2020: South Korea & Japan: Temples, Shrines & Seaside Treasures

18 days
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4.9/5 Excellent
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Small Group Tour
Travel to Japan and South Korea with O.A.T. to get an authentic glimpse into the landscapes and cultures of these fascinating nations. In South Korea, help a local family prepare a traditional meal and join Buddhist monks in Donghwasa Temple where we’ll participate in a dining ceremony before spending a night in the temple. Then, meet Japan’s ama, or “sea wom...

Overview

Trip type
Small Group Tour
Lodging level
Standard - 3 star
Physical level
Easy
Trip pace
Full schedule

Highlights

    • Explore Seoul
    • Visit Gyeongbokgung Palace
    • Visit the DMZ
    • Explore Gyeongju

What's this trip about?

    Travel to Japan and South Korea with O.A.T. to get an authentic glimpse into the landscapes and cultures of these fascinating nations. In South Korea, help a local family prepare a traditional meal and join Buddhist monks in Donghwasa Temple where we’ll participate in a dining ceremony before spending a night in the temple. Then, meet Japan’s ama, or “sea women” who brave frigid waters to dive for pearls, and visit a pearl farming family to see how these treasures are harvested. Your small group will also get an intimate look at these cultures alongside local Trip Experience Leaders who will offer invaluable insider knowledge on these destinations that only a local could provide.

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Details

Itinerary focusClassic Highlights
Group sizeSmall Group - max of 16 people
Age rangeNo age restrictions
Flights and transportN/A
Start CitySeoul
End CityKyoto

Travel Themes

  • Cultural
  • Hiking & Walking

Destinations

  • Asia
  • Japan

Attractions

  • Kyoto
  • Seoul
  • Tokyo

Activities

  • Culture
  • Educational/ learning
  • Historic sightseeing
  • History
  • Homestays & Cultural Immersion
  • Nature
  • Ruins & Archaeology
  • Trains & Rail

Trip includes

    • International airfare, airport transfers, government taxes, fees, and airline fuel surcharges unless you choose to make your own air arrangements*
    • All land transportation, including bullet train, ferries, and 1 internal flight
    • Accommodations for 16 nights
    • 37 meals—daily breakfast, 12 lunches, and 9 dinners (including 1 Home-Hosted Lunch)
    • 20 small group activities
    • Explore in a small group of 8-16 travelers (average group size of 14)
    • Services of local O.A.T. Trip Experience Leaders (one in Korea and one in Japan)
    • Gratuities for local guides and drivers
    • 5% Frequent Traveler Credit toward your next O.A.T. trip—an average of $418

View Similar Trips

Itinerary

Day 1: Depart U.S.
Afternoon/Evening: Depart today on an overnight flight from the U.S. to Seoul, South Korea.

Day 2: Arrive in Seoul, South Korea
Accommodations: Pacific Hotel or similar Afternoon: This afternoon, you’ll arrive in Seoul, where your Korean Trip Experience Leader will meet you at the airport and escort you to the hotel. Here, we'll be joined by travelers who took our optional Eastern China: Shangh...
Day 3: Explore Seoul
Meals included: Breakfast and Lunch Accommodations: Pacific Hotel or similar Breakfast: At the hotel. Morning: This morning, our Trip Experience Leader will conduct a Welcome Briefing. Afterward, we'll have time to relax at the hotel. Then, we'll gather for a talk ...
Day 4: Seoul • A Day in the Life of Yangpyeong village • Home-Hosted Lunch
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Accommodations: Pacific Hotel or similar Breakfast: At the hotel. Morning: After breakfast, we’ll head to a local market where we'll pick up ingredients for our Home-Hosted Lunch later today. Then, we'll experience A Day in the ...
Day 6: Seoul • Visit the DMZ
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

Accommodations: Pacific Hotel or similar Activity Note: Depending on whether Day 6 falls on a national holiday, the order of the activities on Days 5 and 6 may switch. Although the order in which the days' activities take place may differ, all included features of the ...
Day 7: Seoul • Daegu • Overnight Stay at Donghwasa Temple
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Accommodations: Golden Tulip Hotel or similar Breakfast: At the hotel. Morning: This morning, we'll meet with a North Korean defector, who will give us a sobering glimpse of life living under that country's oppressive regime. Th...
Day 8: Daegu • Donghwasa Temple • Overland to Gyeongju
Meals: Breakfast Accommodations: The K Hotel or similar Breakfast: At the temple this morning. Morning: Today we'll get a glimpse of daily life in Donghwasa Temple. This morning, we'll meet with one of the temple's monks—a feature that is exclusive to O.A.T.—to dis...
Day 9: Explore Gyeongju • Yangdong Folk Village • Taekwondo master visit
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Accommodations: The K Hotel or similar Breakfast: At the hotel. Morning: We'll begin today's explorations at Yangdong Folk Village, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and clan village whose roots date back to the Joseon dynasty. Laid ...
Day 10: Gyeongju • Fly to Tokyo, Japan
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch Accommodations: Hotel Sardonyx or similar Breakfast: At the hotel. Morning: Today we bid farewell to South Korea. We'll transfer overland to Busan, stopping to visit the United Nations Memorial Cemetery before heading to the airport for o...
Day 11: Tokyo • Meet a former sumo wrestler
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Accommodations: Hotel Sardonyx or similar Breakfast: At the hotel. Morning: After breakfast at our hotel, we'll get an authentic glimpse of a beloved Japanese sport—sumo wrestling. We'll meet with a former wrestler to hear about...
Day 12: Explore Tokyo • Subway experience • Dance studio visit
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch Accommodations: Hotel Sardonyx or similar Breakfast: At the hotel. Morning: We'll depart for the subway station, where our Trip Experience Leader will orient us to this popular mode of transport. We'll observe how locals line up at the sl...
Day 13: Tokyo • Toba
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner Accommodations: Hotel Todaya or similar Breakfast: At the hotel. Morning: After breakfast, we'll drive to Tokyo Station, where we'll experience the thrill of riding the lightning-fast bullet train from Tokyo to Nagoya. The Japanese call ...
Day 14: Toba • Meet local ama
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Accommodations: Hotel Todaya or similar Activity Note: Depending on your departure date, you'll meet the local ama on Toshi Island or Osatsu, and the order of today's events may differ depending on the location you visit. Breakf...
Day 15: Toba • Train ride to Kyoto • Excursion to Nara
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Accommodations: Kyoto Tower Hotel Annex or similar Breakfast: At the hotel. Morning: After breakfast this morning, we'll depart for Kyoto by train. On our way, we'll stop in the distinctive city of Nara, which was the capital of...
Day 16: Kyoto • Mingle with locals at Nishiki Market • Explore Kinkakuji Temple
Meals: Breakfast Accommodations: Kyoto Tower Hotel Annex or similar Breakfast: At the hotel. Morning: After breakfast, we’ll enjoy a day of sightseeing in Kyoto—beginning first with a visit to Fushimi Unari Shrine, the head shrine of the kami Inari, which honors th...
Day 17: Kyoto • Visit Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Accommodations: Kyoto Tower Hotel Annex or similar Breakfast: At the hotel. Morning: After breakfast, we’ll begin the day by exploring the Arashiyama district, an area in Western Kyoto famous for its scenic beauty and historic a...
Day 18: Return to U.S.
Meals: Breakfast Breakfast: At the hotel. Morning: After breakfast, transfer by airport shuttle to Osaka for your flight home, or on to Hiroshima if you're taking our post-trip extension.

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Dates & Availability

Price From $6,395
Price per day$355
Last Updated: 0/21/2020

Check Current Availability, prices, specials with Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T. Tours).

The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.

Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.

Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T. Tours) Reviews & Ratings

4.9/5  Excellent
Excellent
442
Great
13
Average
8
Disappointing
0
Terrible
7
R

Robert

Sep 2019

Written on

This is a wonderful trip

This is a wonderful trip that provides an excellent opportunity to experience the sights, the culture, the unique history and the food of two very colorful and fasci...

C

Cynthia

Sep 2019

Written on

Great trip

Great trip, liked having both countries on the itinerary. Korea was unexpectedly wonderful and PAM KIM, GROUP LEADER WAS OUTSTANDING! Japan started off poorly with G...

S

Sai

Jun 2019

Written on

Left us wanting more

We both enjoyed this tour immensely. We liked both tour directors, James in Korea and Emiko in Japan. Both were knowledgable, informative, congenial and hard-working...

C

Carl

Jun 2019

Written on

Energized by our guides!

Wow, we had vivacious guides with a great sense of humor that inspired us throughout our Korean and Japanese trips. They offered us so many optional opportunities th...

S

Sylvia

Jun 2019

Written on

Loved Japan- the sites, experiences

Loved Japan- the sites, experiences and most of all the ver...

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Other Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T. Tours) Reviews

P

Policy over practical customer service. zero customer service

Dec 2023

Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T. Tours) Company Reviewsby Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T. Tours)

don't expect humanity or common sense

This letter is effectively what was communicated no less than 8 times in writing and conversation to OAT representatives up the chain, beginning 19 days before the t...

Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T. Tours) Company Reviewsby Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T. Tours)

Trip of a Lifetime

Our recent Tanzanian Safari was indeed the trip of a lifetime. Saw the big 5, met the wonderful locals and spent 5 days in the Serengeti. Saw many lions, zebras, gi...

T

Terry

Feb 2023

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Be careful

Booked for July and gave them $12,000. They talked us into early arrival and then come back to us a two months later saying we can't offer. We have to keep our airli...

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Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T. Tours)

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Overseas Adventure Travel offers unique small group adventures worldwide to Americans over 50. By land and sea, we explore on—and off—the beaten path with a resident OAT Trip Leader, immersing ourselves in local cultures, sampling unique modes of transportation, and staying in authentic lodgings that reflect the essence of your destination. Grand Circle Small Ship Cruises serves both our GCT and OAT brands with an award-winning fleet known for exceptional value and high-quality experiences in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. Custom-designed according to our travelers’ specifications, our fleet includes 50+ small river and ocean-going ships that we own or privately charter.

Grand Circle Corporation is a global enterprise—comprised of a family of travel companies—committed to changing people’s lives by offering high-impact experiences to our travelers and building local communities through philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, and volunteerism.

Simply by traveling with OAT, you support the work of the nonprofit Grand Circle Foundation, which was created with the mission of changing people’s lives through travel—both those of our travelers, and of the people who welcome us so warmly into their homelands.

Journey with the Leader in Adventure Travel and Watch Your Dreams Take Flight: It is the stuff of dreams: gazelles bowing to lap at a glassy pool in the Serengeti as the vast sky turns purple with night, the tiered splendor of the Himalayas, rising behind a Tibetan monastery. Dreams like these are everyday realities for OAT travelers, thanks to the principles which ground every OAT adventure: value, choice, discovery, and carefully paced itineraries.

Our Value puts your travel dreams within reach: OAT can help you realize your travel dreams for a lot less than you thought possible. Together with our regional offices located throughout the world, we’ve been able to establish long-term relationships with many local vendors and hotels. Buying direct brings down our costs—and allows us to pass the savings on to you. And negotiating directly for hotel space also allows us to secure as many single room allotments as possible for our solo travelers. That way, we can also extend our great value to solo travelers. In fact, we offer the best value for solo travelers, guaranteed.

The Choice is yours: You’ll always have plenty of choices with OAT. We offer you a breadth of awe-inspiring travel destinations—from the peaks of the Andes to the sweeping desert sands of the Sahara to the rugged natural beauty of Iceland. You'll also enjoy more trip extension choices than ever before—like hiking to ancient monasteries in Bhutan or discovering the Moai monolithic rock statues on Easter Island. You have plenty of choices within each adventure, too, including several interesting optional tours. And the free time we’ve woven into our itineraries allows you plenty of opportunities for independent exploration. You can shop, unwind, perhaps linger at a sidewalk café, visit an interesting gallery or museum, or explore a cobbled street that caught your eye earlier in the day. You can do as much or as little as you want on an OAT adventure—the choice is yours.

OAT Difference

Adventure Travel: Adventure travel with OAT is a journey beyond the familiar, one that takes you into the very heart of a destination—to meet people where they work and live.

OAT Advantages: Journey with the leader in adventure travel and watch your dreams take flight, thanks to the principles which ground every OAT adventure: value, choice, discovery, and carefully paced itineraries.

Small Groups, Big Discoveries: When you discover the world in an OAT small group, you’ll journey off the beaten path to the places the big tour groups miss—and enjoy an intimate, discovery-filled adventure filled with personal connections, shared experiences, and treasured memories.

Trip Leaders: No matter where in the world you venture with OAT, you'll have one of our resident, expert Trip Leaders by your side. All are fluent in English and possess the skills, certification, and experience necessary to ensure an enriching adventure.

Airport Transfers: We’ve listened to your feedback, and will now offer international airport transfers to and from your hotel to our travelers who choose to purchase their own airfare on OAT adventures as part of our Personalize Your Trip program, which allows you create the OAT adventure that's right for you.

Personalize your trip: OAT travelers have long expressed the desire to decide exactly where they’re going, how they get there, and when they wish to leave. That’s why we developed a variety of choices that enhance the value of every trip we offer, allowing you to create the adventure that works best for you.

Traveling solo? Enjoy your own room or cabin—at no extra cost: You’re in control of your travel dreams—and we’re making them more affordable than ever: Maybe you prefer the freedom of solo travel—or maybe you and your usual traveling companion can’t agree on a destination. Whatever the reason, you don’t have to put your travel dreams on hold. When it’s time to go it alone, you’ll never pay a Single Supplement to have your own room or cabin with OAT.

What they’re known for
Small group tours for seniors and retirees wanting an international adventure, especially solo female travelers.

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Logistics

Accommodation

,Pacific Hotel Donghwasa Temple The K Hotel Hotel Sardonyx Hotel Todaya Kyoto Tower Hotel Annex
Cancellation policy
If you need to cancel your trip for any reason, please call us as soon as possible, and follow up in writing. You are also required to return any airline tickets that may have been issued to you. Cancellation refunds will be calculated as of the date we receive your written cancellation. We will issue your refund in the manner in which we received your payment. If you paid your deposit by credit card and your balance by check, your refund will be divided accordingly. Refunds are generated manually by our accounting department to ensure accuracy. Please allow for a 30-day processing period before receiving your refund. There is a non-refundable, $300 per person processing fee for each trip you cancel, which reflects our costs of administering a reservation. Other cancellation fees depend upon your trip type and time of cancellation.
Travel Insurance
We strongly recommend purchasing travel insurance alongside your travel package to safeguard against unforeseen circumstances such as medical expenses, trip cancellations, and other contingencies. It offers you peace of mind and ensures you are prepared for unexpected events that may occur before or during your journey
Visa requirements
Visa requirements vary depending on your country of origin and your country of destination. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the relevant requirements. For a handy tool that can help you quickly find the requirements, please visit this link .
Meals Included
Daily Breakfasts, 12 Lunches and 9 Dinners
Age Requirements
No age restrictions
Additional Information
*Airport transfers are only available for travelers arriving and departing to/from the same airport and on the same arrival/departure dates as the main trip.
Trip ID
overse-SouJapOve

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