Should I Book My Japan Trip Through Klook?

Klook is a Hong Kong-based online travel company with a strong presence in Japan. Travelers can book hotels, transport, tours, and experiences through them.

Klook has become particularly popular over the last five years or so as the Japanese travel boom has taken off, but if you read online forums such as Reddit, you’ll see mixed opinions on whether using Klook is worthwhile.

The main argument against is that Klook is just a middleman, and you can book all of their products and services directly with vendors. One of the big arguments for is that they make it easy to book, and they sometimes have discounts. Several members of our team have used Klook in their personal lives, with generally favorable opinions.

Note: Klook partners with numerous influencers and travel blogs to promote their offerings (disclosure: this site receives both affiliate revenue and direct advertising revenue from Klook, but this article is not meant to be an ad).

What are the benefits of using Klook?

• 1. Klook is a one-stop shop, so you can easily book all your transport, activities, and accommodations in one place.
• 2. All prices are displayed and settled in your home currency.
• 3. You can use your credit card from home (Japanese businesses are sometimes terrible at accepting non-Japanese credit cards)
• 4. Klook sometimes runs discount campaigns.

Let’s take a look at the fields in which Klook operates, and assess whether it’s worth using them.

Rail tickets

Klook is one of the few online travel companies that offers point to-point rail tickets on the high-speed Shinkansen.

For rail tickets on Klook, they effectively buy the ticket on your behalf and then send you the QR code from the operator — which can be used to ride the train. This means you don’t have an official contract with the rail company, so if you turn up at a JR station office with a Klook receipt looking for a refund, you’ll be out of luck.

Pro tip: We have a guide explaining how to use the official channels to buy bullet-train tickets.

An advantage of Klook is that it’s not an arcane website like the official Ekinet or SmartEX websites. The complexity with these sites begins with knowing which one to use.

Depending on your starting and destination stations, you use either JR East’s Ekinet or JR Central’s SmartEx. In the case of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, this changes halfway along the line. Not at all confusing.

Costs

Two further differences between Klook and official ticketing sites:

• Seats with oversized-baggage areas are sometimes only available through official channels.
• If you book early, you can get up to 30% off with Hayatoku on SmartEX or Tokudane with Ekinet.

Tours and experiences

Klook has a huge range of easily searchable tours and experiences, from walking tours of Asakusa through to the controversial street go-karts. For these, Klook is an agent for the tour provider.

Typically there is a set price for the tour, from which the agent collects a 20 to 30% margin. Usually, these prices are standard across the board, but the seller can alter the price as they wish. This means you may find different prices on different sellers.

Occasionally, tour providers may charge higher prices to OTAs to favor direct booking. This is rarely the case though, as tour providers appreciate the volume that online travel companies like Klook can bring them.

One issue common to all online travel agents is that tour providers often have poor inventory management, so cancellations after you’ve paid are far from unusual.

Hotels

Hotels are a relatively new category for Klook, but they seem to have good access to hotel inventory in Japan.

The following are sample hotel bookings from 30 to 31 August 2025, for a twin room with double occupancy.

Klook

All Day Place Shibuya: ¥28,861
Sequence Miyashita Park: ¥31,176
Remm Roppongi: ¥16,290

Booking.com

All Day Place Shibuya: ¥35,269
Sequence Miyashita Park: ¥41,580
Remm Roppongi: ¥21,850

So for accommodations, Klook is at least competitive, and if you do some comparative research, you might get a good deal.

Tickets and attraction admission

This is more or less the same as tours and activities. One difference is that sometimes Klook partners with attractions or event organizers, so that it is an official ticket provider. In these cases, Klook has control over the inventory, so there is no risk of missing out.

Is Klook legit?

Klook was founded in Hong Kong in 2014, and it has had a strong presence in Japan since about 2016. It has received hundreds of millions of dollars in venture funding from the likes of SoftBank and it is considered a “unicorn”. What this means practically is that they’re probably not about to go bankrupt.

One thing we couldn’t figure out is whether they are considered an official travel agency in Japan. While that is not necessary, they told us they have a “travel license in Japan” — but have not categorically stated that they have a travel agent’s licence. They also do not appear on the Japan Association of Travel Agents’ official website. So if you are wanting to book your trip through an official travel agency, that might be something to consider.

What are some alternatives to Klook?

If you are prepared for the pain, you can book most things that Klook provides direct with the supplier. If you’re looking for similar sites, Viator, Headout, and Rakuten Travel Experiences all offer similar travel services and products.

While we do our best to ensure it’s correct, information is subject to change.