How many days do you need in Japan? What fits into 10, 14 or 21

A week: possible, but only for one region

Sometimes leave only stretches to a week, and it's still worth going if you accept one condition: one region, not the whole country. A week in Kyoto and Kansai – with Nara, Osaka's food and a day on Mount Koya – or a week in Tokyo with Hakone will give you more than trying to fit the whole classic route into seven days. Jet lag bites harder on a short trip, so keep the first and last days light.

10 days: the classic axis, unhurried

Ten days is roughly eight real ones. Enough for the two great cities and one quieter interlude between them. For example: three nights in Tokyo, two in a ryokan in Hakone or near Mount Fuji, four in Kyoto with a day trip to Nara, and a flight home from Osaka so you don't have to double back to Tokyo.

At that pace there are still free afternoons. What to let go: Hiroshima, Kanazawa and the Alps 'for just one night'. They deserve more, and are better kept for another trip.

14 days: cities and mountain villages

Two weeks is, in our view, the best starting point for a first trip, and for many Lithuanian travellers it's realistic: two weeks of leave with a weekend at each end. Four or five bases let you add to the classic axis what makes Japan linger longest in the memory: the countryside.

For example: Tokyo, then west to the Kiso Valley and the old Nakasendo road between Magome and Tsumago, Kanazawa with its gardens and teahouse districts, and only then Kyoto. Or, instead of the mountains, head south: after Kyoto, two nights on the art island of Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea and a finish in Osaka. Luggage forwarding lets big cases travel straight to the next city while you move with a small bag.

21 days: the Japan few get to see

Three weeks change the nature of the trip. There's time not only for the cities and one mountain region, but for a different Japan altogether – quieter and less visited. A few ways to use them:

• A few days on foot along the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trails on the Kii Peninsula, with a night in a temple on Mount Koya.
• Kyushu and Shikoku: hot-spring towns, the Aso caldera, the gorges of the Iya Valley and Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama.
• The Setouchi islands by bike across the Shimanami Kaido bridges, sleeping in fishing towns.
• Hokkaido – in summer for cool air and open fields, in winter for snow and hot springs.

Even in three weeks we wouldn't suggest all of these. One or two extra regions, with three nights in each, usually give more than four with one night apiece.

An extra week in Japan usually means not more places, but more room for each of them.

The days you don't see on the itinerary

Japan's trains are fast and punctual, so it's tempting to think moving costs nothing. But even two hours on the bullet train means checking out, getting to the station, changing to a local train or bus and checking in again – realistically half a day. In rural regions, where buses may run only a few times a day, it's more.

So on a two-week trip we'd suggest at least one entirely free day – not as a luxury, but as a buffer: for rain, for tiredness, or for a place you liked more than you expected. Often it's the day remembered most fondly.

When you're travelling with children

For a family the same two weeks should look different: fewer bases – three, four at most – shorter transfers and a free afternoon almost every day. Children often find jet lag harder than adults, so the first days should be especially gentle. Tokyo, Hakone, and Kyoto with Nara make a complete two-week route for a family.

Our answer in one line

Ten days is a good introduction, two weeks a real journey, three a Japan with room to breathe. When best to spend those days depends on the season, which we cover separately.

Tell us how much time you have and what you'd most like – cities, countryside, walking or calm. Together we'll work out how many bases you really need, and which ones deserve your days.