How many days do you need in Japan?
Ten days. That is the length of the itinerary we built for Japan, across Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.
Here is what each day holds. Every stop below carries its time, and every gap says how to get to the next stop, with the walk or drive time wherever both stops are mapped.
Japan · 10 days Tokyo → Kyoto → Osaka
Best time: Late March to early April for cherry blossoms, or late October to November for fall color and cool air.
Tokyo: Senso-ji TempleDay 1
🏛️9:00 AMSenso-ji Temple
Tokyo’s oldest temple (645 AD). Arrive by 9 AM to walk the Nakamise market lane while its painted shutters are still rolling up.
🚶 ~31 min · 🚗 ~4 min · 1.2 mi
🖼️1:30 PMTokyo National Museum
Japan’s oldest and largest museum, samurai armor, ukiyo-e prints, and national-treasure swords in Ueno Park.
🚗 ~16 min · 4.7 mi
🌆6:00 PMShinjuku
The neon postcard: the world’s busiest station, the Golden Gai lantern alleys, and the free observation decks of the Metropolitan Government Building.
Tokyo: Meiji ShrineDay 2
🏛️9:00 AMMeiji Shrine
A forest of 100,000 donated trees in the middle of the city, honoring the emperor who opened Japan to the world.
🚗 ~17 min · 5.0 mi
🥾1:30 PMUeno Park
Museum row, temple ponds, and in spring the city’s most famous cherry-blossom tunnel.
🚗 ~16 min · 4.4 mi
🎟️6:00 PMYokocho alley food walk
An evening guided graze through the lantern-lit izakaya alleys, Omoide Yokocho, Ebisu, or Ueno’s arches, the fastest way to learn what you are eating and how to order it.
Tokyo: Shibuya CrossingDay 3
🏛️9:00 AMShibuya Crossing
Up to 3,000 people cross at once. Watch a cycle from above, then join it.
🚗 ~18 min · 5.1 mi
🖼️1:30 PMteamLab digital art museum
Immersive rooms of light and water that became a global phenomenon. Book a timed slot ahead.
🚗 ~15 min · 4.3 mi
🌆6:00 PMAsakusa
Old shitamachi Tokyo, temple markets, craft shops, and rickshaws under the Skytree.
Tokyo: Imperial Palace East GardensDay 4
🏛️9:00 AMImperial Palace East Gardens
The old Edo Castle grounds: moats, stone walls, and calm, ten minutes from Tokyo Station. Free.
🚗 day trip · 29 mi
🥾1:30 PMMount Takao
A one-hour train ride to a proper forest hike with a Fuji view on clear days; cable car for the lazy half.
🚗 day trip · 26 mi
🌆6:00 PMShibuya and Harajuku
The scramble crossing, teen fashion on Takeshita Street, and the quiet wooded approach to Meiji Shrine, all within a 20-minute walk.
Arrive in KyotoDay 5
🚄8:30 AMShinkansen to Kyoto
Tokyo Station to Kyoto Station in about 2h15 on the Tokaido Shinkansen. Sit on the right side (seats E) for Mount Fuji about 40 minutes in.
🚄 ~2h15 · 231 mi
🏛️2:00 PMFushimi Inari Shrine
Ten thousand vermilion torii gates climbing a mountainside. The crowds thin dramatically past the halfway point.
🚗 ~9 min · 2.5 mi
🌆6:00 PMGion
The geisha district: wooden machiya townhouses, lantern-lit lanes, and, if you are lucky and respectful, a geiko hurrying to an appointment at dusk.
Kyoto: Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion)Day 6
🏛️9:00 AMKinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion)
A Zen temple wrapped in gold leaf, floating over its mirror pond exactly as it has since the 14th century (rebuilt 1955).
🚗 ~15 min · 4.2 mi
🖼️1:30 PMKyoto National Museum
The Meiji-era brick palace of Buddhist sculpture, scrolls, and tea utensils, the context for everything you see in the temples.
🚶 ~25 min · 🚗 ~3 min · 0.9 mi
🎟️6:00 PMTea ceremony experience
An hour in a tatami room learning why a bowl of matcha takes four hundred years of etiquette. Book one run by a tea school.
Kyoto: Kiyomizu-deraDay 7
🏛️9:00 AMKiyomizu-dera
The wooden veranda jutting over the hillside gives the classic view over Kyoto’s temple roofs to the city beyond.
🚶 ~51 min · 🚗 ~7 min · 1.9 mi
🥾1:30 PMPhilosopher’s Path
A canal-side walk between temples under hundreds of cherry trees, named for the Kyoto University philosopher who strolled it daily.
🚗 ~23 min · 6.7 mi
🌆6:00 PMArashiyama
The bamboo grove, the Togetsukyo bridge, and riverside temples on the city’s western edge. Quietest early morning and again toward evening, once the day-trippers drain away.
Arrive in OsakaDay 8
🚄8:30 AMTrain to Osaka
Kyoto to Osaka in under 30 minutes on the JR Special Rapid; the private Hankyu and Keihan lines are cheaper but slower. No reservation needed.
🚄 ~30min · 25 mi
🏛️2:00 PMUmeda Sky Building
A rooftop "floating garden" observatory 173 meters up, with the city grid running unbroken to the horizon.
🚗 ~9 min · 2.6 mi
🌆6:00 PMDotonbori
The canal of giant mechanical crabs and the Glico running man, street-food ground zero for takoyaki and kushikatsu.
Osaka: Osaka CastleDay 9
🏛️9:00 AMOsaka Castle
The fortress of Hideyoshi, the peasant who unified Japan. The 1931 keep is a reconstruction; the colossal stone walls and moats are the real thing, rebuilt by the Tokugawa in the 1620s.
🚶 ~48 min · 🚗 ~6 min · 1.8 mi
🖼️1:30 PMOsaka Museum of Housing and Living
A full-scale reconstructed Edo-period street you walk through, the fastest way to see what these cities looked like before concrete.
🚗 ~10 min · 2.9 mi
🎟️6:00 PMStreet-food walking tour
Dotonbori and the backstreets with someone who knows which stall invented what. Osaka is the eating capital of Japan; eat with a guide once, then repeat solo.
Osaka: Minoo ParkDay 10
🥾1:30 PMMinoo Park
A river-gorge walk to a 33-meter waterfall, 30 minutes from Umeda. Maple-leaf tempura from stalls along the trail is a local tradition.
🚗 ~49 min · 14 mi
🌆6:00 PMShinsekai
Retro Osaka under the Tsutenkaku tower: 1950s signage, standing bars, and zero pretension.
This is how Petrel lays out a trip. Upload your own confirmations and it builds this for your dates: flights and hotels included, with live flight status and the travel time between stops.
This is one of 126 free itineraries. Open it, change anything you want, and it becomes your trip.