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Agoda® Hotels in Japan
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Suggested Itinerary
Day 1: After your arrival at Narita Airport, head to your hotel in Tokyo. Recuperate from your flight, settle in, and get a feel for the city. Take a walk through a neighborhood close to your hotel and top off the day with a meal in a traditional restaurant. Try to stay up as late as you can to adjust to the new time zone.
Day 2: Get up and head for Tsukiji Fish Market. After a breakfast of fresh sushi, head to Hama Rikyu, one of Tokyo's oldest Japanese gardens, from which you can board a ferry for a cruise up the Sumida River to Asakusa. Here you can visit Sensoji Temple and shop for souvenirs along Nakamise Dori. Afterward, see the Tokyo National Museum for Japanese arts and crafts. In the evening, head to Ginza for a stroll through a department store and if possible, try to attend a Kabuki play.
Day 3: Take a day trip outside of Tokyo. An excellent choice is Nikko, famous for its sumptuous mausoleum of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japan's most famous shogun, set in a forest of majestic cedars.
Day 4: Visit the Edo-Tokyo Museum for a colorful portrayal of the city's tumultuous history, followed by a stroll through Akihabara, the country's largest concentration of shops devoted to electronics.. Next, go to Harajuku to see Meiji Shrine, Tokyo's most popular shrine, followed by shopping at Oriental Bazaar, great for Japanese souvenirs. End the day with eye-popping views from the 45th-floor observatory in Shinjuku's Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, followed by a stroll through Japan's most notorious and craziest nightlife district, Kabuki-cho.
Day 5: Wake up early in the morning to take the Shinkansen to Nagoya and then a 3-hour train ride to Takayama in the Japan Alps. Explore the picturesque, narrow streets of this old castle town and its many interesting museums and merchants' homes. Live the tatami style for the night.
Day 6: Start your day with a stroll through the Miyagawa Morning Market on the bank of a river. Takayama must-sees include the Hida Minzoku Mura Folk Village and the Hirata Folk Art Museum. Also not to be missed is the Historical Government House, the only regional administrative building from the shogun era still in existence.
Days 7-9: Start Day 7 with a self-guided walk through eastern Kyoto. See Sanjusangendo Hall, the Kiyomizu Temple and Heian Shrine, followed by shopping at the Kyoto Handicraft Center. On Day 8, visit Kyoto's other main attractions - Nijo Castle, former home of the shogun; Kyoto Imperial Palace; Ryoanji Temple with its famous Zen rock garden; and the Golden Pavilion. In the evening, head for Gion, Japan's most famous geisha quarters, followed by an evening performance at Gion Corner with its cultural demonstrations.
Day 10: Head for Nara, an ancient capital even older than Kyoto. Sights include Todaiji Temple with its Great Buddha, enclosed within an expansive park that is also home to free-roaming deer. From Nara, take the Kintetsu train to Kintetsu Namba Station in Osaka, transferring there for a train and cable car to Mount Koya. Mount Koya is Japan's most sacred religious site, with more than 115 Buddhist temples spread through the forests. Spend the night in one of these temples, dining on vegetarian food. Be sure to take a nighttime stroll past towering cypress trees and countless tombs and memorial tablets to Okunoin, the burial ground of Kobo Daishi, one of Japan's most revered Buddhist priests.
Days 11-12: Start with a daytime stroll to Okunoin and return to Osaka to transfer to a train bound for Kurashiki. En route, make a stopover in Himeji to see Himeji Castle and Koko-en garden. Spend the night in Kurashiki and take an evening stroll along the canal. The next day, take in the sights of Kurashiki, including its many museums like the Ohara Museum of Art with its impressive collection of Western masters.
Day 13: Leave for Hiroshima first thing in the morning. Spend the morning at Peace Memorial Park with its sobering memorials and museum, where you’ll learn about the explosion of the atomic bomb. Afterward, board a streetcar for the 45-minute trip to the tiny island of Miyajima, considered sacred since ancient times and famous for its Itsukushima Shrine.
Day 14: You can catch a flight back home from Osaka’s Kansai airport.
