Japan, at the pace you actually want to travel it
Two weeks is the sweet spot. Ten days works. Three weeks reaches the parts most visitors never see. Every Japan trip we build is written from scratch by one of four people: our Head of Consulting Mai, our Japan specialists Sapir and Asaf, or Lior, who lives in Tokyo and runs the office there.
Plan my Japan trip Read the complete guide
- Best time to go
- Late Mar to May, Oct to Nov
- How many days
- 12 to 16
- Entry
- Visa-free, 90 days
- Getting around
- Rail
Why plan Japan with us
We are in the country. Our Tokyo office is ours, staffed by our own people year round. That is what makes the restaurant reservations, the typhoon reroutes and the 2am problems solvable rather than escalatable.
A named specialist, not a queue. One person owns your file from the first email to the day you land home.
The first proposal is free and it is not a template. You see the actual hotels, the actual train legs and the reasoning behind the order of the days. We revise it as many times as it takes.
A WhatsApp group while you travel. Your consultant here and our Tokyo office there, open from take-off until you are home.
The short answers
| Question | Short answer | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Best time to go | Late Mar to May, Oct to Nov | Blossom moves four to six weeks northward across the country. Autumn colour runs the other way. |
| How many days | 12 to 16 | Under 10 means one region only. Over 18 opens Hokkaido, Tohoku or the Setouchi islands. |
| Entry | Visa-free, 90 days | For most Western passports. We confirm your specific passport before quoting. |
| Getting around | Rail | Rail-pass maths changed in 2023. We price your route both ways rather than assuming. |
| Typical budget | $180 to $650 per person per day | Land only, excluding international flights. Ryokan nights sit at the top of that range. |
The full breakdown is in our complete guide →
Eight ways to travel Japan
Every route below is a real itinerary we build, published day by day. Start from one and we will rebuild it around you.
- Classic Japan in 14 days, Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima, Osaka
- Japan with children, 12 days, shorter legs, rooms that fit four
- Walking the Kumano Kodo, 16 days, four days on the pilgrimage trail
- Romantic Japan, 11 days, private onsen suites, three hotel changes
- Food and culture, 13 days, markets, workshops, a sake brewery
- Boutique Japan, 12 days, design hotels and the art islands
- Japan in 14 days through the alps, Takayama, Shirakawa-go, Kanazawa
- Deep Japan, 21 days, Tohoku, craft towns, Setouchi
Japan in the magazine
How much does two weeks in Japan really cost? · Cherry blossom, region by region · Is the Japan Rail Pass still worth it? · Ryokan etiquette without the anxiety · Tokyo in four days, by neighbourhood · Where to eat in Osaka without queueing · Kyoto in autumn, week by week · Walking the Kumano Kodo: which route, which season
Japan itineraries
Every one of these is a starting point, not a fixed departure. We change the length, the pace and the hotels to fit you.
Classic Japan in 14 days: Tokyo to Osaka by rail
The route that made the country famous, built so it does not feel like a coach tour. Entirely by rail, five hotel changes in…
Japan with children: 12 days that work for everyone
Japan is one of the easiest countries in the world to travel with children, and one of the easiest to get wrong. The mistake…
Walking the Kumano Kodo: 16 days
Japan's other pilgrimage. Less known than the Camino, harder to organise independently, and quieter for it. Four walking days on the Nakahechi route, temple…
Romantic Japan: 11 slow days for two
Built on the principle that a honeymoon is not a sightseeing trip. Three hotel changes in eleven days, two ryokan with private open-air baths…
Japan by what it eats and makes: 13 days
A trip organised around kitchens, workshops and markets rather than temples, though the temples happen anyway. Two cooking sessions, a sake brewery with the…
Boutique Japan: 12 unhurried days
For travellers who judge a trip by the rooms and the rhythm. Small architect-designed hotels, one exceptional ryokan, private transfers instead of dragging cases…
Japan in 14 days, through the alps
The same fourteen days as the classic route, spent differently. Instead of running west to Hiroshima, this one turns inland through the mountains: the…
Deep Japan: 21 days
Three weeks is where Japan stops being a highlights route and becomes a country. This one goes north into Tohoku, which almost no foreign…
What is in every Japan trip we build
- A day-by-day document with train times, not just city names
- Hotels chosen by neighbourhood, with the trade-offs explained
- Restaurant reservations that require a Japanese phone number
- Licensed English-speaking guides on the days they add something, and not on the days they do not
- Luggage forwarding between cities, so you travel light on transfer days
- Reserved seats, including the oversized-baggage spaces the Shinkansen now requires
- Our Tokyo office on WhatsApp for the whole trip
Planning Japan, in detail
What we would skip in Japan
Japan is a country where almost everything is good, which is exactly what makes the editing hard. A two week itinerary can…
Tokyo in four days, by neighbourhood rather than by sight
The mistake most first-time visitors make in Tokyo is treating it as a city with a list of attractions. It is not.…
Ryokan etiquette, without the anxiety
Almost every client who books a ryokan asks us some version of the same question: what if I get it wrong?
Where to eat in Osaka without queueing for two hours
Osaka has a phrase for itself, kuidaore, which means roughly to eat yourself into ruin. It is the food city of Japan,…
Kyoto in autumn, week by week
Autumn colour in Japan is treated as the quieter sibling of cherry blossom, and in Kyoto it is nothing of the kind.…
Walking the Kumano Kodo: which route, which season
The Kumano Kodo is not one trail. It is a network of pilgrimage routes across the Kii peninsula south of Osaka, walked…
Frequently asked questions
Is a Japan Rail Pass still worth it?
How far ahead should we book?
Can you handle dietary restrictions?
Do we need a guide the whole time?
Can we combine Japan with another country?
What happens if a typhoon disrupts our trip?
Tell us roughly what you want. We will tell you honestly what works.
A named consultant in Tel Aviv, our own people on the ground, and a written plan you can argue with before you commit to anything.