What‘s Included

Reviews

• Lovely way to see these beautiful, historic towns!

  Brigitt J,

  Apr 7, 2025

  - Viator

  5.00

  We had a wonderful day visiting Shirakawa-go and Toyama with Goher. He picked us up promptly and was very kind to accommodate a stop for coffee. Goher told us about each place and shared things about himself along the way. He walked with us in Shirakawa-go and then waited in Toyama while we had lunch and explored the small streets. It was such a nice way to spend a day to explore these beautiful historic towns. Well worth the money to have the private experience so we could adjust where we wanted to spend more/less time. Goher was a very nice guide — open, kind and very polite. Highly recommend!

• Great time exploring World Heritage Sites

  James A,

  Oct 17, 2024

  - Viator

  5.00

  This excursion into the mountains of Japan to see world heritage sites is a once in a lifetime experience. The beauty of the mountains and incredible views are stunning. Shirakawa-go and Hida no Sato were on our list to visit before leaving Japan. Smile Tours were great! The itinerary is packed and you see the best places but also can be flexible! Our guide was Zahain, and he was very friendly, spoke English and above all was a safe driver and patient driver! The all day adventure was worth it!

• Oversold and under delivered - avoid!

  Jason L,

  Oct 5, 2024

  - Viator

  2.00

  I gave it 2 stars and my son said I was being generous! 1) First up, driver rang at 08:17 to tell us he was going to be at our hotel at 08:50 - 08:55 for our 09:00 departure. We waited at 08:55 and he did not arrive till about 09:10am. 2) After we got into the car, we sat there outside our hotel for about 5 to 6 minutes not moving, waiting for him to check and assuming he was setting up his navigation. We finally left our hotel at 09:16. We paid for driver's time and we have already lost over 15 minutes at this point. 3) At first stop at Shirakawa-go as per itinerary, we were told we had 2 hours. About 70 minutes into our walk, driver rang us up to tell us to go back to the car. I told him we had 120 minutes, so he got confused. We got back into the car in 2 hours as agreed. 4) Once we were in the car, the driver spent another 5 minutes setting up his navigation. Then once we started going, he made a stop to get food. You would think that when we had 2 hours walking, he had the time to go and buy food and eat, and set up his navigation so when we got back, he was ready to go. Nope, he wasted another 10 minutes of our time that we paid for. 5) Then onto Takayama, and we ended up at stop number 5 (Hida no Sato) as per the itinerary. Wait, what happened to stop number 2, 3, and 4? Well, driver was supposed to take us to stops 2 and 3, but he said those two places were in the same region as stop 1. Okay, so we were supposed to cover stops 1, 2, 3 at our first stop, but that was not made clear to us (English is not so proficient after all), and the total time for first 3 stops shown in itinerary was 3 hours, we were only given 2 hours so no way to cover all three places. Hence, the itinerary is overpromising what we could achieve in reality. 6) Now for stop 4 (Hida-Takayama Miyagawa Morning Market), we got there at around 01:30pm, everything was already packed away, there was no way we could get to the morning market leaving our hotel at 09:00am from Kanazawa with the published itinerary. Hence, over-promise and under-deliver. 7) At stop 5 (Hida no Sato), we were given 30 minutes instead of 60 minutes. 8) We then went for lunch in Takayama town and was told we would meet and get picked up at 04:00pm. Driver was late again and turned up at 04:10pm. Like I said, we paid for his time but we wasted time waiting for the very unorganised driver. 9) I asked to skip stop 6 (temple) as it was already late afternoon, but wanted to do the final stop (number 7 - Takayama Jinya), and the driver did not know this tourist attraction. So here we were, on an agreed itinerary which the driver was not familiar with!!! When we got there, we spent 30 minutes instead of 60 minutes. 10) We got back to our hotel around 07:20pm. So as you can see: a) We were given less time at each location than shown on the published intinerary. b) The Morning Market was never going to happen if leaving at 09:00am from Kanazawa. c) We skipped stops 2, 3, 4, 6 and got back well after 7pm, with our driver wasted more than 35 minutes of our time for being late, setting navigation, stopping for his food, just being unorganised. 11) Lastly, driver was driving in the tunnels and night time without headlights and rear lights in the dark. As our lane was ending due to roadwork, he was merging into a small gap between a car in front and a truck behind in the last few meters of the lane when he could have slowed down and go behind the truck with no other cars behind. He nearly missed an exit from highway and changed lane abruptly to make the exit. He also braked really late and hard into a sharp corner on a separate incident. Now you can understand why my son said rating it 2 stars in generous.

• The most expensive taxi

  Joseph G,

  Aug 21, 2024

  - Viator

  1.00

  I recently went on a tour to Shirakawago from Takayama, expecting an informative and enriching experience for the hefty price of over $500. Unfortunately, what we got was far from the description. Our "guide" turned out to be nothing more than an expensive cab driver who merely picked us up and dropped us off without providing any insights or information about the places we visited. The tour description promised a guide, not just a driver, which made the experience even more disappointing. If you’re considering this tour, I would highly recommend opting for a bus to Shirakawago instead. It’s significantly cheaper and offers the same basic service—transportation without any added guidance. Save your money and get a similar experience for a fraction of the cost!

• Day trip

  Adam S,

  Aug 15, 2024

  - Viator

  4.00

  Overall it was a nice trip. Ali was a good driver and provided some tips and information on each site. Biggest downside was that the tour promised a visit to the morning market but given how the itinerary is structured, the market was closed by the time we arrived at Takayama.