Review

I looked at itineraries from about eight tour companies and selected Samurai because it offered the best one.

Shinagawa Prince was quite the experience. I had never before stayed in a hotel with 3000+ rooms. On the plus side, it was convenient to the Shinagawa train station and rooms were nice. Hike to the Hakone Yumoto Onsen was a little much while toting carry-on luggage uphill. Coming back down was better. Hotel itself was in the top 3 on this trip. Asunaro Ryokan in Takayama was a great hotel. Ryoso Kawaguchi on Miyajimaguchi Island was the best accommodation on the trip and the food there would get a Michelin star in my estimation. Onyado Nono Namba in Osaka and Onyado Nono Kyoto Shichijo were good enough, but nothing to write home about. They together with the Shinagawa Prince are why I only rated lodging a 4 instead of 5.

Food was one of the highlights on the trip.

All of the guides were topnotch. I\'d like to give special recognition to our guide for Hiroshima (unfortunately his name escapes me). I enjoyed talking with the guide in Takayama and getting an ex-pat\'s take on Japan. All of the guides were wonderful and went beyond basic guiding to make sure people in our group were well taken care of.

Handbook was quite educational and prepared us well for the trip. Pre-trip organization was also excellent.

Organization was also 5 out of 5. Guides were always there to meet us, spoke good English and were knowledgeable.

I\'d recommend taxis or a minibus up to the Hakone Yumoto Onsen, if they are available (Our guide, Charlie Inoue, indicated there were no taxis in Hakone after Covid.) The use of bullet trains was one of the reasons I selected this tour. I appreciated that everyone on the tour was seated together on the trains.