![](https://thehiddenjapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/murkami-article-3-1024x691.jpg)
Highlights of Sendai Tour Package
![](https://thehiddenjapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/masamuune-e1719573422936.webp)
Natural harmony and rich history in northeastern Japan
Cradled by mountains and sea and blessed by abundant greenery even in its busy urban centers, Sendai is known throughout Japan by its nickname, the “City of Trees” (Mori no Miyako). The capital of Miyagi prefecture and the largest city in northeastern Japan, Sendai is a dynamic and historically significant city bursting with culture, history, and tradition. On this 4-day 3-night tour, hit all of our top general-interest sightseeing recommendations, as well as famous spots representative of Sendai City.
Tour at a glance
Inclusions:
- All lodging and accommodation fees
- Breakfast at hotel/ryokan on Days 2-4
- Lunch on Days 2-4
- Dinner on Days 1-3
- Custom Google Map with local lunch recommendations
- On-trip remote support via WhatsApp or other instant messaging service
- English-speaking interpreter-guide for Days 1-3 (depending on choice of experiences)
- Admission fees to all attractions visited during guided time
- Transportation by private charter vehicle between accommodations and most scheduled activities
- Hands-on tea workshop OR whisky distillery tour
- Chopstick making OR kokeshi doll painting experience
- Foodie Plan only: Sake brewery tour and tasting OR zunda mochi making experience
- Foodie Plan only: Plastic food sample making experience
- Traditional Craft Plan only: Sendai tansu workshop visit and metalcraft experience
- Spirituality Plan only: Temple tour guided by a resident monk
- Spirituality Plan only: Shakyo sutra copying experience
- Spirituality Plan only: Matcha at temple teahouse
- Spirituality Plan only: Snack of sankaku Jogi abura-age
- Hands-on Traditional Culture Plan only: Shodo Japanese calligraphy experience
Exclusions:
- Travel insurance
- Personal expenses and gratuities
- Luggage storage fees
- Admission fees to attractions during self-guided time
- Food and drink in addition to the prix fixe meals included as part of the package
- Meals not listed in the inclusions
- Street food purchases during guided tours (spirituality plan excepted)
- Wine tasting fees at Akiu Winery
- Goshuin-cho and goshuin purchases
- Optional extensions or customizations to trip
- Other items not explicitly listed as included
We can also provide the following options for an additional fee:
- Add-ons to the tour
- Flight booking
- Interpretation in languages other than English
Minimum number of participants
Please inquire
Maximum number of participants
Please inquire
Cost
From ¥134,000 + tax (per person, based on a group estimate with 2 guests per room)
Tour Length
4 days, 3 nights
Tour availability
Year-round
Tour Start/End Location
Sendai Station
Important notes
*Alternative meal plans are available for vegetarians and those with dietary restrictions; please inquire! (Note that we are unable to guarantee an allergen-free kitchen).
Experience Availability:
*In the event that an experience or attraction is unavailable on your desired dates, we will substitute an alternative experience of similar interest.
*Experience availability is subject to change depending on number of participants.
Day 1: Exploring Sendai City
Day 1 Tour Highlights
Start off your Sendai adventure with a walking tour of the downtown area. Your local guide will lead you on a journey through modern and historical Sendai, teaching you about local lore and guiding you through lively shopping districts, spiritual getaways, wide tree-lined avenues, and vibrant back alleys of this memorable city.
After winding up your walking tour, stop for lunch and a break at one of the restaurants you spotted along the way or check your custom Google Map for local recommendations.
After lunch, you have a choice of activities. Join a workshop held at a tea shop founded during the age of samurai to taste fine green teas and learn proper brewing techniques for matcha and leaf green tea. Or take a tour of a whisky distillery founded by the “Father of Japanese whisky” to learn about the production process and product line. Enjoy tasting some high-quality whisky at the conclusion of your tour.
As the day winds down, relax and soak in the hot springs of a long-established ryokan inn in Akiu Onsen, a historical hot springs town beloved across Japan for its healing waters.
Day 2: Highlights of Akiu
Day 2 Tour Highlights
![](https://thehiddenjapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/010385-298x300.jpg)
Take a morning stroll through nature on a path alongside a scenic gorge, and explore a small village filled with shops specializing in traditional crafts. Create your own pair of lacquered chopsticks or paint a kokeshi doll under the direction of local craftsmen.
Following your crafting experience, travel with your guide to a waterfall nestled in a green-filled valley. Worship at a magnificent Shinto shrine, where people have gathered for over a thousand years to pray for victory. After soaking in the atmosphere of the area, move on to lunch at a stylish cafe located inside a renovated traditional Japanese house.
![](https://thehiddenjapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/kokeshicraftsman-300x200.jpg)
Spend a fun-filled afternoon exploring some unique museums in the Akiu area. Enjoy surrealist artworks and a carefully-displayed creepy-cute doll collection in a small museum tucked away from city hustle and bustle, and a hands-on kaleidoscope museum featuring plenty of great photo opportunities.
Finish off the day with a tasting session at a local winery and head to dinner at an Italian restaurant serving cuisine inspired by the vegetables grown by the local farmers.
After a satisfying meal, head back to your onsen ryokan and soak off your weariness in the baths.
Day 3: Special Interest Tours
![](https://thehiddenjapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/nikka_whisky-1024x683.jpg)
Day 3 Tour Highlights
Choose one of the following special interest plans, and spend a day immersed in experiences featuring Sendai’s culture and crafts.
Foodie Tour
![](https://thehiddenjapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/990061-300x241.jpg)
Choose to tour and taste at a local sake brewery, or try your hand at making zunda, the bright-green sweet bean paste that is a specialty of Sendai.
Visit a miso shop and enjoy tasting various types of miso. Choose between a lunch of contemporary Japanese cuisine at one of Sendai’s top restaurants, or traditional Japanese cuisine at a longstanding restaurant founded by a samurai family who turned to culinary arts when the role of samurai became outlawed at the end of the Edo period.
After lunch, try your hand at making your own food – out of plastic! A display staple outside of many restaurants in Japan, these incredibly realistic plastic samples show off the dishes served within. Make your own food sample and take your creation home as a souvenir in this workshop.
Traditional Crafts Tour
![](https://thehiddenjapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/010161-300x169.jpg)
Visit a Sendai tansu (a type of traditional chest with brilliant metal fittings) workshop and enjoy a metal crafting experience there. You will even get to take home your handiwork as a souvenir!
Lunch at a casual contemporary-style restaurant serving fresh meals made with locally grown ingredients, then visit a tamamushi lacquerware showroom, featuring gorgeous items showing off the brilliant craftmanship of this traditional art.
Spend the remainder of the day in free exploration of contemporary art galleries and shops selling traditional crafts in central Sendai.
Spirituality Tour
Spend a day in the Buddhist community at Jogi Nyorai Saihoji Temple. Start by taking a tour of the temple, which was established by one of the outcast survivors of a fallen samurai clan, guided by a resident monk.
Learn about goshuin shrine/temple seals and how to collect them, a tradition of religious pilgrims in Japan from more than 1,000 years. With the help of your guide, purchase a goshuin-cho (the special book used to collect goshuin) and collect your first goshuin.
Enjoy a cup of matcha tea at the temple teahouse, and a lunch in the temple district neighborhood
Try a shakyo sutra copying experience and end your temple tour with a snack of deep-fried tofu called sankaku Jogi abura-age, a special street food made in the area and eaten almost every day by the monks of the temple.
Hands-on Traditional Culture Tour
Test the steadiness of your hands and heart by doing a shodo Japanese calligraphy experience. Find out for yourself why this traditional art has continued to be practiced by so many for over 2000 years, even in the digital age.
Eat lunch in the former villa of a Date clan lord, followed by a tour of the beautiful property.
Choose one of the following activities to finish out your day:
* Try a kyudo Japanese archery experience
* Be dressed in kimono and learn the dance to a traditional song of Sendai
Day 4 Tour Highlights
Visit the towering Sendai Giant Kannon (the bodhisattva of compassion) which was the tallest statue in the world at the time of its completion and remains in the top 10 even today. Take an elevator to the top and work your way down to the ground level while pondering on the numerous solemn statues representing the 108 earthly desires.
Transfer to Rinnoji Temple, a peaceful sanctuary featuring one of the region’s finest Japanese gardens. Take a stroll around the paths of the 15th-century temple, relax on a bench and take in the sight of the three-story pagoda, or admire the koi in the garden pond.
Have a lunch of high-grade Sendai wagyu beef, and then transfer to one of Sendai’s most beloved sightseeing spots, Zuihoden, the mausoleum of samurai warlord Date Masamune—the first in a long line of Date lords to lead the Sendai domain. Enjoy the elaborate and colorfully ornamented buildings, and pause for a reflective moment by the tombstones of the warriors who committed ritual suicide upon the death of their samurai lord.
Continue on to the former site of Aoba Castle, and enjoy the breathtaking view of the city from above and the statue of Date Masamune on horseback, an iconic symbol of Sendai. After taking in the view and exploring the museum featuring the history of Aoba Castle, return to Sendai station and bid farewell to beautiful Sendai.
Reservations
You can send a booking inquiry below. After we receive your inquiry, we will confirm if we can accommodate your group and tour dates and contact you from there.
Cancellation Policy
Our cancellation policy for this tour is below. Cancellation fees may vary according to exceptional circumstances.
21 days or more before date of tour
No penalty
20 days to 8 days before date of tour
20% of total price
7 days to 2 days before date of tour
30% of total price
1 day before date of tour
40% of total price
Day of the tour
50% of total price
After start of tour or no-show
100% of total price