The Sundarban
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).
This take on Japan’s most popular itinerary celebrates quieter corners as neatly as spacious hitters, delivering a quintessential taste of the nation — from shrines to matcha tea, volcanic peaks to wealthy flora and fauna, city thrills to samurai history — across a two-week itinerary.
Days 1-4: Tokyo popular culture, temples & onsen
Exhaust your first day soaking up the neon lights in Shinjuku, quirky teen culture in Harajuku and the fashionable cafes and izakayas (pubs) in Shimokitazawa — all in Tokyo’s west. If jet lag is keeping you up, there’s karaoke, late-night bars and drag reveals in Shinjuku’s nightlife district, Kabukicho.
During the following days, turn back the clock with a seek advice from to Asakusa district’s lantern-lined temple Sensoji and a wander via Ueno Park, dwelling to the Tokyo National Museum. Or seek advice from interactive digital gallery teamLab With out borderlines in Azabudai Hills and scale the 2,080ft Tokyo Skytree for city views. tnm.jp
Take a day trip to the fresh springs resort town of Hakone, an 80-minute jog on the Odakyu Romancecar train, to abilities Japanese onsen culture and catch views of Mount Fuji. Strive Tenzan onsen in Hakone-Yumoto.
Asagaya’s Star Road in Tokyo is a popular hotspot for shops, bars and cafes.
Photograph by Ben Weller
Day 5: Mountains in Toyama
From Tokyo, the Shinkansen can lope you to Omachi, in Nagano Prefecture, for a day in the Japanese Alps. Hop on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route (originate 15 April to 30 November), which includes railway, cable-cars, ropeways and buses reaching 2,500 metres (8,200ft). Finish with a night in Toyama, dwelling to rice paddies and ryokans (traditional inns). In winter, seek advice from the thatched homes of Shirakawa village.
Day 6: Garden strolls in Kanazawa
It’s legal an hour-long train jog from Toyama station to Kanazawa, a neatly-preserved Edo centre with geisha teahouses, a historic samurai district and certainly one of Japan’s most extremely prized gardens, Kenrokuen. Here is a great place for stays in ryokans such as Auberge Maki No Oto.
Days 7-10: Facet road food, geishas & ninjas
Basing your self in Osaka, take day trips out to stumble on the wider area via the train community and utilize the evenings to gaze out the metropolis’s famed side road food. The energetic Shinsekai district is the place you can find Osaka’s kushikatsu (deep-fried skewer) scene; Kuromon Market, meanwhile, is famous for its fish.
Kyoto can be reached via a 30-minute train jog from Osaka and has many temple highlights price a day. These include the shimmering, golden Kinkakuji temple; Fushimi Inari Shrine, amid thousands of red torii gates; and vast Kiyomizudera temple, based in the eighth century. Also seek advice from Nara — capital of Japan sooner than the town ceded the title to Kyoto in 794 — which has equally spectacular temples an hour’s train jog from Osaka. Or utilize a day in the ninja capital and castle town of Iga, which is around two hours from Osaka by train.
The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route around the mountains in Toyama includes cable car rides.
Photograph by Toyama Prefecture, Toyama Tourism Promotion
Takoyaki (octopus fritters) are a appreciated side road food snack at stalls in Dotonbori.
Photograph by Mark Parren Taylor
Day 11: Buddhist reflection in Koyasan
One in every of Japan’s holiest places, station on a mountain plateau, the temple settlement of Koyasan provides a reflective atmosphere for an in a single day shukubo (temple stay) at Daienin. Observe the shining red Konpon Daito Pagoda and Daimon Gate by day and seek advice from sacred Okunoin Cemetery with a information by night, when the towering woodland and stone lanterns are particularly atmospheric. Subsequent morning, upward thrust early for a Buddhist prayer ceremony in certainly one of many many local temples. To get to Koyasan from Osaka, it’s a scenic 90-minute jog via train, bus and funicular.
Days 12-13: Hiroshima homage & island escape
It’s complicated no longer to be moved by a seek advice from to the location of the devastating atomic bomb that landed on Hiroshima in 1945. In the heart of the fresh city, a half-day disappear from Koyasan, a skeleton-savor bombed-out dome sits across from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum — an essential stop for any visitor to the town. Whereas based in Hiroshima for two nights, you can also sample the local okonomiyaki savoury pancake, uniquely stuffed with noodles, and seek advice from the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan’s first contemporary art museum.
Finish off with certainly one of Japan’s most iconic sights: the island of Miyajima, famed for its red torii gate rising dramatically from the surrounding waters. It can be visited as a day trip from Hiroshima, via train and ferry (around 1.5 hours) or take a command boat from Hiroshima Peace Park (forty five minutes, but extra costly). When you’ve obtained photographs, take a hike around the inexperienced, hilly island or jog the ropeway up Mount Misen.
Day 14: Shopping in Tokyo
The return disappear to Tokyo takes around four hours on the Shinkansen. Sooner than flying dwelling, stock up on souvenirs: Shibuya has spacious branches of outlets such as Don Quijote, Hands and Loft. Across their multi-ground emporiums, you’ll find everything from seaweed snacks and chopsticks to adorable stationery.
Revealed in the Jan/Feb 2026 hiss of National Geographic Traveller (UK).
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