Cities, villages, temples and valleys
Your tour begins in bustling and ultra-modern Tokyo. A city tour will introduce you to refined Japanese etiquette in an elegant tea house and observe the silhouette of the city from a boat on the Sumida River. In the old geisha district , you will visit your first temple, the Senjo-si temple. Small stores here breathe the atmosphere of old traditions, but a little further on you will stroll through avenues with designer boutiques and trendy galleries. Save the Meji shrine for the magic hour, when the sun sets Harayuku Park in a golden glow.
After Tokyo, you will travel on to the Kiso Valley, where you will find yourself in the feudal era of the Nakasendo trail, an ancient trade route. The pace slows down, the sound of your footsteps is no longer drowned out by cars or loud music anywhere. You pass the wooden buildings of trading posts, where paper lanterns sway gently on the wind. The hike leads through beautiful valleys and ancient forests. The smell of wet leaves and the green of rice fields.... This, too, is all Japan.
Tips & tops from Round Trip Classic and Feudal Japan:
- You will visit several major cities: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Hiroshima and Kyoto. An expert guide will join you on a city tour, so you will see the most beautiful places and the most impressive monuments
- In rural Japan, take walks along an ancient trade route, where historic towns are surrounded by beautiful nature
- - The small town of Takayama with centuries-old merchant houses and sake breweries, lies in the beautiful Hida Mountains, the North of the Japanese Alps
- In Shirakawago, you will see traditional gassho-zukuri farms, which have been included on the UNESCO World Heritage List for their unusual architecture
- During the excursion to the sacred island of Miyajima, you may encounter deer
- During the trip you will visit various Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples and Samurai castles
- You usually stay in modern hotels, but also in luxury ryokans with onsen and in a traditional Minshuku (family hotel).
- On the culinary front, you can indulge yourself. You will appreciate the refined Japanese cuisine for its taste, but also for its careful presentation
- The trip can easily be combined with a multi-day stay around Mount Fuji, or trekking in the Japanese Alps. An extension to subtropical Okinawa or northern Hokkaido is also an attractive option
