This Week @ PacSet: Fantastic Festivals For 2026
10 days of sale left!
Only ten days remain in our “PacSet vs. The Robots” sale! If you’re new or need a refresher: we think the best journeys are those that have a human touch, not the ones that are the result of asking Ch*t GeePeeTee where you should go in Japan. In honor of the theme, everyone who signs up for a PacSet trip between now and December 31 gets $100 off their trip AND a limited-edition T-shirt featuring our mascot Kippu taking out a city-destroying robot, created by the incomparable Juliana Chen. Look at how awesome this thing is, friends:
The final version of the shirt will be in glorious color as well. We aren’t gonna let Kippu be out there unless he’s in his signature orange, ya know?
SPOTLIGHT: FESTIVALS FOR 2026
If you’re wondering what kind of trip to take in the new year, we have an idea: why not do something that foregoes the usual tourist haunts and go to the kind of event that the locals look forward to all year?
We love featuring festivals on our trips, and 2026 is no exception. Today, we’re spotlighting four of our festival-centric offerings for next year that we’re really excited for. First up: cherry blossoms!
SPRING SPECIAL 2026
March 12-20, 2026 • Confirmed to Depart!
The Festival: The Cherry Blossom Festival in Tahara
The Details: Japan knows you love the cherry blossoms. That’s why the prices for hotels in Tokyo from the end of March to early April are worse than being forced to listen to RFK Jr. sing the entirety of Pink Floyd’s The Wall at a karaoke bar. And besides, do you want to be crammed into the city with every other TikTok-fueled tourist trying to file into Ueno Park? Nah, we didn’t think so.
Our brand new Spring Special combines the fun of four days in Osaka and Kyoto, with the big finish being two hot spring resorts and the chance to enjoy some of Japan’s earliest blossoming-blossoms before the tourist hordes arrive. It’s a great option for first time travelers and returnees alike, with time to explore the city while also kick back and relax in some places that are so gorgeous they will take your breath away.
Sound good? Then click that link right here and come see some blossoms with us!
FROM THE CITY TO THE LAKE 2026
July 15-22, 2026 • Open for Signups
The Festival: Gion Festival in Kyoto
The Details: Are you the sort of person who likes going to giant, epic parties? Do you want to experience an event so community-defining that it’s brought in revelers from across Japan for centuries (Coachella could never)? Then point your compass west to Kyoto and join us for From the City to the Lake - a compact version of our yearly sojourn to Kyoto’s breathtaking Gion Festival.
If you’ve never heard of the Gion Festival, here’s the deal: Kyoto’s various neighborhood groups have massive floats that parade through the streets towards Yasaka Shrine near the end of the festival in one of the largest float processions in Japan. We’re going to the festival before that to snack on street food and visit – and go inside – these floats. In 2025, we got to duck into multiple floats, do a mini tea ceremony in front of someone’s house, and get screamed at by someone selling us delicious dumplings, which were so good that we helped scream out advertisements for them as a thank you (#WorthIt).
“But what does the Lake part of the trip name mean?” Well, voice in my head, it refers to Lake Shinji* in Shimane Prefecture, on the shores of which lie the calming waters of Tamatsukuri Onsen. We felt that a journey to the busy streets of Kyoto ought to be followed by a little down time in a slightly more chill locale where we can relax and unwind. We can’t think of a better place to do that than a cute hot spring town like Tamatsukuri, where you’ll be able to get a spa treatment and visit cool local sites like the breathtaking castle in Matsue City.
If you’re thinking this sounds like the party for you, then sign up below! Conversely, maybe you’re also thinking, “Gee, they couldn’t have come up with a better name for this trip than ‘From the City to the Lake’?” Both of those thoughts are valid. We only have so much creativity we can pour into these trip names. Seriously though, join us! You won’t regret it.
*Evangelion fans: No, not that Shinji.
SUMMER MATSURI 2026
July 30-Aug. 9, 2026 • Open for Signups
The Festivals: Hakodate Port Festival, Aomori Nebuta Festival, Hirosaki Neputa Festival, Akita Kanto Festival
The Details: Yeah, there are four festivals on this one! FOUR! And guess what - they’re all famous, which is why the cost of this one is a wee bit higher. Is it worth it? Oh yeah.
For the uninitiated: “Matsuri” means “Festival”, and appropriately, festivals are the heart and soul of this one. This is the kind of journey where you will find yourself in the streets of many gorgeous (yet woefully underrated) cities, hanging with revelers from every walk of life who will probably want to share a beer with you (pro tip: if you like beer, you should). Fireworks and parades are on the menu in the port city of Hakodate for their yearly port festival, which is where this one kicks off. From there, we head into Aomori Prefecture, where we’ll visit two cities where illuminated floats will fill the streets every single night of our time there. Amazing local street food? Check. Taiko drumming? Check. You having the time of your life? CHECK.
After all that, your phone’s storage/camera’s SD card will be at capacity with pictures and begging for mercy, but find a place to download those pics, because we aren’t done yet! We’re also going to Akita’s Kanto Festival, where the streets are filled with locals that balance five-and-six story tall lantern poles on their hips, hands, and foreheads to parade them through the streets. You might even have the chance to do it yourself! The journey ends in Tokyo, where you can chill, shop, or do whatever stuff the internet tells all the other western tourists to do, which I guarantee you won’t be nearly as cool as any of the stuff I’ve outlined here.
If you want a vacation that will generate more, “whoah, you did WHAT?” reactions from your friends than that trip to D**ney World your boss Marv is planning for his family*, this is the journey for you. Ready to sign up? Right this way, friends:
*(Hey, didn’t he just go there last year? Geez Marv, live a little!)
©Chichibu CVB
JAPAN HOLIDAY 2026
December 1-12, 2026 • Open for Signups
The Festival: Chichibu Festival, Koga Lantern Festival, Ashikaga Winter Illuminations
The Details: Okay, so maybe you don’t want to visit Japan without doing the whole “Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka” thing. If the standard Japan trip to those places like an ice cream cone, Japan Holiday is like a super deluxe sundae. It’s got the Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka ice cream that you want, but it also comes with the toppings of local festivals, holiday illuminations, and unique experiences that will make you forget that resolution that you made to eat healthier this year.
Easily our most subversive urban Japan trip ever, “J-Hol” follows up the standard Ueno Park/Akihabara/Shibuya-esque stops you expect with festivals where lantern carts parade past hot springs and inns, lights turn gardens into a Winter Wonderland, and locals eat mochi while massive lanterns joust each other in the night sky. Yes, joust. If that sounds like it would be a crazy thing to see live, guess what – it is! Last time we went to this festival, we cheered so much that I’m pretty sure we would’ve been mistaken for really intense sports fans if the whole lantern thing wasn’t happening.
We’ll also be staying in Kobe, from which we’ll visit Osaka and Kyoto. Your room comes with a nice balcony from which you can view holiday lights across the bay, which is great way to wind down after seeing some of the world’s most famous temples and shrines. As a nice bonus, we can promise you that if you still have some holiday shopping to do, Osaka and Kobe have a ton of unique goodies that will make even the most frosty family member melt into a puddle of joy on Christmas morning.
There’s no better way to avoid that post-Black Friday stress than by going to a country where Black Friday doesn’t exist (you will hear “Last Christmas” by Wham! playing in every conbini though. And that’s okay, right?). Come along for the ride and make your 2026 yuletide one you’ll never forget!
As always, if you are interested in any of these trips but have questions, are unsure, or want to tell us how much you appreciated the oddball jokes and pop culture references we just stuffed into those trip descriptions – just drop us a line! Use the contact form here or just email info at pacsettravel dot com!
SEASONS GREETINGS 🎄
It’s the holidays! We hope that wherever you are, you’re having a fabulous holiday and that you get all the gifts/treats/cocoa you want this year. <3
We want to send a special shout out to the guests who joined us in 2025 and made this year such a fantastic one. We are very, very blessed to have you all as PacSet alumni. THANK YOU for your continued support; it’s the best gift we could ask for.
In keeping with a PacSet tradition, we’d like to finish the year like we do every year: by going over all the silly names we gave to the buses we used on our trips this year. You see, when we hire a bus company, they let us put a “group name” on the front of the bus, and we can make that name whatever we want. A few years ago, we started having… a little too much fun with that idea. This year’s dumb/silly/potentially brilliant bus names were:
JUNMAI DAIGIN-GO (For Sake Secret Deluxe; “Junmai Daiginjo” refers to a type of Sake)
NOT A HORSE
JUJUBE EXPRESS
MONSIEUR CHUNGUS
LABU-BUS
BUS-T A MOVE
We are a professional travel company that takes our job very seriously, but we intend to continue the whole “bus name” thing in 2026 because it’s just really, really fun to do.
NEXT TIME: More news + one last look back at 2025.
