Inside Travel Group Traveller Reviews

There was so much to do, see and also eat. Lots and lots of great food! I saw geiko (geisha in training), so many temples and shrines to visit! Japanese people are very friendly and polite. We went to the Studio Ghibli Museum which our IJT booked for us as you couldn't buy tickets at the museum as you need to book them in advance. We stayed in traditional inns (Ryokan) and also modern hotels so we got a good feel for both the more traditional side of Japan and the modern side of Japan. We visited Tokyo, went to the Hakone region, Kyoto, Miyajima, Osaka and Takayama. Miyajima was my fave place we stayed at. So relaxing, ate their famous maple shaped cakes and so the famous floating shrine and famous floating torii gate for that shrine.

We used Inside Japan Tours to book our trip to Japan. We selected one of their tours and moulded this to make it more tailored to us. They made booking the trip so easy and stress-free for us and were very informative and helpful. I would recommend Inside Japan Tours to anyone who wants to go to Japan. Inside Japan Tours were very helpful and gave lots of recommendations including directions to said locations.

We were in Japan for 2 action packed weeks. We hiked the Kumano Kodo, bathed in many onsen both privately and publicly, enjoyed delicious food, had Taiko drum lessons, enjoyed a Samurai Kenbu show and lesson, traveled on a traditional boat cruise, saw many UNESCO World Heritage sites, museums, many other fun stops along the way, and made my fitbit so happy because I exceeded my daily goal every day by early afternoon.

Our tour agent at Inside Japan Tours, Grant Ekelund, asked questions and tailored our itinerary to everything we wanted and way more! This was the best experience for our first trip to Asia. We absolutely loved the way it was set up for us and tailored especially to our wants. This was the trip of a lifetime and we would ABSOLUTELY use this tour operator again and am so happy to share their contact information with everyone else. This was top-notch service for a reasonable price!!!

We spent 2 weeks in a small group (13) with a full time guide, followed by 4 days independent travel organised by the tour company. The guide was outstanding; he was very well informed, enthusiastic, efficient and excellent company. The tour extension was made very easy with extremely detailed guidance notes. We visited Tokyo, Hakone, Osaka, Hiroshima and Miyajima, Kyoto, Nara, Takayama, Kamikochi and the Nakasendo Way.

Inside Japan was highly recommended by a number of friends and lived up to expectations; they provided excellent pre-tour advice and information. The full time guide provided was first class and the instructions for the unaccompanied 4 day extension were very detailed and informative.

We have talked about travelling to Japan for at least a decade. Finally this year we bit the bullet and planned a self-guided tour with InsideJapan Tours. Starting with a guided tour of the major sites followed by a day of wandering in Tokyo, we travelled to Takayama, experiencing the autumn festival, visited the charming Alpine village of Shirakawago then travelled on to Kanazawa where we visited Kenrokuen and the geisha district with a local guide. Thereafter we took the train through more interesting countryside to Kyoto where we once again had an overview and visited several key sites with a knowledgable local guide and then had several days experiencing the city ourselves before staying for two nights in a wonderful ryokan in Hakone, including a view of Mount Fuji, a cruise on Lake Ashi and a visit to a reconstructed checkpoint on the Tokkaido Highway (cf. Hiroshige). Thereafter we returned to Tokyo to fill in a few gaps in our site visits and plan our return to Japan. We were bowled over by the warmth and helpfulness of the people we met, the wonderful food and the beauty of the landscape. The tour organisation was impeccable. The transport links worked like clockwork and the hotels were all well chosen and well positioned. We cannot recommend InsideJapan Tours highly enough.

Knowledgable, flexible and supportive. With InsideJapan we built a tour based around our preferences and interests. We could not have achieved the same experiences without their input and expertise. We strongly recommend InsideJapan Tours.

Even better best of Japan - As four sixty-year old school friends, on a budget, looking for a very special holiday to celebrate big birthdays, we wanted to visit Asia for the first time. We decided on Japan and chose a rough itinerary of places to visit which reflected our collective interests of history, culture, crafts, food etc. - Tokyo, Takayama, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Hakone. Thanks to Inside Japan, we had an altogether wonderful time, for a very reasonable outlay.

We spent 15 days travelling in Japan with a special designed itinerary from Claire, our Inside Japan consultant. We have all traveled a lot in Europe and visited the USA under our own steam but needed the support of professionals for this adventure. We traveled independently but Claire's attention to detail in our plans made everything straightforward.she organised train passes, bus tickets to the Alps, accommodation in 7 different excellent hotels and recommended restaurants and places of interest in detailed guides to each destination. I plan to visit other Asian destinations and will definitely book with InsideAsia Tours.

Stunning locations, really well thought out. The variety of locations was good and our tour leader was great - full of knowledge, great sense of humour and there was a lovely atmosphere in the group. Many experiences which I will never forget.

I would have no hesitation on returning to Japan with Inside Japan Tours. The tour leader was perfectly experienced for the role and had so much extra "inside" knowledge to offer us about day to day life in Japan as well as specifics about our destinations. Before and after the trip I felt that I was well taken care of and they were very efficient with all queries. Wonderful value for money!

3rd trip to Japan and accomplished all my undone sightseeing goals

Very detailed in setting up my tour No complaints of any kind If I was going back to the Far East I would use them again

A wonderful trip traveling around Japan on public transportation with guidance from our tour operator who made all the hotel and train arrangements. We had guides a couple of times, and wandered about as we wished the rest of the time. The travel agency's planning made everything easy, and the hotels chosen were just right. We were very very pleased.

InsideAsia Tours Ltd

After 40 years finally managed to visit Japan. Exceeded all my expectations, and these were high. A trouble free holiday, no issues with hotels or transportation. All worked like clockwork we were given excellent information by Inside Japan Tours who organised a 2 week holiday according to our travel preferences

Exellent tour operator and rep Inside Japan Tours (Bristol)

We wanted to visit major cities such as Tokyo and Kyoto but also wanted to see the "real" Japan by visiting small towns and villages in the Japanese Alps. Together with our travel agent we put together an itinerary which enabled us to zig-zag our way across the country using various modes of transport enabling us to see stunning areas of natural beauty, the cultural delights of castles, temples and traditional village housing. The trip gave us everything we wanted and more.

The tour operator listened to what we wanted an put together an excellent package/ The planning of our trip was excellent and the precise organisation of our various modes of transport resulted in very few problems. The pre-travel literature was the best we have ever had and provided us with the information and details we needed to work our way across the country unaccompanied. All in all a fantastic experience.