🇯🇵Japan

Map

Stops

• Tokyo — where the trip starts and ends
  • Shibuya & Harajuku — the scramble crossing, youth fashion, Meiji Shrine
  • Shinjuku — skyline bars, Golden Gai alleys, Gyoen garden
  • Asakusa & Ueno - MAYBE REMOVE UENO FROM HERE — old Tokyo: Senso-ji, Skytree, Ueno Park
  • Yanaka — low-rise old quarter of lanes and temples
  • Akihabara — electric town — electronics, arcades, anime
  • Ginza & Marunouchi — upmarket shopping, Tokyo Station, Imperial Palace
  • Azabudai & Roppongi — teamLab Borderless and Tokyo Tower
• Osaka
  • Okayama & the Kibiji cycling road — day trip: a flat bike ride past shrines in the countryside, less touristy
• Hiroshima — the Peace Memorial city and gateway to Miyajima
  • Miyajima — day trip: the floating torii and Itsukushima Shrine
• Kyoto — the old imperial capital — temples, shrines, geisha districts
  • Nara — day trip: a giant Buddha and bowing deer
• Kanazawa — Edo-era gardens and preserved samurai and geisha districts
• Shirakawa-go — stop on the drive between Kanazawa and Takayama
• Takayama — an old castle town in the mountains
• Matsumoto — Matsumoto Castle, stop on the drive back toward Tokyo
• Fuji Five Lakes (Kawaguchiko) — Mt Fuji base — stay the night for the more chances of a clear view
  • Lake Kawaguchi
• Nikko — day trip from Tokyo
• Kamakura — day trip from Tokyo

Day by day

1. Day 1

   Arrival in Tokyo

   Land at Haneda or Narita and get into the city — Haneda is closer (monorail or Keikyu line, about 30–45 minutes); from Narita it's the Narita Express or Keisei Skyliner, about an hour. Pick up an IC card on arrival (see the practical notes). Check in, then take it easy on the first evening: a walk around Shibuya, the Scramble Crossing and the Hachiko statue, and dinner nearby. Don't over-plan day one — you'll be jet-lagged.

   🚇 Skip the airport taxi. The train into town is faster and a fraction of the price, and Tokyo's network is easy to use with an IC card.

2. Day 2

   Tokyo — west side

   A day on the west side. Start in Harajuku: Takeshita Street for the teen-fashion chaos, then the calmer Cat Street and the boutiques of Omotesando. Walk into Meiji Shrine, a forest shrine in the middle of the city. In the afternoon move to Shinjuku: the free observation decks at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the lantern-lit alleys of Omoide Yokocho, the tiny bars of Golden Gai, and the Godzilla head over Kabukicho. End with a drink over the city.

   🌆 For the famous overhead shot of the Shibuya crossing, Shibuya Sky (the open rooftop deck) is the best view — book a sunset slot online ahead, it sells out.

3. Day 3

   Tokyo — old Tokyo

   Start in Asakusa at Senso-ji, Tokyo's oldest temple, approached up the Nakamise shopping street — go early, before the crowds. Look across the river to the Tokyo Skytree. Detour to Kappabashi, the kitchenware street. Then walk the old lanes of Yanaka — Yanaka Ginza, its quiet temples and the cemetery. Finish in Akihabara after dark for the electric-town neon, arcades and anime shops.

   🔪 Kappabashi is where Tokyo's restaurants buy their gear — a good place for a proper Japanese kitchen knife, usually better value than the tourist shops.

4. Day 4

   Tokyo — central + teamLab

   A central day. Walk the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, then Tokyo Station for its restored brick facade — inside, Character Street and Ramen Street are good for lunch. Browse Ginza: the Uniqlo and Muji flagships and the Kabukiza theatre. In the late afternoon head to Azabudai Hills for teamLab Borderless, the immersive digital-art museum, then up nearby Tokyo Tower for the night view.

   🎟️ Book teamLab Borderless online ahead — timed entry sells out, and wear something you can move in (mirrored floors). It's at Azabudai Hills now, not the old Odaiba site; the barefoot, wade-through-water version, teamLab Planets, is a separate museum over in Toyosu.

5. Day 5

   Tokyo → Osaka

   Take the Shinkansen west to Osaka — about 2.5 hours to Shin-Osaka on the fastest trains; reserve a seat. Drop your bags and head straight out to Dotonbori after dark: the canal, the running Glico sign, and street food — takoyaki, okonomiyaki, kushikatsu. Wander the covered Shinsaibashi arcade and the lanes of Namba.

   🍢 Osaka is Japan's kitchen — eat in the street. The standing kushikatsu (crumbed skewers) bars in Shinsekai are the classic; one dip in the communal sauce, no double-dipping.

6. Day 6

   Osaka — or the Kibiji cycling day trip

   A full day in Osaka: Osaka Castle and its park, the food stalls of Kuromon Market, and the retro Shinsekai district under the Tsutenkaku tower. With energy to spare, ride up the Umeda Sky Building for the view. Alternatively, take the train out to Okayama (about 45 minutes by Shinkansen) and ride the flat Kibiji cycling road — a half-day loop past old shrines, temples and ancient burial mounds through the rice fields.

   🚲 The Kibiji route is easy and mostly flat, with rental bikes near the stations at either end — a calm, rural contrast to the cities, and best on a clear day.

7. Day 7

   Osaka → Hiroshima

   Shinkansen on to Hiroshima — about 1.5 hours from Shin-Osaka. Spend the afternoon at the Peace Memorial Park: the skeletal A-Bomb Dome, the Children's Peace Monument, and the Peace Memorial Museum. In the evening try Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, layered with noodles rather than mixed like Osaka's.

   🕊️ Give the Peace Memorial Museum real time and go in with the right frame of mind — it's harrowing, and it's the reason you came to Hiroshima.

8. Day 8

   Day trip: Miyajima

   A day trip to the island of Miyajima. Take the tram or train to Miyajimaguchi, then the ferry across (about 10 minutes). The famous 'floating' torii gate of Itsukushima Shrine appears to stand in the sea at high tide. Walk up to Daisho-in temple with its rows of little capped statues, and take the ropeway (or hike) up Mt Misen for the view over the Inland Sea. Tame deer roam the town. Eat the grilled oysters and the maple-leaf cakes (momiji manju).

   🌊 The torii only 'floats' at high tide — check the tide times before you go, or you'll be looking at it stranded on the mud. A small island visitor levy is collected on top of the ferry fare.

9. Day 9

   Hiroshima → Kyoto

   Shinkansen back east to Kyoto, about 2 hours. Drop your bags and ease in: the food stalls of Nishiki Market for lunch, then the old streets of Higashiyama and Gion, Kyoto's geisha district — the Yasaka Pagoda, Hanami-koji lane and the canal-side Shirakawa. At dusk you might spot a geiko or maiko on her way to work.

   📷 Gion's private lanes have had real problems with tourists harassing geisha — some alleys are now off-limits and photographing geiko without consent is banned. Stick to the public streets and be respectful.

10. Day 10

    Kyoto — Arashiyama + Fushimi Inari

    Start early at Fushimi Inari Taisha: thousands of vermilion torii gates wind up the hillside. You can climb the full loop to the top of Mt Inari (2–3 hours round trip) or turn back partway. Then cross the city to Arashiyama for the bamboo grove, the riverside, and Tenryu-ji temple and its garden.

    ⛩️ Fushimi Inari is free and open around the clock — get there at or before sunrise and the lower gates are almost empty. By mid-morning it's shoulder-to-shoulder.

11. Day 11

    Kyoto — Higashiyama temples + tea ceremony

    A temple day in eastern Kyoto. Climb the lanes of Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka — old wooden shopfronts, and a Starbucks inside a traditional townhouse — up to Kiyomizu-dera, the big wooden temple on stilts above the city. Visit Kodai-ji and walk through Maruyama Park. In the afternoon sit down for a tea ceremony, and in the evening a sushi omakase counter if you're treating yourselves.

    🍵 Book the tea ceremony and any omakase or kaiseki dinner well ahead — the good small places are tiny and reservation-only.

12. Day 12

    Day trip: Nara

    A day trip to Nara, about 45 minutes by train from Kyoto. The bowing deer roam Nara Park freely and you can buy crackers to feed them. See Todai-ji, whose great hall is one of the world's largest wooden buildings and houses a giant bronze Buddha, and the lantern-lined paths of Kasuga Taisha. Stop at Nakatanidou to watch the lightning-fast mochi pounding.

    🦌 The deer are wild, not pets — they'll head-butt for crackers and snatch maps and tickets out of your hands. Bow to them and they'll often bow back.

13. Day 13

    Kyoto → Kanazawa

    Head north to Kanazawa, about 2 hours: the Thunderbird limited express to Tsuruga, then a change to the Hokuriku Shinkansen — there's no longer a direct train since the line was extended in 2024. Spend the afternoon in Kenrokuen, one of Japan's three great landscape gardens, and the Higashi Chaya district of old teahouses, some serving tea dusted with gold leaf.

    🤔 Short on time? This is where you cut. For a two-week trip, skip the Kanazawa–Takayama loop entirely — go straight back to Tokyo from Kyoto and spend the days saved on Tokyo and its day trips. You lose the mountains but keep the classic route.

14. Day 14

    Kanazawa

    A full day in Kanazawa. Walk the grounds of Kanazawa Castle and the Nagamachi samurai district, where you can go inside the Nomura family house and its garden. The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art is worth it if you like modern art. Eat at Omicho Market — Kanazawa is seafood country, with sea urchin and crab in season.

    🍣 Omicho Market is the lunch move — kaisendon (seafood rice bowls) at the stalls, best earlier in the day before they sell out.

15. Day 15

    Kanazawa → Shirakawa-go → Takayama

    This leg is easiest with a rental car — pick one up in Kanazawa. Drive to Shirakawa-go (about 1 hour 15), the UNESCO village of steep thatched gassho-zukuri farmhouses; the Shiroyama viewpoint looks over the whole valley, and you can go inside houses like the Wada House. Carry on to Takayama (about another hour) for the night.

    🚗 You can do this stretch by bus instead — Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go and Takayama all connect — but a car gives you the freedom for the next two days through the Alps to Matsumoto and Fuji. You need an International Driving Permit to hire one, so sort it before you fly.

16. Day 16

    Takayama

    A day in Takayama, an old castle town in the mountains. Wander the dark-wood merchant houses of the Sanmachi old town, lined with sake breweries — look for the cedar ball (sugidama) hanging outside. Browse the riverside Miyagawa morning market. This is Hida beef country, so have the beef — grilled, as nigiri, or in a bun from a street stall.

    🍶 The Sanmachi breweries run small tastings for a few hundred yen — a good way to work out what you like, since Hida's mountain water makes a clean, crisp sake.

17. Day 17

    Takayama → Matsumoto → Fuji Five Lakes

    A driving day through the Alps, around 4 hours at the wheel. Break it at Matsumoto to see Matsumoto Castle — one of Japan's few surviving original keeps, black-walled and ringed by a moat. Then drive on to Fujikawaguchiko by Lake Kawaguchi and stay the night. Waking up at the lake gives you the best chance of a clear Mt Fuji.

    🗻 Mt Fuji is shy — often lost in cloud, and clearest early morning and in the colder months. Staying overnight at the lake stacks the odds; don't pin the whole trip on one glimpse.

18. Day 18

    Kawaguchiko → Tokyo

    Take the morning by Lake Kawaguchi for the classic Mt Fuji reflection — Oishi Park on the north shore is the postcard spot, and the Mt Fuji Panoramic Ropeway climbs to a lookout. Then return the car and head back to Tokyo: the direct Fuji Excursion limited express reaches Shinjuku in about 2 hours, or there's a highway bus. Back to your Tokyo base for the last stretch.

    🚆 The Fuji Excursion is reserved-seat only and sells out in peak seasons — book as soon as you can. If it's full, a local train via Otsuki or the Shinjuku highway bus both work.

19. Day 19

    Day trip: Nikko

    A day trip north to Nikko, about 2 hours from Tokyo. The big draw is Toshogu, the lavishly carved shrine complex set in towering cedar forest — the see-hear-speak-no-evil monkeys and the sleeping cat are here. Cross the red Shinkyo bridge, and if there's time walk the Kanmangafuchi Abyss, a riverside path lined with rows of stone statues.

    🤔 Our honest take: Nikko is a long out-and-back, and the shrines plus the mountain lake and waterfalls (Lake Chuzenji, Kegon Falls) are too much for one day. We'd pick the shrines and leave it at that — and if the weather's poor, swap this for more Tokyo.

20. Day 20

    Day trip: Kamakura

    A day trip to the seaside town of Kamakura, about an hour from Tokyo. The Great Buddha at Kotoku-in is a 13th-century bronze giant sitting out in the open. Nearby Hasedera is a hillside temple with sea views (and hydrangeas in June). Walk the Komachi snack street up to the main shrine, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, and finish on Yuigahama beach.

    🏖️ Kamakura is a gentler day after the temple-heavy stretch — quieter, by the sea, and a good way to slow down before the flight home.

21. Day 21

    Tokyo — last areas + departure

    A final morning in Tokyo for whatever you missed: the lucky-cat temple Gotokuji, the vintage shops of Shimokitazawa, or one more area from the list above. Pick up last gifts — the Don Quijote stores are open late and stock everything. Then out to Haneda or Narita; leave plenty of time, the airport run is an hour-plus.

    🛍️ Last-day shopping: KitKats and snacks from any convenience store, a knife from Kappabashi, and tax-free electronics at Bic Camera or Yodobashi (bring your passport).

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