Japan
Japan
Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and a bullet train between them. It's the easiest complicated country in the world to travel — as long as somebody books it far enough ahead.
The Golden Route
Three cities, ten nights, one train line
Nearly every first Japan trip runs Tokyo to Kyoto to Osaka, and it works because the shinkansen makes the whole thing a two-hour hop. Ten nights is the minimum that doesn't feel rushed. Fourteen is better, and lets you add Hakone or Hiroshima.
- Tokyo4 nightsLand here. Jet lag is easiest to absorb in a city that never closes.
- Shinkansen · 2h 15m
- Kyoto4 nightsTemples, gardens and the day trips. The heart of the trip.
- Train · 15m
- Osaka2 nightsEat. Fly home from Kansai rather than doubling back.
Flying into Tokyo and out of Osaka costs the same as a return to either, and saves you a day. Most online booking engines won't show you that — we book it as standard.
Nights one to four
Tokyo, and where to sleep in it
Tokyo isn't a city so much as thirty of them. Base yourself in Shinjuku or Shibuya for the first visit — everything is one train away and the stations are the hubs. Marunouchi, by Tokyo Station, is the quieter, smarter alternative and better placed for the shinkansen out. Avoid booking somewhere cheap and remote; you'll spend the saving on taxis.
Nights five to eight
Kyoto, before eight in the morning
Kyoto has around 1,600 temples and about six that everyone visits at the same time. Kiyomizu-dera at sunrise is a different place to Kiyomizu-dera at eleven, and the bamboo grove at Arashiyama is genuinely unpleasant by mid-morning. Get up early for three days and you'll see a city most visitors miss entirely.
When to go
Two peaks, and they price like it
Japan has two seasons people travel for, and they're the two most expensive weeks of the year. Both are worth the money — but only if you book far enough ahead to get the hotels, which in practice means nine to eleven months.
Ten days, and the exact dates move each year with the weather. Tokyo blooms first, Kyoto a few days later, so a Tokyo-then-Kyoto route often catches both. Highest prices of the year, and hotels sell out first.
Longer than blossom, more reliable, and marginally cheaper. Kyoto's maples are the reason to come. Our pick of the two if you have any flexibility — you get three weeks of window rather than ten days.
The rest of the year
May and October are the underrated months — dry, mild, and priced like nothing special. Avoid Golden Week in early May, when the whole country travels at once.
Worth the early start
What we'd actually book
Be there by seven. By nine it's a queue, and the photographs everyone loves were all taken at dawn.
Two hours down the gorge into Arashiyama by punt. Best thing in Kyoto that isn't a temple.
An hour north of Kyoto in the hills. Lantern-lit steps, cool in summer, and almost no coach parties.
Tokyo's oldest temple. Go at night when the gates are lit and the souvenir street has closed.
Before you book
Three things worth knowing
The rail pass is no longer automatic. It went up sharply and for a straightforward Tokyo–Kyoto–Osaka trip, individual tickets are now often cheaper. We'll do the arithmetic for your actual route rather than selling you a pass by reflex.
Send your luggage ahead. Hotel-to-hotel forwarding costs a few pounds a case and arrives next day. Nobody drags a large suitcase onto a shinkansen — there's nowhere to put it without a reservation.
Nine to eleven months, for the peaks. Blossom and autumn hotels in Kyoto go a year out. If you're asking in January about April, we'll be honest that the good options have gone.
Next step
Tell us your dates and we'll build the route
We'll come back with a city-by-city itinerary, open-jaw flights into Tokyo and out of Osaka, the rail arithmetic done properly, and the payment plan written out in full.
Practical
Japanese yen. Cards are fine in cities, but many small restaurants, shrines and rural stations are still cash-only — carry some.
A Japan Rail Pass only pays off on long routes. For Tokyo–Kyoto–Osaka alone it usually doesn't — we'll do the sum for you.
9 hours ahead of the UK. Eastbound jet lag is the harder direction; land in Tokyo and sleep late on day one.
100V, two flat pins — the same shape as the US. A UK adaptor is essential.
Japan packages
Flights, accommodation and transfers as one package. Every one can be reshaped — different dates, different board, a different airport, or a stopover on the way.
3 nights in Japan
- Return flights and private transfers
- Bed & breakfast throughout
- Financial protection confirmed in writing before you pay
4 nights in Japan
- Return flights and private transfers
- Bed & breakfast throughout
- The extra nights cost proportionally less — fixed costs don't change
7 nights in Japan
- Return flights and private transfers
- Bed & breakfast throughout
- Best value per night, and worth it on a longer flight
Guide prices, per person, based on two sharing, including return flights, accommodation and transfers. They indicate what a holiday of this type has typically cost and are not an offer or a quotation. Your price depends on dates, party, board basis, departure airport and availability, and is confirmed in writing before any payment is taken.
Packages that include Japan
Ready-built itineraries with flights, transfers and internal hops booked as one package, ATOL protected. Every one can be reshaped around your dates.
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