Highlights of Sendai Tour Package

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:

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

Dietary Restrictions:

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

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.

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

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

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

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: History and Spirituality in 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