Japan Hike, Bike & Hot Springs

Upon arrival at Tokyo Haneda or Narita Airport, clear customs and collect your luggage, then proceed to the arrivals hall where our representative will be waiting for you. The representative will escort you to an airport bus for your transfer to your hotel in Tokyo. 

The balance of the day is at leisure to begin your exploration of Japan's capital.

This is the perfect introduction tour to Tokyo. Travel around Tokyo using the city's sophisticated and efficient subway and train lines together with your private guide visiting some of Tokyo`s main sites. Start the day with a visit to Sensoji Temple, Tokyo`s oldest Buddhist temple. After visiting the temple grounds, take time to stroll along Nakamise shopping street to look for souvenirs. Then continue to Tsukiji Outer fish market (many shops are closed on Sundays and on some Wednesdays). Along the market streets you will find different types of food stalls selling fish, seafood, vegetables, fruit, dried goods, as well as kitchenware shops. Stroll through the market with your guide and choose to sample food from the food stalls or visit one of the small restaurants for lunch (hint hint...this is the place to try the freshest sushi and sashimi so we recommend you go to a restaurant). After lunch, hop back on the train to travel across the city to Shibuya Crossing, the largest pedestrian crossing in the world. This will be a short visit to walk across the busy crossing, see the neon signs and cross it off the bucket list. While there you will also visit Hachiko Square. Then take a short train ride to Meiji Shrine. Meiji Shrine is a Shinto Shrine surrounded by Meiji Jingu forest and it will suddenly feel like you are no longer in metropolitan Tokyo. Walk through the peaceful shrine grounds and if you are lucky, you may see a Shinto priest. After visiting the shrine, stop for a latte or green tea break at a café in Harajuku, the pop culture neighborhood (time permitting). We suggest an art café that specializes in 3D foam art. The rest of the day is free for you to explore bustling Harajuku or the upmarket Omotesando avenue. Your guide will either say goodbye so you can continue exploring or escort you back to your hotel.

A full day to discover the wonders of Japan's largest city at your own pace.

This morning or afternoon, meet your assistant and visit the nearest JR office to exchange your 14-day Japan Rail Pass. Assistance will be provided to exchange our pass.

Japan has one of the most extensive, comfortable and modern rail systems in the world. The Japan Rail Pass offers foreign visitors the opportunity to travel on the extraordinary network of the JR Group at an economical price. The JR Pass allows travel on most JR trains, including Shinkansen bullet trains, limited express, express, rapid and local trains, as well as some local JR buses and the ferry to Miyajima island (near Hiroshima).

This morning, leave Tokyo behind as you journey to Hakone, the gateway to Mt Fuji and surrounding national park. Your local guide will accompany you on the journey there and assist with forwarding your luggage to your destination after Hakone. Then you will travel together to Hakone and have the chance to explore the Hakone ‘Loop’. The loop can be done in clockwise or anti-clockwise order and your guide will decide the best course depending on where you are staying tonight, the season and how busy Hakone is when you visit. The loop typically includes a journey up to the Gora area to ride the Hakone Ropeway to Owakudani volcano crater, where you can try the tasty black eggs boiled in water bubbling up from within the volcano itself. Also included in the day's arrangements is a cruise across Lake Ashi. On clear weather days, you may be able to see Mt. Fuji peeping over the mountains (visibility is best from November to March). After the tour, you will be dropped off at your hotel or ryokan in Hakone.  

Tonight stay in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn with hot spring baths.

This morning, take a private vehicle transfer from your ryokan to Odawara station to take the bullet train to Shizuoka (approx. 45 mins). Meet your guide at Shizuoka Station and begin your cycling tour. You will be equipped with a fashionable hybrid bike and helmet to begin your adventure.

Start by cycling for approximately 1 hour to one of the beautiful green tea farms in the countryside of Shizuoka City along the clear streams of Abekawa River. Along the way, you can take in the panoramic views of green tea fields. You will be welcomed by a local family who has run the tea farm from generation to generation. Inside a 150-year old farmhouse enjoy several kinds of tea tasting made from the same tea leaves (green tea, oolong tea, roasted tea, black tea). This tasting experience always surprises guests because no one can imagine one kind of tea leaves can produce such different tastes and rich flavors. Local farmers share with you their knowledge of Shizuoka's tea farming methods which include "how to grow, how to harvest, how to process and how to ship". They are also happy to answer any questions you may have.

On your way back to Shizuoka Station, you will have the opportunity to stop by Shizuoka Sengen Shrine, which has over 2000 years history and Sengen Dori Shotengai, a retro shopping street for locals or Sumpu Castle Park in which the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan (Edo period) used to live. The history of Shizuoka city has developed with this castle since seventeenth century.

Following your tour, you'll part with your guide at the Shizuoka station and then continue by bullet train to Mishima (approx. 20 mins). Your hotel is located adjacent to the station. Tonight soak in the hot spring baths on the upper floor of your hotel and enjoy the aerial views of the city and Mt. Fuji in the distance.

Take the bullet train to Shin-Fuji station (approx. 10 mins) to meet your guide. Fujinomiya is situated on the southwestern slopes of Mt. Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture and is one of the major starting points to climb up the mountain. Fujinomiya people have lived with Mt. Fuji and worshiped the holy mountain for long time.

Meet your guide at the Station and start your tour with a visit to Fujisan Hongu Sengen Shrine, where Mt. Fuji is enshrined. It is the traditional way to make a pilgrimage to the shrine before climbing the mountain. The shrine is the most prominent and important shrine among other 1300 Sengen shrines around Japan. The shrine is blessed with rich spring water of Mt. Fuji welling up in the shrine grounds. Purify yourself with this water before your hike.

Following the shrine visit, you'll be driven by private vehicle to Mt. Fuji 5th Station at 2400m in altitude. Enjoy some easy hiking along the Fujinomiya Trail to explore the Hoei Crater, the largest crater on Mt. Fuji. This is a very enjoyable hiking course because you'll see different landscapes and geological features.

If the weather is good, lunch will be served at the bottom of Hoei Crater.

After the tour, return by bullet train to Mishima.

Today is at leisure. Make your way by train from Mishima to Nagiso via Nagoya (approx. 3 hrs). Your hotel for the next two nights has indoor and outdoor hot spring baths offering forest views overlooking the Kiso Valley.

Today is at leisure to walk the Nakasendo trail. The Nakasendo (path through mountains) was one of the two means of transportation between Tokyo and Kyoto during the Edo period. Because of restrictions by the shogunate, travelers were almost always forced to make their trips on foot. As a result, "post towns" developed every few kilometers to provide travellers with places to rest. Along the Kiso Valley, a few post towns, particularly Magome and Tsumago have been preserved to look as they once did with stone paths and wooden buildings. We suggest you begin the hike in Magome to go to Tsumago (approx. 8 km). The trail is a little steep at first, but it evens out quickly and the rest slopes away gently down to Tsumago. There are plenty of rest stops along the way. Enjoy the beautiful mountain vistas and take time to explore both post towns.

Today is at leisure. Make your way by train from Nagiso to Takayama via Nagoya (approx. 4 hrs). We suggest you arrive in Takayama in the late afternoon so you can have dinner at one of the restaurants in town serving Hida beef, a type of Wagyu beef. This is a must try!

Today you will take a tour with a local guide. Start with a visit to the Takayama Festival Float Museum, where the magnificent floats for one of Japan''s most important festivals are preserved. Your guide will explain the festival's traditions and symbolism. Then, take a walk in the district called San-machi Suji, the traditional home of Takayama merchants and sake brewers, which has been preserved almost exactly as it was 2-3 hundred years ago. There are inns, shops and taverns here which trace their history back several generations. We'll make a stop at one of these sake breweries and enjoy a tasting. Takayama''s sake is renowned nation-wide, thanks to the clear water of the surroundings.

This afternoon, you will embark on a half day cycling tour of Takayama's magnificent countryside and see Takayama through the eyes of a local. Alongside your experienced guide, you will enjoy a pleasant ride through the scenic areas found only in rural Japan such as expansive green rice paddies and houses with ceramic tiled roofs constructed in the traditional style.

Today, depart Takayama by public bus to visit the UNESCO site of Shirakawa-go village with your private guide. Upon arrival, your guide will show you around the village, famous for its traditional gassho-zukuri farmhouses, some of which are more than 250 years old. Gassho-zukkuri translates as "Praying Hands", as the farmhouse steep thatched roofs resemble the hands of Buddhist monks pressed together in prayer, and are designed to withstand the heavy snows which fall in the region. You will be able to look around inside one of these and will see how life in Japan's mountainous region used to be. Your tour will end at Shirakawago bus terminal where you will part with your guide and depart by public bus for Kanazawa. Your bus tickets are included however you will be unaccompanied on the bus. Upon arrival in Kanazawa (at the bus station at Kanazawa Station), make your way independently to your hotel.

Meet your guide in the lobby of your hotel in Kanazawa and begin your walking tour using public bus transit. Your first stop is Kanazawa's star attraction, Kenrokuen garden which is regarded as one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. Walk through the garden grounds and enjoy the flora and fauna which changes depending on the season. Also visit the Nagamachi district, where samurai and their families used to reside. While there visit the Nomura Samurai House, a traditional Japanese home with a tea-ceremony room, an interior courtyard garden, and artifacts from the Edo period. Your guide will escort you the train station at the end of the tour.

Take the train from Kanazawa to Kyoto (approx. 2 hrs). 

Start your full day tour at one of Kyoto’s most celebrated sites, the world-famous Fushimi Inari Shrine. The shrine complex spans over the entire Mt. Inari (233m/765ft) and thousands of bright red torii gates line the mountain trail. You will visit the main shrine hall and the famed vermillion gate tunnel. Next, travel to central Kyoto to visit Sanjusangendo Temple, the longest wooden structure in Japan. Inside, you will find 1001 statues of Kannon, the Buddhist saint of Mercy. Then visit another celebrated site, Kiyomizu-dera Temple. This temple is older than Kyoto as the capital of Japan and is famous for its wooden platform stage, the Kiyomizu Butai. The massive stage was constructed out of wood and joints – no nails. At four story’s high, it was once a popular wish-making spot. In the afternoon visit Kinkakuji Temple, a favorite to millions of visitors each year. You will quickly see why this jewel set into the northern hills is one of the most visited sites in Japan, it is covered in real gold leaf and vibrant at any time of year no matter the weather. Continue to Kintano-tenmangu, a remarkable shrine to scholarship that was built to appease the spirit of an angry ghost. The shrine’s surrounding entertainment district was first built after a fire in 1444, when a large section of the temple had to be rebuilt, and the remaining timber was used to construct 7 tea houses that became the first ‘flower town’ or Geisha district in Kyoto. Explore the Kamishichiken district, every bit as charming as its more touristy cousin the Gion district, with the added bonuses of fewer crowds and excellent photo opportunities.

Nestled in the Kitayama Mountains of northern Kyoto, Kurama and Kibune are two rustic villages with traditional Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. This is a lesser visited area, away from the main tourist trail. Upon your arrival at the trailhead, you will begin your hike to Kibune together with your private guide. Along the way, you will visit Kurama-dera, a famous Buddhist temple with vermillion lanterns and beautiful natural scenery. At the end of the hike, you will arrive at Kibune and head to the nearby Kifune Shrine, dedicated to the god of water and rain, before heading back to Kyoto.

This morning, transfer to Osaka's Kansai International Airport for your onward flight.