Japan travel

I’ve been to Japan once - on a Gate 1 tour. I’ve decided to go back this year.

I travel solo and I’ve decided that another tour is the way to go. I looked at Inside Japan, Samurai, Gate 1, Odysseys Unlimited, OAT and Road Scholar.

In the end, I booked this Road Scholar tour. It’s more unusual stops and includes Hiroshima, which is a must for me. It’s a smaller group as well. It was not the least-expensive tour I considered but I liked the itinerary.

https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/19724/Japan-An-Exploration-of-History-Culture-and-Society/reviews/

I traveled solo to Yokohama and then took a cruise from Yokohama to Seoul.

There were some mistakes made as well as some glitches but it was all good. Would love to go back another time.

You say that you and friend are well traveled. I think that you can do it on your own.

Me and my spouse have been to Japan 5 or 6 times (I think, have lost count), going again next November. Have never felt any need for a guided tour there. Japan is one of the easiest countries to travel in. If you can handle any European country, you can probably manage independent travel in Japan.

We did a self guided tour with Inside Japan, and it was great. We visited Kanazawa, Shirakawago, Takayama, Tsumago, Magome, Narai, Kamikochi, Matsumoto, and on to Tokyo. The route was customisable, and the consultant was able to advise a sensible route, considering transport connections. inside Japan booked all accommodation, train and bus tickets where possible, day tours and activities that we chose with their advice and provided information on what to see in each place.
We stayed in some very nice traditional accommodation, mixed with more modern hotels according to our choice and had some traditional meals included.
All of the arrangements went like clockwork, and support was available in Japan if required.
I’d definitely recommend inside Japan, particularly if you would like to do a trip away from the main tourist route.

Well, for a first trip after 70, I definitely needed guides.
For a second trip, I might consider local guides, walks, as needed.

While I have not used Road Scholar in Japan, Ihave jo8ned Road Scholar on six trips on three continents and am signed up for three more. So do consider the other RS. Their programs include free time to explore as you wish and bespoke experiences I could not get on my own!

We did private guides. But I was impressed with a Gate 1 trip we ran into several times. One advantage of Road Scholaris the peer group….58 to90.

We love Gate 1 Travel and Road Scholar.
We did Japan with an 8 day pre-cruise (Tokyo, Nikko, Kamakura, Kyoto and Nara), then we took a cruise with 5 ports in Japan, one in China, two in Taiwan ended in Hong Kong (fantastic cruise).

The pre-cruise, we used local tour companies, it was in 2015 and don't remember name. One tour to Nara and Kyoto was a three night tour with the high speed train.

My DH and I also used Inside Japan to help us plan an independent trip this past October. Like the poster above, it went like clockwork. I do agree, that with a little effort, you can plan and travel on your own.

I traveled independently in Japan about 10 years ago. I was in my latish 60s at the time. I traveled with a friend most of the time but also stayed a few extra days in Tokyo and did day trips solo. It was much easier than I expected. People were amazingly helpful, sometimes walking blocks out of their way to get us to where we were headed. There were signs in English in train and subway stations and many other places. Most people I encountered could recognize the name of a street or sight written in English even if they didn't identify as speaking English. For planning, in addition to guidebooks and the internet, I was able to consult with a number of people I knew who had lived or traveled in Japan.

I took a guided tour (Classic Japan) with Inside Japan in November and also had 7 additional days on my own where I used them to make the arrangements (additional nights in Tokyo and a trip to Kanazawa). I was really pleased with the arrangements they made for me. When I arrived at my hotel in Tokyo, I was provided with my train tickets for my extension and my IC card). I also enjoyed my group tour. It was a little different from other group tours that I have taken in that nearly all of the transportation between locations used public transportation rather than a coach. We had a great group of 14. The only negative for me was I wish that they had used local guides for some of the places we visited as I think it would have been nice to hear from some local experts. We were supposed to have a local guide in Kyoto but they canceled at the last minute for a health issue. Our tour leader did a good job filling in, but I think we missed some of the local flavor. For my extension to Kanazawa, Inside Japan suggested some activities and booked my hotel, train tickets, a half day private guide (she was excellent), and a sake tasting.

Japan is fairly easy to travel around on your own. If you want some help with planning and booking, I would recommend Inside Japan.

When I was planning, I found this trip report from Vandrabrud (a forum member) extremely helpful. She used Inside Japan to arrange independent travel.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/beyond-europe/first-trip-to-japan-trip-report