Historical Japan Panorama

Evening gathering at Athens & Thessaloniki airports and flight via Istanbul to Tokyo, the capital of Japan and one of the most populous cities in the world. Overnight stay in flight.

Arrival at Haneda Airport. After the formalities, luggage collection and meeting with your local guide. During the transfer to the hotel, you will receive the initial information about the country and daily activities.

After breakfast, you will start your Tokyo sightseeing tour, where we will see all the main attractions of the metropolis, such as Tokyo Tower, the Imperial Palace, Asakusa Sensoji Temple, as well as Nakamise, which is the most famous shopping street in the Asakusa area. . The street stretches for 250 meters along the main gate to Sensoji Temple and is lined on both sides with shops selling traditional souvenirs, snacks and sweets. Free time for lunch and the lovely Ginza area, where the tour will end.Free time to explore the bustling markets, modern and traditional neighborhoods of central Tokyo. Be sure to visit the famous Shibuya, the shopping mall that never sleeps.

Breakfast and free day to continue exploring Tokyo. You can choose to visit one of its many museums, theme parks or shopping districts with countless options to try Japanese cuisine. Alternatively, we recommend the full-day excursion to the magnificent Nikko, where you will cross the arched red Shin-kyo (Sacred Bridge) over the Daigia River and visit the Tosho-gu shrine with its most luxurious and ornate buildings. You will be impressed by the Pagoda, the Holy Stable, the Holy Storehouses, the Drum Tower, Hoden inner sanctum.Lake Chuzen-ji with its stunning mountain backdrop and the impressive 96m Kegon Falls is worth seeing. Also an excellent excursion is the visit to Kamakura, one of the most interesting and well-preserved medieval cities in Japan. The most important attraction is the Great Buddha Temple, the bronze statue which is 13 meters high and weighs 100 tons. It is one of the two largest bronze Buddha statues in Japan – the other is in Nara. Then visit the Kannon Temple and walk along the picturesque Komachi-dori alley with its old shops.

After breakfast, transfer to rooms and transfer to Shinagawa Station to board a bullet train to Kyoto (Duration 150 minutes). Arrival at noon followed by a tour of the historic city with a visit to Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine, a shrine dedicated to the god of rice and sake from the Hata clan. Transfer and check-in at the hotel.

After breakfast, meet your guide and transfer to Kyoto Central Station to board the Kintetsu Express train. Arrival in the holy city of Nara, the country's first capital. This is where Ikebana, the art of flowers and the melodrama "No" were born. "Only after seeing Nara is one allowed to die," the Japanese say about the city that hosts the largest bronze Buddha statue in the world, 16 meters high and weighing 550 tons. A symbol of peace are the thousand domesticated deer that roam freely in the City Park, around the Todai-ji temple that you will visit next.The large complex is dominated by the pavilion housing the Buddha statue (Daibutsuden), which required hundreds of tons of molten bronze, mercury and vegetable wax to cast. Over 3000 stone lanterns in the forest lead to the famous Kasuga shrine, which you will visit next. Return by train to Kyoto again, where you will have the opportunity to walk through the oldest part of the city with the famous "otchaya" (teahouses), through which you will get a taste of Japanese customs and culture in general people.

After having your breakfast you will have the whole day free, where we recommend an afternoon walking tour, seeing the main sights of Kyoto, such as Kiyomizu and Kodaiji Temples, Yasaka Shrine, the Gion Geisha District, the Forest of bamboo etc.Alternatively and optionally you could take a full-day sightseeing tour of Osaka. Osaka has many different names, such as the city of food, the city of merchants, the city of comedy, the city where the Sengoku period ended. Osaka is diverse, tolerant, with fun and adventurous people.This is why so many foreigners are fascinated by her. During the tour you will see Osaka Castle museum, Dotonbori, Kuromon Market, Tsutenkaku Tower, as well as Shitennoji Temple.

After our breakfast, check-in and transfer to Kyoto train station. Board the high-speed train to reach the Mt.Fuji area. With an altitude of 3,776 meters, Mount Fuji is the highest in Japan. Its almost perfect cone sails above the hills and low clouds. Until a hundred years ago, Mount Fuji was considered so sacred that only priests and pilgrims could climb it, and it was forbidden for women until 1872. The indigenous Ainu people were the first to name this mountain Fuji, giving it the name of the fire goddess Fuji and the later Japanese preserved both the name and the sacred character of the mountain.The Shinto built cult temples here dedicated to the mountain goddess Shengen.After the optional lunch you will visit Sakuanosato Park and take the cable car to go up Mount Omuro. Transfer and check-in at the hotel. Dinner and overnight stay. Experience the ONSEN baths offered by your hotel.

After breakfast you continue with your guide the exploration of the Mt.Fuji area. Transfer by road to Hakone, followed by a cruise on Lake Asinoko, the largest of all the local volcanic lakes. Mount Fuji is reflected in its waters, framed by a pattern of slender pine trees. Next is the Hakone Ropeway (cable car) which is famous for the wonderful scenery it offers to the passengers of the floating 'gondolas'. In good weather, it's one of the best spots to admire Mount Fuji, while the sulphurous vapors rising from Owakudani's "great hell" create an unforgettable atmosphere.A little further down, at the cable car station, between Togendai and Sounzan is the Owakudani Hot Springs Valley. Owakudani is the area around the crater created during the last eruption of Kami, the highest mountain in Hakone. Here there are boiling springs, hot streams and erupting vapors, and a sulphurous smell is everywhere. In order not to waste the heat energy of the boiling sulfur, the locals have learned to boil chicken eggs in it. According to an ancient legend, an egg eaten at Owakudani gives one at least seven years of life. Free time to eat.In the afternoon we will visit the 5th Fuji Station, which is located on the Yamanashi prefecture side and is the gateway to the top of Mt.Fuji. It offers a pleasant experience not only for climbers but also for tourists as a popular attraction. Transfer to Tokyo. Late afternoon arrival at the hotel and settling into the rooms.

After breakfast, transfer to the airport and flight via an intermediate station to Athens or Thessaloniki.