Tokyo, Hakone and the Japanese Alps

Your trip will start in relaxing style with complimentary VIP airport lounge access before an overnight flight from the UK, arriving on the second day.

Upon arrival, a private driver will meet at the airport to transfer you to your central hotel in the Shiodome district, a high-tech jumble of multilevel walkways that lead to parks, noodle bars and teahouses. On your first day, perhaps rest up after your flight, explore the saltwater ponds and pretty walks of next-door Hamarikyu Gardens or make use of your transport card to explore the city sights.

Stay: Park Hotel, Tokyo (Superior) or The Okura Tokyo (Deluxe)

Today, on an eight-hour private guided tour, you’ll set out to explore the city, making use of the famously efficient Tokyo public transport system. Your guide will consult you on what you’d like to see, tailor-making a trip that suits you. Perhaps you’d like to experience the bustle of Shibuya’s five-way crossing and Harajuku’s colourful shops or you’d rather take time out in a locals-only sushi bar after wandering through the Shinto shrines of Yoyogi Park. You’ll also be provided with tickets to the Tokyo Skytree. As the tallest tower in the world, it offers unparalleled views over the city’s skyscrapers out to – on a clear day – Mt. Fuji’s iconic peak.

Stay: Park Hotel, Tokyo (Superior) or The Okura Tokyo (Deluxe)

Your last day in the Japanese capital will be free to explore any sights you might have missed. Or if you’d rather get out of the city there’s an excellent range of day trips you can take advantage of. There’s the 12th century former capital, Kamakura, a sleepy coastal town known for its beautiful Buddha statues and temples or the waterfalls and lakes of national park Nikko and its intricately decorated 17th-century Tosho-gu Shrine. Alternatively, sacred Mount Takao – Tokyo’s natural boundary – and its wooded ranges make for excellent hiking and cable car rides.

Stay: Park Hotel, Tokyo (Superior) or The Okura Tokyo (Deluxe)

Catch the 40-minute train to Odawara – the gateway to Hakone – where a private transfer will bring you to your ryokan accommodation. Here, you’ll feast on multi-course kaiseki meals and enjoy onsen baths in authentic, timber inns set among riverside verdure. You’ll then have two days to explore the national park making use of your Hakone Freepass. Mountain railways, cable cars and funiculars knit together charming hamlets, forest-ringed lakes and waterside shrines, all watched over by Mt. Fuji’s imperious gaze. Don’t miss out on a pirate ship boat cruise on sparkling Lake Ashi, also included in your pass.

Stay: Motoyu Kansuiro (Superior) or Hoshino Resorts KAI Hakone (Deluxe)

A private driver will once again pick you up from your hotel to take you to Odawara where you’ll catch a train to Kyoto, Japan’s ancient capital. Your journey will be a two-hour race down the country’s eastern seaboard aboard a Shinkansen bullet train. On arrival, you’ll be treated to a private tea ceremony. An English-speaking teacher will guide you through the history and philosophy of the ceremony. Of course, there’ll be plenty of opportunities to taste the tea and its traditional sweet accompaniments. 

Stay: Granvia Kyoto (Superior) or Hyatt Regency (Deluxe)

Today, an eight-hour private guide will introduce you to Japan’s cultural capital. Again making use of the excellent public transport, you’ll explore some of Kyoto’s 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Walk through bright green bamboo groves and under the shocking vermillion of Fuhsimi Inari-Taisha’s gated walkways as you explore some of the city’s 1,600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto shrines. Your local guide will also be able to introduce you to geisha culture in Gion or point out the best spot to grab a steaming bowl of ramen noodles.

Stay: Granvia Kyoto (Superior) or Hyatt Regency (Deluxe)

Although you might want to explore the sights you missed yesterday – perhaps taking a walk in the vast gardens of the city’s Imperial Palace – we recommend a day trip to Nara, just 40 minutes by local train out of Kyoto. As the end of the Silk Road, this is where Buddhism first arrived in Japan and you can still visit its grand monasteries today. Don’t miss out on the giant daibutsu Buddha housed in the sweeping wooden curves of Todai-ji temple. Alternatively, take a walk in Nara Park where overly friendly deer roam free.

Stay: Granvia Kyoto (Superior) or Hyatt Regency (Deluxe)

Travelling north by train out of Kyoto you’ll skirt the shores of Japan’s largest lake – Lake Biwa – before plunging through pretty rural scenery to Kanazawa, one of Japan’s best-preserved historical cities. You’ll have the two days to explore its sights that recall the romance of feudal Japan. Highlights include the charming teahouses of the geisha district and the samurai quarter’s walled bukeyashiki houses. There are also the beautiful landscape gardens of Kenrokuen and markets that sell traditional crafts such as weaving, lacquerware and indigo dyes. More modern arts are equally well represented in the excellent 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art.

Stay: Tokyu Hotel Kanazawa (Superior) or Hyatt Centric Kanazawa (Deluxe)

A private driver and guide will next bring you Takayama, calling into World Heritage listed Shirakawago on your way. A traditional village, Shirakawago is famous for its distinctive gassho ‘praying hands’ architecture; moss-splattered thatched roofs rise steeply to the backdrop of verdant rice paddies, winding rivers and towering mountains. You’ll then arrive in your timber ryokan in Takayama. Nestled among the Hida Mountains – one of the three sacred ranges of the Japanese Alps – it was first established as a 16th century castle town. It’s now famous for its immaculately preserved old town where latticed windows and overhanging roofs of its merchant houses are typical of the Edo period and its shrines and temples have given rise to the nickname, ‘Little Kyoto’. On your two days here, don’t forget to call into the folk village after sampling the region’s world-famous beef and miso soups.

Today, a private transfer will bring you through snow-cloaked mountain passes that – come warmer weather – reveal lush vegetation clinging to jagged summits. After navigating tunnels and dams, you’ll arrive in Matsumoto. An alpine city, surrounded by towering peaks, it’s famous for its wooden castle, one of the only originals left in the country. Relaxed and cosmopolitan, it’s also well known for its sake breweries, tucked away among the traditional buildings of its backstreets.

Stay: Buena Vista, Matsumoto (Superior) or Hoshino Resorts KAI Matsumoto (Deluxe)

On your penultimate day in Japan, you’ll learn the art behind Matsumoto’s famed gastronomy – its soba buckwheat noodles. At Tagaki – a shop opposite the castle founded some 130 years ago – you’ll learn how to make soba noodles from scratch, how best to serve them and, perhaps most importantly, how to eat them. You’ll then take the Azusa Express train, watching as paddy fields, vineyards, orchards and lakes morph into Tokyo’s urban sprawl. If the weather’s clear, you might even catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji to Tokyo’s west.

Stay: Century Southern Tower (Superior) or Park Hyatt Tokyo (Deluxe)

A private taxi will bring you to Narita airport in time for you to catch your flight back to the UK, arriving the same day.