Neon Tokyo, temple Kyoto and hot-spring inns, all joined by trains that run to the minute.
Japan rewards planning more than most places. Trains, hotels and restaurants run with precision, and a trip built around them feels effortless. Leave it to chance in cherry blossom season and you will spend it in queues.
A first trip usually runs Tokyo, a night or two in a hot-spring ryokan in Hakone, then four nights in Kyoto with Nara as a day out. Second visits go further: the art islands of the Seto Inland Sea, the Kiso Valley post towns, or powder snow in Hokkaido.
The honest caveat is crowds and cost at peak times. Kyoto in early April and late November is very busy and hotels rise sharply. We plan dawn starts at Fushimi Inari and quieter temples such as Honen-in, and forward your luggage between hotels so you travel light on the trains.
The experiences we plan most often, with the months they are at their best.
Kyoto has hundreds of temples, so choose a few and go early. Kinkaku-ji, Ryoan-ji and its rock garden sit together in the northwest; Ginkaku-ji and the Philosopher’s Path in the east. In the evening, walk the lanes of Gion and Pontocho. A private guide for one day repays itself in context and in avoided queues.
A ryokan is a traditional inn: tatami rooms, a multi-course kaiseki dinner in your yukata and a hot-spring bath before bed. Hakone, 90 minutes from Tokyo, has a good choice, with Mount Fuji views on clear winter mornings. Choose a room with a private outdoor bath if you are shy of communal bathing. One or two nights is plenty.
Tokyo is a city of villages. Spend a morning in Asakusa around Senso-ji, an afternoon in the backstreets of Yanaka, and an evening in the tiny bars of Shibuya or Golden Gai. Tsukiji outer market is best for breakfast. A food guide for the first night helps with menus and seating etiquette.
In the Seto Inland Sea, Naoshima and its neighbours have turned fishing villages into galleries. Tadao Ando’s museums are dug into the hillsides, Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkin sits on a pier, and the Teshima Art Museum is a single concrete shell with water trickling across the floor. Stay on the island overnight to see it after the day-trippers leave.
Blossom usually reaches Tokyo and Kyoto in late March or early April and lasts about a week at its best, so we build a little slack into the dates. Autumn colour arrives in Kyoto from mid-November. Both seasons are lovely and crowded: we book hotels a year out and plan quieter gardens alongside the famous ones.
Hokkaido, the northern island, is famous for light, dry snow from December to March. Niseko is the best-known resort, with ski-in hotels and good English spoken; Furano is quieter. Pair skiing with the Sapporo Snow Festival in February or a few nights of hot springs. Book Christmas and the February half-term early.
Mix city hotels with at least one ryokan. In Tokyo, stay in Marunouchi for the trains or Toranomon and Roppongi for views. In Kyoto, look near Higashiyama for walking to temples. Ryokan in Hakone or the Kiso Valley are the calm between cities.
Large, calm suites on the top floors of an Otemachi tower, a short walk from Tokyo Station and the Imperial Palace Gardens.
Hot spring suites and villas above Ago Bay in Ise-Shima National Park, close to the Ise Grand Shrine.
A 16-room ryokan in the Yamashiro Onsen hot spring town, where every room has its own open-air bath facing the garden.
A hot spring ryokan in the former summer villa of an Imperial prince, high in the Hakone hills and an easy run from Tokyo.
A 25-room riverside ryokan up the Oi River from Arashiyama, reached by the hotel’s own boat.
Fifteen villas in the forest near Hanazono, each with its own indoor and outdoor hot spring bath, and a northern take on kaiseki.
Sample routes to start from. Every one can be changed.
Four nights high above Tokyo, two in a ryokan in the Hakone hills with its own hot spring baths, then four on the river in Arashiyama for Kyoto. Your luggage goes ahead by courier, so every train is easy.
Spring and autumn are the classic seasons: cherry blossom in late March and early April, maples in November. Both are mild and dry, and both fill hotels a year ahead. May and October are the quieter alternatives with similar weather.
The rainy season runs through June into July, then summer is hot and humid, with typhoons most likely in August and September. Winter is underrated: clear skies, Fuji in full view, few visitors in Kyoto and snow in Hokkaido.
A 13-night classic by bullet train, with one ryokan night and time on Naoshima. Best in spring or autumn. 13 nights.
Arrive at Haneda and settle in. Guided days in Asakusa and Yanaka, a food evening in Shibuya and a morning at Tsukiji.
Train to the mountains with your cases forwarded ahead. Lake Ashi, the open-air museum and a kaiseki dinner at your ryokan.
Bullet train to Kyoto. Temples at dawn, a day trip to the deer and great Buddha of Nara, and evenings in Gion.
Train and ferry to the art island. Museums by day and a quiet night after the last ferry leaves.
A last night of street food in Dotonbori before flying home from Kansai or back via Tokyo.
Practical notes checked against their sources. For entry and safety, the FCDO advice for Japan (opens in a new tab) is always the authority.
British Airways and Japan Airlines fly direct from Heathrow to Tokyo Haneda in about 14 hours. Haneda is far closer to central Tokyo than Narita.
UK passport holders can currently visit visa-free for short tourist stays. Read the FCDO entry requirements (opens in a new tab) before you fly.
Read the FCDO entry requirements for Japan (opens in a new tab)
Healthcare is excellent but costly for visitors, so travel insurance matters. See TravelHealthPro (opens in a new tab). Summer heat is serious: drink water and slow down.
Japan still leans on cash. FCDO notes some UK cards are not accepted, but cash machines at 7-Eleven stores and post offices usually work. Keep yen for temples, taxis and small restaurants.
Mobile coverage is excellent. Prepaid data SIMs are sold at airports and electronics stores, but an eSIM set up before you fly is simpler.
Do not tip in restaurants, taxis or hotels. The one exception is a private guide or ryokan attendant, and then discreetly, in an envelope.
It depends on your route. For a Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka trip, individual bullet train tickets are often similar or cheaper. The pass pays for itself on longer journeys, such as adding Hiroshima, Kanazawa or Hokkaido. We price both for your exact itinerary and arrange seats and luggage forwarding either way.
Go early and go sideways. Visit the famous spots such as Maruyama Park at dawn, then spend the day in gardens and smaller temples with their own trees. Build a few spare days into your dates, because blossom can shift by a week. Staying in a quieter area, such as northern Kyoto, also helps.
Very. It is safe, clean and fascinating to children, and the trains are an attraction in themselves. Tokyo has teamLab, the Ghibli Museum and huge toy shops; Nara has tame deer. Ryokan welcome families, though plan for shared baths and futons on the floor. Luggage forwarding makes train days far easier.
No. Signs in cities and on trains are in English as well as Japanese, and staff in good hotels speak English. Outside the cities it gets harder, so a translation app and hotels that can make restaurant bookings help. A guide for one or two days is the easiest way past the language barrier.
Tell us a little and a specialist will reply with ideas, dates that work and a price. Best months: March to May, October and November.
The Great Wall, the Terracotta Army, pandas and the karst hills of Guilin, joined by high-speed train.
A harbour city of dim sum, ferries and skyscrapers, with wild country parks and islands half an hour away.
A long, narrow country of limestone bays, lantern-lit old towns and street food that changes every few hundred kilometres.
Sakura and koyo move across Japan like weather fronts, one north in spring, the other south in autumn. How to time them by region, how to see them without the queues, and where to base yourself.
