Japan’s Coasts and Countryside

15 days from £10,350 for 2024 per person

• Tokyo
• Izu Peninsula
• Kyoto
• Hiroshima and Miyajima
• Kanazawa
• Noto
• Hakone

Arrive into Shinjuku and relax in the park with its English, French and Japanese landscape gardens. See how the kids like to mix and match on Harajuku teen fashion street which leads to the great contrast of old Meiji Jingu shrine. The high fashion and flagship stores on Ometesando are not far away. The first trip to Tokyo can be overwhelming, so take a day trip out to coastal Kamakura, the old Edo-period capital. Nearby Enoshima island can easily be reached on the scenic seaside train line, where you can eat fresh seafood, yakitori (fried meat skewers) and stroll around the island’s charming good luck shrines.

Leave the city behind and catch a scenic express train down the Izu Peninsula, where you can work up an appetite walking the jagged Jogosaki coastline before retiring to your 'ryokan' for a sumptuous 'kaiseki' feast and hot spring bath. It’s then back on the bullet train line down to Kyoto to explore its heritage, gardens and Philosopher’s path between some of the most impressive temples.

Catch the bullet train on to Hiroshima and appreciate Shukkei-en – one of our favourite gardens – before exploring the Peace Park and wartime history. The following day head to Miyajima island for the charming walks along the seafront and its famous shrine with the ‘floating’ red gate. You also have time to explore the small but perfectly formed town of Tsuwano with its koi carp streams alongside old samurai dwellings.

To reach Noto peninsula, double back to Kyoto then north to Kanazawa where you can sample a traditional teahouse and sake brewery before picking up your car and driving the coastal road of the Noto Peninsula for your second luxury 'ryokan' stay. Complete the loop back to Kanazawa for one more night before heading back to Tokyo via Hakone in the foothills of Mt Fuji for the third and possibly finest 'ryokan' stay at the renowned Gora Kadan.

You have one more day in Tokyo to catch anything you didn’t see at the start of the trip, and perhaps splash out at the fine stores and restaurants of the Ginza area before retiring to one of the city’s deluxe flagship hotels.

This tour is purely a suggested itinerary; it can be booked as it is, or alternatively used as a starting point for creating your own ideal tailor-made holiday. If you'd like to see similar trips, take a look at our other Japan itineraries.

I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything.
Bill Bryson