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. It crosses to Kyoto by the Sea of Japan side and comes back along the Tokaido.
- Nights
- 13
- Stays
- 5
- When
- Any season
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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Have it reviewed for USD 85The trip, leg by leg
1 · 3 nightsThe Capitol Hotel TokyuA Kengo Kuma hotel above Hie Shrine in Nagatacho, reached underground from Tameike-Sanno station, for three nights to find your feet in the city; Tokyo station, where the Kagayaki leaves, is about 10 minutes by car.
2 · Day trainMaedaAkihiko, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsGranClassGranClass on the Kagayaki, with an attendant and a light meal, reaches Kanazawa in about two and a half hours; the inn is six or seven minutes by taxi from the Kenrokuen (east) exit.
3 · 2 nightsTsurukoFour suites in a Kanazawa ryotei of 1965, opened as an inn in November 2025, each with its own open-air hot-spring bath and a dining room where the omakase kaiseki is served; Omicho market and Kenrokuen are within ten minutes' walk. The Hokuriku Shinkansen to Tsuruga and the Thunderbird reach Kyoto in a little over two hours.
4 · 4 nightsImperial Hotel, KyotoFifty-five rooms in the middle of Gion, inside the kept walls of the Yasaka Kaikan, a theatre of 1936 beside the Gion Kobu Kaburenjo, opened in March 2026; Higashiyama and Kiyomizu-dera are on foot. Kyoto station is about 15 minutes by taxi, and the Kintetsu limited express reaches Nara in about 35 minutes.
5 · 2 nightsFufu NaraThirty suites by Kengo Kuma in the Takabatake corner of Nara Park, each with its own open-air hot-spring bath, for Todai-ji, Kasuga Taisha and the deer, with Nara kaiseki at dinner; Kintetsu Nara station is about five minutes by taxi. Back through Kyoto, the Shinkansen reaches Odawara in about two hours.
6 · 2 nightsKinnotake SengokuharaA nine-room ryokan for adults (12 and over) in a bamboo grove at Sengokuhara, each room with an outdoor bath of milky Owakudani water and kaiseki served in the room, for Lake Ashi and the museums of the hills; the inn sends a car from Odawara, and to Haneda or Narita at the end, booked three days ahead.
Make it yours
This is one way to do it. We change the stays, their order and the nights in each to suit you, move it to the season you want, and plan the days between: the trains and cars, the restaurants worth the detour, a quieter night where the route needs one. Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and our team in Japan will draw up your own.
Other sample trips
Each one a starting point: we build the trip around your dates, your pace and who is travelling.
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.
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.
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.