Trafalgar Tours

Splendours of Japan with Hiroshima Reviews

15 Splendours of Japan with Hiroshima reviews from past travellers that booked with Global Journeys.
4.87
AVG. RATING 4.87 / 5
15 Reviews
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Fabulous Japan   1 , WA, Australia, Sep 2023
This tour was fabulous with Trafalgar, and expertly handled by Global Journeys. The weather in September was very hot and humid. The standard of hotels were excellent and our guide Misa was lovely with good English. Another day in Osaka would have been perfect as we didn’t get to see much arriving midday Thursday and leaving for the airport Friday at ...read more 6:30am. Thanks for some great memories and great people 🥂
Wonderful springtime tour of Japan 4 , NSW, Australia, Apr 2019
All aspects, from the booking of this trip with Hannah at Global Journeys to the trip itself, went problem free. Our Trafalgar tour director, Nana, was very knowledgeable of Japanese history and her culture and took great care to ensure everyone in our small group was having a good time. Nana was an absolute joy and her spoken English, excellent. ...read more

We stayed in first class hotels in central areas, ate at excellent eateries and travelled in large, comfortable coaches so people could spread out if desired. I loved Japan, the people are so friendly and polite. Their cities/towns, public transport and public toilets are extremely clean.

Loved seeing the cherry blossom trees in all their beauty and the “old” Japan. One special memory for me was when one late afternoon we viewed Mt. Fuji draped in sunshine after an overcast morning and the next morning awoke to a winter wonderland. It had started snowing overnight and continued snowing lightly well into the morning.

I highly commend Global Journeys and Trafalgar Tours.
Splendours of Japan with great accommodation and inclusions   3 , NSW, Australia, Oct 2018
We were on a 13 day tour with 16 other Aussies, an English couple and a single lady from the US. It took us a few days to adjust to the cultural differences of our tour guide Yama. She worked extremely hard and was well organised but often she would not immediately answer our questions saying she would talk about that later to the group. The tour itself ...read more was fantastic. Beautiful autumn colours, great hotels and marvellous inclusions. We had some of the best high end meals ever! Highly recommended.
Splendours of Japan with Hiroshima 2 , QLD, Australia, Oct 2018
The tour was very well organised and very good value for money. We were very pleased with the hotels, the tour guide was excellent and we saw everything we wanted to see. We would be happy to recommend this tour to anybody wanting to tour Japan in a short time (2 weeks) but see as much as possible.

We could not fault the organisation of the tour ...read more or the hotel rooms, with the exception of the hotel in Kanazawa which had no air conditioning in the guest rooms. It was hot so we slept with the window open (and the noise from the street filtering in!). This was the only negative we encountered. We brought this to the tour guide's attention and she suggested we provide this feed back as well. The mix of people on our tour was excellent and we made some valued friendships.
Splendid Splendors of Japan with Hiroshima   3 , SA, Australia, Oct 2018
What a delightful tour in a delightful country. Our tour director May was patient and charming. The tour was effortless and drama free with everything Trafalgar promised and more. Hotels, included meals and sightseeing all good standard. The Hiroshima extension was definitely worth it for the visit to Miyajima.

I've been on several tours with various ...read more operators in the last few years and am not easy to impress. I can recommend without hesitation Trafalgar's Splendors of Japan with Hiroshima. I can further recommend without hesitation booking through Global Journeys with efficient service and consultant Yvonne Brooks making the effort to follow up on some tricky questions of mine. Thank you for a great holiday.
Enjoyable experience 5 , NSW, Australia, May 2018
Tour director was terrific - made a good trip even better. We visited a range of historic, cultural and scenic locations. No problems with the accommodation (except for the New Otani Hotel which refused to let anyone into their room until 2pm even though we arrived on a wet and windy day at 6.30am) or the food. Bus drivers were competent and safety ...read more conscious. Other than the optional dinner, the optional excursions did not appeal to us. Our tour group included people from USA, Canada, India and Australia and we would recommend this tour to anyone.
Ticked all the boxes ... and more!! 9 , QLD, Australia, Mar 2018
A fabulous trip that exceeded all my expectations in every way. Hotels were exceptional - 5 star all the way with excellent proximity to everything. The bigger the city though, the smaller the room!! Included meals were excellent - again better than expected - certainly for a person who isn't usually wild about Japanese food.

Our guide, Yama, was ...read more exceptional, and ran the trip like clockwork - which is how everything in Japan seems to run. Ours was the PERFECT departure time for cherry blossoms in the coastal and lower areas and snow in the Alps. The highlights for me were the night in the traditional ryokan, the glorious views of Mt Fuji, Hiroshima, the thousands of Tori gates and Miyajima.

The trip was fairly full on with some quite early starts and late finishes and the walking was substantial - no less than 10kms per day. The optional tours (4) did not represent great value - especially the one pub meal where the food was not all that great and the concept of sharing was not the same as ours!! The tea ceremony was only 30 minutes long. The Gion theatre tour was more interesting and we could not have done that one on our own as its very popular and certainly the best of the optional tours.

I was surprised at how expensive EVERYTHING is in Japan. A can of coke at dinner - $10 (no drinks were included with any of our dinner meals - so all represented additional extras). No such thing as diet drinks - the Japanese don't need them. Vending machines are everywhere and much cheaper for drinks and ice creams. Ice cram varieties are amazing and delicious and well worth trying.

The only thing I didn't like was the crowds of people - we queued for everything - even when we had bookings. The congestion on streets made walking up some streets really difficult and not great for strolling. Can highly recommend the trip as a great introduction to an amazing country and culture.
Splendid Splendours of Japan tour 5 , VIC, Australia, Mar 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this 13 day tour with Trafalgar. The itinerary took us to the highlights of Japan in a comfortable tour that ticked all the boxes. The accommodation was very good and the included meals were mostly excellent. Our Tour Director really made this trip. Masa was very helpful, considerate and certainly gave us just the right amount ...read more of information at the right time.

I would have expected all coaches to have WIFI at this price point, and that did detract a little from the overall value for money. The sightseeing and explanations were excellent. I highly recommend this tour, it is not cheap but certainly value for money.
A Splendid Trip!   7 , QLD, Australia, Sep 2017
We travelled in September - quite hot and humid but we had cooling showers and breezes. It was a wonderful introduction to Japan and there is so much left to see and experience again in the changing seasons. The magnificent scenery was complimented by the kindness and respectful behaviour of the Japanese people, the provision of thoughtful conveniences ...read more and the beautiful presentation of accommodation and food. We found the tour to have a mostly balanced itinerary with a few later starts in the morning and free time in the afternoons. There were some days that seemed busier than others and at times we suffered from 'temple fatigue', mainly due to the heat and crowds. The temples were always different however, with unique facets.

We had to change coaches and drivers a couple of times due to the train journeys and a requirement to use local drivers. The standard of drivers was excellent but we missed the attention that familiarity brings eg. a supportive arm or extra step to ease our descent from the bus. Our guide Masako was superb - always well prepared in history and interesting facts and delighted in providing local practical information to make our own discovery trips so enjoyable. We always had comfort stops at well provisioned roadhouses, where we could buy local snacks and sometimes fruit, which was quite expensive.

Our hotels were conveniently located to shops or a safe walking distance to other attractions. We particularly valued the traditional experiences in the Ryokans and Onsens, the journeys through the magnificent mountain areas (so many high tech tunnels, bridges and dams) and relished the Japanese breakfasts, which included local vegetables, omelettes, soup with rice or noodles and also small quantities of fruit.

Many thanks to Georgie at Global Journeys for her endless patience and prompt responses to our questions and concerns :). Using the internet at home was very convenient and thankfully proved to be secure too. A very successful and enlightening experience indeed!
13 Day Splendours of Japan with Hiroshima 16 , New Zealand, Mar 2017
We arrived a few days early to rest up from our long flight. Made friends with a lady who was also doing our tour so had the chance to try the subways and trains with her well traveled help. It was over whelming at first with so many people around us and so much traffic. With Andrea's help we soon got sorted. By the time the tour was about to start ...read more we were up to speed. So I do recommend to give yourselves time to get use to the constant attention in the hotel and any shops that you go into. You are greeted by everyone with words of welcome (in Japanese) I also suggest that you learn a few words of Japanese to say thank you, good morning and excuse me. The Japanese constantly say these things. If you show respect back by bowing and greeting in return it won't go un-noticed and appreciated.

Food....a few words about food. There are so many places to eat all styles of food, at first it seemed there was nothing but restaurants. Japanese pride themselves on presentation of anything and definitely of food. Before you travel checkout on line all information about where you are going and styles of food. Don't be afraid to try new tastes.

Hotels range in style and comfort...as do the bathrooms! It can be a challenge at first to find how to turn the shower on, easy you might think, but it can be confusing. Toilets in Japan are amazing, they play music when sat on or the sound of running water, you can wash front and back! Some even blow dry afterwards! Toiletries are amazing and fun. They can provide tooth brush and toothpaste, shaver and small tube of shaving cream, combs, soaps, etc etc have fun discovering the different things that are provided.The beds are a lot firmer than most people would be use to but I was amazed to find that it wasn't a problem and I am a fussy bed person.

The tour its self was wonderful. We saw a wise range of what Japan has to offer. We were lucky to see Mt Fuji at its most beautiful. Clear blue sky and snow capped mountain. Picture perfect! We traveled at the beginning of March and it was still cold, which I love. Washing clothes was a problem, hotels will do laundry but they are expensive! We only found one laundry-mate. I recommend washing out underwear when you have a two night stop. Take clothes to layer for cold or hot and a good raincoat...again research weather for the time of year you are going. Somethings will not be everything you would be expect...roll with it. Have fun and if you are like me and buy lots of souvenirs allow space in your suitcase for that or end up buying extra suitcases. Keep in mind how many bags you can take on planes and buses. Last words of wisdom research, research, research the places you will be visiting. Socks! carry a pair of warm socks to put on as you have to take your shoes of in some places and carry packets of tissues in case of no toilet paper! It happens! Enjoy as we did! It was wonderful! Loved it!
Cherry blossom time 4 , NSW, Australia, Mar 2016
My wife and I enjoyed this well planned small group tour very much. The tour director was knowledgeable and diligent, the natural landscapes and formal gardens were at their best (timing was ideal for the best of cherry blossom season) and our fellow travellers were good company. Highlights for us were the underbridge viewing of the spectacular Inland ...read more Sea whirlpools, the lovely Kenruen Gardens in Kanazawa, our perfect Japanese meal at Ryokan Yoshida Sanso in the elegant city of Kyoto and our day trip to the island of Mijajima with its shrine, O'torii gate and deer. The only minor negatives were the quality of the headsets and the resultant occasional difficulty hearing/understanding our tour director, and a poorly planned final day in/getting to Osaka. As always we were happy to be in the safe hands of Yvonne at Global Journeys.
Fabulous tour 2 , NT, Australia, Mar 2016
I enjoyed this tour immensely. I travelled with a great bunch of like minded travellers with a great Tour guide, Yama and reliable coach drivers. I enjoyed the meals included in the tour from the accommodation breakfast, lunches and dinners. Food was always fresh and different. Itinerary and activities were great. Accommodation overall was good and ...read more centrally located in the cities we visited.
Very well organised with several unforgettable experiences 7 , VIC, Australia, Jul 2015
The tour guide, Kimiko, was lovely and extremely helpful. She was always completely dedicated to ensuring that we were comfortable and enjoying ourselves. There was nothing she wouldn't do to optimise our experience, and you could tell she really loves her job. She is easily the best tour guide I have ever travelled with! The included meals were authentic, ...read more tasty and of a very high quality. The hotels were very centrally located, being literally connected to or next to multilevel shopping centres, convenience stores, restaurants and public transport - this is in stark contrast to some of the hotels utilised for the European tours with Trafalgar. The Fukuchiin Monastery Inn stay was a genuinely unique experience that I will never forget. There was a good balance of included experiences and free time. Overall this was a very well organised itinerary with several unforgettable experiences and an amazing tour guide that are collectively worth the cost of the tour.
Excellent tour 1 , WA, Australia, May 2015
Excellent tour. The tour guide was very knowledgeable about the attractions and sensitive to everyone's needs in the tour group. She really made the tour enjoyable and worthwhile.
Exceeded our expectations 4 , VIC, Australia, May 2015
Our tour guide Kimiko was simply amazing - exceptionally well organised, informed and kept us entertained on the longer coach trips. The tour visited some wonderful castles, gardens, shrines and temples. Some of the meals were a bit of a challenge but added to the fun. Our first time to Japan and with Trafalgar and exceeded our expectations. Only improvement ...read more would be to include drinks with some of the meals. Thanks to Georgie at Global Journeys for efficient service with our paperwork and booking - will be using Global Journeys again!
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