Japan,
the first time.

Pick a season and how long you have. These are the plans that simply work. Not offbeat at all. For that, there's Offbeat Japan.

The best all-round season. Leaves turn in the mountains in October and reach Kyoto in late November.

4 plans for 3 weeks in autumn

21 daysAll yearMost popular

Everything, Once

Every place first-timers love, in one line from Tokyo to Miyajima. Ten bases, so send your luggage ahead.

For first-timers and slow travellers

21days
10places to sleep
16 h 55on trains

Day by day

Days 1 to 5
Tokyo

Worth it. Asakusa before 8am, then an evening walking the backstreets from Shibuya to Harajuku.
Skip. Paying for the Skytree. The Metropolitan Government towers in Shinjuku have the same view for free.
Eat. Sushi, ramen, tempura, and the food halls in department store basements.
2 h by train
Day 6
Nikko

Worth it. Toshogu, the most lavish shrine in Japan, then the bus up to Kegon Falls and Lake Chuzenji.
Skip. A weekend in late October. The road to the lake becomes a three-hour traffic jam.
Eat. Yuba, delicate tofu skin, served every possible way.
3 h 30 by train
Day 7
Hakone

Worth it. One night in a ryokan with a hot spring bath and dinner in your room. Splurge here, not in Tokyo.
Skip. Coming as a day trip to see Mount Fuji. It hides in cloud more often than not.
Eat. Black eggs at Owakudani, soba in Hakone-Yumoto, a kaiseki dinner at your ryokan.
4 h 30 by train
Days 8 and 9
Takayama

Worth it. The old merchant streets early in the morning, Hida beef for lunch, and a sake brewery tasting.
Skip. Sanmachi street between 11am and 3pm. Walk it at 8am instead.
Eat. Hida beef, as sushi, steak or on a skewer.
50 min by train
Day 10
Shirakawa-go

Worth it. A night in a thatched farmhouse, when the day buses have gone and the village goes quiet.
Skip. A tour bus at midday. Take the first public bus from Takayama or Kanazawa.
Eat. Hoba miso, grilled on a magnolia leaf.
1 h 15 by train
Days 11 and 12
Kanazawa

Worth it. Kenrokuen garden at opening time, the Higashi Chaya teahouse district, and sushi at Omicho Market.
Skip. Treating it as a small Kyoto and rushing it in half a day. It has its own pace.
Eat. Seafood bowls, and snow crab from November to March.
2 h 10 by train
Days 13 to 17
Kyoto

Worth it. Fushimi Inari at 7am or after dusk. Keep climbing past the halfway point and you have it to yourself.
Skip. The Arashiyama bamboo grove at midday. It is a short path and you shuffle through it shoulder to shoulder.
Eat. Kaiseki, tofu, obanzai home cooking and matcha everything.
30 min by train
Days 18 and 19
Osaka

Worth it. Eating your way through Namba and Shinsekai at night. This is the city for it.
Skip. Going inside Osaka Castle. It is a 1931 concrete rebuild with a lift. Enjoy it from the park.
Eat. Takoyaki, okonomiyaki, kushikatsu. The local motto is eat till you drop.
1 h 25 by train
Day 20
Hiroshima

Worth it. Two unhurried hours in the Peace Memorial Museum, then okonomiyaki, layered the Hiroshima way.
Skip. Doing it as a day trip from Kyoto. It deserves more than a rushed afternoon.
Eat. Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, and oysters.
45 min by train
Day 21
Miyajima

Worth it. Sleeping on the island. The floating gate at high tide, after the day visitors have gone, is the real thing.
Skip. Arriving without checking the tide times. At low tide the gate stands in mud.
Eat. Grilled oysters, anago rice and maple-leaf cakes.