2020 GeoEx Catalog

JourneyThrough Ancient Japan

DISCOVERING SHIKOKU AND KYOTO

TOURING | 12 DAYS · GROUP

S hikoku is the smallest of Japan’s four principal islands, nestled in the Inland Sea. When our old friend Don George, travel writer extraordinaire, wrote about his first visit there for National Geographic Traveler magazine, he described the island as “a Japan I hadn’t known existed: a place of farms and fishing villages, mountainside shrines and seaside temples, rugged seacoasts and forested hills, time- honored traditions and country kindness.” Since then, Don has returned more than a dozen times, getting to know the island’s out-of-the-way bounties as few Westerners—or

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NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION

even Japanese—do. We can’t believe our luck to have him leading our departures, which are timed to coincide with spring’s magnificently blooming cherry blossoms and azaleas.

Among the highlights of Don’s lovingly designed and skillfully led trip: staying in a beautifully restored 300-year-old farmhouse, soaking in a secluded outdoor hot spring, making soba noodles from scratch, meeting white-clad henro on pilgrimage, feasting on fresh fish, and celebrating the season in pristine mountain hamlets. In addition, we begin our trip in Kyoto, where our small group of eight travelers savors Japan’s cultural splendors: lovely gardens, tea ceremonies, and hidden neighborhoods.

Fukuoka

Beppu

Mt.Aso

ASHIZURI CAPE

Japan

mar. 30–apr. 10; apr. 13–24 from $14,625

Day 1  arrive in Osaka, drive to Kyoto ✦  2–4  Kyoto exploring ✦  5  by train and ferry to Shikoku ✦  6 & 7  Ashizuri Cape ✦  8  coastal drive to Kochi, fish market, temples ✦  9  drive to Iya Valley ✦ 10  Iya Valley ✦  11  on to Takamatsu, Ritsurin Garden ✦  12  drive to Osaka for flights home.

BELOW Walking through the meditative Sagano Bamboo Forest, located outside Kyoto near the UNESCO-acclaimed Tenryu¯-ji Temple, reminds us to slow down and drink in nature’s splendor.

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