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What Are Our Trips?

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Deeply immersive 5-16 days itineraries with a small group of like-minded people

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Suitable for solo travelers, couples, or a group of friends

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Local insider-led offering authentic experiences difficult to curate independently

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Premium accommodation of 4* or 5* hotels

Kayla

"Decent experience overall"

I did the Japan by Rail trip in September and our group had a great guide, Ricardo! He was knowledgeable, fun, and friendly. Overall I enjoyed exploring Japan and would 100% go back, but I doubt I’d do another Culture Trip itinerary as I had issues with the itinerary. I noticed that the itinerary listed on the Culture Trip website and shared with us before our departure didn’t quite match the actual activities we did and there wasn’t really any notice that we wouldn’t be doing some of the activities, except of when our guide shared our schedule for the day. For instance, when arriving in Tokyo there was supposed to be an optional Taito walking tour, but this didn’t exist and there wasn’t a walking tour when we got to Tokyo. It would’ve been nice if it’s flagged to us in advance what changes have been made to the itinerary and why. Additionally, some of the activities mentioned weren’t quite what they were marketed as. For instance, the sake tasting didn’t include learning about the different sakes, an overview of sake making or anything like that. Instead we were given sake cups and told to try the different sakes in the refrigerated area. That’s it. And it wasn’t a private tasting. It included a quite a few other guests so it ended up being more of a free for all and very crowded as people hung out around the fridge area drinking. This wasn’t what I had in mind when they said sake tasting. Another example of this is the “onsen experience with dinner” mentioned in the itinerary. This was really just that the hotel we were staying at had an onsen available and you could do it whenever you felt like it, if you wanted. Other feedback: 1. While the temples and shrines are stunning, after 3-4, you’re a bit templed and shrined out so I’d recommend limiting the itinerary to only a few of the top temples and shrines. 2. If you’re vegan, vegetarian, gluten free or generally speaking don’t eat pork or beef, the food options can be very limiting. Instead of finding new places that cater to the food restrictions people may have, they instead just see if the places they have a partnership with can accommodate your restrictions. While many places tried their best, it isn’t always the best dining experience. Out of most dinners and lunches, I’d say 2 of them were great with their accommodations and the staff was amazing. The other dining experiences left a lot to be desired. I’d encourage exploring other restaurants for this itinerary. 3. The hotels for this trip left a bit to be desired. I’d recommend upgrading the hotels to nicer places for the price charged. 4. I’d recommend allowing for more free time each day. We’re in such amazing places, it’s unfortunate that we had such little free time during the opening hours for many stores.

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Anonymous

"Review of Japan by Rail 09/2025"

I had a wonderful time. The guide was extremely friendly, helpful, and i enjoyed getting to know him. Our group was small, intimate, and we all got on very well. The only disappointment was in the Saki tasting experience. I would have preferred that we would have been provided information about the history of Sake, etc. Instead, we were given a small Sake cup and were shown a refrigerator/shelf with samples and it was "free for all". We all competed with each other and everyone else who was there. Not the experience that i had hoped for. I also was very pleasantly surprise with the Sumo activity which was very information, enjoyable, and the meal was fantastic.

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Peggy

"Northern Thailand and Laos with Culture Trip"

From what I hear, our tour was new, and they ran ours even though only three of us were signed up, which I'm grateful for. The tour itself has a few kinks to be worked out - namely, there are a lot of quick stops but there are a few places that warrant longer stays, so it was disappointing to feel like we missed out on getting to know those places. The timing of the transportation affected the length of the stays, and the trains we took were very specific so they didn't provide much flexibility in scheduling, which would keep us longer or make us leave more quickly than we would have liked, and the same challenges in terms of the timing of our arrivals. So even though train travel is novel and fun at times, I don't know that I would prioritize taking a train tour in the future, as traveling via van or bus is much more flexible. The Laos portion of the tour exceeded expectations, and the Thailand part of the tour did not meet expectations, namely because our main guide in Thailand wasn't good, and our main guide in Laos was wonderful. Most aspects of the itinerary Culture Trip gave us were honored, except we didn't have a single expert guide on the entire trip, and I thought I understood from the itinerary that we would have an expert handling the walking tours mentioned, but it was always just our tour manager. That was a big problem in Thailand since our tour manager was already not meeting expectations. Also, my expectation when it is noted that a meal is included with our day's activities, that the tour company would have put some thought into where to take us for the meal, but there wasn't a single meal in our Thailand itinerary where we felt our tour manager wasn't winging it. That was frustrating and upsetting, as one of the reasons I book a tour is to have the guess work taken out of my traveling, and have someone who knows where to go handling taking us to restaurants where we would have a good experience. I would recommend booking with Culture Trip, as leading up to the trip they exceeded expectations in terms of communication and helping with all the steps in getting ready with the trip. But I would hope that Culture Trip reads this feedback and follows up on this tour to improve it for future groups.

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Karen

""

Our tour was great, my first so memorable. Our guide in Thailand was not fabulous but throughout Laos, special mention to Tommy and Sammy were amazing.

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Anonymous

"Scotland"

Had a great time, excellent tour guide. Great company

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