Intensive
Japan's Greatest Hits
Greatest hits, no padding, mostly trains.
- First visit
- Base cities: Tokyo · Kyoto · Osaka
- culture
- food
- urban
- history
Itinerary
West by Rail: Osaka to Fukuoka
- 10 nights
- Medium pace
- Returning visitor
Medium pace
The Sanyo coast is the fast line west, and it is worth slowing down for. Ten nights from Osaka through Himeji's white castle, the canals of Kurashiki, the hillside temples of Onomichi, Hiroshima and Miyajima, ending on Fukuoka's late-night ramen stalls.
West by rail: Himeji castle, Hiroshima's islands, Fukuoka's late-night stalls.
Trip facts
- Length10 nights
- PaceMedium
- Designed forReturning visitor
- 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 2Day trip: Himeji
Japan's food capital and most exuberant city - a working-class energy that takes eating very seriously.
Home to Japan's most magnificent castle - the White Heron Castle, the finest surviving feudal castle anywhere in the world.
- Day 3Travel in
- Day 4Day trip: Onomichi
A prosperous Shinkansen city with Korakuen - one of Japan's three great gardens - and the Black Crow Castle.
A preserved Edo canal district of white-walled warehouses, now housing the world's finest private collection of Western art in Japan.
A hillside port town of stairs, cats, and temples, beloved by filmmakers and at one end of the 70km Shimanami Kaido cycling route.
- Day 5Travel in
- Day 6Day trip: Miyajima
- Day 7Explore
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 8Travel in
- Day 9Explore
- Day 10Depart
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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