Tokyo
Here are the bullet points of this trip:
1. Met by Shinjuku station, the meeting place instructions were a bit confusing but it actually ended up being right outside of the train station exit on the same block as where you exit
2. Our group was small, 6 including the guide, I preferred it to the big tour bus with a lot of people. The van was medium sized with plenty of seats and space and there was a guide and driver.
3. If you are someone who needs a lot of history and guidance this trip is not for you. But I enjoyed the fact that they dropped you off and told you what time to come back. We went to Hakone then shopping and had a boat ride in the middle where you can see Mt. Fuji.
4. Could have used a little more instruction and guidance but I also liked being left alone as well. This is a good way to catch a ride and get around and the guide will buy your tickets so it was pretty worry free.
5. Overall, recommend, I would boo again. But I think it's helpful to know that this is not "hold-your-hand" kind of tour, at least not our experience. Could have used a little more communication and instructions and maybe some water in the van...but overall, it was a very pleasant experience and I would book with them again.
The day was cold but we made the most out of it, hopping off almost every stop. Every bus had blankets, which helped a lot!
The red line has many more stops so we spent most of our time on it. The skytree and ice skating below it was great and our 3 year old daughter enjoyed! The kimonos and "backstreet" shopping near the Ueno stop were great to see and experience. The timing of the audio playing was not always accurate, but acceptable.
The blue line has few stops, but still offers plenty, including the interesting stores around Tokyo Tower.
While the Tokyo hop on hop off bus does not have as many stops as other cities, my wife and I felt it was a great way to get a "taste" of many Tokyo attractions!
I've used hop on and hop off bus in many cities, so I chose Sky bus.
As it was so complicated to use public transportation in Tokyo, It was good way to travel major places without transfer.
But I could only sit upstairs without roof, it was so cold, especially during running highway to Ginza.
I think it would be better if the bus runs more hot spots like Shinjuku, Shibuya, Roppongi and so on.
It was our first time in Tokyo and I want it to be stress free so we decided to get a hop on hop off bus. The experience was wonderful. We had the top view of the Tokyo with the cold weather. It was awesome. Not to mention it was very easy to book thru VELTRA. We booked the day before only but they still had available seats. Awesome!
The food was great!
However, we only got to the first station, so the view of Mt. Fuji was not so good.
The tour guide, Miko, was very good, could speak good English, and was very entertaining and informative.
Absolutely brilliant tour, very welll organised, got a great taste of japanese culture aswel as a spectacular view of mt Fuji.
Our tour guide, Yoshi, was so freindly, knowledgable and enthuthiastic aswel as knowing all the best photo spots, he even showed us how to do some origami on the bus.
We got to see Mt Fuji at lots of different angles too and were super lucky with the weather!
The food was delicious too!
Thank you for sharing your experience and great review!
We are happy to hear that you have enjoyed the tour with the tour guide.
We hope your whole experience in Japan to be a unforgettable one!
The buses were very comfortable and blankets were provide on top of heating which made it both comfortable and enjoyable on the whole. The routes covered all the key parts of Tokyo which I wanted to visit. The commentary could be further improved. On the whole I enjoyed the trip!
It was one of the best tours we had. The view was magnificent & our tour guide Blair was awesome.We had so much fun. Mt. Fuji is so spectacular, its cone is almost perfect & the weather also was wonderful. We saw mt. Fuji very clearly.
Thank you for such a wonderful review with 5 stars!
We are very glad to hear that you enjoyed our tour with him.
I hope all the journey in Japan was awesome for you.
See you someday again.
Best regards,
Japan Panoramic Tours
We didn’t know that there was a pick up at keio Plaza, too bad we spent time walking and for the taxi, but everything was good tho :)
Everything mentioned was included, and our tour guide was great. Also did a little karaoke session on the tour bus on the way there it was really nice and a great way to involve everyone. It was a beautiful day, just remember to dress warm at this time of the year (January).
Fantastic trip, great guide and driver. Highly recommended
We were glad to learn our bus was a fully roofed bus in the red route. In January Tokyo can be cold and being open air is a hard pill to swallow.
The blue route was open roof, but they provided blankets so it wasn't as bad as expected.
The routes were just ok. The red one is good, but the explanation on the audioguide was limited. Too much music and too little insight information. However the blue line had no information at all and the route was a waste. It's short (53 minutes) and only two stops before going back home, missing all the important points of the city.
It's kind of expensive for what they give you, compared to other cities in the world.
We have enjoyed the tour very much. It was informative and fun. I would recommend it.
We decided to take a ride on the Sky Bus as a way of seeing the connectivity of the city, which sometimes can be difficult to establish when you travel underground the whole time. We were a group of four, 2 adults and 2 kids and enjoyed every last minute of our ride! The English guide was great and the hand warmers and blankets worked a treat to keep everyone toasty and warm.
Excellent tour. It's completely Muslim friendly. I highly recommended it.
The tour to the 4 locations was really nice:
Mt Fuji 5th station
Oshino Hakkaimt
Fuji sengen shrine
Shiraito Falls
All 4 places were so breathtaking.
However, the time spent at each location is way too short and our. The guide and driver rushed us throughout the stops and it was just not enough time for us to fully walk around.
And the tour was cut short due to the driver and guide wanted to leave by 3pm to avoid the jam. I think this caused them to rush us throughout.
I probably will not want to use Veltra in future.
Thank you for choosing VELTRA for your travel needs.
We regret to hear that you were not satisfied with the tour. Upon confirming with the tour provider, it seems that the staff has made you feel that the tour was rushed. We have communicated your dissatisfaction with them and they agreed to take this into consideration in future operations.
We thank you for your feedback and we intend to use this case to further improve our services. We hope you consider using our services again in your future trips.
Sincerely,
VELTRA.com
We had a great time on the Hop-on Hop-off bus around Tokyo. We were able to see the sights and stop at the areas of interest to us. When the temperatures dropped, the staff politely offered blankets to help us keep warm. We took the blue line and most of the red line in one day, and wished we had more time for a multi day pass. Everyone we interacted with was polite and helpful.
Speaker named Amy was really friendly and helpful.. She put effort in making me feel comfortable..
The tour was really amazing. Mt. Fuji is majestic, and Ninja village was great. I had a great time in the ninja show. Our guide Mr. Yoshi was made our trip more fun, really nice and respectful.
I wish you would extend the time in each event.
Thank you
Beauty of urban planning at its best, Tokyo's megalopolis is a well planned development for the world to emulate. Integrated transport system that is accessible to everybody creates an environment that encourages its people to walk creating a healthy populace.
I loved the tour. I really liked the experience! It was so great! Will come back for more!
Online booking was easy and easy to understand . Very easy to find the place to get the ticket. Skyhop has everything provided for. from the blankets with this cold winter days. Heat pads and the earphones. They have though of everything. It be nice with the translation they should add also Spanish, Italian and some other European languages.
My family and I had a fabulous time and really enjoyed the scenery. Couldn't ask for more.
Thank you for an enjoyable and wonderful trip.
Our tour guide, Tam, was great! Very informative, he did a really good job!
Mt Fuji was great, Hakone was even better!
Highly recommended day tour.
The online registration and check in process was very smooth. We took the tour on a cold December day and they have provided covered bus option for certain times, which was great. For the double decker they have also provided hand warmers and blankets which were much appreciated. The staff was very helpful and friendly. The only improvement I would recommend would be to provide more historic information on the tour. Try this tour if you have limited time in Tokyo!
They are well organized, japoneze style, experienced guide, the food is really good. Fujisan is a symbol of Japan and all the respect for it........but if you’re coming from Central or Eastern Europe will be disappointed, whatever give a chance to this trip is absolutely worthy.... I recommend the coach rather than Shinkansen.... drivers they are impeccable!
I did the same tour by myself last year and enjoyed it a lot! So this year I took my parents and they were overwhelmed with the city! So this tour just gives you a great overview and is quite informative too! Recommend (again) :)
The online registration and check in process was very smooth. We took the tour on a cold December day and they have provided covered bus option for certain times, which was great. For the double decker they have also provided hand warmers and blankets which were much appreciated. The staff was very helpful and friendly. The only improvement I would recommend would be to provide more historic information on the tour. Try this tour if you have limited time in Tokyo!
We had a highly enjoyable experience on the evening food tour Golden Gai Shinjuku. Our guide Norma was excellent. She chose some great food destinations and was very helpful in explaining Japanese food etiquette and culture. In between eating, Norma guided us around Shinjuku, which is a must see destination if you come to Tokyo. She was very knowledgeable and gave us a great download on the activities and history of the Shinjuku area. Towards, the end of the tour we went to the Golden Gai area, which is quite fascinating for tourists.
We dont write alot of reviews, but would highly recommend this tour, and in particular, we felt quite fortunate that our guide was Norma, as she was really very committed to ensuring that the group was enjoying both the tour and the food experience.
Well organised, punctual start, friendly, cheerful guide who had so much to tell us. A good driver - I felt safe all the time. Super lunch, and luckily we had fantastic weather, so we did everything the tour described.
Our family had a wonderful time on this tour. Our kids were 13 and 9 and they both had a lot of fun. Note that this tour has a lot of travel time (~50% of the tour's total time); fortunately, we knew that prior to booking based on our own research of the various sites being targeted. Mi Ka Mi-san was our guide; she was very nice and funny.
One suggested improvement: pickup could use a bit more clarity. We stayed at the Keio Plaza Hotel so technically, pick up should be rather straightforward. However, there were at least 5 different Mt. Fuji/Hakone tours - all departing within 15 minutes of each other. JTB Sunrise Tours is the only tour company with a resident office at our hotel so their lines were clearly marked. Our tour was with Japan Gray Line and we had to hustle a bit to find the right area to wait.