🍃 Contemplative nature · 116 destinations · 898 activities
You do not need to climb anything to see the Japanese landscape from the photographs: there are gorges with scenic railways, bamboo forests a short walk from the station, and coastlines you cover by boat. Almost all of it is highly seasonal, and the gap between the right week and two weeks later is the gap between the trip and the postcard. Each destination lists its ideal season.
Thousands of orange torii gates climbing the sacred Mount Inari.
Admission 1,000 yen, open every day with no closing day: 8:30-17:00 from March to November and 9:00-16:30 from December to February. The route is one-way and takes 30-45 minutes, so the crowding is felt above all on the ramp by the Ginshadan (the Kogetsudai sand cone and the sea of silver sand). It is the fifth most visited site in Kyoto, and the interior of the Kannon-den is never open: what you see is the exterior. Opening at 8:30 and going in during the first few minutes completely changes the experience compared with arriving at midday.
The benchmark work of sukiya architecture and of the stroll garden, admired by Bruno Taut and by half a century of modern architects. Entry is only on a guided tour of about 60 minutes and must be applied for in advance. Since 2019 it charges 1,000 yen from age 18; ages 12 to 17 are free and under-12s cannot enter, infants included. Capacity is 20 people per tour and 480 a day in the reserved quota; the online application opens on the 1st of the month three months ahead and closes three days before, with a lottery if demand exceeds supply and the result sent by email within three working days. Another 70 places a day (10 per tour) are kept for same-day entry on a first-come basis from 8:40 at the villa itself, with a passport. There are tours aimed at foreign visitors at 9:20, 11:20, 13:20, 15:20 and 16:20. Closed Mondays (Tuesday if the Monday is a public holiday) and from 28 December to 4 January. Photo ID must be shown at the entrance. A caveat about access: the sources consulted do not agree on whether the online application is settled first-come or by lottery when demand exceeds supply. What is certain is that a prior application is needed and that there is a same-day allocation of places; it is worth confirming on the Imperial Household Agency website.
600 yen, from 8:00 to 17:00 from March to November and from 8:30 to 16:30 from December to February, with no closing days. It opens at 8:00, earlier than almost any temple in Kyoto, and that hour is the only real defence against the tour groups: japan-guide itself recommends going first thing because the Hojo veranda is narrow and fills up. Besides the kare-sansui there are the Kyoyochi pond, which predates the temple, and the tsukubai with the inscription ware tada taru o shiru. Within the grounds there is a yudofu restaurant with tatami rooms overlooking the garden, useful if you are chaining it with Kinkaku-ji and Ninna-ji.
This is the temple the Arashiyama bamboo grove leads to, and its Sogenchi garden, designed by Muso Soseki in the 14th century, is the only one in Kyoto that keeps the original layout from the time it was made. The dragon on the Hatto ceiling is not on view every day: it opens 9:00 to 16:30 in the blocks from March to May and from September to December, and is paid for separately from the garden. From 14 to 30 November 2026 the garden has an early opening from 7:30, which is the only realistic way to see the pond without crowds at the height of autumn. On New Year's Eve the bell is rung from 23:30 for the first 108 groups, and from 3 January to 1 March winter shojin ryori is served at Shigetsu for 3,800 yen including tax, from 11:00 to 14:00.
Two separate tickets: Hojo garden 500 yen, and Tsutenkyo bridge plus Kaisando 600 yen, with a combined ticket at 1,000 yen that stops being sold from 14 November to 6 December, when the Tsutenkyo goes up to 1,000 yen. Hours 9:00-16:00, closing at 16:30 from April to mid-November; at the autumn peak the bridge opens as early as 8:30, and from 7 December to 31 March it closes at 15:30. During that special period photography from the Tsutenkyo and the Gaunkyo is banned for safety reasons, hand-written goshuin are not issued, and tripods, food, drawing and pets are not allowed. The Hojo garden is by Shigemori Mirei, 1939, and almost nobody visits it compared with the bridge, so in November it is the smart plan.
A tourist pirate ship with views of Mount Fuji on clear days.
Hakone's oldest museum, from 1952, with Japanese ceramics from the Jomon period and a moss garden of a hundred and thirty varieties under maples. Closed Thursdays, and in autumn probably the loveliest garden in the area.
The Hakone Tozan line is Japan's oldest mountain adhesion railway, with gradients of eighty per thousand, three switchbacks where driver and conductor swap cabs, and sprinklers that water the rail on the curves. 1919 engineering still running daily.
A cable car that soars over the volcanic Owakudani valley, with views of Mount Fuji on clear days.
A red torii gate standing in the waters of Lake Ashi, one of the most photographed sights in the area.
In June the mountain railway embankment fills with hydrangeas and Odakyu lights the stretches at night for the Yoru no Ajisai-go, a reserved-seat train that stops at the best points. In 2026 it ran from 13 to 30 June and sells out fast.
A three-minute ropeway to the only platform from which Kegon Falls, Lake Chuzenji and Mount Nantai are all visible at once. Critical warning: the Second Irohazaka is permanently one-way uphill, so you must stop on the way up because you cannot come back.
An eighth-century shrine hidden in the forest, thirty minutes on foot uphill behind the Toshogu, almost empty even in high season. The Undameshi no Torii has a hole in its lintel through which you must throw three stones for a wish to be granted, and the Shiraito waterfall is beside it.
Getting on the water first thing on a crater lake at 1,269 metres, with Nantai dropping straight down to the shore. Several local operators run departures from the south shore.
A stairway of 1,445 steps climbing a former ski run turned meadow, with views over the Kanto plain. In late June and early July it is covered in nikko-kisuge, the endemic yellow day lily. Free access.
A Japanese strolling garden around a pond, lit for about two weeks in November to coincide with peak maple colour. Confirm dates and price with Rinnoji each year.
The same marshland as the summer boardwalks, under snow and without a single person on it, with a white Nantai at the back. This is the Nikko almost no foreign visitor sees.
On 18 November 2026 at seven in the evening the priests receive the gods on the sand at Inasa with torches and escort them in procession to Izumo Taisha. It is a religious rite, not a show: no flash, lights off when asked, and silence. Dress warmly.
A museum in Yasugi whose Japanese gardens have been ranked Japan's best for more than twenty consecutive years by Sukiya Living magazine.
A mountain temple linked to Benkei, hidden in a valley north of Izumo and known for its maples in mid-November. A trail runs to Furo waterfall, very slippery in the rain.
An Edo-period complex lacquered in red, dedicated to Amaterasu and Susanoo, on a cape battered by the sea about 20 minutes by bus from Izumo Taisha. Opposite lies Fumishima, a protected gull colony and sacred island closed to entry: it can only be watched from land.
The Bataden skirts the north shore of Lake Shinji in old carriages and reaches the art deco station of Izumo-Taisha-mae. It is slower than the bus but an attraction in itself.
Mythical setting of the ceding of the land and the arrival point of the gods, with a rock crowned by a small shrine. Custom is to collect sand here and exchange it at the Soga no Yashiro of Izumo Taisha.
There are two routes and they should not be confused. The raised boardwalk of about eight hundred metres to the first lake is free, accessible and unrestricted, protected by an electric fence. The earth trail has three regimes: until 9 May a small fee with a compulsory ten-minute briefing; from 10 May to 31 July, at peak brown bear activity, a registered guide is compulsory in groups of ten maximum, with booking; and from 1 August to closing it reverts to the cheap regime with a briefing. Planning without knowing this ruins the day.
A free elevated boardwalk over wetlands and forest around the five lakes; the ground-level trail between the lakes requires a safety briefing or mandatory guide during brown bear season (roughly May-July).
Boats sail along the cliffs of the peninsula's west coast toward Cape Shiretoko, with chances to spot brown bears on shore, eagles and waterfalls like Kamuiwakka; operations vary by season.
A free viewpoint some 90 metres above the port of Utoro and the Sea of Okhotsk. It is the best spot for the sunset and, in winter, for seeing it over the drift ice.
This is the right format for walking in Shiretoko during bear season: guides with a protocol, a radio and real knowledge of the terrain.
There are two routes from Utoro and it is worth telling them apart: the short one reaches Kamuiwakka in an hour, and the long one, of almost four, is the only way to see the inaccessible tip of the peninsula and its hanging waterfalls. Bears are watched from the water, without landing: it is the most respectful observation model in the area.
The western volcano (854 m) is climbed from the seventh-station car park up roughly 1,280 shadeless steps (about an hour), and at the top a path circles the crater with ocean on both sides. After the October 2025 typhoons parts were closed by landslides; the climb was announced as reopened in September 2026, but hikers are asked to keep away from the crater edge near the summit and a guide is recommended: check the status of the rim loop at the tourist office. You must file a hiking notice with the police (QR code at the trailhead) and should not go in fog or strong wind. Only reachable by car or taxi.
Some 350,000 freesias bloom at the Hachijoyama field (Okago) and you can pick up to ten per person for free; there are stalls of island produce and performances. In 2026 it ran from 20 March to 5 April; dates change every year.
Hachijojima has the greatest variety of bioluminescent fungi in Japan, glowing green on dead wood on humid summer nights. The local NPO runs its Night Walk in the Nakanogo forest: in 2026, from 25 July to 30 September, 19:30-21:00, ¥4,000 (children 5-12 ¥3,000), maximum 20 people, booking via LINE only until noon on the day. It goes ahead in rain; wear long sleeves and repellent. Out of season there's a display at the Visitor Center.
From late November to early April humpback whales pass close to the island and are often seen from land (Nanbara, the sea-view outdoor baths, the Kirameki foot bath); the tourist office runs live cameras. It organises trips on local fishing boats and coastal bus tours, with a five-person minimum and no guaranteed sighting or refund; boat trips are for school age and up. Westerly winds can make the sea rough.
A black basalt lava flow that Hachijo-Fuji poured into the sea, facing the silhouette of uninhabited Hachijo-kojima: this is the island's sunset spot, and in winter whales are sometimes seen. Free, about ten minutes by car from the airport; watch the swell on the rocks and wear proper shoes, as the lava is sharp.
A free open-air pool beside the stream, surrounded by ferns. It is the island's only mixed bath and swimwear is compulsory; there are no showers, soap isn't allowed and the changing area is basic. Open 9:00-21:00 every day. After dark, with no lights around, it's a different experience.
A building by local architect Mozuna Kiko modelled on the wetland's sedge tussocks, with a rooftop over the marsh plain and a 2.5 km boardwalk loop (about an hour) out to a satellite viewpoint. Around 470 yen (ground floor free); open 8:30-18:00 May to October and 9:00-17:00 otherwise. About 40 minutes by Akan Bus from the station.
In winter hundreds of wild red-crowned cranes come down to fields where they have been fed corn since the 1950s, when only about twenty were left: a conservation programme now being scaled back gradually so the birds disperse. The Wild Bird Society of Japan sanctuary is free (October to March, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays); feeding around 9:00 and 14:00, December to February.
A guided Canadian-canoe run down the river that crosses the wetland, from Lake Toro to Hosooka, silent and at water level among herons, deer and, with luck, cranes. About an hour and a half of paddling; with Family Canoe 106 it costs around 10,000 yen per person for two or more. Season April to November.
A crane research centre in Kami-Akan, where a farmer began putting out corn for them in 1950. Open all year (9:00-17:00, about 480 yen) with captive cranes in an outdoor enclosure; from November to March wild cranes gather in the next-door field and are fed at 14:00. One hour by bus from the station.
In neighbouring Kushiro-cho: the free viewpoint with the widest view of the wetland, the Kushiro River winding towards the Akan mountains, and the best place to watch the sun go down. Take the Senmo Line to Kushiro-Shitsugen Station and walk ten minutes; there is a visitor lounge with a café nearby.
The way to walk into the wetland rather than just look at it from above: flat boardwalks through reed beds, peat bog and alder woods, starting at the Environment Ministry visitor centre (free, closed Tuesdays). Irises and lilies bloom in summer; brown bears live in the area, so stay on the boardwalk.
Begun in 1629 by the Mito Tokugawa and finished in 1637, with landscapes copied from China and Japan: the Engetsukyo stone bridge whose reflection completes a full circle, a rice paddy the family actually farmed, and a miniature Mount Lu. ¥300, open daily 9:00-17:00 except at New Year. The bulk of Tokyo Dome looming over the maples is part of the experience; autumn colour arrives late here, around the first half of December.
A Shinto shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji, surrounded by a lush forest next to Harajuku.
Fifty-eight hectares that were once an imperial garden and are now run by the Ministry of the Environment, with three linked gardens - Japanese landscape with ponds, formal French, English lawn - plus a tropical greenhouse and a 1927 Taiwanese pavilion. 500 yen for adults, 250 for students and over-65s, free up to junior high; closed Mondays except during the two peak stretches, 25 March to 24 April and 1 to 15 November. There are rules here: no alcohol and no ball games, which makes hanami a quiet affair compared with Ueno. With over a thousand cherry trees of a dozen varieties, the blossom stretches out for nearly a month.
A first-rank private collection in a Kengo Kuma building, with a sloping tea-house garden that breaks completely with Omotesando outside. Not to be confused with Nezu Shrine in Bunkyo, which is unrelated. Ogata Korin's irises screens are shown only a few weeks in spring.
A 1702 daimyo garden conceived as a walk through eighty-eight scenes from waka poetry, with a pond, a hill and tea houses. 300 yen, with night illuminations for the weeping cherry in spring and the maples in autumn.
Shingon mountain temple founded in 744 and a living centre of shugendo, where you can attend the goma fire rite and book shojin ryori. On the second Sunday of March the Hiwatari Matsuri lets the public walk the embers behind the yamabushi: it is a rite, not an attraction.
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