Our 14-Day Japan Itinerary: Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Nara & Osaka
Fourteen days, seven destinations, one route through Japan - here's the whole trip, start to finish.
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Planning a trip to Japan can feel overwhelming. There are so many incredible places to visit that deciding where to go and how to fit it all together can be one of the hardest parts of planning the trip.
When we planned our family’s 14-day trip to Japan, we wanted to experience a little bit of everything: huge modern cities, traditional Japan, beautiful scenery, cultural experiences, incredible food, and some of the country’s most famous sights.
We ultimately traveled through Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Nara, and Osaka.
And while we packed a lot into two weeks, we tried to create an itinerary that felt like an adventure rather than a race.
This is the big-picture version of our trip. If you want the exact day-by-day itinerary, transportation details, reservations, restaurant recommendations, costs, and all the little planning details we used to make the trip work, that’s what you’ll find in our The Ultimate 14-Day Travel Guide:A Step-by-Step Itinerary for First-Time Visitors.
If you or anyone in your family requires gluten free accommodations like we do, you may find the gluten free version of our The Ultimate 14-Day Travel Guide:A Step-by-Step Itinerary for First-Time Visitorshelpful.
If you’re still figuring out how to plan your own trip, you can also start with10 Tips for Planning a Japan Trip.
Our 14-Day Japan Itinerary at a Glance
Day 0: Arriving in Tokyo
After traveling all the way to Japan, our first day was intentionally simple.
We arrived in Tokyo, made our way to our hotel in Shibuya, and focused on getting settled rather than trying to immediately cram sightseeing into the day.
We stayed in Shibuya for our first four nights, which gave us a convenient home base for exploring several of Tokyo’s major neighborhoods.
The goal for arrival day: get through immigration, get to the hotel, adjust to the time change, and save our energy for the next morning.
If you’re curious about where we stayed throughout the entire trip, including what we liked and didn’t like about each property, check out Where We Stayed in Japan: Honest Reviews of Our 6 Hotels.
Day 1: Traditional Tokyo - Asakusa & First Cultural Experiences
Our first full day in Japan started in Asakusa, one of the neighborhoods that gives visitors a very different feel from the skyscrapers and neon of Shibuya.
This was also where some of our food experiences became a bigger part of the trip. Because we were traveling gluten-free, food required considerably more planning than it would for the average traveler. We had researched restaurants and experiences before leaving home so that we weren’t trying to figure everything out while standing on a Tokyo sidewalk hungry and exhausted.
The day also included a sumo experience, which turned out to be one of the more memorable cultural moments of the whole trip.
If you’re traveling to Japan with celiac disease or a gluten-free diet, I’ve written much more about what this was actually like in Is Japan Gluten-Free Friendly? Our Honest Experience Traveling With Dietary Restrictions.
Day 2: Harajuku & Shibuya
Our second day in Tokyo moved through a few of Shibuya and Harajuku’s most iconic corners, anchored by a hands-on food experience that ended up being one of our favorite memories of the whole trip: a gluten-free sushi-making class.
The experience was particularly memorable because the entire meal was prepared gluten-free (advance notice required), which made it possible for us to participate in something we otherwise might have had to skip. For travelers with dietary restrictions, this was one of the moments that made me realize just how valuable advance planning can be.
This was also one of the days where our planning paid off in a different way. Rather than bouncing all over Tokyo, we grouped nearby areas together and worked our way through the city - a strategy we leaned on for the rest of the trip.
If you’re trying to figure out how much a trip like this might cost, I’ve also broken down what we actually spent on our 14-day Japan trip, from hotels and transportation to experiences and food:What Our 14-Day Japan Trip Actually Cost.
We started in Tokyo, modern, historic, and endlessly walkable before working our way west across the rest of the country.
Day 3: Tsukiji Market & Immersive Digital Art
Our final full day in Tokyo mixed food, market browsing, and one of the most talked-about attractions in the city.
We spent the morning at Tsukiji Outer Market before heading to TeamLab Borderless, an immersive digital art museum that turned out to be one of the experiences we were most excited about going in.
Tokyo was also where we learned one of the biggest lessons of the trip:
You can see a lot in Japan, but you cannot see everything.
Choosing a few experiences that really mattered to us made the trip much more enjoyable than trying to check every box.
Day 4: Hakone
We left Tokyo and headed toward Hakone, which gave us a completely different side of Japan.
After several busy days in Tokyo, Hakone was a welcome change of pace.
We stayed at a traditional Japanese ryokan - one of the highlights of the entire trip.
Hakone was also one of the places where weather played a role in our plans. Our original schedule had to be adjusted, but we were still able to experience the famous Hakone Loop and its combination of transportation and scenery.
For us, Hakone was worth including because it broke up the intensity of Tokyo and Kyoto. Instead of going directly from one huge city to another, we had a chance to slow down and experience a very different side of Japan.
Day 5: Hakone to Kyoto
From Hakone, we made our way to Odawara Station and boarded the Shinkansen for Kyoto.
Taking the bullet train was an experience in itself.
The Shinkansen made traveling between major destinations incredibly efficient, and it was one of the transportation experiences we were most excited to have as a family.
If you’ve never taken Japan’s bullet train before, I’ve written an entire post about what the experience was actually like, including what we learned traveling by Shinkansen: Riding the Shinkansen: Japan’s Bullet Train.
Day 6: Kyoto - Arashiyama & Historic Gion
Kyoto was where the trip became much more focused on traditional Japan.
Our first full day here centered on Arashiyama in the morning before we made our way toward Gion in the afternoon and evening - one of Kyoto’s most historic districts, known for its narrow streets and traditional teahouses.
Kyoto can easily become overwhelming because there is so much to see. One of the biggest planning decisions we made was resisting the temptation to create a giant checklist of attractions. Instead, we grouped our sightseeing and tried to build days that actually made sense geographically.
Day 7: Kyoto - Fushimi Inari & Downtown Kyoto
Our second Kyoto day was slightly slower-paced, built around Fushimi Inari Taisha and its thousands of torii gates in the morning, followed by an afternoon exploring downtown Kyoto and Nishiki Market.
The detailed itinerary in our guidebook includes the exact order we used, transportation between stops, and the practical details that aren’t included in this overview.
From Tokyo's neon streets to Kyoto's endless red gates, the route was designed to show as many sides of Japan as possible in one trip.
Day 8: Kyoto → Hiroshima → Miyajima
This was one of our bigger travel days, and also one of our most memorable.
We took the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Hiroshima, where we spent time at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial area learning about the history of the city - a very different kind of experience from the rest of the trip, and one that made us stop and reflect.
From there, we continued on to Miyajima, famous for its iconic floating torii gate, beautiful scenery, temples and shrines, and its famously friendly deer. We stayed overnight on the island.
Weather complicated part of our original plan for this stretch of the trip, which turned out to be a good reminder that even the most carefully planned Japan itinerary needs some flexibility. Despite that, Miyajima ended up being one of the most memorable stops of our entire trip.
Day 9: Miyajima → Hiroshima → Osaka
After a night on Miyajima, we made our way back through Hiroshima and on to Osaka once again utilizing Japan’s bullet trains, our final major destination.
After the traditional atmosphere of Kyoto and the history of Hiroshima, Osaka brought us back into a busier, more energetic city environment.
Day 10: Osaka - Shinsekai & Dotonbori
We spent our first full day in Osaka exploring two of its most iconic neighborhoods: the retro entertainment district of Shinsekai, followed by Dotonbori’s canal, lights, and food scene in the afternoon and evening.
One of the things I loved about ending the trip in Osaka was that it felt different enough from Tokyo that it didn’t feel like we were simply repeating the same city experience.
Looking out over the Dotonbori Canal in Osaka.
Day 11: Day Trip to Nara
From Osaka, we took a day trip to Nara, famous for its deer and historic temples.
Nara was an easy addition to our itinerary as a day trip rather than a full destination change, and it gave us another opportunity to experience a side of Japan that felt completely different from Tokyo or Osaka.
And, of course, the deer were a huge hit with our son.
By this point, we’d also become much more comfortable navigating Japan’s transportation system.
Day 12: Osaka to Tokyo
Our second-to-last day was built around the transition back toward Tokyo ahead of our flight home, with time for a final stop in Osaka before boarding the Shinkansen.
After nearly two weeks of walking, trains, sightseeing, new foods, and constant stimulation, we intentionally kept this day lighter rather than turning it into another maximum-effort sightseeing day. This is something I’d recommend to anyone planning a longer Japan trip: leave yourself some breathing room, especially near the end.
Day 13: Heading Home
And then, far too quickly, it was time to go home.
Fourteen days gave us enough time to experience several very different parts of Japan, but it also made one thing very clear:
We could have stayed much longer.
Japan is one of those destinations where two weeks can feel like a lot of time when you’re planning it and surprisingly short once you’re actually there.
Would We Do This Japan Itinerary Again?
Yes! But there are definitely things we’d change.
Planning a Japan trip from home is very different from actually traveling through Japan.
There were things that worked beautifully, things that surprised us, and things that we would approach differently now that we’ve experienced the trip firsthand.
If you’re interested in the financial side of the trip, see our full breakdown of what our 14-day Japan trip actually cost.
And if you’re still trying to figure out how to build your own itinerary, start with our 10 Tips for Planning a Japan Trip.
Riding the Miyajima Ropeway with views of the water and Hiroshima below.
Want the Exact Itinerary We Used?
Our Ultimate 14-Day Japan Travel Guide was created for travelers who don’t want to spend months piecing together a Japan trip from dozens of websites, blog posts, Google Maps lists, and reservation pages.
The itinerary above gives you the big picture.
The guidebook gives you the details you need to actually plan the trip.
Inside the guide, you’ll find:
Our detailed day-by-day itinerary
How we organized each sightseeing day
Transportation between destinations
Where we stayed
Experiences we booked
Reservation information
Restaurant recommendations
Gluten-free dining information
Practical planning tips
Costs and other details that helped us actually execute the trip
The goal isn’t just to tell you where we went.
It’s to save you the enormous amount of time and decision-making that goes into figuring out how to actually make a trip like this work.
Ready to start planning?
Get the Ultimate 14-Day Japan Travel Guide
If you’re traveling gluten-free, we also have a Gluten-Free Edition of the Japan Travel Guide with the dietary information integrated throughout the itinerary.
We hope our itinerary gives you a helpful starting point and saves you from making at least a few of the mistakes we made while planning ours.
