We created this article to help you understand what our bar hopping tour is and navigate through all the bar hopping food tours we provide, and help you choose the best tour that suits your needs.
Let's take a look at things important to us and what makes our tours different from others.
We strive for consistency
Because we aim to provide the same tour quality experience across all cities and areas, we need to have some basic principles for our tours. These are:
Tour Concept
- You will experience 3 locals bars, each with it's own athmosphere
- You will enjoy authentic local Japanese food and drinks
- You'll meet and socialize with a Japanese local guide
Guide Quality
- Our guides will be fun and enjoyable to spend time with
- They will provide basic Japanese cultural information, although they're not history buffs
Tour Size
- Most of our food tours will have a maximum of 6 participants
- When large groups book the tour, we try to keep the tour to no more than 10 people, this keeps the experience more personal
Time and Duration
- Tours start between 17:30 or 19:00 and end at 20:30 or 22:00, this is the time people leave work and go to izakaya to have a drink
- Our tours are 3 hours long, we found out this duration is optimal to enjoy your food at a good pace. Of course, after the tour you can keep partying!
Price
- The base price is fixed by the guide fee
- The total price will depend if we include the food and drinks price
- We're now working on creating our own menus so we can mantain the same prices across all tours, so you don't have to worry about it
We aim for originality
Consistency without originality is boring.
We love to have repeating customers. So each bar hopping food tour will have something unique about it.
Obviously, food choices will be different! Each area/city has it's speciality. For example, in Asakusa you can try okonomiyaki and go to a Ninja Bar, and in Shinjuku you can taste delicious yakitori and hangout with locals at Ebisu Yokocho.
Also, the atmosphere will be different, Osaka is famous for the openness of their local people, while in Tokyo in you experience the contrast between a modern city and the old style small bars.
Let's pick one Bar Hopping Food Tour! How to choose?
Popularity - Go with the flow
Our product team work hard to provide the same experience across all of our bar hopping tours.
Some things we can keep constant, like the core idea of the tour, guide quality, duration and price.
But some tours are going to be more popular, either by location, marketing promotion or just from being longer on the market. Our most popular tour is definitely Shinjuku Bar Hopping, it's also our first so it has #1 Nightlife tour in Shinjuku as of June 19, 2018
Location - Choose the one near your hotel
A lot of our customers pick the Bar Hopping Tour near their accomodation. It's very convenient to drink near your hotel, so you can always get home safe and never miss the last train (our tours end around 10PM, but some customers like to continue drinking throughout the night)
Food and Drink Types - Experience local specialities
Each city has it's own cuisine.
If you already tried the foods from one area, you might want to try other kinds of food to get the full range of experience.
There's something special about trying the food where it was originiated from.
Shinjuku Bar Hopping Food Tour
Yakitori
In shinjuku you can feel the smell of yakitori being cooked as you pass through its small alleys.
Nama biiru (Draft Beer)
Beer + Yakitori. It's a classic combo, can't go wrong with that. Make sure you have this in Japan, unless of course you can't eat meat. (Don't worry there's fried vegetables as well.)
Asakusa Bar Hopping Food Tour
Hoppy
Our tour takes place in Hoppy Street. This street takes the name from the beverage Hoppy. You can order hoppy in other parts of Tokyo as well, but if you go to Hoppy street, than o definitely need to try it!
Monjayaki
You probably know okonomiyaki which was originated in Osaka, but do you know there is a Tokyo version named Monjayaki? It's a little bit messier but tasty.
Shibuya Bar Hopping Food Tour
One of the highlights of this tour is going to the Shibuya Niku Yokocho or Meat Alley. Find out more about Meat Alley in this collaboration video we did.
Nikuzushi
You probably already tried shushi, but have you have tried meat sushi?
It's served in flambé style, so it's a treat to your eyes as well as your taste buds.
Osaka Bar Hopping Food Tour
Food is the highlight of this area. Osaka was given the name of "Japan's Kitchen" for good reasons. Find out the top 5 foods you should try in Osaka.
Kushiage
Kushiage, is a deep fried food on a stick that you dip on a delicious thick sauce. There only one rule for kushiage club: you only dip once.
Takoyaki
If you have some dietary restrictions of food allergies, please let us know when you book. Our guides, will help you choose the foods that suit your needs.
Each bar hopping tour has its own concept and uniqueness. In What's unique about each tour? , we tried to explain the differences among our bar hopping tours more in details.
Of course, you can always book more than one or try them all! See you soon!