One loop from Tokyo: Fuji first, over the Alps to Takayama, along the Sea of Japan coast, then back along the Pacific.
Lake Kawaguchiko and Chureito Pagoda, and Mt. Fuji itself in July or August. About 2h from Shinjuku by highway bus.
🚃~3hFujikyu line to Otsuki, then the Azusa limited express to MatsumotoMatsumoto Castle and a day at Kamikochi (mid-April to mid-November). In winter, swap Kamikochi for the snow monkeys near Nagano city.
🚌~2h30Highway bus, Matsumoto → Takayama, via Hirayu near KamikochiTakayama's old town and morning markets, and a day trip to Shirakawa-go [UNESCO], about 50 min by bus.
🚃1h30Limited express Hida, Takayama → ToyamaA day on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route (mid-April to November), or the firefly squid boats in spring. Gokayama [UNESCO] is a quieter alternative to Shirakawa-go.
🚄20 minHokuriku Shinkansen, Toyama → KanazawaKenroku-en, Higashi Chaya, Omicho Market and the 21st Century Museum in Kanazawa.
🚄~25 minHokuriku Shinkansen, Kanazawa → FukuiEiheiji in the morning, then the Tojinbo cliffs at sunset. The Dinosaur Museum needs half a day.
🚃~2hShinkansen to Tsuruga, then the limited express Shirasagi to NagoyaNagoya Castle, Atsuta Jingu and hitsumabushi, with Inuyama Castle or Ghibli Park as a day trip.
🚄~1hTokaido Shinkansen, Nagoya → ShizuokaNihondaira and Miho no Matsubara [UNESCO] for the Fuji views, or a night in Shuzenji on the Izu Peninsula.
🚄HomeTokaido Shinkansen, Shizuoka → Tokyo, about 1h
Add Niigata? It is about 2h from Tokyo on the Joetsu Shinkansen; give it two days, and Sado Island is about an hour further by jetfoil.
Only have 7 days? Fuji and Kawaguchiko, then Matsumoto, Takayama with Shirakawa-go, and Kanazawa, heading home on the Hokuriku Shinkansen.
Times are typical. Mountain buses and the Alpine Route run on seasonal timetables and close in deep winter.
Chubu runs right across Japan, from the Pacific to the Sea of Japan, with the Japan Alps in between. Every one of Japan's 21 peaks over 3,000 m is here, Mt. Fuji included. North of the mountains, Hokuriku gets heavy winter snow; to the south, the Tokai coast is mild and sunny.
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Chureito PagodaChureito PagodaA five-storey pagoda built in 1963 as a peace memorial, on the hillside above Arakura Sengen Shrine in Fujiyoshida. About 400 steps climb to the viewpoint that frames it with Mt. Fuji; best at sunrise and in the April cherry blossom season.The classic pagoda-and-Fuji photo, about 400 steps up. Go at sunrise.📍 Google Maps
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Lake KawaguchikoLake KawaguchikoThe busiest of the Fuji Five Lakes, about 2 hours from Shinjuku by bus. The north shore has the classic reflection of Fuji, and the Kachi Kachi Ropeway climbs to a viewpoint over the lake. [UNESCO]Fuji reflections from the north shore, plus the Kachi Kachi Ropeway.📍 Google Maps
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Mt. Fuji (Yoshida Trail)Mt. Fuji (Yoshida Trail)The most popular route up the 3,776 m peak: about 5–7 hours from the Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station. Climbers pay a fee and book ahead, and the trail gate is closed overnight unless you have a mountain hut booking. Season: July to early September. [UNESCO]Climb July to early September; book ahead, fee and gate hours apply.📍 Google Maps
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Oshino HakkaiOshino HakkaiEight spring-fed ponds of Fuji snowmelt that has filtered for years through the volcanic rock. Part of the Mt. Fuji World Heritage site. [UNESCO]Eight spring ponds of lava-filtered Fuji snowmelt. Busy by midday; go early.📍 Google Maps
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Aokigahara & Fugaku Wind CaveAokigahara & Fugaku Wind CaveA forest that grew over lava from Fuji's 864 eruption. The Fugaku Wind Cave is a lava tube that stays around 3°C, even in summer.Lava-tube cave in the mossy forest. Stay on the marked trails.📍 Google Maps
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Lake MotosuLake MotosuThe deepest and clearest of the Fuji Five Lakes. The view of Fuji from its north-west shore is on the back of the 1,000-yen note issued from 2004 to 2024. [UNESCO]The Fuji view from the old 1,000-yen note, far quieter than Kawaguchiko.📍 Google Maps
Shirakawa-go: [UNESCO] Some 59 gassho-zukuri farmhouses shed heavy snow off steep, 60-degree thatched roofs. World Heritage since 1995; see it from the hillside observatory, and on a few winter evenings the village is lit up (reservations required).
Ukai Cormorant Fishing: Practised for some 1,300 years on the Nagara River. Trained birds dive and retrieve sweetfish on long cords. Torchlit boats, May 11 to October 15.
Kamikochi: Closed to private vehicles since 1975, the valley at around 1,500m has the Azusa River running crystal against the Hotaka range. Open mid-April to mid-November. One of Japan's finest mountain landscapes.
Snow Monkeys & Matsumoto: At Jigokudani, macaques have soaked in thermal pools since 1964. Matsumoto Castle — a National Treasure and one of twelve original surviving castles — has a 1590s keep with a largely original wooden interior.
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Jigokudani Monkey ParkSnow monkeys in hot springs; best December to February. 30-minute forest walk in.📍 Google Maps
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Tsumago–Magome TrailOld Nakasendo post road, about 3 hours on foot. Magome is over the border in Gifu.📍 Google Maps
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Bessho OnsenTemple onsen town with a National Treasure pagoda, 30 min by local train from Ueda.📍 Google Maps
Kanazawa's Intact Past: The Maeda clan spent feudal wealth on art, not war. Kanazawa was never bombed in WWII — its samurai quarter, merchant district, and geisha streets all survive intact.
Kenroku-en & Snow Crab: Japan's oldest functioning fountain has run since 1861 without a pump. Snow crab season opens in early November and runs into March — Omicho Market is the place to try it.
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Kenroku-enOne of Japan's Three Great Gardens. Snow-support ropes on the pines in winter.📍 Google Maps
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Noto PeninsulaStill recovering from the 2024 earthquake; many inns have reopened. Check before you go.📍 Google Maps
Nagoya Castle: Built 1610–1612; the golden shachi-hoko roof ornaments are clad in real gold. The stone walls and moat are original, and the rebuilt Honmaru Palace is open — the 1959 concrete keep has been closed since 2018, awaiting a wooden rebuild. Atsuta Shrine holds Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi — one of the three imperial treasures, never displayed.
Nagoya Meshi: Hitsumabushi eel eaten three ways. Miso katsu with hatcho miso aged two years in cedar. Komeda's Coffee morning set — coffee plus free thick toast — a Nagoya institution since 1968.
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Nagoya CastleSee the rebuilt Honmaru Palace and golden shachi; the keep itself is closed.📍 Google Maps
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Toyota Commemorative MuseumFrom Toyota's looms to its cars, in the original red-brick factory.📍 Google Maps
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Inuyama CastleOriginal National Treasure keep above the Kiso River, one of Japan's oldest.📍 Google Maps
Fuji's South Face: Fujinomiya is Fuji's shortest trail — from the 5th Station, the view looks down over the Pacific, not the lakes. From the Nihondaira plateau, Fuji fills the northern sky over Suruga Bay — and Shizuoka is one of Japan's two biggest tea regions, alongside Kagoshima.
Izu & Kawazu: Shimoda was one of Japan's first ports forced open in 1854, ending two centuries of national isolation. Kawazu's early-blooming cherries peak in February, about a month before Tokyo's.
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Fujinomiya Trail [UNESCO]Fuji's shortest route up, July to early September. A climbing fee applies.📍 Google Maps
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ShuzenjiRiverside onsen town around a temple said to date to 807; calmer than the coast.📍 Google Maps
Tateyama Alpine Route: Opens mid-April with snow walls of up to about 20 metres in snowy years at Murodo — the road cuts between them like a canyon of compressed winter. You cross the Northern Alps by bus, cable car, ropeway and trolleybus.
Hotaruika & Gokayama: From March to May, pre-dawn boats from Namerikawa watch fishermen haul in nets of glowing blue firefly squid. Gokayama [UNESCO] shares World Heritage status with Shirakawa-go and gets far fewer visitors.
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Alpine Route Snow WallsWalk between the Yuki no Otani walls at Murodo, mid-April to June.📍 Google Maps
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Hotaruika Sightseeing BoatPre-dawn boat to see glowing firefly squid hauled in, March to May.📍 Google Maps
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Gokayama [UNESCO]The thatched villages of Ainokura and Suganuma, quieter than Shirakawa-go.📍 Google Maps
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Amaharashi Coast3,000-metre peaks rising across Toyama Bay; clearest on winter mornings.📍 Google Maps
Rice & Sake: Niigata grows Koshihikari — Uonuma Koshihikari is among Japan's most prized rice. Around 90 breweries, the most of any prefecture, produce tanrei karakuchi sake: clean, dry, built for cold.
Sado Island & Art: Sado's historic gold mine [UNESCO] became a World Heritage Site in 2024, and the island hosts the Earth Celebration taiko festival each August. The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale scatters art across 760km² of rice-farming villages — held every three years, with many works on permanent view.
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Sado Island Gold Mine [UNESCO]World Heritage since 2024. About an hour from Niigata by jetfoil.📍 Google Maps
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Tunnel of LightKiyotsu Gorge art tunnel ending in a mirrored pool; a permanent Triennale work.📍 Google Maps
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Hoshitoge Rice TerracesTiered paddies in Tokamachi, best at sunrise when mist fills the valley.📍 Google Maps
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Gala YuzawaSki resort with its own shinkansen station, about 75 minutes from Tokyo; winter season.📍 Google Maps
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MurakamiSamurai-district tea town; salt-cured salmon hang from shop eaves in late autumn and winter.📍 Google Maps
Eiheiji: Founded in 1244 by Zen master Dogen, and still training some 200 monks under a strict daily regime that starts before dawn. Around seventy buildings linked by covered corridors on a cedar-forested hillside.
Tojinbo & Dinosaurs: 25-metre pyroxene andesite columns formed 12 million years ago by volcanic activity, slowly exposed by coastal erosion. The Fukui Dinosaur Museum sits beside Japan's richest dinosaur fossil site — several new species have been named from its digs since 1989.
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Ichijodani Asakura RuinsExcavated Sengoku-era castle town with a rebuilt samurai street.📍 Google Maps