Review

Jason Klein

Best of Japan Self Guided

October 26, 2025 - January 1, 1970

Overall, we had a very good time and this was a great trip. We really appreciated the locations that you selected as we would have never found some of these places on our own (ie Koyasan and Takayama).On the days where we had a lot of train connections, we sometimes felt rushed to see the things that were scheduled (Ie Himeji Castle - we didn\'t have much time to see it all). Also, there were a couple mistakes in our itinerary, but we were able to navigate around them. First, the day you recommended we visit Ueno Park in Tokyo (a Monday), all the museums were closed. We had to find other things to do and missed the National Museum. Also, when leaving Koyasan, our reserved train tickets were different than what was printed in the itinerary. Finally, we chose to go to the snow monkey park, but we probably should have been told that there are very few monkeys to see this time of year. Luckily a couple were there so it wasn\'t a waste.Maybe consider adding some restaurant recommendations for future travelers. It was hard to know where to find good places to eat because there was an overload of places to go especially in the big cities.We got a kick out of the stores and shopping in Japan. You might want to recommend some stores to visit in the big city (ie. Takashimaya, Hands, Don Quijote, etc.) or mention how handy 7-11 is for snacks or getting cash.

Itinerary

We enjoyed all the places we stayed very much. We had almost no time in Osaka and probably would have like at least one day to spend there.

Lodging

Hotels were all very nice with good locations. The Shinagawa Prince Hotel was very crowded, so lines were long for various things like breakfast, getting an elevator, etc.

Food

We were provided breakfasts at the hotels and they were all fine.

Guides

We had a guide for the first day of our tour and he was very helpful getting us set up with the trains.

Pre-Tour Handbook

The itinerary and information prior to the trip was a little confusing because we had so many train connections, but we got the hang of things once we were there. Getting into the country was more complicated than anywhere else I\'ve traveled, but we figured it out. You might want to consider doing a pre-trip call with your customers for the self-guided tours to talk about what to expect, review the itinerary, and answer questions. However, we were able to get our questions answered before the trip pretty well.