Recensioni

We spent three weeks travelling in Japan through major cities finishing in Kyushu where we hired a car and visited ryokan onsen. The culture, cities, landscape, food and warmth of people we met were all incredible and it is a country like no other we have visited before. Risa at Japan Travel Centre supported us with planning our itinerary, logistical considerations, car hire and accommodation. We could not have planned such an amazing trip without this expertise and she went above and beyond in recommending experiences we had not considered. 

Each hotel booked for us by our travel agent was convenient as it was beside the train stations, and information was provided as to how to get around the city by ourselves (who are non-Japanese speakers). Kyushu is recommended for those who prefer to travel and see traditional Japan, as opposed to Tokyo and Osaka. We arrived in one of the cities, and wasn't expecting snow. It made our onsen experience much better in Kurokawa.

Having received great service beforehand from the Japan Travel Centre, the trip went very smoothly, with all the pre-arranged bookings and transport being exactly as I'd hoped.

Whilst snow was late arriving in the Nagano area, there was still some good skiing and there was the advantage of there being few people on the slopes.

The people in Japan are extremely helpful - be it in the hotels, railway stations or simply in cafes and restaurants. They evidently want you to enjoy the experience of being in Japan.

Japan is a magical place. The way Shinto, Buddhism, and lively capitalism coexist side by side is often breathtaking. The trains are wonderful, and the food simply amazing.  I had a truly unforgettable experience, and would love to go again.

Sandy helped us with our booking, worked within our budget and provided us with a brilliant itinerary. She stayed in touch right up until the day before our flight to wish us a great holiday. The service throughout was brilliant. We stayed in hotel rooms and two Ryokan's and each was picked with our travel and itinerary in mind. We managed to get everywhere we wanted to with ease - and we also fell on great weather, which is a bonus. Each of the hotels picked had helpful staff, willing to provide information and interested in our travels. Brilliant service, we will recommend to friends and definitely, we will be booking again in the future. 

First of all, I wanted to thank you Wakako of the JTC in Fukuoka assisted us throughout the planning and booking of this trip. Wakako 'held' our hands and offered many invaluable advice. I communicated with Wakako through emails. She typically answered my questions (which were many) within 24 hours. Working with her made me feel welcome to Japan before I arrived to Japan!

This was a special vacation for 4 of us - 2 of us traveled from the US and 2 from the UK. Before we contacted JTC, we used its website to find the accommodations we were considering and then further evaluated them by using other resources such as TripAdvisor and tourist guide books. JTC website is definitely a very valuable resource in researching itinerary and accommodations. We booked the accommodations, bus pass and rail pass through JTC. Wakako figured out all of the transportation needs for us once we decided our itinerary. The accommodations we selected were mostly 4 stars with one or two were 3.5 stars. We generally like all of them; I have to specially mention Ryokan Sanga where we spent 3 nights to enjoy the onsen town. Not only Sanga offered very hospitable services and enjoyable onsen, their food (breakfast and dinner) were all delicious! I was sad to leave Sanga after our 3 days stay. Every staff we met from Sanga were very nice, truly made you feel home away from home. That could also say to many people we met during our vacation in Kyushu and some other smaller towns/villages. Wakako is a shining example - they go out of their way to help you when they can. When an moderately big earthquake occurred in the northern part of the Western Chugoku, Wakako called to let us know she already checked with Ryokan Kurashiki to make sure that the earthquake didn't cause damage to Kurashiki and we could proceed our journey as planned. She called us while she's off work in the weekend. This is truly a 'first class' customer service!

Another favorable experience is the Japanese food! I can't imagine the variety of Japanese food until I traveled there. As long as one keeps an open mind to try, one could find plenty of pleasant surprises with Japanese food. I never had a bad meal while I was in Japan. The only problem is that I now find many Japanese food where I live in the US are over-rated and overpriced.

During our vacation in Japan, we typically packed our day with activities being a tourist - shopping, food and museum in Fukuoka, Takachiho gorge, Kurokawa onsens, Hiroshima peace museum, Miyajima Torri gate & the Itsukushima Shine, the Korakuen Garden, Himeji Castle, Koya-san and the Okunoin cemetery, and finally more shopping and eating in Osaka to wrap up our journey in Japan. The cultural experience we had over these 17 days in Japan is almost overwhelmed - we all truly had a great time! And we all want to be back to Japan, hopefully soon.

We prefer to plan our own holidays but on this occasion chose to book some of our accommodation and internal travel in Japan with Japan Travel centre - and we are so glad we did. The staff at JTC were brilliant - their help in planning our holiday (which involved city visits, stays in rural areas near to the Aso mountain range and flights to the islands of Okanawa) was invaluable. Throughout our holiday we were able to seek advice and support from the staff at JTC - we were about to board our flight when we discovered that Aso mountain had erupted the day before and we were grateful for the assurance we received from JTC that it would not affect our plans. The standard of accommodation booked through JTC, with one exception, was excellent. When we had a problem we contacted JTC and within an hour the problem was sorted. This was our second visit to Japan and we love the diversity it offers and have found the people to be most friendly and helpful. Travelling around Japan is easy compared to other countries and I would have no qualms in advising others to do what we did and plan your own itinerary but that said, to have the benefit of the advice and support of the Japan Travel Centre meant that we were able to maximise our enjoyment and were appreciative that at any time we had access to JTC in Japan who would do their very best to address any problems we might have.

We loved our trip to Japan!

Sandy at Southampton Place was amazing and arranged an enjoyable bespoke trip. Thank you!

Fabulously well organised trip to climb Mount Fuji. All in the group were catered for in respects of walking experience and ability and we all made it to the top!

Translator/guide was lovely and assisted climbers swiftly when beginning to have the effects of altitude sickness.

Only downside was the Onsen after the climb. Prior notice that is is nude not one permitting swimming costumes, would have made things less awkward. Unfortunately, two of us could not participate in this, which meant waiting dirty and smelly from the climb for 2 hours.

However, it did not ruin a great experience.