Japan · Sample itinerary
Japan with kids, beyond Kyoto
- Length
- 14 nights
- Best for
- Families with children
- Best time
- Spring and autumn
- Pace
- Relaxed, with big days
Why I love this trip
This is the Japan trip I planned for my daughter and me. Instead of the usual rush between Tokyo and Kyoto, it starts on the quiet west coast in hot-spring towns and craft villages, then builds toward Ghibli Park and a roller coaster park and finishes in the energy of Tokyo.
It is designed around a kid who loves making things, animals, adventurous food and a good thrill, and a parent who wants to see the real Japan. Every transfer is by train, because winding mountain roads and car-sick kids do not mix.
- Days 1 to 3
Yamashiro Onsen
3 nights in a traditional ryokan with hot-spring baths
Fly into the small airport at Komatsu and you can be soaking within the hour. Paint your own Kutani pottery, try glass blowing at a hands-on craft village, visit a rabbit sanctuary, and walk the Kakusenkei Gorge in neighbouring Yamanaka Onsen, home to centuries of lacquerware craft.
- Days 4 to 7
Kanazawa
4 nights in a ryokan-style hotel near the old town
Start with a guided food tour through the Omicho fish market, then try on armour and learn sword etiquette at a samurai experience in the old Nagamachi district. Walk the Higashi Chaya geisha quarter in kimono. Meet a geiko, as Kanazawa’s geisha are known, and visit a historic teahouse. Make gold leaf art and eat ice cream wrapped in gold, then explore a temple built like a ninja fortress, full of trap doors and hidden stairways.
- Day 8
Nagoya and Ghibli Park
1 night in the city centre
A scenic train ride south and an evening in the lively Osu neighbourhood for street food. The next morning, visit Ghibli Park and step inside Satsuki and Mei’s house from My Neighbor Totoro, then continue to Nagashima.
- Days 9 to 10
Nagashima
2 nights at the resort’s hot-spring hotel
Spend a full day at Nagashima Spa Land, a roller coaster park home to Steel Dragon 2000, one of the longest roller coasters in the world, then recover in an enormous outdoor hot-spring complex, and wander the light illuminations at Nabana no Sato after dark.
- Days 11 to 14
Tokyo
4 nights in a central hotel
Akihabara’s anime shops with a local guide, the Kanda Myojin shrine, a rescue cat café and Harajuku. Asakusa’s old streets, a capybara café and the immersive art of teamLab Planets. Then a day trip to the coast at Kamakura to step inside the Great Buddha and explore the caves of Hase-dera, finishing with the island cats of Enoshima.
- Day 15
Fly home from Narita
Make it yours
This is a starting point, not a package.
I design every trip with trusted experts who live and work in the region, and I can change anything here: your dates, your pace, the hotels, or how long you stay in each place. Where I can, I’ll add preferred-partner perks like daily breakfast and hotel credits to your stays. Pricing depends on season and the hotels you choose, so I’ll prepare a personal proposal for you.
Ready when you are