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Trip to Japan
18 – 27 October 2026
Tokyo · Mt Fuji · Kyoto
Ten days for a father and son, 18–27 October. Late mornings, gardens built for emperors, a night facing Mt Fuji, and the high-end places locals actually use — most of them walk-in, the rest bookable today.
The route · east to west
How the trip works
Four nights in Tokyo, one at a ryokan facing Mt Fuji, four in Kyoto. Late mornings, a few unhurried highlights each day — and the quiet sense that nothing worth seeing was missed.
Ten legends
The ones you'll still be talking about years from now, in the order you'll meet them. Every one is in the plan, and each one is a phone call, a same-day ticket at the gate, or a few minutes online — all doable today. Tap any photo to see it full screen.
Day 2 · Mon 19 Oct · Minami-Azabu, Tokyo
A quiet counter in Minami-Azabu, eight seats and a chef with more than 25 years behind the board. The fish is bought at Toyosu every day, so dinner is whatever was best that morning, set down one piece at a time. A phone call, or a word with the concierge, is all it takes.
Day 3 · Tue 20 Oct · Chiyoda, Tokyo
Most people see the palace from across the moat. A free same-day ticket from Kikyo-mon takes you inside, on a guided walk of about an hour and 2.2 km through the grounds and past Nijubashi. Afternoon tickets are handed out from 12:30; bring passports, and spend the morning in the East Gardens next door.
Day 4 · Wed 21 Oct · Shin-Kiba, Tokyo
Just the two of you and a pilot, lifting off from Tokyo Heliport as the sun goes down, around 16:40. The bay, then the whole city switching on beneath you. AIROS Skyview's private sunset course is from about ¥36,000 per person, and if the weather turns they refund or rebook.
Day 5 · Thu 22 Oct · Lake Kawaguchi, Mt Fuji
A room that looks at the mountain, with its own open-air hot spring. Kaiseki for dinner, a long soak after dark, and Fuji over breakfast the next morning, when the summit is most often clear. If nothing is booked yet, Fufu Kawaguchiko has a private bath in every suite, from about ¥211,000 for two.
Day 6 · Fri 23 Oct · Myoshin-ji, Kyoto
At Shunko-in, a small temple within Myoshin-ji, a priest guides you through zazen and a bowl of tea, all in English, with twelve guests at most. The 14:30 session follows the train from Fuji nicely; if Friday is full, there are 10:00 sessions on Saturday and Sunday.
Day 7 · Sat 24 Oct · Arashiyama, Kyoto
Kitcho is one of the great names in Kyoto kaiseki, and lunch is the gentle way to meet it: course after seasonal course, with seatings from 11:30 to 12:30, from about ¥40,000 plus tax and service. Afterwards, an easy walk up to Okochi Sanso's hillside garden for matcha and a sweet.
Day 7 · Sat 24 Oct · West Kyoto
Built by 17th-century princes, it's the garden Japan's own garden designers come to study. Every path is laid so the next view opens slowly: tea houses, moon-viewing platforms, a pond made for boating. Seventy walk-in places are given out each day for the Japanese tour, with a free English audio guide, or apply online for the English tour by Wednesday night.
Day 8 · Sun 25 Oct · Fushimi, Kyoto
Thousands of vermilion gates climb the mountain behind the shrine. Come after an afternoon of Fushimi sake, when the crowds have thinned and the lanterns are coming on. Carry on past Yotsutsuji, about 45 minutes up, and the path is quiet, mossy and yours.
Day 8 · Sun 25 Oct · Nanzen-ji, Kyoto
A kaiseki house beside Nanzen-ji that has fed Kyoto for some four centuries and still holds three Michelin stars. Dinner is the season, served slowly, course by course. If Sunday is full, Monday lunch (12:00–15:00, from ¥31,625) is the same kitchen in daylight.
Day 9 · Mon 26 Oct · Kibune & Kurama
Start at Kifune Shrine, up its stair of red lanterns, then climb over the mountain on a path laced with cedar roots and come down at Kurama-dera. At the bottom, an open-air bath at Kurama Onsen, among the cedars.
Sun 18 – Wed 21 Oct · four nights
Base: your hotel in Shibuya. Four unhurried days in the places Tokyo's well-off locals actually use — Nishi-Azabu, Ebisu, Yoyogi-Uehara — and the old imperial gardens. Everything here is a walk-in, a same-day ticket, or a phone call today to counters that take short-notice guests. Mornings are yours; each day starts around 11.
Day 1Sun 18 OctArrive
A taxi in from Haneda, a sake counter Tokyo's sake people love, and a nightcap at one of Asia's great bars. Nothing more on night one.
Taxis wait one floor below arrivals: at Terminal 3, take the escalator down to 1F, stand 21. If you'd rather use Uber, its pick-up point is on the 8th floor of the P5 car park. Haneda to Shibuya is a fixed fare: ¥7,800 until 22:00, ¥9,200 after, plus expressway tolls. About 35 minutes. Drop the bags at your hotel in Shibuya and head back out whenever you're ready.
A sake izakaya in Nishi-Azabu, a short taxi from Shibuya, opened by the founder of Gem by moto, one of Tokyo's best-loved sake bars. More than 200 sakes, and proper food made to go with them. Say what you usually like to drink and let them pour from there. Book on TableCheck or call 03-6805-0760; weekend hours are 15:00–23:00, so it's worth a call to check Sunday.
A Shibuya bar from one of Japan's most celebrated bartenders, and one of the most admired bars in Asia. On the ground floor, Guzzle is easy-going and takes walk-ins, which is the right pace for a first night. The basement bar, Sip, is booking-only if you'd rather settle in. Your hotel is a short taxi away.
While you have Wi-Fi, add Suica to your phone and download the GO taxi app.
Shibuya Crossing and Shibuya Sky → they're on your doorstep all week. Spend the first night at a counter instead.
Day 2Mon 19 OctTokyo
A slow start, then a shogun's garden where the sea still comes into the pond. The forest shrine in the late light, and an eight-seat sushi counter to close the day.
A shogun's seaside garden, later an imperial villa, with a pond fed by the bay that still rises and falls with the tide. The Shiodome towers stand just behind the pines. Cross the wooden bridge to Nakajima-no-ochaya, the island tea house, for a bowl of matcha and a seasonal sweet over the water. ¥300; open daily 9:00–17:00. Lunch afterwards in Ginza or Shiodome, both close by.
After a rest at the hotel, it's a 20-minute walk from Shibuya into the forest around the shrine. The city goes quiet on the gravel approach, under the great wooden torii and past the wall of sake barrels offered by brewers from all over Japan. The gates close at 16:40 in October, so mid-afternoon gives you an easy hour under the trees.
An eight-seat counter in Minami-Azabu. The chef has more than 25 years behind him and buys at Toyosu every morning, so dinner is whatever was best at the market that day. Omakase about ¥30,800; Mondays are dinner only. Have the concierge call +81-3-6381-7590 today. If it's full, Sushi Somei in Ebisu.
The sake izakaya in Yoyogi-Uehara where people from Tokyo's sake trade come to drink. A long list with an English version, and food as serious as the sake. Ask for something warmed to finish the night. Open from 17:00, closed Sundays; call +81-3-5454-3715.
If Takenami is full, Sushi Somei in Ebisu is the backup.
The East Gardens, Shinjuku Gyoen and the Edo-Tokyo Museum all close on Mondays, so the gardens are tomorrow. The Toyosu tuna auction starts at 5:30, so it's left out; mornings are for sleeping.
Day 3Tue 20 OctTokyo
The old castle gardens, a walk inside the palace grounds, the former imperial garden in Shinjuku, tempura at a two-star counter in Ebisu, and a slow walk through Kagurazaka's lantern-lit lanes.
Come in through Ote-mon, the old main gate of Edo Castle, and walk up past the guardhouses to the great stone base where the castle keep once stood. Then down to the Ninomaru garden, with its pond, stream and tea house. Free; open 9:00–16:30.
Free same-day tickets for the afternoon tour are handed out at Kikyo-mon, a few minutes' walk from the gardens, from 12:30, up to 300 of them. Bring both passports. Lunch in Marunouchi, then the tour sets off at 13:30: about an hour and 2.2 km through grounds that are otherwise closed, past the palace and Nijubashi bridge.
Once the imperial family's own garden. Come in at Sendagaya Gate, near the Japanese garden and its ponds, and wander in the late-afternoon light with the Shinjuku towers just above the trees. ¥500; open until 16:30.
Two Michelin stars in Ebisu-nishi, ten minutes from Shibuya. You sit at the counter and each piece is fried and handed across the moment it's ready, so nothing waits. Dinner from 17:30. Book on omakase.in today.
Tokyo's old geisha quarter, and still home to a few working geisha. Off the main slope, stone-paved lanes barely wider than your shoulders wind between black wooden fences, lamp-lit doorways and the gates of old ryotei. It's about 20 minutes by taxi from Ebisu: ask for Bishamonten Zenkoku-ji, the vermilion temple halfway up the hill, then cross into Hyogo-yokocho opposite and let the lanes lead you on through Kakurenbo-yokocho. A quiet half hour after dinner, then 20 minutes home to Shibuya. The trees here turn in late November; in October the lanes are green, hushed and lantern-lit.
Bring both passports for the palace tour.
Takeshita Street and the Harajuku crush → the palace inner grounds, open only on these guided walks.
Day 4Wed 21 OctTokyo
A wander through the wooden lanes of Yanaka, a private helicopter over the city at sunset, and a last Tokyo dinner at a counter in Ebisu.
The corner of Tokyo that came through the 1923 earthquake and the war: wooden houses, temple lanes, cats asleep on walls. Start at Nippori Station and wander through Yanaka Cemetery to the little shopping street of Yanaka Ginza, then on to Nezu Shrine and its tunnel of red torii. About two hours at an easy pace, all free. Lunch wherever looks good on the way.
AIROS Skyview flies from Tokyo Heliport in Shin-Kiba. It's a private flight, just the two of you, out over the bay, Tokyo Tower and the skyline as the sun goes down at about 16:40. The sunset course starts at about ¥36,000 per person. Book online today; if the weather grounds it, you get a refund or a new slot.
A neighbourhood counter in Ebisu that locals rate highly, used to short-notice bookings. Omakase at about ¥13,000 or ¥20,000, for two guests or more; on your last Tokyo night, take the longer one. Open Monday to Saturday from 18:00. For a three-star night instead, ask the concierge to try Harutaka in Ginza (phone only, +81-3-3573-1144; closed Sundays and Mondays, so Wednesday works).
Before dinner, have the front desk send the suitcases to your Kyoto hotel; pack a small bag each for Fuji.
Toyosu Market is closed on Wednesday 21 October, one more reason the market isn't in the plan.
Thu 22 – Fri 23 Oct · one night
If the Fuji night isn't booked yet, check today in this order: Fufu Kawaguchiko (every room a suite with its own hot-spring bath, from about ¥211,000 for two), Kozantei Ubuya (on the lake, Fuji-view private baths), Shuhokaku Kogetsu, The Kukuna. Search 露天風呂付客室 (room with open-air bath) on Ikyu or Rakuten Travel, and phone the inns for cancellations.
Day 5Thu 22 OctMt Fuji
A late-morning train out of Shinjuku, hoto for lunch, a kimono master's museum, a sake brewery tour, and a hot bath facing the mountain.
A slow morning, then a taxi from your hotel in Shibuya around 10:00 — 10–15 minutes to Shinjuku Station's South Exit. The suitcases went to Kyoto yesterday, so it's just an overnight bag. The train reaches Kawaguchiko at 12:24; ¥4,200, all seats reserved. Book today on JR-EAST Train Reservation (there are also trains at 07:30, 08:30 and 09:30). If it's sold out, take the Kaiji to Otsuki and change to the Fujikyu line, about 2½ hours. The step-by-step version is in Getting to Fuji.
Taxis wait outside the station. Lunch is the local dish, hoto: thick, flat noodles simmered with pumpkin in miso and brought to the table in an iron pot. Go to the white, cloud-shaped Higashi-Koiji branch. Open 11:00–20:00 until the noodles run out; expect a wait at lunchtime.
Round to the lake's north shore. A kimono master's life's work — a mountain landscape dyed across a sequence of kimono — in the museum and garden he built. You walk in through a gate of Ryukyu limestone; the kimono hang in a pyramid-roofed hall. 10:00–17:00, open Thursday. Wander the garden, then on to the brewery for its three o'clock tour.
The brewery behind Kai sake, near Kawaguchiko Station, brewing with water from Fuji. The calendar shows a 15:00 tour on 22 October: about an hour, in English or Japanese, ending with five tastings; ¥2,200 each. Book by 16:00 on Wednesday 21 by web form or on 0555-72-0006.
Check in, change into a yukata and sink into your room's open-air bath with the mountain in front of you. Kaiseki follows; ask for a Kai sake from this afternoon to go with it. While you're at the desk, ask them to book tomorrow's 10:15 taxi to Mishima.
A taxi or driver at Kawaguchiko makes the afternoon easy; the ryokan or your concierge can arrange one.
Fuji is clear on roughly 40% of October days, more often in the morning. If it's hiding this afternoon, tomorrow's breakfast is the next chance.
Day 6Fri 23 OctFuji → Kyoto
Breakfast with the mountain in the window, the bullet train past Fuji, zazen and a bowl of tea with a Zen priest, and Gion's canal as the lamps come on.
Mornings give the best chance of a clear mountain, so this is the view to linger over. Ask for the latest breakfast sitting when you check in, take it slowly, and check out around 9:30. Sunrise is at 05:58; if you happen to be awake, watch the summit turn pink from the bath.
The ryokan books the taxi: about 60–70 minutes and ¥21,000–25,000. Then the 11:46 Hikari 709, which reaches Kyoto at 13:37. Fuji is on the right going west: seat E in an ordinary car, D in the Green Car. Tickets on the smartEX app or at the station; the step-by-step version is in Getting to Fuji.
About 25 minutes by taxi from Kyoto Station to Myoshin-ji. At Shunko-in, a small temple inside it, the priests run "Kissako": guided zazen and a bowl of tea, in English, for 12 people at most. Today's session is at 14:30 (¥25,300 each). Book on Peatix today; once booked, it can't be refunded. If it's full, the Saturday and Sunday 10:00 sessions are the alternative.
A taxi across town, then an easy stroll along the willow-lined canal as the lamps come on; sunset is around 17:10. Keep to the public streets: since 2024 the private lanes off Hanamikoji are closed to tourists.
Kyoto's sushi isn't Tokyo's: here it's mackerel pressed onto rice and wrapped in kelp, made at this shop since 1781. No booking; open 11:00–22:00, so drift in whenever you're hungry. Closed Tuesdays.
Hikari tickets on the smartEX app or at Mishima Station.
Kyoto's Jidai Matsuri, a costume parade through 1,100 years of history, falls on Thursday while you're at Fuji. If Thursday is wet it moves to today, about 12:00–14:30 — mostly while you're on the train and at Kissako, so treat any glimpse as a bonus.
Fri 23 – Tue 27 Oct · four nights
Everything here is a walk-in or a booking you can make today. The imperial villas give out same-day places at the gate, and every dinner below takes short-notice guests. The maples won't peak until late November, so the gardens are still green, and calmer for it.
Day 7Sat 24 OctArashiyama & Katsura
A long lunch at the most famous kaiseki house in Japan, an easy afternoon in two quiet gardens, then the villa where every path is laid so the next view opens slowly. Sushi in Gion and a glass of aged sake to close the day.
The most famous kaiseki house in Japan, on the river below the hills. Lunch is seated between 11:30 and 12:30, from about ¥40,000 each plus tax and service. Book on TableCheck today; cancellations within five days are charged. Closed Wednesdays.
A film star's hillside villa, its garden laid over the slope above the bamboo, with views across the city. ¥1,000, with matcha and a sweet; open until 17:00. The bamboo grove on the way up is busy at midday, so stroll through it and save the lingering for the garden.
A small moss garden under maples a little further into Sagano, around a thatched hut. ¥300; open 9:00–17:00, last entry 16:30. Happily skipped if lunch runs long.
A 17th-century prince's villa, about an hour's tour around the pond and its tea houses. The English tour is applied for online by 23:59 on Wednesday 21, with a lottery if it's oversubscribed; ¥1,000, ages 12 and up. If it doesn't come through, the gate gives out 70 walk-in places a day from 8:40, ten per tour, on hourly Japanese tours until 15:00, with a free English audio guide. Bring passports.
Eleven seats and a Michelin star. Edo-style sushi, the fish prepared the old Tokyo way and the rice seasoned with red vinegar. Book by web form or on 075-531-2031 today. Closed Tuesdays.
A tiny bar well known among sake people for aged sake (koshu), poured by its Israeli owner. Wednesday to Saturday, 18:00–24:00; a call on the day to check for seats.
No English tour? Ask at Katsura's gate on the way to lunch for walk-in places.
The bamboo grove's main path at midday → a short stroll through, then the quiet path through Okochi Sanso's garden above it. Saiho-ji, booked online and often full → Gio-ji's moss, no booking.
Day 8Sun 25 OctDaitoku-ji & Fushimi
Zen gardens that open only this autumn, a long sake lunch in the old brewing district, then the gates of Fushimi Inari as the lanterns come on. Dinner at a kaiseki house that has fed Kyoto for four centuries.
For Daitoku-ji's 700th anniversary, sub-temples that are usually closed are open this autumn. No booking; cash only. Juko-in (9:30–15:30, ¥1,000, no photos) is closed on Tuesday 27, so start there. Then Obai-in (10:00–15:45, ¥1,000), Korin-in (10:00–16:30, ¥800) and Soken-in (10:00–16:00, ¥800). Two or three is plenty.
A taxi south to Fushimi, the old brewing district. The museum sits in Gekkeikan's old storehouse: ¥600 with a tasting, 9:30–16:30, last entry 16:00. Booking a time online gets you in first. Card or phone payment only, no cash.
Lunch at Fushimi Sakagura Koji, with a flight of eighteen sakes, one from each Fushimi brewery. Then on to Aburacho, a sake shop with a tasting counter and about 80 Fushimi sakes (10:00–20:00; closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays), for a bottle of the one you liked best. Both close on Tuesdays, so today is their day.
Open day and night, and calmer late in the afternoon as the day crowds thin. Walk up through the gates to the Yotsutsuji crossroads, about 45 minutes, where the city opens out below around sunset; carry on further if you feel like it. Coming down, the lanterns are lit along the path.
Some four centuries of kaiseki near Nanzen-ji, with three Michelin stars, served in tea-house rooms around a garden. Book dinner today on TableCheck, Pocket Concierge or IKYU; closed Wednesdays. If dinner is full, lunch on Monday runs 12:00–15:00, from ¥31,625.
Carry cash for Daitoku-ji and a card for Gekkeikan.
Fushimi Inari's lower gates at midday, shoulder to shoulder → late afternoon, when it's calmer and the lanterns come on.
Day 9Mon 26 OctKibune & Kurama
The villas and the palace are closed today, so head north into the cedar hills: a shrine by a mountain river, a forest path over to a temple, a long soak, and a Kyoto kaiseki counter to finish.
A taxi to Demachiyanagi, then the Eizan line up to Kibune-guchi, about 30 minutes. Kifune Shrine, to the god of water, is reached by a stair lined with red lanterns. From there the path climbs over the mountain on a lattice of cedar roots and comes down at Kurama-dera's main hall: about 80 minutes at an easy pace. ¥500 for the temple, open 9:00–16:15. Wear good shoes.
Down through the village to the hot spring, reopened in November 2024: an open-air bath among the cedars, then a late lunch. It now and then closes for private bookings, so have the hotel call 075-741-2131 that morning. Take your time over both, then the train back to the city, home by about half past four.
The counter branch of the great Kikunoi, with a more local crowd: kaiseki served across the counter, course by course. Book today. Its closing days vary, so confirm Monday 26 when you book.
Optional: Saiho-ji, the moss temple, sometimes has places on Mondays (intosaihoji.com, closes the day before).
Katsura, Shugakuin, Sento and the Kyoto Imperial Palace (the Gosho) are all closed on Monday 26 October, which is why today goes north into the hills.
Day 10Tue 27 OctDepart
A knife from a maker working since 1560, a last pot of tea you brew yourselves, a slow walk through the palace grounds, then the train to the airport.
Knife makers since 1560, in the middle of Nishiki Market. Walk straight through the market to the shop and choose a knife together; they engrave your name on the blade for free while you wait. Open 10:00–17:00; closed Wednesdays.
Up Teramachi to the tea merchant's main shop, selling tea here since 1717. In the tea room they show you how to brew your own matcha, sencha or gyokuro. Walk-in only; 10:00–17:00.
Free, no booking; enter at Seishomon Gate. Home of the emperors until 1869. The Shishinden, the main hall, is going under a cover for re-roofing, but the courtyards and gardens stay open. If your flight is late, Sento Imperial Palace next door has a 13:30 walk-in tour.
For Kansai (KIX), the Haruka express from Kyoto Station takes about 75 minutes. For Haneda, the Shinkansen reaches Shinagawa in about 2 h 15 min. When you check in at the Kyoto hotel, ask whether they can send your suitcases on to the airport; otherwise they ride with you on the train.
Nothing to book — Aritsugu, Ippodo and the palace are all walk-in.
Juko-in, Izuu, Aburacho, Fushimi Sakagura Koji and Sushi Matsumoto all close on Tuesdays, which is why they come earlier in the trip.
Tokyo → Mt Fuji → Kyoto
The bus works, but you have to find the right floor of Tokyo's busiest bus terminal and hope the expressway is clear. A direct train is just as fast and never sits in traffic, and a private car is simpler still. All three are below, best first.
The plan. No traffic, no transfers, a guaranteed seat, and a slow morning first. Thursday trains sell more slowly than weekend ones; book today. If they're full, take the Kaiji to Otsuki and change (about 2½ hours).
The zero-effort option. Door to door, and the driver can take you round the lakes before check-in. Weekend and autumn traffic can add an hour.
Backup only — if the train sells out and you'd rather not hire a car.
Day 5 · the train
On JR-EAST Train Reservation, choose Fuji Excursion 15, Shinjuku 10:30 on Thursday 22 October. Choose the e-ticket option if it's offered, or print tickets at any JR ticket machine with the booking QR code.
About 10–15 minutes from Shibuya. Show the driver this:
Follow the signs for platforms 9–10 and the Chuo Line limited express. Pick up an ekiben (station bento) for the ride.
If your Fuji Excursion runs coupled to a Kaiji, only cars 1–3 go on to Kawaguchiko; your reserved seats will be in one of them.
Taxis wait outside the station; lunch at Hoto Fudou is first. Have the ryokan or concierge book a driver for the afternoon so the lake is easy.
Only if you take the bus
Keio and Fujikyu share the route; check which company runs your departure and book on its site (Keio's is highwaybus.com). Get off at Kawaguchiko Station (河口湖駅).
Uber in Tokyo books licensed taxis; the GO app has more cars. Show the driver this:
The screens list your bus and gate number. Allow about 20 minutes to find it.
Weekday mornings out of Tokyo are the reliable slot. Avoid weekend and autumn afternoons on this road.
Day 6 · Fri 23 Oct · Fuji → Kyoto, about 3 h 20 min door to door
About 60–70 minutes and roughly ¥21,000–25,000, leaving at 10:15. It's faster than going back through Tokyo.
It reaches Kyoto at 13:37. The fast Hikari leaves Mishima only every two hours (09:46, 11:46, 13:46…); the slower Kodama runs hourly and takes about 2 h 30.
Fuji is on the right going west: seat E in an ordinary car, D in the Green Car (about ¥15,000 each). It comes into view about 10 minutes out of Mishima.
Your suitcases are already at the hotel. The taxi rank is outside the Hachijo (south) exit; Myoshin-ji, for Kissako at 14:30, is about 25 minutes away.
Walk them together
Eight gardens and villas built for emperors and shoguns, and every one is a walk-in or a same-day place at the gate. If you only walk two in each city, make them Hama-rikyu and Shinjuku Gyoen in Tokyo, and Katsura and the Kyoto Imperial Palace in Kyoto. One thing to know: the Kyoto villas and the Gosho all close on Monday 26.
A former imperial villa on the bay, with a seawater pond that moves with the tide. Cross to the island tea house, Nakajima-no-ochaya, for a bowl of matcha.
The old Edo Castle grounds: the stone base of the castle keep, guardhouses, and the Ninomaru pond garden. Enter at Ote-mon.
A guided walk of about an hour and 2.2 km inside the palace grounds, past Nijubashi. Free; bring passports.
The former imperial garden: Japanese ponds, an English lawn and plenty of room to wander.
The finest stroll garden in Japan. Two ways in at this notice: a walk-in place on the Japanese tour with a free English audio guide, or the English tour, applied for online.
Home of the emperors until 1869, set in the huge, free Kyoto Gyoen park. Wander in at the Seishomon Gate whenever suits you.
The retired emperors' garden, next to the Gosho: a big pond, a stone-paved shore, a tea house. A one-hour tour in Japanese with an English audio guide.
Three hillside gardens linked by paths through rice fields. 80 minutes and 3 km with steep slopes; English audio guide. Not in this plan, but possible on the last morning if you'd rather a garden than the Gosho.
Katsura, Shugakuin, Sento and the Kyoto Imperial Palace all close on Mondays, so Day 9 heads north to Kibune and Kurama instead.
No budget, booked this week
Six counters and three kaiseki houses, the places Tokyo and Kyoto regulars book for themselves, and sake in all three stops. All of them take bookings a day or two ahead — by phone, online or through your hotel concierge — and Izuu needs none at all. Harutaka is the one long shot.
Eight seats, and a chef with more than 25 years behind the counter who buys at Toyosu every day. A neighbourhood counter rather than a famous one, which is exactly the point. Your first night of sushi.
Book: +81-3-6381-7590, or your hotel concierge
Two Michelin stars for tempura fried a piece at a time and handed straight across the counter. If it's full, Tempura Kondo in Ginza, also two stars, serves dinner Monday to Friday, 17:00–20:00.
Book: omakase.in
Omakase at about ¥13,000 or ¥20,000, for two or more, and happy to take bookings at short notice. Also the easy fallback if Takenami is full on Monday.
Book: a day or two ahead, or through the concierge
Classic Edomae and three Michelin stars. It books by phone only and rarely has space at this notice, but a good hotel concierge sometimes finds two seats. Worth one call.
Book: +81-3-3573-1144, via your hotel concierge
Kyoto's own mackerel sushi, pressed and wrapped in kelp, made here since 1781. Open 11:00–22:00, so dinner can be whenever suits you after Gion Shirakawa.
Walk in
One of the great names in kaiseki, at lunch: seasonal courses, with seatings from 11:30 to 12:30, from about ¥40,000 plus tax and service. Cancellations inside five days are charged.
Book: TableCheck
Eleven seats and a Michelin star. Edo-style sushi on red-vinegar rice, in the middle of Gion.
Book: web form or 075-531-2031
Some four centuries of kaiseki beside Nanzen-ji. If Sunday dinner is full, Monday lunch (12:00–15:00) starts from ¥31,625.
Book: TableCheck, Pocket Concierge or IKYU
The counter branch of Kikunoi, one of Kyoto's great kaiseki houses. You watch the kitchen at work, and the room is more local than the main house. Usually open on Mondays, which makes it the natural last dinner of the trip; confirm when you book.
Book: a day ahead, or through the concierge
Kyoto's sake district. Start at Gekkeikan's Okura Sake Museum in the old storehouses (¥600, 9:30–16:30, cashless only), then lunch and an 18-glass flight at Fushimi Sakagura Koji, one sake from every Fushimi brewery. Finish at Aburacho, a sake shop with a tasting counter and about 80 local sakes, open until 20:00.
A sake izakaya from the founder of the much-missed Gem by moto, with more than 200 sakes. Open weekends 15:00–23:00; phone to confirm Sunday.
Book: TableCheck or 03-6805-0760
Two bars in one building: Guzzle on the ground floor takes walk-ins, Sip in the basement takes bookings. An easy nightcap close to your hotel in Shibuya.
Guzzle: walk in · Sip: book ahead
The sake izakaya people in the trade drink at, with an English list and good food. Opens at 17:00.
Book: +81-3-5454-3715
Kai sake, brewed with Fuji's water near Kawaguchiko Station. The Thursday 15:00 tour takes about an hour, in English or Japanese, with five tastings; ¥2,200 each.
Book by 16:00 Wed 21: web form or 0555-72-0006
Aged sake and koshu, a side of sake most bars never pour. A quiet last glass after dinner in Gion.
Phone the same day
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Everything on this trip can be settled from your phone, starting today. Twelve dinners and tickets are easiest to settle today, online, by phone or through your hotel concierge. Four can wait until Wednesday, and the rest are walk-ins. Tick each one off as you go; the list is saved in this browser.
Before you fly
Add a Suica card in Apple Wallet before you land and top it up with Mastercard or Amex (some foreign Visa cards are refused). Tap it for trains, the metro, taxis and convenience stores.
GO is the app most Tokyo taxis use; sign up before you fly, because it texts a code to your number. Uber also works and books licensed taxis. The rear door opens and closes by itself.
Cards work almost everywhere, but carry ¥30,000–50,000 each for shrine offerings, small bars and cover charges. 7-Eleven ATMs take foreign cards.
Luggage forwarding (takkyubin) from the Tokyo front desk to your Kyoto hotel costs roughly ¥1,650–2,630 per case and arrives the next day. Ask the Kyoto hotel to hold it.
You leave on 27 October, before Japan's new tax-refund system starts on 1 November, so tax-free shopping still works the old way: show your passport at the till and the tax comes off there and then. Kyoto adds a hotel tax of up to ¥10,000 per person per night on top rooms.
Fuji shows on about four October days in ten, more often in the morning. The likeliest view is from your ryokan at breakfast on Friday — or at sunrise, 05:58, if you happen to be awake.
Many gardens and museums close on Mondays, the East Gardens also on Fridays, and top counters on Sundays. Every day below is planned around the real date, so each stop is open when you get there.
Tipping isn't done in Japan, even at the top counters, and leaving cash on the table causes confusion. Some restaurants add a service charge to the bill; that's all.