Review

Julia Donnelly

Golden Route

Itinerary

Every city and destination on the tour was of interest to me. There is nothing that I would recommend \"striking\" from the tour.

Lodging

Especially loved the accommodations in Hakome. The Onsen was wonderful, as well as the dinner and breakfast buffets.

Food

The guides did an excellent job in taking us to a variety of restaurants offering a wide variety of Japanese \"flavors.\" My only criticism is the breakfast buffets got old at the three hotels that were owned by the same company. The food offerings were identical at each hotel and every morning was the same selection. I would have preferred a wider selection of western food choices in the morning.

Guides

They were professional in every way. Both were on time each day and gave clear descriptions of where and what we would be doing. They both took pride in being our guides, they were extremely attentive to all questions, and constantly made sure all were keeping up with the pace or were not straggling behind. Since our family were the only ones in the group, the guides were very willing to customize some time in a day to accommodate our interests, etc. Overall, we saw everything on the tour, but were given time for a \"coffee break\" as opposed to the time carved out to \"shop\", which didn\'t interest us very much.

Pre-Tour Handbook

Thank you, Martin, for responding in a timely manner to questions. We especially appreciate the help you gave Laura in helping her \"score\" tickets to the baseball game. We loved the evening: such energy and excitement in the stadium, and we got to see a great game!

Tour Organization

The flow of each day went smoothly and efficiently. It was a good balance of walking and riding transit throughout each day.

Tour Transportation

Every \"leg\" was very efficient, with the exception of the bus taking us from Hakome to the bullet train station that took us to Osaka. The bus was in a traffic jam (undetermined as to what the problem was with the traffic) and we missed the train we had tickets for. Our guide said the slow traffic had never been an issue in the past. There was another train to Osaka and our guide exchanged our tickets and stayed with us until we were on the train. It really wasn\'t too much of a problem. Just very boring and frustrating while on the bus that crawled at a \"snail\'s pace.\"

Would you go on another tour operating by Samurai Tours: Yes!

Would you recommend Samurai Tours to friends or family: Yes!