Reviews

Very well organised but found to be very tiring in part necessary to see as much as possible. The hotels were adequate although bedrooms on the small side at times.

Could not get through to start with and requested a call back
This came a couple of hours later.
Andrew was very helpful and answered our queries very quickly.
We were then time to think through options
Andrew even stayed beyond his finishing time to call us back
The deal offered was very competitive and so we booked the trip.
Good clear advice without any of pressure to book
Very impressed!

The tour and food were lovely but our tour guide was not very well organised and we felt the tour was let down by her.

Sandra and the team were exceptionally helpful.

Good knowledge and experience regarding the areas we were interested in visiting.

Fantastic hotels, food, guide and trips. Only disappointment was Mt. Fuji hiding behind heavy cloud and unable to go to 5th station, but obviously beyond Wendy was control.

Japan is a wonderful country and the tour did cover some amazing sights and places. However the itinery was not well constructed. The was insufficient time built in to properly appreciate the locations. For example we had less than one hour at Osaka castle, which has seven levels, a museum and grounds so we ended up running round it. The food was repetitive and not always of the best quality. In fact one lunch was in a department store and one evening meal was in a restaurant that had a leaking roof and a bucket to catch the rain. Our guide was a lovely person, but her english was not of sufficient standard to meet the needs of the group. The transfers to and from the airports were chaotic. We feel that for the price paid we should have received a better service.

We have travelled with Wendy Wu before to china which was a much better overall experience and was a major factor in us deciding to travel with them again. However won't be repeating this.

There were 26 people on our tour and when we arrived somewhere for a visit the first half of the party had moved off while some were still getting off the coach so we missed a lot of information, on the. places we visited . We didn’t have enough time to spend at the venues it was all very rushed , and the itinerary was changed several times , some for the weather, and some didn’t make sense , we were told we were going one place for lunch and then we were back on the bus to where we’d just come from for lunch ,which was a change from the itinerary. We had very little free time to explore even the local areas We loved Japan what we saw of it but spent hours on a coach. Because of the number of people on the tour by the time the last people were off the bus the first part of the tour had moved off because we were on a schedule it was very rushed, and not very well planed out .

Had a great time and saw lots of amazing sights; this was my first tour group and will definitely weigh pro's & con's before booking another. On this occasion was part of a good group which made the holiday but in future would book a tour with a more flexible itinerary - especially for meals as felt we missed out on local experience as too many hotel meals. Size of group made it hard for tour guide and didn't feel operation was as slick as expected or enhancing to overall experience.

Great if like us, you haven't been to Japan before and would find the country difficult to navigate. It seems expensive on the face of it, but actually with all the flights and meals included it's reasonable in comparison to others. Our guide was the tops and with a group of 27 - mostly antipodean and UK participants, she managed us well. You get to see a lot but don't expect a lot of time off. I recommend you stay longer than the tour dates if you want that. This was our first organised tour, which takes a bit of getting used to. You are giving up some freedom for certainty and a lot less to worry about. Highly recommended.

A tour group of 28 people with ages ranging from 27 to 88 years old was made even more unwieldy by the poor fitness levels of some clients , despite the best efforts of an excellent guide. Hotels and food were very good but I was disappointed to learn that several hotels were not Japanese owned. Whilst the sites visited ticked the key tourist boxes, the punishing schedule too often left insufficient time to appreciate those sites and some less fit members of the group frequently had to sit out to await the return of the others .
In no way is this a criticism of our dynamic, well informed and endlessly patient guide or indeed of our equally forebearing and delightful companions.
This was a significantly overpriced tour sold by a company with an impressive website to hook the gullible …like me.

We participated in Wendy Wu Didcover Japan 28 March - 9 April. overall this tour was disappointing and not nearly as enjoyable as tours to China and spain with other tour providers. teh 2 key disappointments were teh food - after 3 days of Japnes tyle banquets we requested some variety to the dinner menus - we did get one Chinese night which was excellent. We dined outside the tour on 2 evenings .
While our tour operator tried her best, her English was poor and she lacked flexibility. She did teh minimum required and did not see it as her job to address issues or to ensure we were happy.
Some of the activities were excellent - paper making and origami and gold leaf work, the castle at Osaka and teh boat ride as well as the 1000 Shintu gates, but overall there were too many temples. We were disappointed that the cable car was off due to weather but we did get to level 4 at Mt fuji which ws great.
hotels were a mixed bag with some really nice rooms and some very average ones.
i did reach out locally to the Wendy Wu representative in Japan and was told to talk to our tour guide.
we woudl not book with Wendy Wu again

The tour was excellent from the beginning when it was first organised to the food and trips with our brilliant guide. We saw temples and shrines and learnt the history relating to them. We saw beautiful gardens and visited local restaurants as well as exemplary hotels.
It made me think again about the people and culture of Japan.

Fantastic experience visiting Japan with an excellent group touring together with another really well organised Wendy Wu holiday.

This tour provides the opportunity to see Japanese cities and some of the countryside on Honshu. The group size is 28 and if visiting at peak holiday time this is too large, e.g. in Tokyo because of the crowds and queues we were unable to enter the shrine and our visit to the sky tree was very restricted. It was also difficult to keep up with the guide. However it would be fair to say that it was often difficult to keep up with this particular guide. I was disappointed by the poor standard of her information about the country and quite often her instructions were confusing. I found the Japanese meals repetitive and unappetising. I had a specific dietary requirement and was unhappy that this meant being allocated a seat with others who also had a specific need. It felt like we were sat at the ‘naughty’ table. Requests to sit with our companions were flatly refused.
I enjoyed the old Japanese architecture, the countryside, the Japanese gardens and loved the cherry blossom. The activities were interesting and provided momentos. The hotels were of a very good standard and the staff very courteous.
Japan is a very clean and safe country with very efficient infrastructure. I suggest that it may be worthwhile for future travellers to explore a self-guided tour especially of the cities but it may be more difficult visiting the countryside villages which should not be missed.

Thoroughly professional and welcoming