Intensive
Japan's Greatest Hits
Greatest hits, no padding, mostly trains.
- First visit
- Base cities: Tokyo · Kyoto · Osaka
- culture
- food
- urban
- history
Itinerary
The Alps and the Sea of Japan
- 12 nights
- Medium pace
- Returning visitor
Medium pace
The Japan Alps and the old castle towns, threaded through the middle of the country. Tokyo to Matsumoto for its black keep, Takayama for the morning markets, the gassho farmhouses of Shirakawa-go, then gold-leaf Kanazawa and a Kyoto finish.
Castle towns, gold leaf, gassho farmhouses, mountains in the middle.
Trip facts
- Length12 nights
- PaceMedium
- Designed forReturning visitor
- 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 2Explore
The world's largest city and Japan's beating heart - an overwhelming, endlessly layered metropolis where every kind of Japan coexists.
- Day 3Travel in
- Day 4Day trip: Kamikochi
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 6Day trip: Shirakawa-go
A mountain town frozen in the Edo period, with preserved merchant streets and world-famous spring and autumn festivals.
A UNESCO World Heritage gassho-zukuri farmhouse village in a mountain valley, most spectacular under winter snow.
- Day 7Travel in
- Day 8Explore
- Day 9Explore
The 'Kyoto of the north' - a preserved castle town with Japan's most-visited garden, a samurai district, and exceptional seafood.
- Day 10Travel in
- Day 11Explore
- Day 12Depart
Japan's ancient capital - 1,200 years of temples, gardens, geisha districts, and craft traditions in a city that still feels imperial.
Your JP Adventure
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