Captivating Japan

Welcome to Japan! Mingle with your fellow travellers before meeting your tour manager.

Stay: Two Nights: Tokyo, Agora Place Asakusa or similar

HOT TIP!

At Uobei Genki Sushi, order via your own touch screen and watch as sushi whizzes out from the kitchen seconds later along a lightning-fast track direct to your seat.

Konnichiwa! There’s no such thing as a snooze button in this fast-paced city. On today’s coach tour you’ll visit Sensoji Temple, enjoy a photo stop at the Imperial Palace then walk through the Tsukiji Outer Market, where all sorts of unique seafood is on show. In Shibuya, jostle your way across one of the busiest crossings in the world before a change of pace amid the forest of nearby Meiji Jingu Shrine. With a free afternoon why not try the local brew at a kissaten, a Japanese-style hybrid coffee/teahouse?

• Breakfast

Head for the hills of Hakone today. Ride the ropeway and cruise across Lake Ashinoko, hoping to catch sight of Mt Fuji up close and personal. Tonight you might like to experience Japan’s traditional (and unique) onsen culture at your hotel. You have the option to soak in these restorative communal hot springs – separated by gender – in your birthday suit. It’s certainly a quintessential Japanese experience!

Stay: Fuji Hakone Land Schole Plaza Hotel or similar

• Breakfast
• Dinner

Glimpse Mt Fuji and the Japanese Alps on today’s drive towards Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture. At Matsumoto Castle, the oldest in Japan, scale the narrow staircase to the top of its turret for views of the surrounding mountains. A short stroll from the castle lands you in the centre of the old merchants’quarter, Nakamachi-dori. Perhaps a free afternoon will lead you to Daoi Wasabi Farm or the beautiful Ikegami Hyakuchikutei tea house?

Stay: Matsumoto, Alpico Plaza Hotel or similar

• Breakfast

HOT TIP!

No visit to Takayama is complete without trying the local specialty, succulent Hida beef. It’s one of the finest varieties of Wagyu beef available and best enjoyed cooked to your liking at a yakiniku (Japanese barbeque) restaurant.

Descend deeper into the Japanese Alps on the way to Takayama. Today is free for you to discover the mountain town and the best way to enjoy its charms is on foot. Wander alongside the canals beneath the cherry blossom trees or head for Shiroyama Park and its castle ruins at the top of the hill. Be sure to save time for Sanmachi Street, where you’ll see wooden buildings from the Edo period.

Stay: Takayama Ouan or similar

• Breakfast

Enjoy a wander through the town’s busy morning market, which has been in operation for many centuries. Then learn how to shape, flavour and roast your own o-sembei rice crackers. Continue to Kyoto, Japan’s most beautiful city where life flutters flawlessly between the old and the new. Tonight, your tour manager will lead you through the streets of Gion. Look for elaborately dressed geiko as they scurry between the teahouses.

Stay: Two Nights, Oriental Hotel Kyoto Gallery or similar

• Breakfast

HOT TIP!

Craft beer is big in Japan so why not join locals for a drink at Pontocho Alley? This slender lane is dubbed the most atmospheric street in Kyoto.

If there’s one thing to see in the City of Ten Thousand Shrines, it's just that – shrines! There’s Heian Shrine, with its towering red torii gate, and the gilded masterpiece Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), before a stroll through Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. Where will a free afternoon lead you? High on a hillside, Kiyomizudera temple offers panoramic views of the city. Perhaps visit Nara Park, where outgoing deer nudge at tourists for rice crackers on the lush grounds of Todaiji Temple.

• Breakfast

It’s on to Osaka, the unofficial culinary capital where the motto is ‘kuidaore’ – eat till you drop. Some of Japan’s best street food is up for grabs in the city’s tiny back streets. Call in on Osaka Castle, then stroll through the Dotonbori entertainment district. With some free time, be sure to snap a picture at the famous neon signs such as the Glico Man and the giant crab. Try local cuisine at tonight’s farewell dinner.

Stay: Osaka, Agora Place Namba or similar

• Breakfast
• Dinner