Japan Winter Discovery
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Overview
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Itinerary
On arrival in Tokyo, transfer to your hotel and immerse yourself in the energetic atmosphere of the city. Meet your fellow travellers and Tour Leader (or local guide), and enjoy your first taste of Japanese cuisine. Hotel: Shinjuku Washington (or similar)
Join a walking tour of Tokyo and visit Yanesen, home to one of the most important Shinto shrines in Tokyo, Nezu-jinja. Wander through the maze-like alleyways of Yanaka and participate in a ‘shodo’ class – a traditional style of calligraphy art. Hotel: Shinjuku Washington (or similar)
Travel to Shunka-en, home to a 1000-year-old bonsai pine tree. Visit Ueno Park, Tokyo’s most significant cultural centre. Discover Ameyoko-cho, a street market that began as a black market during post-war Tokyo. Finish your day at Tokyo National Museum, Japan's oldest and largest museum. Hotel: Shinjuku Washington (or similar)
Spend the morning at leisure before taking the train to Matsumoto, a beautiful castle town situated in the Japanese Alps. Hotel: Matsumoto Tokyu Rei (or similar)
Discover Matsumoto’s highlight attractions including Japan’s largest wasabi grower, Matsumoto City Museum of Art filled with Yayoi Kusama’s work, and Matsumoto castle. Hotel: Matsumoto Tokyu Rei (or similar)
Travel by train to Nagano and visit Zenko-ji temple, a 7th century national treasure. Continue to Obuse and visit Hokusai Museum. See snow monkeys frolicking in the natural springs at Yudanaka. Spend a special evening at a ryokan, enjoy a traditional kaiseki dinner, soak in the onsite onsen, and sleep on a futon bed in a tatami-floored room. Hotel: Yorozuya Ryokan (or similar)
Travel by train to Haneda airport and fly to Sapporo. Hotel: Cross Hotel Sapporo (or similar)
Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido is famous for its beer, skiing and the annual snow festival featuring enormous ice sculptures. Spread across three sites, the festival is a great opportunity to immerse yourself in a fantasy world of glistening beauty and pure-white fu...
Explore the historic village of Hokkaido, an open-air museum in the suburbs of Sapporo. The museum exhibits approximately 60 typical buildings from all over Hokkaido dating from the Meiji and Taisho Periods. Enjoy free time at the festival. Hotel: Cross Hotel Sapporo (or similar)
Travel by train to Kushiro City to explore the Tancho Crane Reserve. The area was designated as a national park in 1987 in order to preserve the country's largest wetland and marsh habitat, which supports the only known population of endangered Japanese cranes in the country. Hotel: Hotel Ana Crown Plaza Kushiro (or similar)
Explore Akan National Park filled with large volcanic caldera lakes, thick forest, and rejuvenating onsen. Savour a sumptuous Japanese dinner at your traditional hotel before driving to Ainu Kotan village, home to one of the largest remaining Ainu communities in Hokka...
Board your icebreaker cruise for an unforgettable experience as the ship carves its way through the Sea of Okhotsk, smashing through blocks of drifting sea-ice. Visit the Okhotsk Ryuhyo Museum to learn the science behind the sea ice and the small animals that inhabit ...
Visit Sounkyo, one of the largest canyons in Japan and see two of the most beautiful waterfalls in the canyon – Ginga No Taki and Ryusei No Taki, which freeze into enormous ice pillars in winter. In Asahikawa city, visit Otokoyama Sake Brewery to learn about the sake ...
Transfer by private taxi to Sapporo Bus Station for your onward journey. Tokyo Sapporo 14 Days
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Dates & Availability
Check Current Availability, prices, specials with Insider Journeys.
The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.
Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.
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Tour Operator
Since 1993 we have been creating experience and culturally focused journeys across 11 destinations in Asia. Hear from our travelers, staff in Asia and learn more about our flexible small group tours and tailor-made vacation programs.
We have spent 21 years on the ground in Asia developing the best ways to discover the unique beauty, incredible people and delicious cuisine of this amazing place
A combination of Western tour leaders and local English-speaking guides on our Small Group Journeys
Our Small Group Journeys have a maximum of 16 travelers with an average of 12
Unique and authentic insider experiences
100% Guaranteed departures
The best accommodation options
The flexibility to explore independently
The best itineraries to make the most of the destination
Share your experiences and make connections with new friends
On the ground support team
We travel responsibly
When you travel with us you’ll discover all the must-see attractions, while you weave your way through Asia as an insider. We’ll help you uncover genuine experiences and real insights into the places we travel that will leave you with stories worth telling for a lifetime.
Specialist Small Group Tours
Want to cook your way through Vietnam or follow the exotic Silk Road? Our Specialist Journeys offer a more intense focus on activities or places, giving you the opportunity to learn, explore and understand more. These journeys are perfect for travelers that are looking for a trip that goes beyond a vacation.
Cooking tours offer you the chance to discover, cook, and eat authentic regional cuisine, cycling tours let you hit the roads and really experience the sights and sounds around you, while other trips get off the beaten track for an in-depth exploration of some more remote areas, perfect for repeat visitors to a country, or those with a passion for a bit of adventure.
Private group travel
Our Asia experts have designed tailor-made vacations in Asia for all kinds of groups from Vietnam veterans groups, incentive groups, conference groups, photography groups, cooking groups, cycling groups, shopping groups – the list goes on!
Want to combine a Beijing shopping trip with a trek along the Great Wall? Or cycle among the rice paddies and canals of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta? Perhaps you’re thinking about a luxury escape to Thailand’s beaches with a foodie tour of Bangkok thrown in? Our Asia specialists in Australia will work with you to plan the perfect tailor-made vacation for your group, no matter how big or small. And once you’re there, rest assured our on-the-ground support staff will be on hand to take care of you and make sure everything goes to plan.
Luxury Tours To Asia
Expect the very best when you choose our Gold Accommodation option. You get the same great Insider Journeys experience each day, with enhanced luxury and style at night, staying in some of Asia’s most impressive hotels. Not only do these hotels offer the ultimate in comfort and splendour, they are often a highlight of the trip themselves, with local or cultural significance.
Imagine waking up in the former palace of a maharaja, or falling asleep amid the grandeur of one of Indochina’s restored colonial hotels. Such moments become a reality when you choose one of our Gold Accommodation journeys, so go ahead and spoil yourself.
Responsible Travel
Insider Journeys practices a thorough, realistic responsible travel policy. We believe that travel should entail an exchange of knowledge and perspectives, a sharing of wealth, and a genuine appreciation of Asia’s beautiful natural environments.
This philosophy underpins the heart and soul of our style of travel. It drives all that we strive to deliver to our travelers, and shapes the contact we have with our supplier colleagues in Asia. We recognize that poorly planned itineraries or poorly informed tourists contribute less to cross-cultural understanding and less to the livelihoods of local people. We also recognize that we largely work in a developing part of the world.
Political and social factors sometimes impede the short term implementation of our responsible travel initiatives, so we do not make blanket, unrealistic statements about the achievability of our goals - doing so would make us irresponsible. We aspire to short or medium-term implementation of our policies where this is realistic and to incremental change where there are constraints of a governmental or cultural nature.
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