Plan your Trip to Japan

ou may already know exactly where you want to go in Japan. Or you may simply have some dates, a few ideas and a sense of the sort of holiday you'd like.
Either is a perfectly good place to start.
We don't expect you to work out the route before you contact us. That's an important part of what we do.
We start by understanding you: what interests you, how you like to travel, your preferred pace, the type of accommodation you enjoy and what you hope to get from your time in Japan. From there, we work with our specialist team in Japan to develop a journey around you.

Tell us when you're thinking of travelling, how long you have, who is travelling and your approximate budget.
If you already have particular places or experiences in mind, tell us about those too. But don't worry if your ideas are still quite broad.
We'd rather understand why you want to visit Japan than ask you to arrive with a list of destinations.

Two people can visit exactly the same places and have very different holidays.
That's why we want to understand more than where you want to go. We talk about the pace you enjoy, previous holidays you've particularly liked, your accommodation preferences, your interests and how much you want organised for you.
Some people want more private guiding and arranged experiences. Others want greater independence, with carefully chosen experiences at particular points in the journey. Most want a balance of the two.
Understanding that balance helps us create something that feels like your holiday, rather than our version of what everybody should do in Japan.

You don't need to work out how all the places fit together. Secret Japan and our specialist team in Japan do that with you.
We consider which destinations genuinely suit your interests, how long each deserves and how the journey works geographically. We also look at the practical details that can make a considerable difference once you're there.
Sometimes we'll suggest somewhere you hadn't considered. At other times, we may recommend leaving something out because including it would make the journey unnecessarily rushed.
The aim isn't to fit as much of Japan as possible into the time available. It's to create a route that feels natural, well paced and worth travelling.

Once the overall direction is right, the journey begins to take shape in detail.
Accommodation, transport, private guides and experiences are considered as parts of the same journey rather than as separate bookings.
We also think carefully about where your budget is best used. Sometimes a particular ryokan, guide or private transfer will make a real difference. Elsewhere, a less expensive hotel may be better located, the train may be the better way to travel or having an afternoon entirely to yourselves may be more valuable than adding another experience.
The objective isn't to spend as much as possible. It's to make good decisions about the money you have chosen to spend.

The planning doesn't simply stop when you leave the UK.
The specialist team in Japan involved in developing and arranging your journey is also there to support you while you're travelling.
That means the people supporting you already know your itinerary and understand the arrangements that have been made. If something needs attention, you aren't starting again with somebody encountering your holiday for the first time.
You still experience Japan independently, but with knowledgeable English-speaking support in Japan when you need it.

The cost of a journey depends on its length, the time of year, accommodation and the experiences and arrangements you choose to include.
As a general guide, for a two-week tailor-made journey we recommend a budget starting from around £4,000 per person, excluding international flights. Shorter journeys can cost less, while more involved journeys, particularly those with higher-end accommodation or more private arrangements, will cost more.
We'll discuss budget with you from the beginning, so we're developing a journey that is realistic for what you want to spend.

You don't need a finished itinerary. You don't even need to know exactly where in Japan you want to go.
Tell us a little about yourselves, when you'd like to travel and what has made you want to visit Japan.
We'll help you work out the rest.