Reviews

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

Too large a group size (28) for the conditions. Tour guide found the group size unmanageable leading to many timing issues daily. Her use of the audio equipment was poor and her knowledge limited. The coach driver was always late compared to all other tour group drivers. The actual itinerary was very good but the timing issues left no time whatsoever to go exploring on ones own despite there being space in the itinerary to do just that. Improvements to be made - 1. lower the group size significantly. 2. vet the tour guides more thoroughly. 3. Use coach drivers that can turn up on time. 4. Make absolutely clear at the booking stage that anyone with any walking disability at all (such as those who need a walking stick) should not choose this tour. It was described as easy walking, which was true if the conditions on the long walking routes weren't so crowded with other tourists.

This ' holiday' was advertised as Level 1, which, as an 80yearold is why i chose it. The information did state that at times a 15 minute walk to dites may be necessary, which I accepted, but it didn'y say that there could be another walk to the next site. In total, we were walking quite long distances each day. It also wasn't stated that it was Wendy Wu's policy to walk fast. There was often little opportunity for photos.
After a long day out, I object to then having a long walk to a restaurant for our evening meals. i don't mind going to local restaurants instead of eating in the hotel but didn't think the long walk was necessary. In fact, one night we opted out of the walk & found a restaurant just near to the hotel & had an excellent meal at a very reasonable price.
I have done many tours & always found the guides very informative & keen to give information about our country. When asked questions, our guide informed us that it was her job to guide, not to give information but at the end of the holiday she did say that, compared with other companies that she worked for, the walking was about Level 3 & that wendy Wu put all their holidays at Level 1

Well organised

Very efficient service.

Very helpful, professional and personable

Having previously toured before with Wendy Wu I was confident and ready to book again. The response was excellent, very helpful with great care and attention to details. Thanks, looking forward to the holiday.

All my questions were answered to my satisfaction.

The trip covered many of the popular tourist sights in Japan, but also some different places and experiences that I don't think we would have found on our own. Our guide (Meyouke) was fantastic and kept our group in order - especially getting quickly on and off the bullet train. Our group were a mixture of people from UK, New Zealand and Australia and were a fantastic friendly group which made the trip even more enjoyable.

The chosen activities and guide were really good.. At first we struggled a bit with the food, but the later on hotels had more variety.
Our only negative was the connecting flights made the journeys long and arduous. Perhaps Wendy Wu could offer more alternatives and suggestions to make the customer more aware of how tiring the flights were.

Very helpful and knowledgeable