Sample journey · 10–12 days
Slippers by the door: a Japanese honeymoon of ryokans and quiet coasts
Tokyo, the Izu Peninsula, Kyoto, Kinosaki, Amanohashidate & Ine
Photo: PJH / Unsplash
Illustrative journey ideas — not bookable packages. No prices, dates or accommodation are implied.
This journey is built not around sights but around stays. A ryokan day has its own rhythm: you arrive in the afternoon, change into a yukata, bathe in the spring, dinner arrives course by course, and while you walk, futons are laid out in your room. So each place has two or three nights, and there are few transfers. We begin in Tokyo, then head to the Izu Peninsula, where the hot-spring town of Shuzenji hugs a river among bamboo, and to Kyoto, shown as it is in the early morning, before the streets fill.
The second half is the Sea of Japan coast, where few overseas travellers go: Kinosaki, where in the evening people stroll in yukata and wooden sandals from one public bathhouse to the next, the pine-covered sandbar of Amanohashidate and the fishing village of Ine, its boathouses standing on the water. The journey is for couples who want calm and exceptional places to stay, from a ryokan with a private spring-fed bath in the room to a house above the bay, and who would happily trade a few sights for another hour in hot water.
The route
The journey
- Tokyo
- Izu Peninsula (Shuzenji)
- Kyoto
- Kinosaki
- Amanohashidate
- Ine
- Kyoto or Osaka
01Days 1–3 · Tokyo
A garden among the towers
Two nights in Tokyo, in a hotel high above the city, to recover from the flight and catch Fuji on a clear morning. Tokyo here isn't a dash from district to district but a few well-chosen moments: matcha and a sweet in the teahouse of Hamarikyu Gardens, where an old feudal garden meets the skyscrapers, an early walk through the lanes of Yanaka, which survived both the war and modernisation, and dinner at a small sushi counter where the chef serves one piece at a time. On the second evening, a cocktail with the city's lights below. It's a good beginning: the first days are light, and the rest of the journey grows quieter still.
02Days 3–5 · The Izu Peninsula
Springs by the bamboo river
By bullet train to Mishima and then a little local line: in about two hours we reach Shuzenji, a small hot-spring town in the heart of the Izu Peninsula. Two nights at a ryokan with its own spring, ideally with a private bath in the room or on the terrace. In the morning, a stroll along the Katsura River with its red footbridges, a bamboo-lined path and the old temple that gave the town its name; in the afternoon, tea and nowhere to be. The next day you could head to the coast: on Izu's western side, volcanic cliffs and sea caves are seen from a small boat, and on a clear day Fuji rises across the bay. Or stay in town and soak once more before a kaiseki dinner.
03Days 5–8 · Kyoto
Kyoto while the city sleeps
From Mishima it's about two hours by bullet train to Kyoto, for three nights, perhaps at a small ryokan in the Higashiyama hills, perhaps in a machiya, a restored wooden townhouse that is entirely yours. We show Kyoto early: at sunrise the gardens of Nanzen-ji and its old brick aqueduct are almost empty, and you can walk the Philosopher's Path for an hour meeting only locals with their dogs. The afternoons are left for rest; the evenings, for the lanes of Pontochō, a kaiseki dinner or a private tea ceremony where the host explains every gesture. One day might go to Arashiyama early in the morning, or to a quiet temple in the hills at Ōhara, where the moss gardens stay hushed even in high season.
04Days 8–10 · Kinosaki
Seven bathhouses and the willows
About two and a half hours north by limited express to the Sea of Japan, and Kinosaki, a hot-spring town along a willow-lined canal with stone bridges. Two nights at a ryokan. Here, in the evening, visitors put on a yukata and wooden geta and walk from one public bathhouse to another; there are seven in town, and the ryokan often provides a pass to all of them. The clack of sandals on stone after dark and steam rising over the canal is one of those moments worth travelling for. In the morning a ropeway climbs to a hilltop temple with a view over the river valley, and in winter the star of the dinner is the local crab. Kinosaki is small, so the second day is quiet and good simply for being there.
05Days 10–12 · Amanohashidate & Ine
Houses standing in the water
By local trains along the coast, about an hour and a half to two hours to Amanohashidate, a pine-covered sandbar almost four kilometres long that crosses the bay and is counted among Japan's three most celebrated views. You can walk or cycle across it, and from the hillside look at it upside down between your legs, as the Japanese do, so that it seems a bridge into the sky. Then about an hour by local bus along the shore to Ine, a fishing village where some two hundred wooden funaya, boathouses, stand right on the water: boats below, living space above. The last two nights are in a small guesthouse above the bay, with fresh fish for dinner and mornings when the water beneath the window is perfectly still. On the final day, about two hours by train to Kyoto or Osaka and the flight home.
Experience highlights
- 01
A private spring in Shuzenji
A ryokan by the bamboo-lined river, with hot water waiting in your room or on the terrace.
- 02
Kyoto at sunrise
Nanzen-ji and the Philosopher's Path while the city is still asleep.
- 03
An evening in Kinosaki
Yukata, wooden sandals and seven bathhouses along a willow-lined canal.
- 04
The boathouses of Ine
A fishing village on the water and mornings when the bay below the window is perfectly still.
First, we listen. Then, we explore what's possible.
Make it your own
Slower still
Tokyo can be cut to a single night and a third added in Kinosaki or Ine, so that almost the whole journey is spent by the water.
With a beach
To finish, a few days in Okinawa or the Yaeyama Islands: the flight from Osaka is short, with coral and warm water at the end.
By season
Spring brings cherry blossom and mild weather, autumn the maples, and in winter Kinosaki is at its cosiest: snow on the roofs, crab and hot baths. Summer on the coast is humid but green.
With Kanazawa
From Kyoto the journey can extend to Kanazawa, with its gardens, gold-leaf crafts and geisha quarters, before returning via Kinosaki.
Practical considerations
- Spring and autumn are usually the most pleasant, though Kyoto is busiest then, which is why we start early. In winter the Sea of Japan coast often sees snow; summer is hot and humid.
- Shared baths are used without swimwear, after washing first. Many bathhouses don't admit people with visible tattoos, so in that case we choose ryokans with private baths; we check the rules at each place.
- At ryokans dinner is usually served at a set time, and it's best to arrive in the afternoon. We pass on any dietary needs in advance.
- The journey is planned by train; large suitcases are awkward in small ryokans, so luggage is often forwarded to a later stay and you travel with just a small bag.
General guidance only. Seasons, weather and wildlife are never guaranteed, and travel requirements are always worth checking before you go.
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