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Étaperia

Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto in 12 days: a first trip to Japan, no car needed

Four days in Tokyo, one night in Hakone, five in Kyoto with a day trip to Nara, and a last one in Osaka, by train, subway and on foot.

Compiled by Kylian, updated on Oct 25, 2026

Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, mirrored in its pond
  • 12 days
  • 47 places
  • 11 nights
  • fast pace
Start
Tokyo
End
Osaka (Kansai Airport)
Main transport
Train, subway and walking, a single Shinkansen
Recommended season
Late March and early April for the cherry blossoms, mid-November to early December for the maples; May and October are the best compromise

What you get

  • The complete itinerary: 12 days sequenced Morning / Afternoon / Evening / Hotel
  • The card of every hotel, with the address and a direct booking link
  • Quota tickets, fixed-date tickets and surcharges flagged in advance
  • The country quick guide: weather, transport, formalities, budget
  • A PDF file of 32 pages

What the price does not include

  • Flights
  • Hotel nights
  • Tickets and admission fees
  • Travel insurance
  • On-the-ground assistance during your trip

The itinerary preview

The free day in full, with its hotel card. This is the sample.

Day 3

Shinjuku, from the imperial garden to the lanes

Morning

Shinjuku Gyoen

Fifty-eight hectares (143 acres) in the middle of the city, the former grounds of a lord that became an imperial botanical garden in 1906 and then a public park in 1949. Three gardens in one: a Japanese landscape garden with ponds and bridges, a formal French one, an English one with an immense lawn. A tropical glasshouse and a Taiwanese-style pavilion of 1928. A thousand cherry trees of sixty-five varieties spread the blossom over more than a month.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

The Tokyo city hall, two hundred and forty-three meters (797 ft), designed by Kenzō Tange in 1991 with the silhouette of a gothic cathedral in checkerboard. Its two observatories on the 45th floor, at 202 meters, are entirely free: it is the best freely accessible view in the city, with Fuji to the south-west in clear weather.

Afternoon

Kabukichō and Hanazono-jinja

The district takes its name from a kabuki theater that was never built: the post-war project was abandoned, the name stayed. It is today the densest nightlife district in Japan. In the middle of it, Hanazono-jinja, a vermilion shrine older than the founding of Edo, protects the businesses of the district; its Sunday flea market and its November festival are well known.

Isetan and Kinokuniya

The Isetan department store, founded in 1886, has the highest turnover of any department store in Japan; its food basement is a show in itself. The main Kinokuniya bookstore, a little further on, devotes a whole floor to books in foreign languages.

Evening

Omoide Yokochō

About sixty counters of four or five seats in two lanes a meter and a half wide, under the railway, inherited from the black market of 1946. You eat chicken skewers and grilled offal there in the smoke, elbow to elbow. Its post-war nickname was less poetic; the lane of memories came later.

Hotel · Night 3

Hotel Gracery Shinjuku

Thirty floors and a hundred and thirty meters (427 ft) in the heart of Kabukichō, five minutes' walk from the east exit of Shinjuku and three from Seibu-Shinjuku. Reception is on the 8th floor, on whose terrace sits a twelve-meter Godzilla head; the top floor has rooms decorated on that theme, bookable only online. Rooms that are spacious for Tokyo, separate bathroom and toilet, self check-in terminals.

Address
· 1-19-1 Kabukichō, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8466
Website
· whgshinjuku.gracery.com (new tab)
Check-in
from 2:00 PM · Check-out 11:00 AM · 24-hour reception on the 8th floor, entrance at the back of the Toho building
Book this hotel (new tab) affiliate link

Buy this itinerary

€39 incl. tax

that is €3.25 per day of travel

Billed in euros. If your card is in another currency, your bank converts at its own rate.

  • Secure payment through Stripe, bank card, Apple Pay and Google Pay
  • Available immediately in your customer account: online reading with clickable booking links, downloadable PDF for offline use
  • Method: what is checked, and when

A hotel in the itinerary closed or impossible to find, a place to visit permanently closed?

Within 12 months of purchase, email contact@etaperia.com

Itinerary corrected within 7 days, or refunded in full. Terms in article 12 of the terms of sale, on top of the legal warranty (new tab)

€39 incl. tax · 12 days

Buy

A question before buying? Email Kylian, reply within 2 business days.

The day-by-day rundown

12 stops, 510 km as the crow flies

  1. Day 1 Arrival in Tokyo, Asakusa and Sensō-ji Kaminarimon and Nakamise Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  2. Day 2 The National Museum at Ueno, then the Skytree Tokyo National Museum Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  3. Day 3 Shinjuku, from the imperial garden to the lanes Shinjuku Gyoen Free
  4. Day 4 From Meiji-jingū to the Shibuya crossing Meiji-jingū Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  5. Day 5 From Tokyo to Hakone, Lake Ashi Hakone-en and the Komagatake ropeway Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  6. Day 6 Ōwakudani, the open-air museum, then Kyoto Ōwakudani and the Hakone ropeway Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  7. Day 7 Kyoto, Higashiyama from Kiyomizu to Gion Kiyomizu-dera Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  8. Day 8 The bamboo of Arashiyama, Ryōan-ji and the Golden Pavilion Sagano bamboo grove Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  9. Day 9 Fushimi Inari, then Nishiki Market and Pontochō Fushimi Inari-taisha Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  10. Day 10 Nara, the great Buddha and Kasuga-taisha Tōdai-ji Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  11. Day 11 Osaka, Shinsekai, the castle and Dotonbori Tsūtenkaku and Shinsekai Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  12. Day 12 Departure from Kansai Airport Departure from Kansai Airport Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF

1 day is free to read above. The other 11 unlock when you buy. Buy the itinerary, €39

Found an error in this itinerary? Report an error

Country quick guide and logistics

The essentials of the country, scannable in ten seconds.

Weather and when to go

  • Late March and early April for the cherry blossoms, mid-November to early December for the maples: these are the two peaks, when hotel prices double. May and October are the best compromise.
  • July and August are heavy, with an average high of 33 to 34 °C (91 to 93 °F) in Kyoto and spikes beyond 35 °C (95 °F). Mount Fuji is mostly visible from Hakone between November and February.

Transport and permits

  • No car at all: the whole route is done by train, subway, bus and on foot. Only the Odawara-Kyoto Shinkansen and the Romancecar to Hakone need a separate ticket; everything else is paid with a Suica or Pasmo card.
  • The Hakone Freepass covers the mountain train, the funicular, the Ōwakudani ropeway, the boats and the Hakone Tozan buses, but neither the Izuhakone buses nor the Komagatake ropeway.
  • For Hakone and Kyoto, send the big suitcase from the Shinjuku hotel to the Kyoto one with the luggage delivery service, and travel for two days with a small bag.

Formalities and safety

  • Valid passport. US and UK citizens enter visa-free for tourist stays of up to 90 days. Filling in Visit Japan Web before the flight lets you clear immigration and customs with a QR code. Type A plug adapter, 100-volt current.

Budget and meals

  • Japanese yen. Cards work almost everywhere in Tokyo and Osaka, but many temples in Kyoto and Nara take cash only. Indicative meal budget: ¥900 to ¥1,800 for lunch, ¥2,500 to ¥5,000 for dinner. No tipping.
  • Shibuya Sky and the Tembō Galleria are booked by time slot; the route is built around closing days, so the day you land in Tokyo matters, as explained in the notebook.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly do I receive?

Your Étaperia itinerary, available immediately in your customer account after payment: readable online with clickable booking links, and downloadable as a PDF for the trip. Every day is sequenced Morning / Afternoon / Evening and says where you spend the night, with the address and booking link for each place to stay. Timed-entry tickets are flagged in advance.

How is this better than what an AI gives me?

A generative AI composes a plausible list in seconds, without saying what was checked or when. At Étaperia, every itinerary is compiled day by day, with the booking constraints spotted before it is too late to get them. The Method page says what is checked, against which source and on what date.

Can I adapt it to my dates and my pace?

Yes. The days are self-contained blocks: you can shift the departure, stretch a stage or skip a day without breaking what follows. Only timed-entry tickets require adjusting the dates accordingly, and they are all flagged.

What if a hotel or a place in the itinerary has closed?

Email contact@etaperia.com within 12 months of your purchase. If a hotel in the itinerary is closed or can no longer be found, or a place to visit has closed permanently, the itinerary is corrected in your customer account within 7 days, or you are refunded in full. A hotel fully booked on your dates, a seasonal closure or a change in opening hours or prices is not covered. This guarantee comes on top of the legal warranty of conformity; details in article 12 of the terms and conditions of sale.

Module, classic or complete itinerary: which one should I choose?

A classic is a short trip built to stand on its own, designed for a first visit to the country. A module covers one region in depth. The complete itinerary crosses the whole country, and buying it also unlocks each of its modules in your customer account.

Can I get a refund if the itinerary doesn't suit me?

No. It is digital content delivered right away, and you waive your right of withdrawal at checkout. To judge before you pay, every product page gives one full day for free and the list of every stop. After purchase, the guarantee applies: a closed hotel or a permanently closed place is corrected within 7 days, otherwise you get a refund.

Who is selling you this itinerary

  • Consumer mediator: ANM Consommation
  • Payment handled by Stripe: Étaperia never sees your card number
  • Publisher, not a travel agency: you book flights, hotels and tickets yourself

In the same country

The complete itinerary

The classic itineraries

Or take it one module at a time

To read before you go

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