Intensive
Japan's Greatest Hits
Greatest hits, no padding, mostly trains.
- First visit
- Base cities: Tokyo · Kyoto · Osaka
- culture
- food
- urban
- history
Itinerary
The Original Castle Circuit
- 12 nights
- Medium pace
- Interest-led
Medium pace
Japan has twelve original castles left, and this route strings together the best of them. Twelve nights from Osaka across to Shikoku for the keeps at Matsuyama and Kochi, over to Hiroshima, and a long Fukuoka finish. Real wood and stone, not postwar concrete.
Four surviving original keeps: Matsuyama, Kochi, Hiroshima. Plus Osaka for the start.
Trip facts
- Length12 nights
- PaceMedium
- Designed forInterest-led
- GatewaysIn via Osaka, out via Fukuoka
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 2Explore
Japan's food capital and most exuberant city - a working-class energy that takes eating very seriously.
- Day 3Travel in
- Day 4Explore
Shikoku's largest city, home to one of Japan's finest original castles and Dogo Onsen - possibly the world's oldest hot spring.
- Day 5Travel in
- Day 6Day trip: Takamatsu
A vibrant Pacific coast city with Japan's longest Sunday market, the birthplace of Sakamoto Ryoma, and superb bonito sashimi.
Shikoku's udon capital and the gateway to Ritsurin Garden and the Setouchi art islands.
- Day 7Travel in
- Day 8Day 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 9Travel in
- Day 10Explore
- Day 11Explore
- Day 12Depart
Japan's fastest-growing city and food capital of the west - Hakata ramen, yatai street stalls, and a young international energy.
Your JP Adventure
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