Reviews

Connecting flights a nightmare(both going and returning), not enough time allowed as Tokyo security took 3 hours, connecting flight was 2 hours. Returning the flight took longer than expected consequently missed connection flight. Therefore lost approximately 2 days of holiday and had to spend all night in Airport.

Great guide, very knowledgeable

This was the worst escorted group chat I have ever experienced in my 26 years of travelling on escorted group holidays. The tour guide only spoke pidgin broken English! To ask a question guest had to use Google Translate and show her the screenshot.

The itinerary was continually changing, with no real reason despite the guide walking at break next speed around all attractions. We missed so much due to lack of time and coherent information. The hotels were okay the food very repetitive and not a good standard. This holiday needs an urgent review by Wendy Wu , would not recommend.

When contacting Wendy Wu during the holiday with concerns I was completely brushed off. They are obviously not interested in guest feedback.

Fantastic tour of a beautiful country. Japan is a beautiful clean country and the people are so friendly. Our guide was excellent.

From start to finish the service that we received from Wendy Wu was second to none. Excellent customer services before the trip, communication was very clear and when there was a change with our itinerary this was easily rectified by staff at Wendy Wu with very little fuss.

All of the hotels, trips and arrangements during the holiday were again excellent, good locations and our tour guide was very knowledgeable and worked tirelessly during the whole time (big shout out to Hiro!!).

Would 100% recommend anyone to book a trip with Wendy Wu and we would most certainly think again about travelling with Wendy Wu for another trip in the future!

Friendly, prompt replies, all queries answered quickly and efficiently.

Wendy Wu Discover Japan tour was interesting and it was good that all meals were found so we didn’t have to hunt for good restaurants. Food was very good and more than plentiful. Sometimes eating in the hotels where we stayed and sometimes our guide walked with us to nearby restaurants. The days were quite full on and the coach travel a bit difficult as seats were small and my (tall) husband struggled to get his knees into the seat space. It would have been better to travel a bit more by train. Our guide was knowledgeable about historical Japan and the many shrines and temples we visited. We did ask her for some more up to date information about how the Japanese live now as we felt this would have been more interesting and we got very little on this side of things. Our tour group was mixed with people from the UK, Australia and New Zealand which gave a great atmosphere and everyone got on really well. Hotels were mostly very good, modern style. One was down a side street so we had to trundle our cases uphill which was a challenge for some and we helped each other. We did some crafts like paper making and decorating chopsticks with gold leaf. Watched a tea ceremony, did some sake tasting and some origami. These were good activities making a change from touring round temples. The transfers were odd as on arrival in Tokyo we were taken by taxi to the hotel. On leaving Osaka we were taken by taxi to a bus stop then waited 90 minutes for a bus to the airport. We would have preferred to return to Tokyo for the last night then flown straight back rather than going from Osaka to Tokyo and then flying home - it made a very long day coming home.Overall we enjoyed the tour but found that admin from Wendy Wu was poor. We got different answers to questions we asked, sometimes no reply to emails with requests regarding transfers etc. We had to write many emails to get flight options to upgrade to premium economy. For this reason we would not book another tour with Wendy Wu as touring should come with reassurance to things we need to know before travelling without so much hard work on our side to gain information.

Booked online - super easy as all well explained

Although this tour covered most of the things we wanted to see in Japan, we found the pace too uncomfortable. We question some of the hotel choices and found most of the meals poor with no alternatives. We didn't get on very well with the Japanese cousine and the timing and locations of the restaurants chosen. We were unsatisfied with this expensive holiday.

Went to their 1st event in Wales.

Found it very interesting and we booked a holiday with a small discount for attending the event.

Had a very informative consultant so it was a very pleasant experience

So far so good , just hope the holiday lives up to the wonderful experience they were selling!

Very well organised, the guides were great. The accommodation in China was a far higher standard than expected, and the foot massage in Yangshuo was fantastic! Our only criticisms would be in Japan the split of time between shrines/temples and gardens could have been different to allow more time in the beautiful gardens and a little less in the temples which all became a bit samey towards the end. The other issue for us was the excessive amount of time devoted to shopping in both countries. We felt this could be severely cut back to allow more time to enjoy the natural wonders of each country. The one other bug bear was the cost of all the additional trips in China which were far more than we had been led to believe and meant having to get more cash out on two occasions. That said they were largely worth doing.

Just what I wanted it to be.

This is the shortest of the Wendy Wu offerings and I was pleased I took advantage of the Hiroshima extension.

Wendy Wu are very well established in the in the Australian & UK tourist markets. They provide a very organised itinerary, where everything is all in (except drinks). As one of only 2 singletons on the tour I was pleased about that, but in a very busy schedule, understandably there isn't a massive amount of free time. Their pretour reading is very detailed.

One thing it didn't appreciate was the 20 hour journey via a 3 hour stopover in Abu Dhabi from Manchester. I might have sought a direct flight from London.

As another traveller said to me beforehand, there is nothing to dislike about Japan. She was right. From waking up to see Mount Fugi, the Tea Ceremony, the Calligraphy lesson, the beautiful shrines to ,the amazingly poignant experience in Hiroshima.

It is hot and it is humid for a Brit, never below 31 degrees in Sept. Even the Aussies said they wouldn't be out in this heat.

I'd use these people again in the Far East certainly.

A terrific, curated tour from Wendy Wu. A very long time since travelling abroad and never outside Europe so was very much in the hands of the travel company who delivered in every aspect. A classic tour that took you to the sort of places and experiences you might expect with an obvious leaning towards history and culture set in a modern enthralling country. Accommodation was top notch and an open mind to the food choices is essential. I enjoy Japanese food so I had a head start. It's a busy place, so expect crowds in some of the places visited. This did not affect our enjoyment. Our tour guide was brilliant with an exceptional knowledge of a breadth of subjects and kept us on track. An occasional lengthy coach ride however just look out of the window and take in views.
Clean, safe and welcoming, confident I will visit again or use Wendy Wu for the next adventure.

Fantastic tour. The pace of tour is fine if you are fit but not ideal for unfit people or those with mobility problems. These groups struggled on our tour. China was an amazing country with friendly people, scenery was beautiful.
Japan was great too again beautiful country with lovely people

Temples, shrines, bamboo forest, mount Fuji, cities, dress in authentic clothes, tea ceremony, japanese food specialities and the Japanese people. You can read that in the brochure.
But add in the best guide from Japan, sharing interesting facts, personal reflections, insider knowledge and a vitality and sense of humour.
Having learned japanese for three years Shioji our guide allowed me to ask silly questions, and that gave me confidence to jump right in to my adventure of a lifetime.
Our seven hotels were in convenient locations, so when I ventured out on my own in Tokyo the metro was nearby, as were Seven Elevens, Lawsons or Family Marts.
While journeying from one place to another the comfort stops, food outlets, and souvenir shops seemed well chosen and time available to explore was ideal.
I suppose as a first timer in Japan every thing would be exciting, but the size of group meant we could join up to visit venues, or just sit and drink it all in, at our own pace and ability, and this is where I mention the earpiece and 'intercom' device, that allowed our guide to easily communicate in the largest of crowds. Great idea!