17 Day Japan Tours & Trips

Start by experiencing the neon lights and excitement of Tokyo: Japan’s largest metropolis. With landmarks, museums, and amusements both historical and contemporary, a few days exploring the capital city always feels like too short a time. The beauteous countryside of Hakone and Mount Fuji, the most breathtaking parts of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, offer refreshing and incredible landscape panoramas ranging from spectacular lake and forest scenes to smoky volcanic calderas. Take a journey into the mountainous Gifu prefecture, stopping at the old mountain town of Takayama. Travelers are charmed by traditional gems including a heritage Old Town district and a charming morning market with handmade souvenirs. Further in the mountains sits the UNESCO Heritage village of Shirakawago, well-known for its farmhouses constructed in the Gassho-zukuri style, with broad sloping thatched roofs thick enough to hold under the region’s considerable snowfall. Kanazawa city, also known as the Golden Marsh, has a fascinating local culture revolving the production of gold leaf, as well as one of Japan’s most exquisite landscape gardens: Kenrokuen Garden. Then see Kyoto, onetime imperial seat of Japan for over a thousand years, with ancient streets lined in Edo-era shops and teahouses. Over a hundred splendid temples and shrines, each one a unique work of art, enchant visitors to this city of culture and tradition. Nearby Nara is equally rich with the atmosphere of classical Japan, but also attracts travelers with its amusing population of wild Sika deer. Visit Osaka for a more modern and quirky cultural charm, especially known for its local street food culture and flashy restaurant signs. Hiroshima is thought-provoking as a city of Peace, where travelers enjoy the local Peace Memorial Park, a vast monument to victims of nuclear attack. Look off the coast to Miyajima Island, to gaze on one of the Three Scenes of Japan, the floating gate of Itsukushima. Finally, travel over to the smaller island of Kyushu, an island with its own fantastic landmarks and breathtaking scenes of natural beauty, with must- see locations in Nagasaki’s old Dutch Quarter of Dejima, Takachiho Gorge, and the Eight Hells of Beppu.