Japan Heritage

This heritage-focused Japan holiday is designed for those who would like to experience the country’s history, culture and traditional landscapes in real depth.

Begin in Tokyo, where modern Japan sits alongside historic shrines, gardens and old neighbourhoods. Continue to Nikko to see its richly decorated UNESCO World Heritage temples and shrines before travelling into the Japanese Alps.

In Kanazawa, discover one of Japan’s finest gardens, traditional districts and samurai heritage, before continuing to the thatched village of Shirakawa-go, one of the country’s most atmospheric rural settings.

Travel south to Hiroshima, with time to reflect at the Peace Memorial Park and Museum, before continuing to Himeji, home to Japan’s finest surviving feudal castle.

The journey then takes you to Mount Koya, one of Japan’s most important spiritual centres, where you will stay in temple lodging and experience a quieter, more reflective side of the country.

Finish in Kyoto, where three nights allow time to explore the temples, gardens, historic streets and cultural traditions of Japan’s former imperial capital.

This is a well-balanced journey for travellers interested in Japan’s heritage, combining guided sightseeing with time to explore at your own pace.

Is this a Private Tour or a Group Tour?

All of our Japan tours are private tailor made itineraries, customised for you - we can amend things to entirely suit you.

This particular Japan trip is partly guided, with guided excursions included in Tokyo, Kanazawa and Kyoto and includes flights, accommodation, train and transfers.

What are the departure dates?

Let us know your preferred dates of travel and we will find the best and most suitable flights to fit your itinerary.

As this is a private trip, there are no set departure dates.

We can advise you on the best times of your to travel, and some times to avoid.

Which Airlines do you use?

We work with all the major airlines flying to Japan.

Typically for Japan, British Airways, Japan Airlines and Finnair are the airlines we use the most but we work with all airlines flying to Japan and the Far East.

Finnair often have excellent fares and flying times are very quick via Helsinki.

However, just let us know your preferred airline if you have one. We can organise flights from any regional destination in the UK.

There are direct flights from the UK to Tokyo and Osaka.

Which Hotels do you use?

We're careful with our choice of hotels, but we're guided by our customers also. If you have some preferred hotels, just let us know.

We specialise in boutique hotels and so we will often suggest some of our favourite smaller hotels where we think these will be suitable.

The main cities in Japan are fairly short on boutique hotels in general however and most hotels are functional, business style hotels, but always impeccably clean and usually conveniently located.

Bear in mind that rooms can often be small in Japan, particularly in Tokyo which has some of the smallest hotel room-sizes in the world. If room-size is important, let us know.

It's important to choose hotels carefully in Japan. Tokyo in particular is huge and getting the right location for what you want to do is important or you may find yourselves miles from anywhere.

Especially for those doing rail travel in Japan, being within easy access of the station is very useful and will save a lot of time.

View Itinerary in Detail

To view a sample holiday, click on one of the links below. This will open the itinerary up in a new window.

All of our Japan Holidays are completely tailor made and we can put together any kind of itinerary to suit your interests and budget.

We have many other options so if you have a particular hotel in mind just let us know and we'll put together a price and itinerary for you.