Hi everyone,
I’m sharing a concise overview of a 17-day Japan itinerary (2 days for flights included), which I built by cutting and merging several examples I found on the Internet. The goal was to balance visiting cities and more rural/natural areas. Plus, the itinerary has the shape of a cat face, although I can't find how to share the map.
Trip overview:
– Flight
– Tokyo (Days 2–3) Initial stay in Tokyo after arrival, with time to adjust and cover a limited number of neighborhoods without trying to see everything at once.
– Nagano (Day 4) One night in Nagano, primarily as a base for a day trip to Togakushi, before continuing through the Alps.
– Matsumoto → Takayama (Day 5) Transfer day with a stop in Matsumoto (castle visit), then onward to Takayama.
– Takayama (Days 5–6) Two nights, one of which at a ryokan, leaving enough time to explore the old town at a relaxed pace.
– Shirakawa-go → Kanazawa (Day 7) Morning visit to Shirakawa-go, followed by a same-day transfer to Kanazawa.
– Kanazawa (Days 7–8) Two nights to visit the main highlights (market, rebuilt castle, garden, historic districts).
– Kyoto (Days 9–12) Several full days in Kyoto, including a day trip to Nara, keeping daily plans flexible.
– Tokyo (Days 13–16) Final return to Tokyo for the remainder of the trip, with more time for areas missed at the start and a day trip to Kamakura.
– Flight
Night buses were used on a few legs (Tokyo–>Nagano, Kanazawa–>Kyoto, Kyoto–>Tokyo) to reduce daytime travel. The remaining transfers were done by train and intercity buses. Local transportation within cities was handled by city buses, metro systems, and the Tokyo Monorail (airport access).
For local transportation, we mostly used a Suica card, which we purchased at Hamamatsucho right after arriving from Haneda by monorail. In the final days in Tokyo, we also bought a 72-hour Tokyo subway pass, which covered most of our movements in the city.
In Kyoto, we used the Kyoto City Bus & Subway one-day pass (about 1100 yen), which was convenient for getting around the main areas.
The frequent transfers are not compatible with carrying many and/or heavy pieces of luggage. We only had a backpack and a small trolley each. I suggest booking apartments with washing machines at least every few days to avoid coin laundries or hand washing.
Overall, the plan proved doable, but it also came with some important lessons learned and afterthoughts, as follows.
For younger backpackers, the pace is likely sustainable. For someone my age (41), however, the combination of frequent accommodation changes and overnight travel took a noticeable toll. In hindsight, I would avoid night buses altogether and try to consolidate destinations into half-day or full-day trips centered around a smaller number of base locations.
The trip took place last summer (June 20 – July 6, 2025) and was planned with the opening times of major attractions in mind. That said, the itinerary would clearly need adjustments if repeated in the future. I would also strongly recommend moving the trip earlier in the year to mitigate the heat.
Alternatively, shifting the itinerary to coincide with major festivals is possible, but this would come at the cost of even higher heat and humidity.
We were also completely unprepared for the amount of rain, wind, and cold we encountered in Togakushi and Shirakawa-go, so this is something to keep in mind.
Finally, the segment from Nagano to Matsumoto represents a critical path in the itinerary, as it is realistically served only by train (with taxis being quite expensive). We came close to having our train canceled due to a typhoon, so it may be worth considering contingency travel options in advance.
I hope this itinerary can be helpful to others. I'll be glad to read some feedback and suggestions for further improvement.
Note: The key information of this post is summarized in the overview above. The detailed day-by-day section below is included mainly for completeness and to comply with the subreddit rules, but the itinerary structure and main takeaways are already reflected in the summary.
Day 1 – June 20 (Fri) – Departure
We departed from Rome for Japan. The day was made more stressful by a national transport strike in Italy (including flights), but we managed to leave on time.
Day 2 – June 21 (Sat) – Tokyo
Arrival at Haneda in the morning, hotel near Shin-Ōkubo. After check-in we went to the Harajuku area, visiting Meiji Jingu and walking along Takeshita Street. In the evening we moved to Shinjuku, explored Kabukicho, and had dinner in a very small local restaurant where we ate hot soba.
Day 3 – June 22 (Sun) – Tokyo → night bus
In the morning we visited the Imperial Palace East Gardens. Later we went to Asakusa, entering through Kaminarimon, walking along Nakamise-dori, and visiting Senso-ji. In the afternoon we stopped in the Ueno area for a walk in the park.
In the evening we returned to central Tokyo for dinner, then took a night bus to Nagano.
Day 4 – June 23 (Mon) – Nagano ⟷ Togakushi
We arrived early in Nagano by night bus and left our luggage at the hotel before taking the bus to Togakushi. We walked the cedar avenue to Okusha shrine, visited the temples in the area, and had soba at a small traditional restaurant. The weather was very bad, with continuous rain and much colder temperatures than expected.
Back in Nagano we had planned to visit Zenko-ji, but we had to spend the afternoon checking train options for the following day because there was a risk of cancellations due to a typhoon. Because of this, the rest of the planned sightseeing in Nagano was skipped.
Overnight in Nagano.
Day 5 – June 24 (Tue) – Matsumoto → Takayama (ryokan)
In the morning we took the train from Nagano to Matsumoto and visited Matsumoto Castle. For lunch we tried basashi (raw horse meat) and cold soba.
After lunch we took the highway bus to Takayama. In the evening we checked in at a local ryokan, where we had a traditional kaiseki dinner.
Day 6 – June 25 (Wed) – Takayama
We spent the whole day walking around Takayama. We visited the Takayama Matsuri Yatai Kaikan (festival floats museum) and the nearby Sakurayama shrine area, then continued through the Higashiyama temple district. Later we walked through the old town streets of Sanmachi Suji, crossed Nakabashi bridge, and stopped at the Miyagawa morning market.
During the day we tried several cheap sake tastings in different shops and ate small street snacks, visited a historic house (Yoshijima Heritage House, if I remember correctly) and the Takayama Jinya. In the evening we had dinner with Hida beef.
Day 7 – June 26 (Thu) – Shirakawa-go → Kanazawa
In the morning we took the bus from Takayama to Shirakawa-go. We spent several hours walking around the village, crossing the main bridge and exploring the traditional gassho-zukuri houses. Some of the buildings marked on the map were closed, so we ended up walking around the same areas more than once.
We had lunch in the village, including a mountain vegetable soup that turned out to be one of the best dishes of the trip. After that we walked up to the viewpoint above the village, then visited the open-air museum area (Shirakawa-go Gassho-zukuri Minkaen) where several traditional houses from the surrounding region have been relocated.
In the afternoon we took the bus to Kanazawa (15:55 departure), arriving in the early evening.
Day 8 – June 27 (Fri) – Kanazawa
We spent the whole day in Kanazawa. In the morning we visited Omicho Market, then walked to the Higashi Chaya district and entered the historic Shima teahouse, where we had tea and sweets.
Later we visited Kanazawa Castle and Kenrokuen garden, and stopped at a shrine on the way before going to the Nagamachi district, where we entered a preserved samurai house.
In the evening we had dinner at a small sushi restaurant run by an elderly couple, one of the most memorable meals of the trip.
Later that night we took a night bus to Kyoto.
Day 9 – June 28 (Sat) – Kyoto
We arrived early in Kyoto by night bus and spent some time getting oriented around the station. We bought the Kyoto City Bus & Subway one-day pass (about 1100 yen), which allowed unlimited use of city buses and subway lines, left our luggage, and started sightseeing.
Our first stop was Fushimi Inari Taisha, which we climbed all the way to the top. After that we went to Tofuku-ji, where we crossed the long covered Tsutenkyo bridge and visited the temple grounds.
Later we moved to the Ryoan-ji area. For lunch we had tonkatsu at a small restaurant near Sanjusangendo, which we visited right after. In the evening we walked around Gion, had dinner there, and stopped at Kyoto Station again before returning to the hotel.
Day 10 – June 29 (Sun) – Kyoto
We spent the day visiting the western and northern parts of Kyoto. We went to Arashiyama, walked around the bamboo grove, and visited Tenryu-ji, with its large garden and pond.
Later we moved to Kinkaku-ji and then to Ryoan-ji, where we saw the famous rock garden and the stone basin with the inscription 吾唯足知.
The rest of the day was spent walking around the area and returning to the center in the evening. At dinner we tried saba-zushi, a traditional Kyoto-style mackerel sushi.
Day 11 – June 30 (Mon) – Nara day trip
We took a day trip from Kyoto to Nara. After arriving near Nara Park we walked through the park area, saw the deer, and visited Todai-ji and the surrounding temples and shrines.
In the afternoon we continued walking around the park and the old streets nearby, then returned to Kyoto in the evening.
Day 12 – July 1 (Tue) – Kyoto
We started the day at Kiyomizu-dera. From there we walked through the Higashiyama streets, passing small shops and markets.
Later we tried to visit Nijo Castle, but it had just closed when we arrived, so we headed back toward the Gion area. In the evening we booked a show at Gion Corner, where several traditional arts were presented (tea ceremony, music, dance, theater). The performance itself was very interesting, although the behavior of part of the audience was surprisingly disrespectful…
That night we returned to Kyoto Station to take the night bus to Tokyo.
Day 13 – July 2 (Wed) – Tokyo → Kamakura → Tokyo
We arrived in Tokyo early in the morning by night bus from Kyoto and left our luggage in coin lockers at the station before going out again for a day trip to Kamakura.
In Kamakura we visited the main temple area, including Hasedera and the Great Buddha, then walked toward Tsurugaoka Hachimangu and explored the streets near the station, trying various snacks along the way. Among the things we ate were a black pork bun, a sweet azuki bun, grilled dumplings with small fish on top, a korokke with the same topping, and two unusual ice creams (one sweet potato flavored and one with rum and raisins).
We returned to Tokyo in the evening and picked up our luggage before going back to the accommodation.
Day 14 – July 3 (Thu) – Tokyo
In the morning we went to Gotokuji, the temple famous for the many lucky cat statues, then continued to Sengaku-ji, where the graves of the 47 ronin are located.
Later we moved to the Roppongi area, and in the afternoon we went to Shibuya, where we saw the famous crossing and the Hachiko statue.
In the evening we had dinner at a yakiniku restaurant, where we tried several cuts of wagyu beef.
Day 15 – July 4 (Fri) – Tokyo
In the morning we went to Tsukiji Outer Market, where we walked around the stalls and tried various seafood.
After that we moved to the Ginza area, where we saw the Wako clock tower building.
Later we visited the Suginami Animation Museum, which focuses on the early history of anime and includes original drawings (including works like Astro Boy) and vintage equipment.
In the afternoon we went to Akihabara, and made a short detour to Kanda Myojin shrine, known for appearing in Steins;Gate (it was unfortunately closed when we got there).
Day 16 – July 5 (Sat) – Tokyo
We spent the day in the Ueno area. We visited the park and stopped at the Shitamachi Museum, which shows everyday life in Tokyo in the recent past, including a reconstruction of a traditional house and shop. Nearby we also visited Hanazono Inari Shrine, recognizable for its rows of red torii gates and fox statues.
During the day there was some kind of local festival, with groups of kindergarten and elementary school children parading and playing music. We also found a stall where we could try kingyo-sukui, which had been one of my wife’s main goals for the trip.
For lunch we had naporitan. In the evening we went back to the Sendagi area and had dinner at a small okonomiyaki restaurant run by a very nice, elderly chef, where we were the only customers.
After dinner we went out again, first to Akihabara and then to the Shinjuku area, walking through Kabukicho and stopping to see one last time the large 3D cat screen.
Day 17 – July 6 (Sun) – Tokyo → Departure
We spent the morning traveling to Haneda Airport, taking the Yamanote Line and then the Tokyo Monorail.
Flight back home.
by MilkInner7233