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. Then the Yamagata Shinkansen to an inn rebuilt around an old farmhouse at Akayu Onsen, for its baths and the food of the Okitama basin.
- Nights
- 8
- Stays
- 3
- When
- Summer and early autumn 2027
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.
Already have an itinerary in mind?
Have it reviewed for USD 85The trip, leg by leg
1 · 2 nightsThe Okura TokyoThe rebuilt Okura in Toranomon, with its 1962 lobby put back, for two quiet nights before the train; Ueno, where Shiki-shima leaves on the Monday, is about 20 minutes by car.
2 · Cruise trainTrain Suite Shiki-shimaThe three-night journey goes by Aizu-Wakamatsu and the Seikan Tunnel to Hakodate, spends its second night at a ryokan at Noboribetsu or Lake Shikotsu, chosen when applying, and returns by Aomori and Murakami to Ueno on the Thursday evening.
3 · 1 nightThe Tokyo Station HotelIn the red-brick station building, ten minutes from Ueno, for one night after the train; the Tsubasa leaves from below in the morning and reaches Akayu in about two and a quarter hours, for the inn's shuttle at 14:30 or 15:30.
4 · 2 nightsYamagata The TakinamiA 1915 inn rebuilt around a 350-year-old headman's farmhouse, each room with its own open-air bath, for dinner from Okitama vegetables and Yonezawa beef with Yamagata sake; the inn's shuttle leaves for Akayu at 10:00 or 10:50, and the Tsubasa reaches Tokyo in about two and a quarter hours.
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.
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.
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.
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.