Inside Travel Group Traveller Reviews

Our first trip to Japan, InsideAsia Tours' "Golden Route" package taking us to Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, and a day in Hiroshima. The "expected" sights and "must-sees" were indeed impressive. What surprised us most, however, was the incredible graciousness, kindness, and welcome shown to us by the Japanese people. Never did we expect to feel so at home in such a different culture. We have traveled to many places over the years, including some off-the-wall destinations, and Japan now ranks at the very top of our experiences. We will be returning to Japan.

My wife and I enjoy independent travel. We were not going to compromise on this for our first trip to Japan, but obviously, visiting such a "foreign" culture meant we needed as much help and preparation as possible. Finding Inside Japan Tours was a remarkable stroke of luck. Our accommodations, rail passes and suggested itinerary were impeccably arranged, providing a stress-free travel experience while leaving us plenty of time to explore and discover on our own. Perhaps what distinguished Inside Asia and Inside Japan is that all of the consultants have lived and/or worked in Japan, and their advice and suggestions, and the time they spent communicating this (thank you, Alice-san) was invaluable. Everything went like clockwork. Of particular note are the extensive and proprietary "guidebooks" provided on our every destination--compiled from the individual experiences of those who work for Inside Japan, not simply boilerplate information plucked from one of the mass-produced guidebooks. It is not an exaggeration to say that Inside Asia/Inside Japan is the most thorough and professional tour operator we have ever worked with. And we've worked with many.

Our AITO consultant put together a fabulous itinerary taking in many Japanese cities and wonderful sights and experiences. I will never forget my first sight of the Tokyo skyline at night - it should be on everyone's bucket list! We had the full Ryokan experience in Hakone complete with our own maid and outside hot spring Onsen. We saw the wonders of KYOTO and Nara and the full on foodie experience in Osaka. We had Hiroshima oysters, wonderful sushi in Kanazawa and Wagyu beef in Takyama. We were amazed at the cleanliness of the country, the friendliness and politeness of the people and the wonders of a public transport system that runs on time. We saw beautiful gardens and amazing temples, shrines and castles. AITO made it all very easy for us, we couldn't have organised it half as well by ourselves. It was the trip of a lifetime.

Inside Japan Tours lived up to their name of being Japan experts and crafted a an excellent trip with some wonderful experiences including an evening river cruise in Tokyo, tea ceremony in Kyoto and a japanese cookery course. Everthing was extremely well organised and we were given comprehensive guides and instructions. Accomodation was of a high standard and everything went very smoothly. I would definitely recommend them to anyone planning a trip to Japan or any of the other destinations they specialise in. We had a fantastic trip.

We visited Japan to see everything that was possible to see in the time that we spent there. The different culture / cusing, scenery, water (so much water!) and gardens were just spectacular, could not have asked or imagined anything more sublime!

Everything was exceptionally well organized - responses to questions were always very fast and everything we needed to change or customized was done with utmost care. The whole tour was excellent - I really enjoyed someone else organizing things for us and for everything running smoothly so that we could enjoy our honeymoon without stress

Went to Japan with 'Inside Japan' tours. Found them from a google search. I chose them from about 3 or 4 different tour companies, due to the varied excursions and visiting different parts of Japan. Excellent service before and during the holiday which made it easy to enjoy the holiday and not get bogged down with details, let the tour leader do all the hard work for you.

Inside Japan tours staff were very helpful, before when asked about flights etc and during the holiday. I do think the tour leader made my holiday more fun and interesting.

Inside Japan Tours gave us a real feel for Japan and its people. The tour was well organised with lots of support before we left which allowed us to personalise "Japan Unmasked" tour to suit our needs. We enjoyed the company of fellow travellers, although next time I would choose a self guided tour.

We booked our tour on line. Inside Japan Tours dedicated a tour advisor to us who was based in Japan. He contacted us by phone and email to find out what we would like to experience in Japan and made recommendations that thought we may like. The information package we received was very informative and helped with instructions, directions and timetables etc. Which was very handy after arriving in Japan. Knowing there was a local office was also reassuring.

This covered a true insight into a small aprt of Japan. the tour Leader was great, humerous and dedicated to ensuring we all had a great time

Experts on Japan

Me and my partner had wanted to go to Japan for a long time. I was a bit worried as I had never planned anything this big before, however the booking was very simple and easy. The staff that helped us was very friendly and everything went extremely smoothly on the trip. if only every trip was this easy and stress free.

Our Tour Operator was an asset to the team. He made sure we were happy and confident in everything we was booking and it made the whole experience so much better for us. Would definitely reccommend Lawrence again to anyone.

Japan was incredible - their culture and history is astounding. There was so much to see and do, and we were not as limited by language as we were led to believe by others who have holidayed there. To say the people were polite would be a gross understatement. Nothing was too much for them to help with and strangers would stop in the street to give directions, or offer up seats to us on cable cars etc so we had the best view. Everywhere was so clean and all our transport on time - it made it an absolute pleasure to travel around safely. We stayed in range of hotels; a Buddhist temple where we experienced vegan cooking and ritual ceremonies, a traditional ryokan in Hakone and Tsumago where we explored the countryside and enjoyed the baths; and modern western hotels to break up the journey with some home comforts and facilities (e.g. luggage forwarding).

Inside Japan were great from the start - taking the time to contact me directly to discuss what we wanted to see in Japan, what interested us, any additional trips we wanted to try and include. We were kept updating with any changes to our booking and supported constantly should we have queries. Our information pack was brilliant and included everything we might need; general information & tips, maps, recommendations, contact info etc. The travel arrangements and quality of accommodation was second to none and as it was our honeymoon, we appreciated the extra attention that was paid to us/complimentary gifts & upgrades. The aftercare has not let them down either, with contact from our consultant whilst we were away to check everything was going well and on our return to ask about our time away. Definitely recommend and use again!

Flew LAX to Osaka. 6-7 days Osaka and environs, 3 day trips to Nagasaki and Tanabe Okinawa and 5 days on the Kumano Kodo trail with a couple of travel days mixed in.

Provided excellent information for daily use, set up all hotels, obtained rail pass and set up a guide and driver to visit WW2 battle sites in Okinawa.

The Classic Japan small group tour took us from the madness of the big cities, Tokyo and Osaka, through to the calm and peace of KamiKoshi, with plenty of interest in between. On the whole we used public transport to get around, and with the help of our wonderful tour leader, David, this proved to be a smooth and easy process, with a lot of excitement thrown in. David was always professional and informative, whilst managing to inject fun into every experience too. From the most excellent pre-tour information pack, down to the day to day detail (what time is breakfast again...) our holiday was enhanced by InsideAsia tours and their team.

We looked at a lot of operators on-line before settling on InsideJapan to handle our holiday arrangements. We used their website to book, which was easy and intuitive. Any questions we had were always answered promptly either by email or telephone call. We had no issues at all with the service provided and would be happy to use them again.