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Destinations & ItinerariesWe spent 33 days in Japan, from 18 March to 20 April 2023: 4 days in Tokyo, then west through Hakone, Matsumoto, Takayama and Kanazawa to Kyoto (4 days), on to Nara, Osaka, Kobe, Himeji and Hiroshima, and a final 5 days back in Tokyo. The point of the order is that it puts the Japan Alps between Tokyo and Kyoto instead of skipping them on the Shinkansen. Below is every stop with its days, why the route runs this way, how to get between the legs, whether a rail pass helps, what we would keep and cut, and links to our shorter 7-, 10- and 14-day versions.
Published October 21, 2026
• Tokyo, 4 days (18–22 March). Arrival, jet lag and the first cherry blossoms. Our Tokyo guide covers the districts.
• Hakone, 2 days. Hot springs, the mountain railway and ropeway loop, and Fuji if the cloud allows. See whether the Hakone Freepass is worth it.
• Matsumoto, 2 days. The black castle, one of only twelve original keeps left in Japan, and the first real mountains. Matsumoto guide.
• Takayama, 3 days. Edo-period merchant lanes, two daily morning markets, Hida beef and the thatched farmhouses of Shirakawa-go. Takayama guide.
• Kanazawa, 4 days. Kenroku-en garden, the Higashi Chaya teahouses, the Nagamachi samurai lanes and Omicho Market. Kanazawa guide.
• Kyoto, 4 days (2–6 April). Higashiyama, Arashiyama, Fushimi Inari and Gion. See how many days to spend in Kyoto.
• Nara, 2 days. The deer park, Todai-ji and Kasuga Taisha. Nara guide.
• Osaka, 3 days. Dotonbori, Osaka Castle, Kuromon Market and Shinsekai. Osaka guide.
• Kobe, 1 day and Himeji, about 1.5 days. The harbor and Kitano-cho, then Japan's best-preserved feudal castle. Both are in our Kyoto and around guide.
• Hiroshima, about 1.5 days. The Peace Memorial Park and Museum, with Miyajima as the obvious add-on.
• Tokyo again, 5 days (15–20 April). The rest of the city, before the next leg of the trip in Vietnam.
The standard first-trip route runs straight down the Tokaido Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto in a little over two hours. Ours took the long way: Hakone on the Fuji side, then north into Nagano for Matsumoto, over the mountains to Takayama in the Hida Alps, out to Kanazawa on the Sea of Japan coast, and only then down to Kyoto. Each leg is short, so the 11 days between Tokyo and Kyoto were spent in small towns rather than on trains.
Timing mattered too. We started in Tokyo in mid-March, at the start of cherry blossom season: the Japan Meteorological Agency declared full bloom in Tokyo on 22 March 2023, four days after we arrived and the joint second-earliest date on record. Spring reaches the mountain towns later than the coast. On long-run averages Kanazawa blooms around 8 April and Takayama in mid-to-late April, so heading inland and north after Tokyo keeps you in the season for longer. Our cherry blossom forecast guide has the dates by city.
From Kyoto the route follows the main rail corridor west through Nara, Osaka, Kobe and Himeji to Hiroshima, each an hour or less from the last. We then went back to Tokyo for the final five days. If your flights allow it, flying home from Osaka (Kansai) instead saves the trip back east; our 14-day itinerary is built that way.
These are the usual options for each leg, with times from the operators or from our own transport guides. Check current timetables before you book.
• Tokyo to Hakone: the Odakyu Romancecar from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto takes about 80 minutes, with a ¥1,200 limited express fee on top of the fare. Ordinary Odakyu trains with a change at Odawara are cheaper and slower.
• Hakone to Matsumoto: there is no direct link. The usual way is back toward Shinjuku and then the JR Limited Express Azusa, about 2.5 to 3 hours from Shinjuku to Matsumoto, so allow most of a day.
• Matsumoto to Takayama: the Alpico / Nohi highway bus, about 2 hours 20 minutes to 2.5 hours, ¥4,400 one way. Reservations have been required since April 2024. The train alternative goes the long way round via Nagoya.
• Takayama to Kanazawa: the Nohi Bus / Hokutetsu highway bus via Shirakawa-go, ¥4,200 straight through or two ¥2,800 tickets if you stop at the village. Details in our Kanazawa to Takayama bus guide.
• Kanazawa to Kyoto: since the Hokuriku Shinkansen was extended to Tsuruga in March 2024, it means the Shinkansen to Tsuruga and a change to the Thunderbird limited express, about 2 hours in total.
• Kyoto to Nara: the Kintetsu line, about 35 to 50 minutes to Kintetsu-Nara, a few minutes' walk from the deer park. See Kyoto to Nara: Kintetsu vs JR.
• Nara to Osaka: Kintetsu Rapid Express to Osaka-Namba, about 40 minutes.
• Osaka to Kobe to Himeji: the JR Special Rapid reaches Sannomiya (Kobe) in about 22 minutes and Himeji in about an hour from Osaka Station; the Shinkansen is faster for Himeji.
• Himeji to Hiroshima: the Sanyo Shinkansen, just under an hour on the fastest trains.
• Hiroshima to Tokyo: a direct Nozomi Shinkansen, about 4 hours.
On a route with this many bus and mountain legs, forwarding your big bag ahead makes life much easier: our luggage forwarding guide explains how.
The Japan Rail Pass currently costs ¥50,000 for 7 days, ¥80,000 for 14 days and ¥100,000 for 21 days (ordinary class, bought online). The longest pass is 21 days, so no single pass covers a 33-day trip, and this route spends a lot of its time off JR: the Romancecar and the Hakone loop are Odakyu and Hakone Tozan, the two Alps buses are Nohi Bus and Alpico, and the best Kyoto–Nara–Osaka trains are Kintetsu. The pass also needs an extra special ticket to ride the fastest Nozomi trains.
For a route like this, point-to-point tickets plus a few local passes usually come out cheaper: the Hakone Freepass for Hakone, and the regional Takayama-Hokuriku Area Tourist Pass if you plan to ride several Nohi buses. Pay for city trains and buses with an IC card; our Suica and Pasmo guide covers it. For the Shinkansen legs, our Shinkansen tickets and JR Pass guide explains booking and where a pass still pays.
Keep: the Alps loop. Matsumoto, Takayama and Kanazawa are what separate this route from every other first-trip itinerary, and our Matsumoto guide argues the town is better than its day-trip reputation. Keep at least one night in Hakone, since its appeal is the onsen evening as much as the sights, and keep the Tokyo bookends: the first stay absorbs jet lag, the second picks up whatever the first one missed.
Trim: our Takayama guide suggests two nights rather than our three, with Shirakawa-go as a stop on the bus to Kanazawa instead of a separate day. Kanazawa's main sights, Kenroku-en, the chaya districts, Nagamachi, the castle park and Omicho Market, fit into two full days rather than our four.
Fold into day trips: Nara works as a day trip from Kyoto, and Himeji is an easy day trip from Osaka or Kobe, which would save two hotel changes. Kobe on its own needs a day at most.
Add if you can: Miyajima deserves a full day from Hiroshima, which our short stop did not leave much room for. Our Hiroshima and Miyajima guide covers the ferry and the tides.
• 7 days: Tokyo and Kyoto with a last night in Osaka. See our 7-day cut.
• 10 days: the same plus one Alps stop, Takayama, with Shirakawa-go and Kanazawa on the way to Kyoto. See our 10-day cut.
• 14 days: Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka in our 14-day Japan itinerary.
• City by city: how many days in Tokyo and how many days in Kyoto.
A week covers Tokyo and Kyoto, 10 days adds one Japan Alps stop, and two weeks covers Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka. We spent 33 days, which let us add Hakone, Matsumoto, Takayama, Kanazawa, Nara, Kobe and Himeji at an easy pace.
Yes. Our route went Tokyo, Hakone, Matsumoto, Takayama and Kanazawa before Kyoto. The legs are short: about 2.5 hours by bus from Matsumoto to Takayama, the Shirakawa-go bus to Kanazawa, and about 2 hours from Kanazawa to Kyoto by Shinkansen and the Thunderbird.
Usually not on a route like ours. The longest pass is 21 days (¥100,000), and many legs are not JR: the Romancecar to Hakone, the Matsumoto–Takayama and Takayama–Kanazawa buses, and Kintetsu around Nara. Point-to-point tickets plus local passes such as the Hakone Freepass usually cost less.
By the Alpico / Nohi highway bus, about 2 hours 20 minutes to 2.5 hours for ¥4,400 one way. Reservations are required. The train goes the long way round via Nagoya.
If you end in Hiroshima or Kansai, flying home from Osaka (Kansai) saves the trip back east. We returned to Tokyo for five more days; the direct Nozomi from Hiroshima to Tokyo takes about 4 hours.
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