Tokyo to Hiroshima, at half the usual speed
The standard first-visit line, with the Alps and a thatched village dropped into the middle of it.
The usual first trip to Japan is Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka in ten days on the bullet train. This is the same line with three days pulled out of the cities and put into the mountains in between, which is where the country stops looking like its own postcards. Twelve days, one direction, entirely by rail. It ends at Miyajima rather than doubling back, so fly out of Hiroshima or take the train back overnight.
The route, day by day
- Day 1-3 Senso-ji and Asakusa, Tokyo
Tokyo, from its oldest temple rather than from a viewing deck.
- Day 2 Tokyo National Museum
In Ueno. The best single explanation of everything you are about to look at for two weeks.
- Day 3 Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
Ten minutes, from the second floor of the station building, then move on.
- Day 4 Hakone Onsen Towns
First hot spring, close enough to Tokyo to be an easy first move with luggage.
- Day 4 Mount Fuji
From Hakone in clear weather. It is visible far less often than photographs suggest.
- Day 5 Matsumoto Castle
One of a handful of original keeps - black, and much smaller inside than it looks.
- Day 6 Takayama Old Town
A preserved merchant district in the mountains, and the morning market.
- Day 7 Shirakawa-go
Thatched farmhouses, an hour by bus from Takayama. Go late and stay after the day buses leave.
- Day 8-10 Higashiyama and Gion, Kyoto
Kyoto. The eastern hills on foot, early, before the lanes fill.
- Day 9 Fushimi Inari Shrine
The tunnel of gates. Walk past the first twenty minutes and the crowd disappears entirely.
- Day 10 Nara Park and Todai-ji
A day trip. The deer are wild animals and bite - the signs are not being cute.
- Day 11 Himeji Castle
Straight off the bullet train, the finest surviving castle in the country.
- Day 12 Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima
The floating gate, best at high tide. Stay the night on the island if you can.
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Getting around
Rail. A Japan Rail Pass only pays for itself on a route like this if you are moving nearly every day - price it against individual tickets first, since the pass went up sharply in 2023. Luggage forwarding between hotels costs a few euros and removes the worst part of the trip.
When to go
Early April for blossom and late November for maples, both of which mean full trains and booked-out rooms. Late May and October are the quiet, comfortable compromise. Avoid Golden Week in early May and mid-August entirely.
Honest expectations
Kyoto in season is genuinely crowded, and some residential lanes in Gion are now closed to visitors because of the behaviour of the ones that came before you. Japan is not cheap any more once accommodation is included, though food remains excellent value. Twelve days is enough to see this line properly and not enough for anything else - the north and the far south are separate trips.
This is a suggested order, not a booking. Every stop links to its own page with access, season, entry and what is genuinely annoying about it. Check opening days and ferry timetables yourself before you commit - they change, and this page does not.