Our favourite Japan tours and excursions

Japan is where it all began for us. We led our first tour here in the year 2000, and we’ve spent the years since building a network of the very best guides, tour leaders, hoteliers, inn owners, enthusiasts and experts across Japan.

Over the years, we’ve learned that a trip to Kyoto isn’t just about ticking off the top ten temples. It’s about peeling back the layers of history with one of our favorite Kyotoites, Kiyono-san, whose passion for traditional culture will bring the city to life. Likewise, a visit to Miyajima isn’t just about seeing the stunning World Heritage shrine, it’s about staying at the tiny inn run by Shinko-san and her son, who’ve known us for over two decades and will serve you the best baked oysters in the whole world.

Our guided tours and excursions cover everything from tea ceremony to cycling tours, and from traditional festivals to kitschy theme parks. Some of them are things you could do without a guide, and some are things you couldn't — but what makes them all special is the people. These are people we’ve known for years, who’ve been on this journey with us and who are passionate about taking you beneath the surface of Japanese culture, and that’s something you won’t find anywhere else.

Group cycling tour through rice fields of Hida, Takayama

Cycling tour of Hida

Our favourite cycling tour takes you out of old-town Takayama and into the slow-paced rhythms of the countryside.

Start in the little town of Hida Furukawa, where the streets are lined with carp streams and sake breweries. From here, head out into the Hida countryside: mile upon mile of pancake-flat paddy field and steep-roofed farming villages, all surrounded by the thickly forested peaks of the Hida mountain range. With your guide to interpret, you’ll be able to say hello to whoever’s about — whether it’s schoolchildren on their way home from lunch, or elderly locals selling strawberries at the local market. Stop to refuel with snacks at a local deli or farm shop, and find out what life is like outside of Japan’s big cities. We’ve never met anyone who hasn’t had a smile and time to stop and chat.

Hiker rests sat down on a rock ledge while staring at the mountainous scenery around the Kamikochi area

Hiking in Japan

Hiking might not spring to mind when you think of Japan, but the Japanese are passionate hikers, and they never do anything by halves. That means the country’s trails are second-to-none.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re after a gentle half-day stroll or a punishing multi-day trek (or, probably, something in between) — Japan has it, and you can guarantee it’ll be be safe, well signposted, and stunning. The most famous hike in Japan is the summer slog up Mount Fuji, but that’s just the beginning. Follow in the footsteps of pilgrims on the atmospheric forest trails of the Kumano Kodo, traverse sweeping landscapes of volcanoes and hot springs in northerly Hokkaido, or follow the little-known Shin-Etsu trail along the backbone of the Sekida Mountains. Wherever you hike, there’s no better feeling after a day on the trail than sinking into an outdoor hot-spring bath at a warm and welcoming ryokan inn.

Gion walking tour

Beautiful, inscrutable, and thoroughly aloof from everyday life, Japan’s geisha have seen their world shrink from hundreds of hanamachi (geisha districts) to just a handful, including the most famous: Gion.

Today, the narrow lanes and alleys of Gion are still lined with teahouses, restaurants, and traditional machiya merchant houses. This is the last place in Japan where you can still find geisha (or geiko, as they’re known here) entertaining their clients with song, dance and drinking games. Unless you’re lucky enough to have an exclusive audience yourself you’re unlikely to spot a geiko or maiko, but a walking tour of the hanamachi is still fascinating. With the granddaughter of a geisha as your guide, you’ll get a window on a world that’s all but disappeared, learning about what it takes to succeed in this revered profession as you explore the beautiful streets of Gion. You might even catch a glimpse of a maiko gliding between appointments – you never know!

Illuminated floats at Nebuta Festival in Japan

Japanese festivals

A matsuri festival is a chance to get beyond that famous reserve and meet the Japanese at their wildest.

These local and regional rituals range from the sublime to the ridiculous, honour everything from gods to penises, and celebrate with sumo tournaments, snow sculptures, historical re-enactments and mountain fires. Nearly every shrine or temple in Japan has its own matsuri, complete with lantern-strung floats, yatai food stalls, traditional dancing, taiko drumming and martial arts performances. It’s a chance for the locals to dress up in their traditional yukata robes and have fun – and boy, do they let their hair down (if you think the Japanese are straight-laced, just head on down to the “naked man” festival). We couldn’t possibly list them all here, but the Awa Odori dance festival on Shikoku and the giant illuminated floats of the Nebuta festival in Tohoku are two of our all-time favourites.

Two people preparing food on kitchen table

Kanazawa cooking class

No sooner have you stepped inside Moe and Chikako’s front door than you’ll be seated at the kitchen table, chatting away and sipping the latest batch of their home-made plum wine.

Japanese cooking might seem intimidating at first glance, but Moe and Chikako make it a piece of cake. With their help, you’ll make your own classic dishes from scratch – including vegan options such as miso-marinated tofu and veggie sushi rolls. They’ll explain every technique and ingredient as you go, whether you’re rolling out noodle dough, whipping up a marinade or trying to master that perfectly packed nori seaweed roll. Then, you’ll all sit down to lunch together while Moe and Chikako share their insider tips and local recommendations. Whatever’s on the menu, their charm, passion and enthusiasm for sharing the secrets of Japanese cooking are infectious. We can’t help wishing we still had them all to ourselves!

Theme parks

Combining a kawaii sensibility with a love of orderly queues, Japan might as well be the spiritual home of the theme park.

Japan has exactly the right combination of safety-consciousness, cleanliness, and sheer, off-the-wall wackiness to ensure that every theme park visit is an absolute dream. There are the biggest of the big names: Disneyland, DisneySea and Universal Studios (the latter complete with a full-sized Hogsmeade Village at Harry Potter World). There are the rollercoasters of Fuji Q Highland for the thrill-seekers, the immersive Ghibli Museum for lovers of Japanese animation, and historical parks like Meiji Mura and Nikko Edomura to introduce you to different periods of Japanese history. Then, we get to the weird and wonderful — including a Dutch-themed park, several Hello Kitty lands, and even an onsen theme park in Osaka. Forget pushy crowds and inedible, overpriced food: this is fun done right.