Mount Fuji above Lake Ashi at sunset
Private guide
Japan · Tokyo — Kyoto — Hakone

Japan: Tokyo to Kyoto

Duration
7 nights · 8 days
Starting from
9,800 c.u.

Classic Japan, privately: Tokyo, three days in Kyoto with a geisha and maiko dinner show and a temple tea ceremony, Osaka and Nara, the hot springs of Hakone with views of Mount Fuji, Nikko or Kamakura — and Shinkansen bullet trains between the cities.

Day-by-day itinerary
  1. Day
    01

    Arrival in Tokyo

    The Rainbow Bridge over Tokyo Bay at night

    Meet and greet at the airport and a private transfer to The Prince Sakura Tower in Shinagawa. The rest of the day is yours to recover from the flight and take a first look at the city: an evening stroll to Tokyo Bay, or dinner at the hotel.

  2. Day
    02

    Shinkansen to Kyoto

    Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto

    Transfer to Kyoto. Shinagawa station is 500 metres from the hotel; on request we arrange an assistant who meets you at the hotel, helps with luggage and sees you onto the bullet train.

    Shinkansen trains have two classes: Ordinary seats (2nd class, 3×2 rows) — comfortable and roomy — and the Green Car (1st class, 2×2 rows), the equivalent of business class in the air: wider seats, more legroom and fewer passengers. We recommend the Green Car.

    In Kyoto, check-in at your hotel and a free evening in the ancient capital.

  3. Day
    03

    Kyoto: geisha, maiko and the tea ceremony

    A maiko in kimono behind the curtain of a teahouse

    In the evening, a dinner show at Gion Hatanaka with a performance by geisha and maiko: kaiseki cuisine and drinks. Kaiseki is the traditional multi-course Japanese dinner, as refined as European haute cuisine — the pleasure lies in contemplating the dishes and tableware, in the taste of a meticulously composed menu and in the time shared at the table. The restaurant seats 30, so other guests will be at neighbouring tables.

    The geisha and maiko speak a little English; an interpreter-guide can join you on request.

    Separately, we can arrange a private tea ceremony in one of Kyoto’s temples, conducted by the head priest and lasting about an hour. He speaks only Japanese, but an interpreter-guide stays with you throughout — included in the price.

  4. Day
    04

    Osaka and Nara

    Deer in Nara Park at sunset

    A sightseeing day in Osaka and Nara with your private guide — by private car with a driver or, if you prefer, by public transport.

    This is a full day: the Kyoto — Osaka — Nara — Kyoto loop takes about three hours in total, with three hours of touring and lunch in each city.

  5. Day
    05

    Kyoto → Hakone

    Boats on a mirror-still lake in the Hakone mountains

    Transfer to Kyoto station — smaller than Tokyo’s and already familiar from your arrival. On request, an assistant meets you at the hotel, accompanies you by taxi to the station and helps you board the right train.

    Shinkansen to Odawara and transfer to Hakone, a mountain resort of onsen hot springs at the foot of Mount Fuji. The evening at your ryokan.

  6. Day
    06

    Fuji-Hakone National Park → Tokyo

    Mount Fuji above Lake Ashi

    A sightseeing day in Fuji-Hakone National Park with your private guide and driver: Lake Ashi, the ropeway, the volcanic Owakudani valley and the best vantage points for Mount Fuji.

    It is a long day: the Hakone — park — Tokyo route takes four to five hours, and seeing the park’s highlights needs at least two to three hours on site. We do not recommend public transport for this route — only buses link the stops, with long walks and waits between them. Evening in Tokyo.

  7. Day
    07

    Nikko or Kamakura

    The Great Buddha of Kamakura

    Option 1 — Nikko: an express train from Tokyo (to avoid the traffic) and a tour of Nikko’s shrines by private car with your guide and driver.

    Option 2 — Kamakura: the ancient city founded in the 12th century by the shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo, a must-see for anyone in Tokyo during cherry-blossom season. Its old temples and the statue of the Great Buddha capture a Japan where Buddhist and Shinto shrines stand side by side and the beliefs of the two religions intertwine; Kamakura is not called “the Kyoto of eastern Japan” for nothing.

    You walk the “Prince’s Way” — a 500-metre avenue of hundreds of cherry trees leading to the city’s main shrine, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, ancestral shrine of the Minamoto clan, raised in 1180 to Hachiman, god of warriors, on top of Crane Hill. Then Zeniarai Benzaiten, a Buddhist-Shinto “fusion” shrine to the sea goddess Benzaiten: money washed in its spring is said to double. And finally the Great Buddha — a 13.35-metre seated Amida, Japan’s second largest after the Buddha of Nara.

  8. Day
    08

    Tokyo — departure

    Tokyo from above in morning light

    Breakfast at the hotel, private transfer to the airport and your flight home.