The Golden Route of Japan in 10 Days

Image 1: The Okura Tokyo is modern and luxurious, but still uniquely Japanese ; Image 2: On a clear day, many of the rooms at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo have views of Mt. Fuji

Tokyo - Hyatt Regency

For the first three nights, we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo. This hotel has been around for a long time and is a bit past its prime, but is currently being completely renovated to modernize it and keep it relevant in Tokyo’s incredibly competitive hotel market. Rooms here are generally very affordable for Tokyo (in the $300 range during peak cherry blossom season) and it’s located in Shinjuku, which is very convenient and accessible to the rest of the city. In fact, it’s located right on top of a subway station, which we found to be very convenient for getting around. We really enjoyed our renovated Deluxe room that had views of Mt. Fuji. When you add on Hyatt Privé amenities, I think this hotel offers a great value.

Tokyo - The Okura

On the last night of our trip, we stayed at the beautiful and luxurious Okura. This is a 5-star luxury option located in Roppongi, just a 10-minute walk from the brand new Azubudai Hills development and the new TeamLabs Borderless exhibit there. What I like about the Okura is that they offer two different experiences in their two different buildings. The Heritage tower has a more traditional Japanese design, while the Prestige tower has a more modern design. We ended up booking a room in the Prestige Tower and found it to be spectacular. The overall design, finishes and views were top-notch. We also loved the teppanyaki restaurant on the top floor, and found the breakfast buffet to be the best we had during our time in Japan. This hotel is often priced significantly lower than other 5-star options in the city like the Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula, Andaz, etc. but in my opinion it is every bit as high-end and offers great “bang for buck”. I would 100% recommend this for people who are open to trying a Japanese luxury hotel that doesn’t have the international name-brand recognition of the aforementioned hotels.

Top Highlights in Tokyo

We had an excellent omakase sushi experience at Sushi Masashi, which is a 1-Michelin star. It was absolutely delicious and didn’t feel pretentious or stuffy like some Michelin restaurants. It was very intimate with only 10 seats at the counter. It was easy to make reservations beforehand on the Pocket Concierge website.

We really enjoyed having drinks and yakitori in the narrow alleyways of Omoide Yokocho. Golden Gai is the most famous of these small alleyways with small bars and restaurants. But it is now too busy with tourists and most of the bars there charge a cover charge. We found Omoide Yokocho to be a more authentic and less crowded experience. The smell of yakitori permeating the street was incredible!

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is a beautiful spot to enjoy nature and see cherry blossoms without leaving the city. It was large and expansive, and it almost felt like Tokyo’s version of Central Park.

The new Azabudai Hills mall is gorgeous, with lots of great restaurants and stores to window shop. The main reason we went is because the new TeamLabs Borderless exhibit is located there, which I highly recommend. I know TeamLab gets a lot of hype, but I feel that it’s justified.

Hakone

The main reason we visited Hakone was to stay at a luxury ryokan, and we stayed at Hoshino Resorts KAI Sengokuhara. We stayed in the Japanese Style Suite with Outdoor Bath, the largest room at the property, and very much enjoyed our time there. In my research, it was important for me to find a ryokan that had a modern design, was integrated into nature and had a private in-room onsen. This property fit the bill perfectly, and the service was warm and friendly across the board. The multi-course kaiseki meals were delicious and beautifully presented. We didn’t leave the property the entire time we were there, and felt super relaxed and recharged when we checked out.

Kyoto

For our 3 nights in Kyoto, we stayed at Dhawa Yura Kyoto, which is part of Accor’s Banyan Tree group. This is a great boutique option and is well located to the sites of Tokyo. It’s right next to a subway station, which we found to be really convenient, and is walkable to many of the top sites in the city. The Yura King Suite that we stayed in was large and expansive, and perfect for our family. We also enjoyed the breakfast and friendly service here. The most unique aspect of this hotel was the natural bamboo grove that they have in the middle of the hotel, which creates such a nice and peaceful atmosphere.

Interesting Observations / Pro Tips

To speed up customs and immigration upon landing in Japan, I highly recommend filling out your info on the Visit Japan Web site and taking a screen shot of your QR code. This saved us a bunch of time, which was crucial when we had a cranky baby after such a long flight.

Another pro tip for iPhone users is to add money to a SUICA card in your Apple Wallet. You can use that card for your subway fares, taxis, and even at shops and convenience stores. On previous trips to Japan, I’ve wasted so much time buying individual subway tickets and using cash for taxis, but I never ended up needing to use the cash that I had thanks to so many places taking SUICA or at the very least, taking credit cards. If you’re an Android user, sadly this digital SUICA format only works for Japanese-made Android phones.

Since we were traveling during a peak period, we pre-reserved our Shinkansen tickets ahead of time using the Smart-Ex app. It was easy to use, but one thing to be noted is that I couldn’t get it to work with my Visa or Mastercard credit cards. The only card that would work was Amex, which also seemed to be the case with my traveling companions.

For traveling from Tokyo to Hakone, we opted to take the Hakone Romancecar rather than the Shinkansen. It’s a more scenic train that offers beautiful views and departs from Shinjuku station rather than Tokyo station.

The costs for the Japan Railpass recently went up, so it’s no longer worth it to buy if you’re just doing the classic Tokyo > Kyoto > Osaka > Tokyo route. Before you decide to buy it, I recommend doing the math to confirm that you’ll actually save money. In our case, it didn’t make sense.

In Japan, Google and Yelp aren’t as popular as Tabelog when it comes to restaurant reviews. I ended up finding some great restaurants on Tabelog that I never would have found otherwise.

Japan is very baby/kid friendly. We found there were changing tables and nursing rooms everywhere, and the bathrooms were spotlessly clean. On the Shinkansen, they even had a chair on the wall where your baby could sit while you do your business. Why doesn’t this exist everywhere?!

This is an ideal itinerary for first-time visitors to Japan. It has it all — the modern and sprawling city of Tokyo, the tranquil and serene experience in nature with a unique ryokan experience in Hakone and the cultural and historical sites in Kyoto. With more time, we would have loved to explore other areas. But this was a great way to experience some of the top highlights in Japan in a short period of time.

This trip report is part of our ongoing series on travel to Japan. In need of further inspiration? Check out Adeline Kuroki’s guide, History and Culture in Japan.