Private & exclusive luxury tours of Japan
Japan cannot be seen, Japan must be discovered.
The 2027 tours
Why LUXURY JAPAN TRAVEL?
Exclusively Japan
For almost two decades, Luxury Japan Travel has created and operated journeys through Japan with one purpose: to make your time here exceptional.
Luxury Japan Travel plans, organises and runs every tour of Japan. Our experience and relationships allow us to know what deserves your time, secure what matters, and shape each day around the way you want to experience Japan.
The most sought-after doors in Japan, and its most exclusive places, open only from within. Your Tour Director opens them: one of our own, fluent in English and Japanese. They enhance every day, turning a beautiful journey into a deep and authentic experience of Japan.
“Without the doubt the greatest travel experience of my life.”
Alexander H.
“I honestly could not think of a better way to experience Japan.”
Daniel T.
“We sat under cherry blossoms, with amazing food and perfect weather.”
J. Carlson
What Luxury Japan Travel specialises in
The people, traditions and experiences that take you beyond the obvious and closer to the Japan you came to discover.
Hotels and ryokan
The ryokan worth making the journey for
You stay in the finest luxury hotels and ryokan in Japan, each one chosen personally by us for its luxury, its comfort and its setting.
Dining
The table worth planning an evening around
The master at an Edomae counter sets each piece before you by hand, and in Kyoto kaiseki at two Michelin stars follows the season course by course.
Wellness
The Japanese art of relaxation
Japan has gone to its hot springs to be still for more than a thousand years. You sink into water risen from the mountain, and the day falls away.
Private transportation
From the moment you land, you are in our care
A private chauffeur meets you at the airport, the long distances are travelled in first class, and on certain days your luggage goes ahead to your next hotel.
Geisha
A private teahouse, and the geiko of Gion
In Gion a door slides open onto tatami, shoji and paper lanterns, and the room is yours for the evening as the geiko and maiko dance for you.
Exclusive activities
If you can dream it, we can create it
A helicopter over the mountains to Hakone, an evening in Gion with geiko, or sushi placed before you by a master at a counter of ten seats.
A message from our Chief Tour Director
Ichigo ichie is the essence of Japan: one meeting, never again. From it comes the beauty, the precision and the purest hospitality, because a moment that will not return must be designed once, perfectly, for you, for that evening, and for no one else ever. All our tours, and everything that we design, is only for you: one meeting, never again, ichigo ichie.
Luxury Japan tours for 2027
Spring
Six Japan luxury tours follow the seasons, from the cherry blossom of spring to the maples of late autumn, each limited to 8 guests and run by Luxury Japan Travel.
The Classic Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan
Each spring the cherry blossom crosses Japan in a slow tide of pale pink, and for twelve days this journey travels with it. Clouds of blossom arch over the moat of the Imperial Palace, at Mount Fuji you soak in your own onsen with the majestic mountain before you, and an evening is spent in a private teahouse with the geiko of Gion.
12 days, 30 March to 10 April 2027
The Cherry Blossom Tour of Hokkaido
In Hokkaido the wild cherries of the north flower in a deeper pink than the pale blossom of the south. For thirteen days this journey crosses the island: ten thousand cherry trees crowd around the white keep of a feudal castle at Matsumae, and the road into Noboribetsu Onsen runs for eight kilometres beneath a single canopy of blossom.
13 days, 28 April to 10 May 2027
Summer
You stay in the finest luxury hotels and ryokan in Japan, each one chosen personally by us for its luxury, its comfort and its setting.
The Summer Tour of Hokkaido
Japan’s northern island in summer is a country of wide skies, cold clear lakes and fields of flowers. For twelve days the lavender hills of Furano roll out beneath the Tokachi mountains, your suite on Lake Shikotsu has its own open-air onsen at the water’s edge, and fireworks open over the caldera of Lake Toya.
12 days, 25 June to 6 July 2027, or 11 to 22 July 2027
The Wild North Tour of Hokkaido
This is the wild north very few travellers of any kind reach: an alpine roof where the ground breathes steam, and a World Heritage coast of basalt cliffs falling straight into the sea. For eleven days you travel it in the cool of the Hokkaido summer, and watch the Shiretoko peninsula in silence from the calm of a boat.
11 days, 27 July to 6 August 2027
Autumn
A private chauffeur meets you at the airport, the long distances are travelled in first class, and your Tour Director takes care of every arrangement, in English and in Japanese.
The Autumn Leaves Tour of Northern Japan
In the far north of Japan, autumn comes to a wilder country. For twelve days this journey travels it, from the mountains above Sapporo to the valleys of Yamagata: the Oirase Stream running white over mossed boulders beneath the beech and maple of its gorge, and the gas lamps of Ginzan coming on along the river.
12 days, 26 October to 6 November 2027, or 2 to 13 November 2027, 2 places remaining in November
The Autumn Leaves Tour of Japan
When the colour comes to Kyoto, the two thousand maples of Tōfuku-ji turn to a red so deep the light seems to come from inside the leaves. This journey moves down the length of Japan with the season, from the ginkgo gold along the Tokyo palace moat to the snow-country crab of the Japan Sea.
12 days, 23 November to 4 December 2027, 2026 sold out
Winter
Skiing in Japan
Japan’s snow is so dry it falls through the birches like smoke. Private ski journeys in Niseko, Hakuba and Myoko, created for you alone, with an onsen after skiing.
Private journeys
Take a private tour of Japan with Luxury Japan Travel, on the dates you choose, with a Tour Director of your own. Choose a journey already made, have one created for your party alone, or travel on your own with an itinerary we write for you.
Four private journeys
The Private Collection
Four private journeys already made, from nine days in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka to Pure Hokkaido, each yours alone on the dates you choose, with every day planned in full before you arrive.
Planned around you
The Custom Tour of Japan
Created for your party alone, from five nights: the best room each property has, a private car and driver, a table with three stars or the whole counter, and a Tour Director of your own.
Travelled on your own
The Expert Japan Itinerary
Japan is easy to visit and hard to plan well. We decide every day of your journey and write it down, with how to reserve each part, and you book it and travel it on your own.
For two
Couples Journeys
Two of you, and no one else: the car that meets your flight, the tea ceremony in Kyoto and the ryokan table at the end of the day are for the two of you alone.
Travelling solo
Solo Journeys
Travel through Japan solo, with your own personal Tour Director. You are never on your own with the language, the timetable or the menu, and the room is yours at every stop.
How a journey with Luxury Japan Travel begins
Let us show you how.
The Japanese call it omotenashi, the care of a guest before the guest has thought to ask, and it is how you travel with us. Every room, every table and every door is ready before you arrive, and you never stand at a front desk.
Questions about luxury Japan tours and holidays
What is Luxury Japan Travel?
Luxury Japan Travel plans, organises and runs every tour of Japan. We are Japan travel specialists based in Kyoto, and Japan is the only country we travel. For 2027 we offer six luxury Japan tours on fixed dates, and private journeys on the dates you choose, from The Private Collection to the Custom Tour of Japan.
Why travel with Luxury Japan Travel?
We are a luxury tour operator for Japan and nowhere else. We plan, organise and run every tour, and every tour has a Tour Director fluent in Japanese and English. You stay in the finest luxury hotels and ryokan in Japan, each one chosen personally by us for its luxury, its comfort and its setting. Between them you travel by private car and driver or in first class on the shinkansen.
Do you offer private tours of Japan?
Yes, private guided tours of Japan in two forms. The Custom Tour of Japan is created for your party alone, on your dates, from five nights, with a private car and driver and a Tour Director of your own. The Private Collection is four private journeys already made, Essential Japan, Classic Japan, Definitive Japan and Pure Hokkaido, each taken on the dates you choose with a Tour Director fluent in Japanese and English.
Can you create a once-in-a-lifetime holiday in Japan?
Yes, through the Custom Tour of Japan, a luxury holiday made for one party and no one else. A helicopter over the mountains to your ryokan, a private yacht across the Inland Sea and Michelin-starred dining at a whole counter for your party can each be arranged. Every part is designed around you and set out in your proposal.
Do you run small group tours of Hokkaido?
Yes: four of our published tours run in Hokkaido, each led by our Tour Directors and limited to 8 guests. The Cherry Blossom Tour of Hokkaido crosses the island in 13 days, from 28 April to 10 May 2027. The Summer Tour of Hokkaido spends 12 days among the lavender fields and lakes, on two departures in 2027. The Wild North Tour of Hokkaido is the wildlife tour: 11 days in the far east of the island, watching the Shiretoko coast and its wildlife from the calm of a boat, from 27 July to 6 August 2027. The Autumn Leaves Tour of Northern Japan begins in Hokkaido and continues through Tohoku, from 26 October to 6 November or from 2 to 13 November 2027. For a private journey on dates of your choosing, Pure Hokkaido is nine days from Hakodate to Sapporo. Each tour's price is set out on its own page. Every Hokkaido tour is set side by side on luxury Hokkaido tours.
Do you offer bespoke tours of Japan?
Yes. The Custom Tour of Japan is created around your party, from five nights, and Kyoto and Tokyo may sit at the heart of it for as many nights as you wish, with a private car and driver in each city and first class on the shinkansen between them. For a journey already made, Essential Japan is nine days through Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, one of the four journeys of The Private Collection, on the dates you choose.
Do you arrange private tours of Japan for families?
Yes. A family travels on a journey created for its party alone, with private cars and no fixed timetable, so every day moves at your family's pace, with your own Tour Director, fluent in English and Japanese. Private family tours of Japan sets out how it works and what it costs for your party.