Sample Itinerary
01 — The Shape of the Trip
West to east across Honshu, entirely on rails except for one bus into the mountains. Four places, and each one quieter than the last.
The season. Late June and early July is tsuyu, the rainy season, and Kanazawa is one of the wettest cities in Japan. That is the honest trade: you give up reliable sun and get moss at its greenest, hydrangeas at their peak, and Kyoto's temples close to empty. Pack for it rather than hope.
Stop 01 — Wed 30 June – Fri 2 July
Kansai · on the Kamo river
Two nights and two very different hotels, which is deliberate: a nineteen-room machiya on the river, then the Park Hyatt up in Higashiyama. You see two Kyotos in two days.
Proposed days
Haneda at 2pm, shinkansen down, in Kyoto by early evening. Dinner on the Kamo where the restaurants put their decks out over the water.
Fushimi Inari at seven before the crowds, then Kiyomizu-dera and the lanes down through Sannenzaka. Move hotels in the afternoon.
Arashiyama first thing, then the train to Kanazawa — two hours twenty via Tsuruga.
River View Room
Nineteen rooms on the Kamo, each with a painting by a Kyoto artist on a theme from the Tale of Genji. Small enough that they know your name by breakfast.
On foot
On the river, so Pontocho and Gion are both a walk over the bridge. Nishiki market is about ten minutes west.
What I’ll arrange
Deluxe King, garden aspect
Built into the hillside below Hokan-ji, so the pagoda is essentially in the garden. The best-sited hotel in the city.
On foot
Kiyomizu-dera is a eight-minute walk uphill and Sannenzaka starts at the gate — which means you can be at the temple before the day-trippers arrive.
Secured through my partnership
Stop 02 — Fri 2 – Sun 4 July
Ishikawa, on the Sea of Japan
The city that got missed by the bombs, so the teahouse districts and the samurai quarter are the real thing rather than reconstructions. Two nights is right.
Proposed days
Straight to Kenroku-en, which is five minutes from the hotel and best in the last hour before it closes.
Higashi Chaya at opening, Omicho market for lunch — the seafood here is the reason chefs come — then the 21st Century Museum, which is round and mostly free to walk through.
The bus to Shirakawa-go, an hour and a quarter through the Hakusan foothills.
Deluxe Twin, castle side
A courtyard with a waterfall in it, a club lounge, and the only hotel in the city that puts you between the castle park and the old quarters rather than out by the station.
On foot
Kenroku-en and Kanazawa Castle are both about five minutes, Omicho market ten, and Higashi Chaya fifteen across the Asano river.
Secured through my partnership
Stop 03 — Sun 4 – Mon 5 July
Gifu · a UNESCO village
One night, and it is the whole point of coming. The day buses empty out around five and the village goes back to being a village.
Proposed days
In by midday. The Ogimachi viewpoint in the afternoon, then the village to yourself once the coaches have gone. Dinner is at the minshuku, around an irori hearth.
Bus to Toyama, shinkansen to Nagano, then down to Karuizawa. About four hours all in, most of it through mountains.
Japanese-style room, futon
A minshuku in the village itself rather than a hotel outside it. Simple — futons, shared baths, dinner at a set hour — and that is the correct way to spend this particular night.
Getting around
In Ogimachi, so everything is on foot. The Shiroyama viewpoint above the village is a fifteen-minute climb, and it is worth doing twice, at dusk and again early.
What I’ll arrange
Stop 04 — Mon 5 – Wed 7 July
Nagano · under Mount Asama
Where Tokyo goes to escape the heat, and in the first week of July that is exactly what you will want. Two nights of forest, hot spring water and almost nothing scheduled.
Proposed days
In by late afternoon. Nothing planned: the point of Hoshinoya is that you stop moving.
Shiraito Falls in the morning, then the old Karuizawa road on bicycles. Meditation Bath at the hotel in the afternoon, which is dark, silent and warm.
Shinkansen to Tokyo, seventy minutes, then on to the airport.
Water Garden Room
Rooms scattered along a valley stream so you walk on boardwalks between them, with the Meditation Bath fed by the hot spring the family has run here for a century.
Getting around
In its own valley, with a shuttle to Karuizawa station about fifteen minutes away. Kumoba pond is a twenty-minute walk; everything else is a short drive and they run the car.
What I’ll arrange
Next Steps
Alex’s Atlas