Korea and Japan in 14 days
This is the combination we recommend more than any other in North Asia, and the reason is simple arithmetic. Korea is a ten-day country. Japan is a fourteen-day country. Two weeks split between them gives Korea the time it actually needs and gives Japan a properly built first week, and the flight be
- Duration
- 14 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 5
- Best months
- Apr, May, Oct, Nov
- From
- $3,500 per person
They are also, for two countries this close, remarkably unalike. People expect a variation and get a contrast: in the food, the pace, the volume, the way strangers behave, the shape of the cities. Doing them in sequence is the point.
Korea first, deliberately. It is the less familiar of the two and it lands better before Japan rather than after it.
Who it suits: first-time visitors to North Asia with two weeks, and returning Japan travellers who want a genuinely new half.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive Seoul. Transfer, hotel in Jongno or Bukchon. Nothing scheduled beyond dinner nearby.
Day 2: Seoul, the old city. Gyeongbokgung at opening, Changdeokgung’s rear garden on a timed ticket, then Seochon on foot. Gwangjang market with a guide for an early dinner.
Day 3: The DMZ. A half day north to Imjingak, the Third Infiltration Tunnel and an observatory. Heavily scripted, worth doing once, and the clearest way to grasp the border. Joint Security Area access is separate and has been on and off, so we confirm at the time. Afternoon free.
Day 4: Seoul, the modern city. The National Museum of Korea or the War Memorial in the morning, then Seongsu and Euljiro on foot in the afternoon. Optional evening on the Naksan wall at dusk.
Day 5: Seoul to Gyeongju. Mid-morning KTX, about two hours. Afternoon among the Silla burial mounds, and the Wolji pond after dark.
Day 6: Gyeongju to Busan. A guided morning at Bulguksa and the Seokguram grotto, then an hour south to Busan. Jagalchi fish market and Gamcheon’s terraces in the late afternoon.
Day 7: Busan to Kyoto. Short flight to Osaka Kansai, about ninety minutes, then the train to Kyoto. Evening walk through Gion at the hour it is at its best, and dinner booked by our Tokyo office.
Day 8: Kyoto, east. Fushimi Inari early, which is not optional advice, then Kiyomizu-dera and the Higashiyama lanes. Afternoon at your own pace.
Day 9: Kyoto, west and north. Arashiyama at opening and the bamboo grove before eight, Tenryu-ji, lunch in the hills, and Kinkaku-ji or a private tea ceremony in the afternoon.
Day 10: Nara or a free day. A full day at Todai-ji, the deer park and the quieter Naramachi quarter, or a day in Kyoto with nothing in it. We ask which you want rather than deciding for you.
Day 11: Kyoto to Hakone. Shinkansen east, then the mountain railway. Afternoon on the lake and at the open-air museum. Night in a ryokan with a private open-air bath and a kaiseki dinner, with luggage forwarded ahead to Tokyo.
Day 12: Hakone to Tokyo. A morning bath, then the train in. Afternoon in Yanaka and Ueno, and an evening in a Shinjuku alley bar.
Day 13: Tokyo. Shibuya, Harajuku and Meiji Shrine at opening with a licensed guide in the morning, and the afternoon free for whichever of Tokyo’s obsessions is yours.
Day 14: Departure. Transfer to Haneda or Narita.
What is included
Accommodation with breakfast in both countries, the ryokan half-board night, all rail in Korea and Japan with reserved seats and oversized-luggage spaces, the Busan to Osaka flight, airport and station transfers, five days of licensed English-speaking guiding across the two halves, restaurant reservations including the ones that require a Japanese phone number, luggage forwarding in Japan, entries and timed tickets, a single day-by-day document covering both countries, and a WhatsApp group carrying your consultant here, our Seoul partner and our own Tokyo office.
How the two halves are handled
Worth being precise about, because it is the practical difference between this trip and a two-country tour bought off a shelf. In Japan the office is ours: GO EAST staffs Tokyo year round with our own people, which is what makes the restaurant bookings and the weather reroutes solvable rather than escalatable. In Korea we work through a local partner in Seoul we have used for years, briefed by us and on the same message thread. Both halves are written here by one consultant, so the trip is one document rather than two.
The from price above is our comfortable tier at the Korea day rate. The Japanese nights carry a premium over the Korean ones, so we quote the two halves separately and show you both.
What we would change, and when
- Want a ferry instead of a flight? There is an overnight and a fast ferry from Busan to Fukuoka. It is a good story and it costs you the better part of a day. We will price it if you want it.
- Been to Tokyo before? Swap the Tokyo half for Kanazawa, Takayama and the alps, and fly home from Osaka.
- Travelling in blossom season? The wave hits Korea before Japan by a few days. We can chase it northward across both countries, and we will tell you honestly how likely that is to work in a given year.
- Only ten days? Give Korea seven and Japan three and you will regret Japan. Do Korea alone in ten and come back for Japan.
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