Intensive
Japan's Greatest Hits
Greatest hits, no padding, mostly trains.
- First visit
- Base cities: Tokyo · Kyoto · Osaka
- culture
- food
- urban
- history
Itinerary
Castles and Samurai History
- 12 nights
- Medium pace
- Interest-led
Medium pace
For people who came for the castles. Matsumoto and Himeji for two of the finest original keeps, Kanazawa's samurai district and garden, plus Kyoto and the day trips that fill in the history between them.
Five real keeps, two reconstructions, a sword smith if you ask nicely.
Trip facts
- Length12 nights
- PaceMedium
- Designed forInterest-led
- 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
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 3Travel in
- Day 4Explore
Home to Japan's most beautiful original castle - the black and white Crow Castle - at the gateway to the Northern Alps.
- Day 5Travel in
- Day 6Explore
- Day 7Explore
The 'Kyoto of the north' - a preserved castle town with Japan's most-visited garden, a samurai district, and exceptional seafood.
- Day 8Travel in
- Day 9Day trip: Himeji
- Day 10Explore
Japan's ancient capital - 1,200 years of temples, gardens, geisha districts, and craft traditions in a city that still feels imperial.
Home to Japan's most magnificent castle - the White Heron Castle, the finest surviving feudal castle anywhere in the world.
- Day 11Travel in
- Day 12Depart
Japan's food capital and most exuberant city - a working-class energy that takes eating very seriously.
Your JP Adventure
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