Intensive
Japan's Greatest Hits
Greatest hits, no padding, mostly trains.
- First visit
- Base cities: Tokyo · Kyoto · Osaka
- culture
- food
- urban
- history
Itinerary
The Golden Route, Done Right
- 14 nights
- Medium pace
- First visit
Medium pace
The Golden Route at a sensible pace, two full weeks of the greatest hits without the death march. Tokyo, Hakone, a deep Kyoto stay and Osaka, with Nara, Nikko and the rest hung off as day trips.
The famous run, paced so it never feels like a checklist.
Trip facts
- Length14 nights
- PaceMedium
- Designed forFirst visit
- GatewaysIn via Tokyo, out via Osaka
The route, city by city
Where you sleep and what each base is for. Load it into the planner to reshape the cities, dates, and day-by-day plan.
- Day 1Arrive
- Day 2Day trip: Nikko
- Day 3Explore
- Day 4Explore
The world's largest city and Japan's beating heart - an overwhelming, endlessly layered metropolis where every kind of Japan coexists.
A UNESCO World Heritage mountain shrine complex of overwhelming opulence, built to enshrine Tokugawa Ieyasu, unifier of Japan.
- Day 5Travel in
- Day 6Explore
A volcanic mountain resort within sight of Mt. Fuji, with excellent onsen, an open-air museum, and a famous ropeway.
- Day 7Travel in
- Day 8Day trip: Nara
- Day 9Explore
- Day 10Explore
Japan's ancient capital - 1,200 years of temples, gardens, geisha districts, and craft traditions in a city that still feels imperial.
Japan's first permanent capital - home to the world's largest wooden building, 1,200 free-roaming deer, and extraordinary ancient temples.
- Day 11Travel in
- Day 12Day trip: Miyajima
A city of extraordinary resilience - the atomic bomb memorial, its own okonomiyaki style, and the finest oysters in Japan.
The island shrine with a great torii gate standing in the sea - consistently voted Japan's most beautiful scenery.
- Day 13Travel in
- Day 14Depart
Japan's food capital and most exuberant city - a working-class energy that takes eating very seriously.
Your JP Adventure
Plan a trip to Tokyo
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