shamisen playing and are masters of wordplay and social etiquette. Although geisha numbers have dropped dramatically since their heyday in the 1920s, in today’s Japan, they are also the caretakers of these traditions making sure time-honoured Japanese arts and crafts are not lost.
The majority of geisha live and work in Kyoto and are known as geiko in the local dialect. Gion is Kyoto’s most famous geisha district with a large concentration of ochaya tea houses where the geiko entertain guests most evenings. Not just anyone can enter an ochaya however; in traditional Japanese society, hierarchy and social connections are everything and most Japanese will never have the honour of an official invitation.
Fortunately, we have strong ties with the Gion Maruume teahouse and we will arrange for you to visit for 45 minutes for a fascinating glimpse into the geisha world. Over a cup of green tea and a Japanese cake, you'll be entertained by a geisha or maiko who will perform a traditional dance for you. During the experience you'll be able to take photos and ask any questions you may have. Please note that the tea house staff and the geisha do not speak any English, but your Kyoto guide will be on hand to translate.
Please note that a visit to such a special tea house is subject to availability and cannot be arranged at short notice. Date or time changes are also unlikely to be accommodated.
Today you have a free day in Kyoto. This is an opportunity to further explore the city. Kyoto has a tremendous amount to offer whether you wish to discover some of the smaller temples and shrines dotted around the city or stroll through the bustling Nishiki Shijo market. The kimono fashion show in the Nishijin textile district is well worth a look and if you wish to see some of the natural beauty of the Kyoto area then the Hozugawa river trip makes for a great afternoon or morning travelling down the river on a traditional style boat. If you have any special requests, please ask and we will see what we can do.
Using your Japan Rail Passes, you have the chance to make a day trip to Hiroshima located 236 miles and 2 hours by Shinkansen down the west coast from Kyoto. Hiroshima is a city that needs little introduction. It is of course infamous for being the site of one of two atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of the Second World War. Despite it's tragic past, Hiroshima is now a bustling and vibrant city which has risen phoenix-like from the ashes. The Peace Park and Museum are a poignant reminder of the reason for Hiroshima's fame and everyone should spend an afternoon in this part of town. Other attractions in Hiroshima include Hiroshima Castle and the baseball stadium. The Shukkei-en garden is well worth an afternoon stroll with a number of tea houses dotted about the grounds. The Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of Art contains some wonderful paintings by both Japanese and Western artists. There is also the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art which has many pieces inspired by the 1945 bombing. There are also some great views of the city from here. The local food is okonomiyaki, a kind of Japanese savoury pancake. You choose the ingredients and then cook the pancake yourself at your table.
If you have time you may like to take a visit to Miyajima Island. Located just off the coast from Hiroshima, Miyajima is a lovely place to visit and a world away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Lively with tourists during the day Miyajima is a haven of peace and tranquillity in the evenings. The island boasts Itsukushima Shrine with its famous 'floating' torii gate which at sunset with the shimmering reflections in the water is considered to be one of the most beautiful sights in all of Japan!
Today you will be taking the train from Kyoto to Kanazawa, a journey of 2 hours. The line out of Kyoto takes you directly north through some beautiful scenery and along the shores of Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake.
Today you'll have free time in Kanazawa to explore the sights of the town. The gardens of Kenrokuen are a must-see and a stroll through the 'bukeyashiki' samurai houses give the visitor a chance to step back in time and enjoy the romance of old feudal Japan. The beautiful geisha quarter has a couple of tea houses which are open to the public to take green tea - sadly without the presence of a geisha though! Your complimentary Info-Pack will be full of sightseeing ideas and details of what to see and do to make the most of your time in this charming city.
The much-anticipated Hokuriku Shinkansen line opened on March 2015 and now connects the garden city of Kanazawa to Nagano. The Kagayaki is the fastest train on this line, and journey time direct from Kanazawa to Nagano is just 45 minutes.
The journey between Nagano and Matsumoto will see you travelling south-west for 65 km and takes around an hour.
Day Trip to Daio Wasabi Farm
Today you might like to make a day trip to Daio Wasabi Farm in the nearby town of Azumino.This is a lovely spot for the beautiful watermills and river running through the area. The Daio Wasabi Farm is one of the largest farms in Japan. At the farm shop you can try all manner of wasabi flavoured goods including wasabi ice-cream! From Matsumoto you will need to take a train for 30 minutes to Hokata Station (320 yen). From there you can take a taxi for 10 minutes or hire bikes and cycle to the farm. Full transport details will be in your Info-Pack.
From Matsumoto you will be travelling on to Tokyo taking the Azusa Express. The train winds its way through some beautiful rural countryside passing paddy fields, vineyards, orchards, lakes and rivers on the way. As you approach Tokyo the open countryside is replaced by the urban development which spreads out from the capital and eventually you will see the skyscrapers of Shinjuku looming in the distance. If the weather is clear, keep a look out for Mt. Fuji from the right hand windows of the train as for much of the final forty five minutes of the journey she can be seen soaring skywards to the west of Tokyo.
You will be taking the Narita Express train direct from Shinjuku station to Narita Airport today with a journey time of around 75 minutes.
Arrive back into London Heathrow.
