from $6,850* per person	7 Days	Year-round
Luxury accommodations		Exertion level: 4
Operator: Geographic Expeditions		18 people max

Kyoto, Jan Morris has written, “remains to the Japanese something special . . . the supreme repository of their ancient traditions, their religion, and their high-flown patriotism, their golden heritage and their resilient pride.”

In this expertly choreographed, highly phenomenal trip, we’ll delve deeply and thoughtfully into the grand city and its environs (including a foray to I.M. Pei’s masterpiece Miho Museum). From its famed temples and gardens (“more than hymns to tranquility,” Kanto Shigemori has written, “they contain a world of beauty unbounded by limits of time”) to its galleries and local artisans’ studios, its meandering streets and markets and its pure and enchanting Japaneseness. We’ll learn the rudiments of the ancient arts of calligraphy, obanzai, ikebana and experience a private tea ceremony. Of course, we’ll dine on myriad local specialties (“Ordering in Japan may seem overwhelming,” our Japan magnate Kristina Tuohey says, “but it’s where one learns an important lesson—language is not a barrier to kindness in Japan”), all the while enjoying the “electric repose” so characteristic of Japan and Kyoto in particular.