Excursión de un día al Monte Fuji: Kawaguchi Lake Ropeway, Matcha, Oshino Hakkai

The tour guide barely spoke English. He didnt come to meet us at the Tokyo station as discussed in the email. Instead he decided on the change of plan on the day of on what’s app, which I was not familiar with. We had to enlist another tour guide’s help who we met at the station to find out the whereabouts of our tour guide. At the matcha experience, the instructor spoke Japanese. Every time she explained something in a few sentences, our guide translated into 1 or 2 words in. English. Before we got to Oshino Hakkai, our “tour guide” dropped us off at Lawson telling us to buy food for lunch. After we got to Oshino Hakkai,, we realized there were food stalls selling hot local food. I was upset that our guide forgot to mention that we could have also bought food at Oshino Hakkai. We now ended up eating cold generic food we got from the convenience store.

Helen was one of the best guide. She was warm, friendly, knowledgeable, and well organized.. Her enthusiasm and local knowledge made the experience even more enjoyable. Thank you, Helen, for making our trip so special. Highly recommended!

Our guide Laner was excellent. She was funny, informative, and provided useful advice. It was a fun day!

Excellent experience/ worthwhile the money paid. Helen our guide was the best! She made our day so enjoyable! Although the pic of the mountain was covered in clouds, we enjoys beautiful scenery and made lasting memories.

Leo was a great guide. Overall great trip. Would definitely recommend to friends and family! Fantastic experience

I will have to be very honest. I went to this tour as a Japanese person with foreign friends. The tour guide Wayne was terrible, not giving the group thorough instruction as to what to expect (how long we stay at a location etc). Either his English or Japanese was sufficient, and he mistranslated or missed many of the things a Japanese tea ceremony instructor said. He couldn’t tell how long it would take for us to get to the first location or he couldn’t answer when we plan to come back to Shinjuku. The guide also wasn’t leading our group (or seemed like he didn’t intend to lead us), he didn’t use his yellow flag, and although he said he would wear a red backpack he didn’t. So I couldn’t find him. He is not a bad person or anything but he is simply not qualified or well trained. I had to constantly ask what to expect next. Lunch was extremely over-priced and poor in quality. 3 out of 5 of us ended up having stomachache after eating “traditional” Japanese food which is really just cabbage and rice with chicken and croquettes probably pre-made/frozen. It wasn’t authentic Japanese food and probably the worst food I ever had in Japan. We were taken to many souvenir shops with very poor quality products. Overall I must say this wasn’t representative of Japan or its culture in terms of its organization and food quality. I feel ashamed that I took my friends on this tour to introduce them to “Japan” that I felt very foreign. Being accessible on a global platform like Trip advisor this tour might seem legitimate but I would recommend tourists use “Hatobus” a legitimate Japanese bus tour company that has a very long history in the country and choose English as a tour language.

Enjoyed this day out. Tour was not over crowded and stuck to schedule. We were lucky to see Mount Fuji in the morning though there was cloud cover when we got to the lake in the evening. The lunch place was quite nice too. Laner our guide was very friendly and nice. She provided details about the significance of each stop , helped with photos etc. Overall a very pleasant experience.

We struck it lucky! Wife looked at previous positive reviews & they didn't disappoint. We initially were concerned regarding the meet up location but our guide Mizki made contact the previous night to confirm everything. She added everyone in our group to Whatsapp or similar so she keep in contact with everyone in what was a busy day, visiting a few locations that could only be described as very touristy such as the Lawson Store with Mt Fuji backdrop. The lunch at extra cost was nice but possibly again a bit touristy, however caters for the large number of bus groups coming through in a very efficient manner. The Mt Fuji Ropeway provided great views of the mountain & Lake Kawaguchiko. There was a stop @ an old village where if you have room there is plenty of local foods to try. We stopped for a tradional matcha tea making workshop but again very touristy. A visit to the amazing flower gardens on the shore of Lake Kaeaguchiko with Mt Fuji backdrop, what else could you ask for? Well luckily great weather & a terrific guide in Mizki who kept everyone informed of the tradititons relating to everything we saw & is able yo do so in multiple languages. The bus & driver were excellent although be aware there is no toilet on board & a strong reluctance to stop due to the busy time schedule. Biggest bonus we struck it lucky with the weather. Of note, don't be late to your booking time as you will miss this great experience as they can't & wont wait.

The cherry blossoms were very beautiful in the good weather. Thank you very much for your guide and driver. Thank you very much for your hard work with the traffic on the road. He was a very kind guide. The only regret was that my lunch was terrible. The glass was slimy and the serving was rough and really not delicious.

Zack was an excellent guide. He explained everything we were looking at using both professional and personal experiences.