Guided Tour Policies and Conditions

Guided Tour Days and Times

Summer months

Our hiking tours do not run in July, August, or September, due to the heat of Japanese Summer and the challenges it brings to any hiking trip, we apologise for any inconvenience and suggest a custom tour instead. Some cycling tours are possible in Summer months with a swim in the river instead of a hike.

Most guided tours are only available weekdays and Saturdays (unless using a car)

Due to a lack of public transport options in the mountains, we cannot run most tours on Sundays, we apologise the the inconvenience. If you drive/rent a car, Sunday tours can be possible (and we can do quite a lot on a custom tour!).

Saturday guided tours

Due to public transport restrictions, on Saturday tours we may need to alter itineraries to make sure no one gets stuck in the mountains, we apologise for any inconvenience. Please see tour pages for more detail.

Guided Tour Inclusions/Exclusions

Inclusions are specifically mentioned in the description and itinerary of each tour, please read the details at the bottom of tour pages.

The following services, items and fees are not included with any tour price (unless specified) and must be paid for by the guest:

  • Transport fares (e.g. bus, train, taxi)
  • Rental fees (e.g. bicycle rental)
  • Entry fares (e.g. museums)
  • Luggage storage
  • Food and drink including water.

Guided Tour Cancellations and Bad Weather

Cancellations made by the guest

 Cancellation time Amount refunded (%)*
Earlier than 7 days before tour 100%
7 to 2 days before tour 50%
Day before tour 30%
Day of tour 0%

Cancellations made by us due to weather (more on this below) are 100% refunded or we will offer to run your tour with an alternative itinerary if possible.

*Refunds do not include fees taken by payment gateways like Paypal, or differences in currency conversion rates between payment and refund time.

Bad weather

We will not cancel some tours on days with rain forecast - Mt. Horaiji and this area has an amazing atmosphere in the rain and clouds. We will let you know if rain is forecast and if this will affect your tour when the weather forecasts become accurate enough (usually 3-5 days before). If your tour is booked on a rainy day and is still going ahead, you should bring an umbrella in this case (they can be very cheap in Japan). On rainy days we may need to alter itineraries to keep safe and manage in the weather.

We will need to cancel tours on days of extreme weather events or when typhoons are hitting, and we will discuss this with you before the day in this case. We want everyone to fall in love with the area, so in some cases we can may be able to work out an emergency-style tour itinerary on the day.

Deposits and Payment

Deposits

We require a minimum 50% deposit be paid at least 7 days before the tour date. Any remaining change will need to be paid on the day of the tour in cash - we cannot accept credit cards and apologise for any inconvenience this causes, as there are few ATMs in our tour area.

Payment

We request online payment for tours through personalised products on this website, using Shopify's payment gateway, policies, and exchange rates (which come from third parties). When a tour itinerary and booking is confirmed through email, we will send you a link to a personalised product on this site for you to make the payment.

This link will show the price for the tour in your local currency (if available through Shopify), using Shopify's exchange rates and fees.