I'm thinking of taking a tour of Tokyo and Kyoto in early November for my Honeymoon.
I was hoping to get some suggestions on tour companies that do Japan well.
Brief information... My future wife and I are fairly active and young (40) and prefer a pace and group that might reflect such. Any suggestions are appreciated.
You might look at JTB Japanican; they are the largest and reliable.
However, if you can search things through Internet, Japan does not require a guided tour for most people. Especially if you're on honeymoon, you would probably prefer to travel individually.
1. Get an open jaw ticket arriving at Narita or Haneda in Tokyo, and departing from Kansai International Airport in Osaka. Unfortunately, US based air companies currently have worse services than most airlines in the world, so I would recommend avoiding them if you are on a honeymoon.
2. Consider Japanican's Shinkansen e-voucher for Tokyo-Kyoto long distance travel, or standard JR Pass.
3. Consider some extra places to visit apart from Tokyo and Kyoto, like Takayama and Shirakawa-Go; Hiroshima and Miyajima, if you are going to get JR Pass.
4. Browse JNTO, Japan-Guide website, or English pages of major tourist attractions throughout Japan, for places you'd like to visit. Tripadvisor review pages can help too.
5. Consider hotel booking through Rakuten, Jalan, and Japanican hotel booking sites. Tokyo and Kyoto requires at least 2-3 days (Kyoto shouldbe a better place for honeymoon). Visit Nara for a day while you are in Kyoto.
Congratulations on your wedding!
Edited: 12:11 am, July 02, 2012You may also get ideas and search package tours listed on Japan's official tourism office website http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/
But it's so easy to travel independently in Japan even if you don't speak the language. Make sure you stay at least one night at a good quality ryokan (traditional inn) - it's an experience you'll never forget.
Edited: 4:49 am, July 02, 2012Inside Japan runs small group tours of all sorts, but even better, they have about a dozen "self-guided adventures" where they sort out an itinerary (which you can mess with a bit) book your accommodation at a nice mixture of ryokens and business hotels and sort out your transport down to ferry tickets.
They also will do individually tailored trips.
I have taken the garden self guided adventure (although I stretched it to 3 1/2 weeks to have more time in each place) a tailored trip to (mostly) Kyushu and am about to leave for yet another tailored trip.
The information they give is invaluable and they also provide a 24/7 phone number in Japan manned by English/Japanese speakers for emergency help.
The interactive map on the website is also very useful for getting an overview of what is out there beyond the usual Tokyo/Kyoto destinations.
I found I loved the smaller western cities like Hagi, Matsue and Kanawaza.
Edited: 5:17 am, July 02, 2012Kyoto can be done on your own--and at your own pace. With the money you save, you can take taxis for short-medium distances. Lots of info about Kyoto and everything else you need to know here: http://www.japan-guide.com/
In Tokyo, the major sights can be reached more-or-less easily on your own, and you can add day trips, to Nikko, Hakone, Kamakura (all listed in Japan-guide.com) on a whim.
To see others' experiences, enter TRIP REPORT in the Japan Forums search box at tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g294232-i525-Japan…
If you want an organized tour covering other parts of Japan, these have been recommended in this forum: http://www.samuraitours.com/ and http://www.intrepidtravel.com/
That was awesome and thank you for your insight!
Both Japanican and Sunrise were suggested to me.
I too can recommend www.insidejapan.co.uk , you do pay the travel agents premium but their service is excellent and the fact they an office in japan could prove invaluable.
-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-
This post has been removed at the author's request. The author may repost if desired.
Posts on the TripAdvisor forums may be edited for a short period of time. Once the edit period has expired, authors may update their posts by removing and reposting them.
To read more about editing your posts, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/help/how_to_edit_your_posts
