Review

I would have traded the night at Osaka and Koya-san for an extra night at Hakone to get a chance to see the town and enjoy the outdoor on-sen at Hakone.

Overall good, but the futons at Koya-san were old and hard. The step to get into bed at the hotel in Osaka was a little bit dangerous if you miss it at night. The Asunaro lodgings at Takayama were comfortable. Their futons were new and very supportive. The hotel in Kyoto was also good. I enjoyed the on-sen and proximity to the station.The Prince hotel was a little bit cramped but location was good.

Food was excellent. I really enjoyed the Kaiseki served at the ryokan at Miyajima and Takayama. I did not like the vegetarian dishes at Koyasan. Too monastic, but I thought they will be more flavorful vegetarian dishes. The buffets of Japanese and Western dishes was good too.

Guides were great and knew their locations. Really enjoyed Shuji-san and JJ-san. Was surprised to meet William at Takyama. Would have preferred a Japanese guide. Also the person who met us Kyoto station was a little difficult to communicate with due to nuances in language.It good that the guides had lived in the US or UK for awhile, then they no how to handle \"Gai-jins\" better. It really made conversing with them easier.

Good. Got what I expected from the tour.

Good. especially the luggage transport, but again, as I mentioned earlier, maybe change the program a bit to sub an extra night in Hakone and maybe Takayama.

Enjoyed traveling using public transportation and the guide asking people if they need bathroom breaks. I\'m glad all if not most to the toilets have bidet in them. It really made the trip less stressful for me since there is access to clean toilets in most of the stations.