A balanced route through Tokyo and Kyoto, with the bookings, cards and etiquette that save you grief.
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Japan rewards planning more than almost anywhere else — the best things need booking, the distances need thought, and the etiquette is easy to get right once you know it. Here is a ten-day route for first-timers that balances the two great cities with room to breathe.
Tokyo for four nights, Kyoto for four, and two nights somewhere smaller in between or at the end. Fly into Tokyo and out of Osaka (Kansai), so you never retrace your steps.
Base yourself somewhere central — Shinjuku, Ginza or Shibuya all work. Give Tokyo structure: one neighbourhood a day, rather than trying to see everything.
Get a rail pass only if the maths works. The seven-day Japan Rail Pass now costs enough that point-to-point tickets are often cheaper.
Take the shinkansen west. Kyoto is the cultural heart of the country, and it rewards slow, early mornings.
Book one night in a ryokan with a kaiseki dinner — it is the single most memorable thing most first-timers do, and it is worth the money.
End somewhere small. Hakone for an onsen with Mount Fuji views, or a return to Tokyo for a final night of shopping and one last great meal before flying out of Kansai.
