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. It is for people who want to see Japan's crafts made: lacquer, gold leaf and porcelain in Kaga and Kanazawa, woodwork in Hida, folk craft in Matsumoto.
- Nights
- 9
- Stays
- 4
- 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 · 2 nightsHoshinoya TokyoA ryokan in a tower in Otemachi, walked barefoot on tatami, with a hot-spring bath on the top floor; Tokyo station, where the Kagayaki leaves for the Hokuriku coast, is ten minutes on foot.
2 · Day trainMaedaAkihiko, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsGranClassTwo Kagayaki a day each way stop at Kaga-Onsen, about 2 hours 45 minutes from Tokyo with a light meal served in the 18-seat car; on the others, change at Kanazawa for the 15-minute run on. The inn's shuttle meets the train for the 15-minute drive.
3 · 3 nightsBeniya MukayuChosen over Kayotei for its shuttle from the station and the open-air bath in every room; Yamashiro has its own Kutani kiln site and Yamanaka's lacquer turners are next door, and Kanazawa's gold-leaf workshops in Higashi Chaya are 15 minutes away by Shinkansen. On the way out, the Nohi bus from Kanazawa station reaches Takayama in about 2 hours 15 minutes, with a stop among the farmhouses of Shirakawa-go.
4 · 2 nightsWanosatoHida farmhouses moved to the woods by the Miya river, for Takayama's old merchant streets, its morning markets and the carpenters' work of Hida; the inn's car to Takayama, then the reserved Nohi and Alpico bus over the mountains, reaches Matsumoto in about 2 hours 20 minutes, in time for the inn's 15:15 or 16:30 shuttle.
5 · 2 nightsTobira Onsen MyojinkanAn inn on its own at 1,050 m in the forest east of Matsumoto, for the castle and the folk-craft shops of the town below; the inn's shuttle returns to Matsumoto, from where the Azusa reaches Shinjuku in about 2 hours 40 minutes.
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.
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.
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7 nights · Autumn and winter
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