Day-by-day programme of this 15-day itinerary across Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima.
Day 1 — Arrival in Tokyo
From the airport (Narita or Haneda) you reach the centre by train. Get an IC card (Suica or Pasmo) right away: you'll use it for metro and trains across the whole country. In the evening, a walk through Asakusa is a gentle way to shake off the jet lag.
- 📍 Senso-ji — Tokyo's oldest Buddhist temple, in Asakusa, with the great red lantern of the Kaminarimon and the Nakamise shopping street. In the evening it's lit up and less crowded: the right way to begin.
- 🏨 Hotel Gracery Shinjuku — Shinjuku, Tokyo
Day 2 — Tokyo: tradition and skyscrapers
First full day in historic and vertical Tokyo: the temples and gardens of the low city, then the view from above. Get around with your IC card, it's the simplest way.
- 📍 Ueno Park — The great park of museums and cherry trees, with shrines, a lotus pond and the national museum. In spring it's one of the city's best spots for hanami.
- 📍 Tokyo Skytree — Japan's tallest tower: from the 350-metre observation deck the metropolis stretches to the horizon, and on clear days Mount Fuji appears in the distance. Lovely at sunset.
Day 3 — Tokyo: the iconic districts
The city's pop face: the most famous crossing in the world, the forest shrine of Meiji and the lights of Shinjuku. A day best enjoyed on foot.
- 📍 Meiji Jingu — The great Shinto shrine set in a forest in the heart of the city, steps from Harajuku. The contrast between the calm of the woods and the frenzy around it is Tokyo in a nutshell.
- 📍 Shibuya Crossing — The busiest pedestrian crossing on the planet: at every green hundreds of people cross in all directions. Watch it from a café above, then cross it yourself.
- 📍 Shinjuku, Tokyo — In the evening Shinjuku lights up with neon signs: the alleys of Omoide Yokocho and Golden Gai, packed with tiny izakaya, are the right place for dinner and a beer.
Day 4 — Hakone, Mount Fuji and the onsen
You leave Tokyo for the mountains: Hakone, a region of hot springs and lakes facing Mount Fuji. It's the right night to sleep in a ryokan, the traditional inn, with a thermal bath and a kaiseki dinner.
- ✈️ Tokyo → Hakone — Hakone, Kanagawa
- 📍 Lake Ashi — The volcanic lake crossed by sightseeing boats, with the red torii of Hakone Shrine rising from the water and, on clear days, Mount Fuji behind. Pass through the steaming Owakudani valley too.
- 🏨 Hakone Suimeiso — Hakone, Kanagawa
Day 5 — By shinkansen to Kyoto
The bullet train reaches Kyoto in just over two hours. After dropping your bags, the afternoon is perfect for the Higashiyama district, made of lanes climbing towards Kiyomizu-dera.
- ✈️ Hakone → Kyoto — Kyoto
- 📍 Kiyomizu-dera — The temple with the great wooden terrace projecting over the hillside, reached by climbing the historic Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka lanes, full of pottery and sweet shops. A view over all of Kyoto.
- 🏨 Hotel Resol Kyoto Kawaramachi Sanjo — Kyoto
Day 6 — Kyoto: a thousand torii and the golden pavilion
Kyoto's icons in one day: the endless tunnel of vermilion torii, the golden temple mirrored in its pond and, in the evening, the geisha lanes of Gion. Start early at Fushimi Inari, before the crowds.
- 📍 Fushimi Inari Taisha — The shrine with thousands of orange torii climbing in tunnels up the sacred mountain. Tackle it at dawn: the higher you go, the thinner the crowd and the quieter the forest.
- 📍 Kinkaku-ji — The Golden Pavilion, covered in gold leaf, reflected in the pond of its zen garden: one of the best-known images of Japan. The visit is short but the scene stays with you.
- 📍 Gion, Kyoto — The historic geisha district, with wooden teahouses along Hanami-koji street. At dusk you might glimpse a maiko hurrying to work: watch respectfully, no intrusive photos.
Day 7 — Kyoto: bamboo and zen gardens
A day in Kyoto's greenest side: the Arashiyama bamboo grove at dawn, the zen temples and their stone gardens. The district is half an hour by train from the centre.
- 📍 Arashiyama Bamboo Grove — The path among giant bamboo that filters the light green: see it before 9am, after which it fills up. Next to it is Tenryu-ji temple, with one of Kyoto's finest gardens.
- 📍 Ryoan-ji — Japan's most famous dry garden: fifteen rocks on a bed of raked gravel, to contemplate sitting in silence. An exercise in calm after the busier temples.
Day 8 — Day trip to Nara, the city of deer
A day trip to Nara, Japan's first capital, less than an hour away by train. In the great park the sika deer roam free and bow for a cracker; around them, some of the country's oldest temples.
- ✈️ Kyoto → Nara — Nara
- 📍 Todai-ji — One of the largest wooden buildings in the world, housing a 15-metre bronze Buddha. You reach it through the park among the deer, considered sacred messengers here.
- 📍 Nara Park — The great park home to over a thousand free-roaming sika deer: buy the crackers from the vendors and you'll learn that many bow to ask for them. From here you climb to Kasuga Taisha among its lanterns.
Day 9 — Hiroshima and remembrance
The shinkansen runs west to Hiroshima. The city, reborn after the 1945 bomb, gathers its memory in the Peace Memorial Park: an intense but necessary visit. In the evening, the local okonomiyaki.
- ✈️ Kyoto → Hiroshima — Hiroshima
- 📍 Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park — The park dedicated to the victims of the atomic bomb, with the A-Bomb Dome (Genbaku Dome) left standing at the epicentre and the museum that tells of that day. A stop that leaves its mark.
- 🏨 Candeo Hotels Hiroshima Hatchobori — Hiroshima
Day 10 — Miyajima's torii on the water, then Osaka
A morning on Miyajima island, where the red torii of Itsukushima Shrine seems to float at high tide. In the afternoon the shinkansen heads back to Osaka, capital of street food: the evening belongs to Dotonbori.
- 📍 Itsukushima Shrine — On Miyajima island, reached by ferry, the shrine built on stilts with the great vermilion torii out in the sea: at high tide it seems to float. Check the tide times before you go.
- ✈️ Hiroshima → Osaka — Osaka
- 🍽️ Dotonbori — Osaka's canal blanketed in neon signs and street food: takoyaki (octopus balls) and okonomiyaki (the Japanese savoury pancake) are eaten here, standing in the crowd, under the running Glico man.
- 🏨 Sotetsu Grand Fresa Osaka-Namba — Osaka
Day 11 — Osaka, Japan's kitchen
A day for Osaka, a direct and party-loving city: the castle among its moats, the old Shinsekai district with the Tsutenkaku tower and a view from above at the Umeda Sky Building.
- 📍 Osaka Castle — The city's symbolic castle, rebuilt atop the original walls amid a large moated park. From the top floor the view sweeps over all of Osaka.
- 📍 Shinsekai, Osaka — Osaka's retro district, born in the early 1900s, with the Tsutenkaku tower and gaudy signs. It's the home of kushikatsu, fried skewers: golden rule, never double-dip in the sauce.
- 📍 Umeda Sky Building — Two towers joined at the top by an open-air panoramic "floating garden": one of the best spots for sunset and for the city lights coming on.
Day 12 — Back to Tokyo
You return to Tokyo for the final days and for the convenience of the flight home. In the afternoon, a feast of technology and pop culture in Akihabara.
- ✈️ Osaka → Tokyo — Stazione di Tokyo
- 📍 Akihabara, Tokyo — The realm of electronics, video games and anime culture: entire buildings of shops, multi-floor arcades and maid cafés. Even just wandering wide-eyed is a spectacle.
- 🏨 Hotel Gracery Shinjuku — Shinjuku, Tokyo
Day 13 — Day trip to Kamakura
A day trip to Kamakura, an ancient samurai capital an hour from Tokyo: temples among the hills, the great open-air bronze Buddha and a Pacific beach. A slow pause before your last Tokyo day.
- ✈️ Tokyo → Kamakura — Kamakura, Kanagawa
- 📍 Kotoku-in — The temple home to the Daibutsu, the great bronze Buddha over 13 metres tall, outdoors since the 15th century when a tsunami swept away the hall that held it. Nearby, Hasedera temple with its gardens.
Day 14 — Last day in Tokyo
A last full day for whatever's left over: immersive digital art, Odaiba bay, or simply returning to the district you liked best for your final shopping.
- 🎯 teamLab Planets Tokyo — A museum where you walk barefoot through water and inside projections that react to your movements: rooms of flowers, lights and mirrors in constant change. Timed tickets, book online.
- 📍 Ginza, Tokyo — The elegant district of department stores and bright windows, great for last-minute shopping and for the basement food halls (depachika). On weekends the main street goes pedestrian.
Day 15 — Departure
Before the flight, Tokyo Station is a destination in itself: Character Street and the sweets halls are perfect for last gifts. From there, the express train runs straight to the airport.
- 📍 Tokyo Station — The historic red-brick station, with the underground Character Street (character and anime shops) and the sweets floor. A last wander among souvenirs before catching the train to the airport.
- ✈️ Tokyo → Narita International Airport — Narita International Airport, Chiba
