Japan
Japan itineraries
Starting points for a trip we build around you.
Every itinerary we plan is made to measure: the order of the stays, the rooms, and the trains and cars between them, timed to your dates, the season and your pace. These show the kind of route we put together; tell us yours and we will draw it up.
Japan
We build it around you
Tell us your dates, your pace and who is travelling. We draw the route around them, choose the inns and rooms, arrange the trains and cars between each stay, and stay one point of contact from the first plan to the last night. Every stay at its own rate.
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Five to seven nights: one region in depth, or a first look at Tokyo and Kyoto with a ryokan between.
6 nights · Any season
A short first trip: Tokyo, a night in a Kaga ryokan, and Kyoto
Six nights for a first visit: Tokyo, then the Hokuriku Shinkansen to a ryokan in the hills of Kaga for one night of baths and kaiseki, and on to Kyoto.
5 nights · Autumn
Tokyo and Nikko in autumn: the shrines, and a lake under Mount Nantai
A short trip for a first visit: two nights in Tokyo, then the Spacia X to Nikko for a night a walk from the shrines of Toshogu and two on the shore of Lake Chuzenji, high in the national park.
6 nights · Winter
Snow country in winter: Ginzan, Uonuma and Tanigawa
A round trip from Tokyo to three hot-spring ryokan in the snow: Ginzan Onsen in Yamagata, then Osawayama in Niigata's rice country and Tanigawa Onsen below the mountains of Gunma.
7 nights · Summer
Hokkaido in summer: Hakodate, Lake Shikotsu and the valleys below Mount Yotei
North from Tokyo by Shinkansen to the port of Hakodate, then up the island to a lake in a caldera south of Sapporo and to a valley at Niseko below Mount Yotei.
7 nights · Winter
Hokkaido in winter: Niseko powder, then the lakes of Shikotsu and Akan
A trip from the ski slopes of Niseko to a lake in the caldera south of Sapporo, then a short flight east to Lake Akan.
7 nights · Any season
Eating through Kansai: Osaka, the coast of Ise-Shima and Kyoto
A trip for people who travel to eat: two nights in Osaka, the Shimakaze to the pearl bays of Ise-Shima for French cooking from Ise lobster, abalone and Matsusaka beef, and three nights in Kyoto.
7 nights · Autumn and winter
Nara, Higashiyama and Ise-Shima: the Shimakaze to Amanemu
A trip from the old capitals to the coast of the Kii peninsula: an inn in the forest behind Kasuga Taisha, a hotel on the Higashiyama hillside, then Kintetsu's Shimakaze to Amanemu above Ago Bay.
7 nights · Summer 2027
Kyushu in summer: Yufuin, a day train round the coast, and the Seven Stars to Unzen
A trip built around the Seven Stars in Kyushu, JR Kyushu's cruise train, on its summer journey to the hot springs of Unzen.
7 nights · Spring or autumn
The islands off Kyushu: Iki, Goto and Yakushima
From Fukuoka by jetfoil to Iki, then by air to Fukue in the Goto islands and south to the cedar forests of Yakushima.
6 nights · Spring or autumn
Okinawa's southern islands: Miyakojima and Taketomi
Three nights in a villa with its own pool on the north coast of Miyakojima, then a short flight to Ishigaki and the ferry to Taketomi for three nights in a village of red-tiled houses.
Ten days in Japan
Eight to ten nights: two or three regions, with a train journey or a few nights in the hot springs.
10 nights · Spring
A first trip: Tokyo, Hakone and Kyoto, and a night train by the sea
The classic first journey through Japan, from the capital to a hot-spring ryokan in the hills and on to the old capital.
9 nights · Winter
Mount Fuji and Izu: a train down the coast, the hot springs of the peninsula and two views of the mountain
From Tokyo down the Izu coast by the Saphir Odoriko, over the Amagi Pass to two inns in the hot-spring valley of central Izu, then north to the foot of Mount Fuji.
8 nights · Summer and early autumn 2027
Tohoku and Hokkaido by Shiki-shima, then a farmhouse inn in Yamagata
Three nights on Train Suite Shiki-shima, JR East's cruise train, from Ueno by Aizu and the Seikan Tunnel to Hakodate and a hot-spring night in Hokkaido, and back by Aomori and Niigata.
9 nights · Summer
Hokkaido by train in summer: Hakodate, Niseko, Otaru and Sapporo
Up the island by rail, with no car: the Shinkansen from Tokyo to the port of Hakodate, the Hakodate line to Niseko below Mount Yotei, the local train down the valley to the canal town of Otaru, and the coast line into Sapporo, flying out of New Chitose.
8 nights · Summer
The Japanese Alps in summer: Takayama, Kamikochi and the Kiso post towns
A trip west to east across the Northern Alps, from Takayama by bus into the Kamikochi valley, down to Matsumoto and the old post towns of the Kiso valley, and out by the hot-spring town of Yudanaka to Tokyo.
9 nights · Any season
Kanazawa and the craft towns: lacquer, gold leaf and Kutani porcelain, then the Hida hills
A trip from Tokyo to the Sea of Japan coast in the first-class car of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, then over the mountains through Shirakawa-go to Takayama and on to Matsumoto.
9 nights · Autumn leaves
Kyoto in depth, by neighbourhood, and two nights in Nara
Kyoto taken one district at a time: a ryokan in the old centre near Higashiyama, a hotel on the river at Arashiyama, then a garden hotel opposite Nijo Castle.
9 nights · Spring
The Inland Sea in spring: art islands, Guntû and Miyajima
A trip across the Seto Inland Sea, from the art museums of Naoshima to an island on the Shimanami Kaido and three nights at sea on Guntû.
9 nights · Spring or autumn
The Inland Sea by train and ferry: Sasayama, Kurashiki, Naoshima and Matsuyama
From Kyoto west through the castle town of Sasayama and the canal quarter of Kurashiki to the art island of Naoshima, then across to Matsuyama in Shikoku.
8 nights · Autumn
Kyushu in autumn: a dining train to Yufuin, and the spa villages of the hills
A trip through the hot-spring country of Kyushu, flying into Fukuoka and out of Kagoshima, with a castle town on the sea, two spa villages in the hills and a villa in Kirishima.
Two weeks in Japan
Eleven nights or more: room for the cities, several ryokans and the slower places between them.
13 nights · Any season
A first two weeks: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Nara and a ryokan in Hakone
Thirteen nights for a first visit, with six of them in ryokans: Tokyo, then GranClass on the Hokuriku Shinkansen to a four-suite inn in Kanazawa, four nights in Gion, two in Nara Park and two at the end in a ryokan in the Hakone hills, a car ride from the airports.
13 nights · Autumn
Two weeks in autumn: Tokyo, Nikko, Kyoto and the Inland Sea
A route that follows the autumn leaves south and west: a garden hotel in Tokyo, the Spacia X to the shrines of Nikko, then Kyoto by Nanzen-ji and Arashiyama, a restaurant inn in Kurashiki and Shigeru Ban's villas on the Inland Sea facing Miyajima.
13 nights · Any season
Two weeks of ryokans: the hot springs of Izu, then Fukui and Kaga
For a client who has seen Tokyo and Kyoto: five inns in two regions and no city at all.