Stop 01 · about 3 nights
Tokyo
Neon crossings, quiet shrine lanes and izakaya alleys, with Hakone and Mt Fuji within a day trip.
Good for · first landing, food, energy
Signature route · Japan
The Alps loop
TokyoMatsumotoTakayamaKanazawaKyoto
12 nights, 5 stops. This is one of the routes we actually run across Japan. It is the spine of a trip, not the trip. Tell us how you travel and the plan reshapes it into yours.
Make this route yours5 questions · about 3 minutes · nothing to pay
¶ 01 · The stops, in order
Where this route actually goes.
Each stop earns its nights. The quiz decides how long you stay in each, and whether a stop drops off entirely because it is not you.
Stop 02 · about 3 nights
Matsumoto
Stop 03 · about 2 nights
Takayama
Stop 04 · about 2 nights
Kanazawa
Stop 05 · about 2 nights
Kyoto
Temple gardens and torii gates in Kyoto, sacred deer in Nara, and Osaka treating dinner as a sport.
Good for · culture, food, walkability
¶ 02 · Along the way
Picks that sit on this route.
From the Japan file. Real places, filed by people who went, not scraped from a Top 10 list.
Do · Kyoto
Fushimi Inari at dawn
Ten thousand vermilion torii gates winding up a mountainside, and at six in the morning you mostly have them to yourself.
Do · Tokyo
Shibuya at dusk
Watch the crossing flood from above at Shibuya Sky, then get lost in the backstreets below. Tokyo's energy in one square kilometre.
Do · Toyosu, Tokyo
teamLab Planets
Barefoot through knee-deep water and mirrored infinity rooms. The rare big-ticket attraction that earns the queue.
Do · Kyoto
Kinkaku-ji, first entry
The gold pavilion sits on a mirror pond and the light works best before nine. Buy the ticket at the gate, walk the loop once, and leave as the buses arrive.
Eat · Tokyo
Tsukiji Outer Market
The wholesale market moved, the food stalls stayed. Tamagoyaki on a stick, tuna bowls and knife shops, all before ten in the morning.
Eat · Tokyo
Omoide Yokocho
A lantern-lit alley of tiny yakitori counters squeezed beside Shinjuku station. Six seats a bar, smoke in the air, order by pointing.
Eat · Kyoto
Nishiki Market
Kyoto's covered kitchen street. Pickles, yuba, sesame ice cream and small skewers over five blocks of narrow arcade.
Eat · Takayama
Kyoya
Hida beef and hoba miso grilled over charcoal in a farmhouse dining room. Book a day ahead.
¶ 03 · How it becomes yours
The route is the spine. You are the trip.
Five short questions, about three minutes. The plan starts from this route and a library of Japan trips we have tested, then reshapes the nights, the food and the days to your pace and budget.
No sponsored stops, no filler days. If a place stays on your plan, it earned the spot.
RouteThe Alps loop
CountryJapan
Nights12
Stops5
Sponsored picks0