From soaring modern skyscrapers to ancient Temples: Zen tranquillity to the pulsating city heart. Tokyo is a city of contrasts!

Tour highlights include exploring the old town including the Sensoji, Tokyo's oldest Temple. Travel on a waterbus and see the Hamarikyu gardens, the Meiji Shrine and wander the amazing shopping areas. Learn the secrets of Japanese cuisine with a cookery lesson and visit the world's largest fish market - the Tsukiji Market.

Tour highlights include exploring the old town including the Sensoji, Tokyo's oldest Temple. Travel on a waterbus and see the Hamarikyu gardens, the Meiji Shrine and wander the amazing shopping areas. Learn the secrets of Japanese cuisine with a cookery lesson and visit the world's largest fish market - the Tsukiji Market.

Take Japan's world-famous Shinkansen bullet train to Hakone; a natural wonderland famed for hot springs, outdoor pursuits and the view of Mount Fuji. Stay in traditional Japanese Ryokan, sleeping on futons laid out on tatami mats. Relax with a piping hot onsen (hot spring) bath.

Take the famed Shinkansen bullet train to Nagoya. Then transfer to the Limited Express Hida Wideview train passing through the stunningly beautiful landscape to Takayama. Affectionally called Little Kyoto, Takayama has a plethora of Temples, festivals, rivers and bridges. Much of the area is untouched by modernisation.

At leisure to explore the delightful area.

Today will be self-guided using included coach tickets. Perhaps pay a visit to the UNESCO World Heritage Listed Shirakawago village, with its fascinating farmhouses' steep thatched roofs, resembling the hands of Buddhist monks pressed together in prayer.

A day free to explore the city including the Kenrokuen, one of Japan's "three best landscape gardens". Visit Kanazawa Castle next to the garden. Wander the Nagamachi Samurai District, Saihitsuan Yuzen Silk Centre and the Nomura Samurai House - a traditional Japanese home with a tea-ceremony room.

Travel by train to Hiroshima with afternoon free to explore the city. Devastated by the first atomic bomb the city has risen like a phoenix.

Tour today to see the Peace Memorial Park and its haunting museum, the rebuilt castle and gardens with a local guide. Then take a ferry ride to the sacred Miyajima Island. See the Floating Torii Gate, other shrines, Temples and sample local cuisine.

Take the train to Kyoto with its 17 UNESCO world heritage sites making it a city of outstanding culture with a plethora of Temples, shrines, gardens and palaces. Afternoon Japanese culinary class exploring Kyoto cuisine.

Today explore the former Imperial capital with local guide, utilizing Kyoto's comprehensive bus system to visit some of Kyoto's World Heritage Sites. Visit Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion. Nijo Castle - surrounded by stunning surrounding gardens. Walk down Nishiki Market, lined by more than one hundred shops and restaurants - known as "Kyoto's Kitchen". Optional visits include KiyomizuT or Sanjusangendo Temples.

By train to Nara with a guide. Visit Todaiji Temple, the world's largest wooden building and home to Japan's largest Buddha. Next stop is Kasuga Taisha, established in 768 AD and famed for its hundreds of bronze and stone lanterns donated by worshipers. See Sake production and visit the 'Deer Park'.