Gosh, I hope these temples don't end up getting overrun! I'd be tempted to ask the moderators to remove the post, or to edit it to remove the names of these particular temples.

Sounds to me like you made the most of your experience in Kyoto and that you made a personal connection. That is always a deeply rewarding way to travel.

My husband and I are in our early 70s and just returned from a month in Japan. We used InsideJapanTours to help put our trip together and I can highly recommend them. They made all the hotel and train reservations, provided us with a lot of detailed information and arranged full day private guides for us in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nikko and Kanazawa. The also arranged some food tours in Tokyo and Osaka and Takayama. We were very happy with the guides, the hotels and the itinerary they put together. They were excellent to deal with.

after a couple of scheduling changes and some back and forth we have booked with trafalgar (5% repeat customer discount) thru costco (add'l 10% discount) for Nov 2025 for the their classic japan tour (10 nights), we would have preferred Oct but those 2 dates were sold out. We are told by the costco rep this particular tour is all travel by train with very little bus travel but who knows. 28 people max, Still have to work out our plane tix which we will book ourselves and will probably need an extra night at the start of the trip to rest up after travel. will post a trip report afterwards. thanks to all for your comments & suggestions.

Which day in November does your tour start?

I see a 10-day, 11-night classic tour at their website: Classic Japan Tour 2024 | Flexible Bookings | Trafalgar US

Is your tour like that one? The inter-city travel is by bullet train but a lot (maybe most) of the lolcal travel will by coach. The Day 3 for Fuji and Owakudani is almost certainly a bus tour from Tokyo. Probably same for Arashiyama visit from Kyoto. The Osaka visit starts with an "orientation drive".

The hotels look good. One is a Sheraton and another is New Otani.

November is better than October (probably) for fall colors. Definitely a good idea to spend two nights in Tokyo before Day 1 of the tour.

the tour starts nov 7 - yes i figured there would be plenty of bus rides within cities so i take what a travel agent says with a large grain of salt. We prefer buses to non-stop walkng because at our age (late 60's) we need to rest when we can.

i did look at each of the hotels mentioned in the itineray and i agree on tripadvisor they all are rated fairly high,

we will plan to stay in Tokyo 1 day early to prep for the tour, but still need to book flights and see if its worth splurging for premium economy non-stop from NYC or Newark.

If you can manage premium economy, you’ll be much happier than refular coach! That is a long trip and, IMO, any way you can make it feel a little more comfortable will make your arrival and travel experience much better.

The past few years I have been flying ANA from JFK to Tokyo and they sometimes offer a chance to bid for a premium economy seat. Twice I won my bid - the cheapest suggested price - around $250, I think. It was quite a bit more comfy than the economy seat plus the lounge access at the airport....For my next trip in March 2025 I decided to buy the PE seat on the way there.