Reviews

This tour was exceptional. Our group of 18 were impressed with the experiences we were able to enjoy, the amazing scenery and the insight gained through our knowledgeable tour guide. Mari was a delight, going out of her way to ensure that we had all the information we needed every day so that we could relax and enjoy the varied experiences.
Hotels were of a high standard, food was delicious and I would thoroughly recommend a Wendy Wu tour to Japan.

Great hotels, good variety of places that we visited, good tour guide but awful food. This is the reason that I would not recommend this tour, very little variety in food, no choice apart from breakfast buffet, hot pot nearly every day, sometimes for lunch and evening meals on the same day. Sometimes pork for lunch and dinner on the same day. Meals were beautifully presented but very bland and for us this meant that we skipped many meals and went off and brought our own food. We have travelled all over the world and not particularly fussy eaters but the food provided by Wendy wu was not applicable to the high cost of the tour. Definitely needed more options and choice to fully enjoy the tour . Also there is very little free time which can be tiresome. Needed at least half a day free time in Kyoto and Osaka and wasted time in filler activities such as visiting a miso factory, a wasabi farm and a chair museum which were all incredibly boring. We booked our own activities in Tokyo in order to get more of what we found interesting, such as a sumo experience and night walk. The tour overall was good but awful food had a very negative impact on the overall experience.

Appreciated the range of experiences and it was a great selection of places to visit. Our tour guide, Yuka, was excellent. Very considerate and helpful, answering all questions and keeping people entertained on the long bus journeys. Communication was good throughout. Not all of the people on the tour used the Whisper audios, because of hearing aids, which meant they did not always follow the information. It was a very busy tour. Sometimes with one too many activities per day. We would have preferred one fewer temple visits and the visit to the fish market in Hakkodate was not the best. A bit more time at leisure would have been preferred and we were disappointed not to be closer to Tokyo centre and Osaka centre. However, the dinner that we had in the neighbouring hotel in Tokyo was the highlight meal of the whole tour.

Our guide Midori was wonderful and knowledgeable. But we found the tour number too large and this limited the facility to go into more detail about the history and people of Japan. We also needed more time for ourselves, particularly in Kyoto and Tokyo. We felt there was no need to provide three meals a day, and especially no “western” ones! For example the pseudo Italian meal in Tokyo was awful. Having said that we had some amazing delicious Japanese food.

A very enjoyable holiday that took in the major attractions in Japan. There was a full programme of visits and activities and we especially enjoyed Kyoto, Tokyo and Himeji Castle. The food was enjoyable, especially the Authentic Japanese cuisine. There is never too much free time on these tours, but we would have appreciated a bit more free time to shop or explore independently.
Add on days at the beginning in Tokyo and at the end in Osaka to get the most out of your trip.
Great bunch of fellow travellers with the majority from Australia and New Zealand. Our guide was excellent and kept us organised.

The whole trip was very well organised from enquiry to departure. Every little query was answered in a friendly, professional manner. The 11 night tour ran like clockwork and covered a large number of locations spread across Japan. We travelled by coach, bullet train and local express train, which all ran exactly to schedule without a hitch. The tour content was so varied and covered temple visits, snow monkeys, the deer at Nara, mount Fuji, two boat trips (one a meal in Tokyo bay), tea ceremony, origami, sampling sake, a trip to the top of the Sky Tree in Tokyo and numerous other locations. Meals were all included and allowed us to sample Japanese cuisine to its full at some really nice restaurants. Our guide for The Experience Japan tour was Naomi, who was an absolute delight to spend time with. She was so knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and funny and made it her mission to ensure that everyone in the party had the best experience possible. She was an absolute credit to both herself and Wendy Wu Tours. Both myself and my son had the experience of a lifetime and would thoroughly recommend both this tour and Wendy Wu.

Busy tour of many historic and picturesque sights of Honshu. Travelling mainly by bus - but plenty of spare seats so not crowded - which has the advantage of being able to go through and stop in the mountains which wouldn't be so easy with a rail tour. Excellent guide - knowledgeable and entertaining. Hotels were mainly big international tourist branded chains - mostly good with a couple more average. Breakfasts catered for just about every nationality and taste. Food was mainly Japanese - deliberately as varied as they could make it but it helps if you like fish - with the occasional western style meal. Many of the stops had large tourist shops and there were other opportunities for shopping and wandering around on one's own. I recommend adding a day before and/or after the tour and also Tokyo National Museum where we went on our last day. Altogether memorable.

A very full on holiday covering the whole of Japan seeing all that is needed. Perhaps the last 3 days were not worth the long train journeys as there was not much to see in the North for tourists in April. The furthest North should have been Sendai. More time in Tokyo would have better.
The trip was well organised. The hotels were good , although I was expecting to stay in smaller hotels to experience the culture more. The guide was excellent and made us feel safe. He had a good knowledge of the history of Japan.
The group had 28 people which in my opinion was too big. Not all the people were willing to associate with us and we didn't even get to know some of their names. Maximum should have been 18 ,and it would have been better if more people were from the UK like us.
Food for vegetarians was very limited but we didn't starve. Breakfasts were very good with a good choice. Lunches and evening meals were the same meals. Basically, it was what the meat eaters got but the meat and fish taken away. Vegetables, rice and tofu with soy sauce for 3 weeks ! Pizza was given on one day and a French meal on the very first evening.- what a treat !

A very intensive tour of some of the major Japanese highlights
Good hotels, although the one in Tokyo could have been nearer the centre
Transport throughout well organised and comfortable.
Very helpful guide although could have been more aware of pace of group as we progressed between sites
3 good meals a day although, personally I would have preferred a greater balance between Japanese and western food. Dietary requirements well catered for but at times some strange choices made.
I would say that this is not the tour for people with mobility issues, too many stairs which are often steep and slippery and too much walking between sites on sometimes rough paths

An excellent holiday. All meals were inclusive, the hotel rooms were of a high standard and the tour itself took us to as many places as possible within the timeframe without being too exerting. This trip covers Fuji, Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, Snow Monkeys, Bamboo forests, boat trips, Bullet trains, Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo plus other sights. Our guide was very helpful and knowledgeable and we found Japan to be clean and picturesque, the people are generally very friendly. I would definitely recommend this trip or Japan in general and would certainly go back again.

This was an extremely expensive holiday for what we got. We paid over £16,000 for 2 people for 15 days. Accommodation in Japan is not expensive and although the hotels were 3-4 stars and very nice, they did not have a bar or social lounge to relax in for us and chat to the others on our trip that we had met. None of the hotels were located in the centre of the towns that you could walk to a bar or explore either. Therefore we were off to our rooms at 8pm because the hotel restaurant would close at 8 or 9pm. In particular, the Hotel in Tokyo was badly located, very disappointing when we had 3 nights here and a free day! We chose Wendy Wu as we travelled with them in 2010 to China and had a fantastic trip and they were the only tour company that covered ALL meals. Not knowing the language we didn't want to try finding restaurants to eat and try to work out what the local food was. Having been to all the main towns many places are written in an English version or you can use a translater app. Having 3 meals a day was too much. The food was very similar, raw fish, 1 tempura prawn 2 veg tempura, rice, not many noodle dishes Ramen style. miso soup, some beef in a hot pot you cooked yourself. We wanted to experience Japanese meals, but 30 meals was just too much! If they cut out the lunch meal it would have been perfect as most of us left a lot of it, this would then allow more time at the temples, shrines, shops etc. Most of us just fancied a coffee and cake for lunch or even a burger!
Our guide was trully lovely, Chiyami, she was fun, knowledgeable and looked after our every need. If you have a food allergy you will struggle, not many restaurants cater. So a tour with less meals would be your option. We all thought the cherry blossom was a disappointment after all the hype in advertising. We were there in the height of blossom but the tours do not take you to the famous sights and most of it is white blossom. The UK have far more blossom!
Japan is a wonderful, safe country and the people have to be the nicest nation in the world. So care free, relaxed and all so friendly and helpful, despite the issues above we enjoyed the sights and the people we met.

Interesting tour and nice small size very friendly cruise ship

Excellent tour by train but non-stop. The hotels were of a high standard as it would appear they catered for the business people sector. The guide was very knowledgeable and very caring. My main criticism is that we were too far from the centre of town on many occasions and the hotels didn’t have a bar or social area where the group could meet and relax after a full on day. I am aware that Japan doesn’t have a drinking culture but there wasn’t even a coffee shop in the hotels where we could meet up. Our group was from three different countries and got on very well. I believe the tour could have stopped in Tokyo with some trips out so that we could have immersed ourselves in the art galleries and museums and the funky eating places at night, plus some serious shopping. The last few days travel didn’t enhance the tour but made it exhausting for limited sightseeing. We had to live with belongings for three days and nights whilst our main luggage was taken separately ahead, with no toiletries allowed in this main baggage. We were extremely disappointed with the last meal in the Brewery in Soppora. It was smokey, loud and the average age of the group hadn’t been considered for its appropriateness as a venue and didn’t offer us the opportunity to relax together as a group to say our farewells.
The trip ran like clockwork, stepping off one train and walking seven steps across the platform to catch the connecting one.
The trip could have been cheaper if we had finished our tour in Tokyo as we wouldn’t have had to fly from Soppora to Tokyo to get back to the UK.
All in all I enjoyed this tour very much but the points I have made could have turned a good trip into an outstanding one.

A very busy and interesting trip taking in the full range of sightseeing possibilities..
The urban sprawl of Tokyo contrasted with the peaceful monastery in the mountains . We saw monkeys and Mount Fuji under blue skies so felt very privileged.
Our guide Shioji was brilliant.

Excellent and interesting holiday.
The itinerary starts at Kyushu island in the south, through the main island of Honshu, up to Hokkaido, the largest island in the north.
Many first class sites are visited: including temples, shrines, castles, gardens and a beauty spot- some of the best examples in Japan.
The hotels are all good, with a couple of them really first class, the one in Tokyo being 5 star rated.
All meals are included, being a mixture of Japanese and western style - I enjoyed them all. You need to like rice, fish, and seafood as these feature in Japanese cuisine :-) ... but various other meats are frequently met, as well as protein dishes including tofu and mushrooms / fungus.
The transport is by both trains and (very good) coaches, and all travel arrangements went smoothly.
Highly recommended, especially for those who have not visited Japan before.