Tokyo Private Tours

  Hakone Hike and Lake Ashi  - Our day hike with Rie from The Backstreet Guides was just amazing. She took our family
of four to a traditional tea house, up through the Hakone forrest,... read more and down to Lake Ashi. At Lake Ashi, we ate at an amazing bakery and drank Macha Latte while looking at the Lake. It was one the best parts of our trip!

  Exceptional Tokyo Experience with Backstreet Guides and Rie  - Our experience with Backstreet Guides was absolutely perfect. Planning our trip was really fun thanks to Hiroko, who helped us craft a thoughtful two-day itinerary: she made sure everything flowed... read more well in terms of travel distances and incorporated all the special stops we wanted to include. Her attention to detail made a huge difference and it was incredibly rewarding to see it all come to life during our visit.

Our guide Rie was phenomenal! She is a true professional who brought so much knowledge, energy, and joy to our time in Tokyo. Her historical context added so much meaning to every place we visited, and she always knew the most efficient ways to navigate the city. Rie is also a fantastic photographer! She knew exactly how to pose us to capture the perfect shot every time (a huge bonus we hadn’t expected!). What we really appreciated was how she was able to adapt our itinerary on the fly. Whether we wanted to spend more time somewhere or make a spontaneous change, Rie was always flexible and made it all feel seamless.

Rie and the Backstreet Guides made our Tokyo experience truly unforgettable!

  Rie was awesome. Patient and great with my kids and made it a terrific experience for first timers to Tokyo.  - Rie was awesome. Patient and great with my kids and made it a terrific experience for first timers to Tokyo. We didn’t know what to expect, but she took care... read more of everything and helped to navigate the city with ease. Wonderful learning experience for all.

  Our guide Mayu-san met my two young adult sons and I at our Shinjuku hotel in the evening. Although I had been to Shinjuku, my sons had not and I... read more thought they'd be interested in a night-time tour of this area. We had a brief discussion as to the plan of the evening; Mayu-san took account of what we had done on our first day around Shinjuku and adjusted her itinerary for us accordingly. We started with a very short (and crowded!) train trip to Harajuku from where we walked to Shibuya and back to Shinjuku investigating all the things these areas have to offer. Mayu-san made us walk a lot and was very very informative. We stopped in Shibuya for dinner at an izakaya. I can attest my sons and I highly enjoyed their 5 hour guided tour with Mayu-san. We were very happy customers! I would certainly used Backstreet Guides again for another party of Tokyo or Japan (if they had any going). It's really a marvellous way to see the sights with a knowledgeable and friendly local.

  11 family members ageing from 11 to 72 went to Hakone and Mt Fuji with guide Mayu. She was an extremely caring, organised, flexible and informative guide. Highly recommend Backstreet... read more Guides to take you in and around Tokyo. Very very easy to deal with prior to the tour as well.

  Do it... you won't regret it! - Great tour with Mana Nakano.
She was prompt in meeting at hotel, had a historical presentation about Tokyo. We went to the Ueno station, Imperial Palace Gardens, and several other... read more places. It was very interesting. I enjoyed the whole day!
I also did a day tour with Rie to Kamakura, and that was really good, too. Kamakura is a wonderful coastal town just south of Tokyo. The last time I was there was 16 years ago, and happy I went back.

  Backstreet Guides is amazing. So are their guides Yoko and Rie. I highly recommend their day trips to Kamakura and Nikko. They made it easy and relaxing for us.
... read more My sister and I wanted to revisit places we remembered from our childhood. With courtesy and professional attention, Masa at Backstreet Guides helped us set up private day trips to both Kamakura and Nikko. It was a fabulous experience.
On the first day, Yoko met us in our hotel lobby and accompanied us through morning rush hour on the subway to the train station where we took the one-hour trip to Kamakura. With great ease she guided us around the town and its cultural treasures, including the Great Buddha, beautifully set against green hills and the sky, one of the icons of Japan. Yoko took us to a charming restaurant for a tempura lunch, took photos of us in the same spots as our old photos and led us into a bamboo forest we especially wanted to see. We shopped for sourvenirs and the beautifully carved wood for which Kamakura is famous. Yoko taught us so much - from sumo wrestling to persimmons to kimono dressing. She also taught us how to use the subway system!
The next day Rie came to our hotel and we took a 2-hour reserved seat train to Nikko - all arranged beforehand by Backstreet Guides. Rie also introduced us to Japan's wonderful vending machines! In Nikko we were met by a private car and Rie accompanied us up the mountain to see waterfalls and Lake Chuzenji. She then took us to a fabulous lunch at a small restaurant we would never have found on our own. We tried yuba, one of Nikko's specialties - a truly memorable meal. Then we headed to Toshogu Shrine, a World Heritage Site, newly restored, glistening with gold leaf under towering ancient cedars. There is no way we could have done all this in one day without Rie's professional and well-organized expertise. It was awe-inspiring and a lot of fun.
Thank you, Yoko and Rie. Thank you, Backstreet Guides.

  We organised this tour after successfully using Backstreet Guides 7 years ago on our first trip to Japan. Our gorgeous guide Mayu came and met us at out hotel in... read more Shinjuku on our first day in Tokyo... she was fantastic - we had arranged in advance what we would like to see with our 2 kids (10 and 14) as we had been to Japan before - she took us straight to the subway and helped us organise our pasmo cards - we then spent the morning at Tsikuji markets, walked through Ginza to Asakusa temple, had lunch in a great Ramen join near the temple, went on to Akihabara and then navigated us back to our hotel in the late afternoon. She had perfect English from her time in Australia and perfectly gauged the interest level of our family so we had plenty of information without being bombarded with too much info. The kids enjoyed having a local person to question and talk to about our differences in culture etc. It was a perfect way to start our 9 days in Japan as it gave us the confidence to navigate on our own. Backstreet Guides also organised our Sumo tickets and Baseball tickets which we thoroughly enjoyed and had a bit of drama getting organised online. Id highly recommend this company and use them again!

  I had the best day. visiting Nikko dressed in its Autumn foliage- Mayu from Backstreet Guides was so organised and thankfully her English was impeccable (as my Japanese was very,... read more very limited). Mayu picked me up from my hotel and we headed via metro to the Nikko train- Mayu explained what we were doing on the day and after some obligatory photos at the train station (as the leaves of the trees were superb), we were introduced to our wonderful driver who drove us all over Nikko- showing us the best leaves and going to the magnificent Nikko Shrines and Temples as well as the countryside and the sublime views and vistas of this area. This tour was more than I had hoped for and Mayu provided information about the places we visited and the best things we should note- it was a wonderful, calm way to see this amazing area and exceeded all of my expectations!! Thank you for such a brilliant day in Nikko- I shall always remember the fun time we had.

  Historic Tokyo Tour  - Our customized trip with Rie was perfect and efficient. Rie fit a lot in for a full city tour and explained so much of the context and history. 10/10 stars.