10 days in Japan: itinerary

The 10-day route is a single line down the Tokaido corridor, which is why it works: every hop is under three hours and none of them needs a flight. You land at Haneda or Narita, ride into Tokyo, then work south-west to Kansai International (KIX) and fly home from there.

Hakone sits between Tokyo and Kyoto on the same line, so the ryokan night costs you almost no travel time. Kyoto is the long stay because it has the most to see and the worst transport; Osaka is the last stop because KIX is 50 minutes away and the food is better than the sightseeing.

If you would rather not change hotels four times, cut Hakone and give the night to Tokyo or Kyoto. That is the only real decision on this route.

Days 1–3, Tokyo. Day 1 is arrival only: get the IC card, drop bags, eat near the hotel. Day 2 take one district properly — Asakusa and Ueno, or Shibuya and Shinjuku — rather than four. Day 3 is the day trip: Kamakura, Nikkō or a second city day if the weather is bad.

Day 4, Hakone. Leave Tokyo mid-morning, ride the ropeway, take the lake boat, and be in the onsen by 5pm. Forward your main bag to your Kyoto hotel from Tokyo; it arrives the next day and costs about ¥2,000 per bag (check).

Days 5–8, Kyoto. Day 5 is the move plus one easy sight near your hotel. Day 6 start at Fushimi Inari before 8am, then Higashiyama. Day 7 is Nara as a half day, back for dinner. Day 8 is Arashiyama early, or a slower day in the north of the city.

Days 9–10, Osaka. Day 9 is Dōtonbori and Kuromon market; day 10 is KIX with a two-hour buffer, or a morning in Nara if you skipped it.

Buy a rechargeable IC card (Suica or ICOCA) at the airport and tap in and out of every city train, bus and metro. It also works in convenience stores. The card is the single most useful thing you will carry.

Between cities, buy point-to-point Shinkansen tickets. On this route — Tokyo to Odawara, Odawara to Kyoto, Kyoto to Osaka — a nationwide JR Pass normally costs more than the sum of the tickets, so price both before buying. Reserved seats are worth the small surcharge in cherry blossom and autumn season.

For luggage, use takkyubin (hotel-to-hotel forwarding). One bag Tokyo to Kyoto is roughly ¥2,000 and arrives the next day (check). It is cheaper than a wasted morning on a station platform with a suitcase.

Tokyo: stay on the Yamanote loop so every move is one train. Shinjuku and Shibuya for nightlife, Ueno and Asakusa for cheaper beds and the airport line, Tokyo Station for Shinkansen mornings.

Hakone: one night in a ryokan with a private or booked onsen. Gōra and Sengokuhara are convenient for the ropeway; Yumoto is closest to the station and cheapest.

Kyoto: stay near Kyoto Station for transport, or in Shijō-Karasuma and Gion for walking. Book 2–3 months ahead for late March, April and November (check).

Osaka: Namba for food and the KIX train, Umeda for the Shinkansen and department stores. Two nights is enough; you are here for dinner, not sightseeing.

A 10-day trip lands around ¥180,000–350,000 per person excluding flights (about $1,200–2,300), depending on whether you sleep in hostels, business hotels or ryokan. The ryokan night is the single biggest variable: ¥15,000–40,000 with dinner and breakfast (check).

Transport is the second: about ¥25,000–35,000 per person for the intercity legs plus city trains and the Nara day trip. Food ranges from ¥3,000 a day at convenience stores and standing noodle bars to ¥10,000 with a proper dinner and drinks.

Book the flights as open-jaw — into Tokyo, out of Osaka — because a return ticket plus a Shinkansen back to Tokyo costs more than the fare difference usually does.

Swap Hakone for Nikkō if you want temples and cedar avenues rather than an onsen, or for Kamakura if you want a half-day trip from Tokyo and an extra Kyoto night.

Swap Osaka for Hiroshima if you would rather see the Peace Park and Miyajima than eat in Dōtonbori. Hiroshima is 1 h 30 min from Kyoto by Shinkansen and 2 h 30 min from Osaka, so it fits as a two-night add if you cut a Kyoto night.

Add Okayama as a stop between Kyoto and Hiroshima for Kōraku-en garden and the Kurashiki canal, or drop to a 7-day Tokyo–Kyoto–Osaka route if you have less time. With 14 days, add Kanazawa and Hiroshima and slow everything down.