Japan Honeymoon: Tokyo, a Private Onsen Stay and Kyoto

Spend four nights in Tokyo, two in Hakone and five in Kyoto. That's twelve days and eleven nights in Japan, with three hotels. Start with restaurants and shopping, take a proper break at a ryokan, then finish with gardens, tea and Kyoto evenings.

The two Hakone nights are the part we'd protect. One night gives you dinner, a bath and breakfast, but you are traveling again the next morning. Two nights let you wake up without packing. If that doesn't sound worth the cost, skip Hakone and use the Tokyo and Kyoto route. You can have a lovely honeymoon without a ryokan.

Fly into Tokyo and out of Kansai if the flights work. If you must return from Tokyo, spend the final night there and reduce Kyoto to four nights. Count days from your arrival in Japan, not from the date you leave the US.

• Choose the ryokan before fixing the middle of the route. A particular room and meal plan may matter more than whether Tokyo gets Tuesday or Wednesday. Build around that availability.
• Decide whether you want a private bath together. Look for an in-room hot-spring bath or a specifically reservable private bath. An “onsen hotel” label alone doesn't tell you what you can use as a couple. Ask about tattoo policies if relevant to your chosen bathing facilities.
• Compare the total for two people, including meals. A ryokan quote may be per person. Dinner and breakfast can change the comparison with a city hotel considerably; check the actual plan rather than assuming every rate includes them.
• Choose one or two special meals, not a tasting menu every night. The ryokan already makes dinner an event. Leave room elsewhere for ramen, sandwiches, a bakery or something you find while walking.

Day one: arrive and eat near the hotel

Keep the first evening in your hotel neighborhood. If you choose the Yoyogi Park hotel below, spend it around Tomigaya rather than making a cross-city restaurant booking. A walk and dinner are enough after the flight.

Day two: Meiji Jingu, clothes and coffee

Start at Meiji Jingu, entering from the Harajuku side. Walk through the wooded approach, then continue into the shopping streets around Omotesando and Cat Street. Give the shops the afternoon instead of fitting them between two distant sights.

CAMELBACK sandwich & espresso, at 42-2 Kamiyamacho, is the coffee-and-sandwich option on the western side of Shibuya. Choose it when you want something casual and time back toward Tomigaya. It's a detour from the direct Harajuku-to-Shibuya walk, not a café at the shrine entrance.

For a hot lunch, use the yuzu ramen option in our Tokyo guide. The two choices serve different moods: a quick bowl before more shopping, or coffee and a sandwich on the quieter western streets. Finish the evening in Shibuya or back by the hotel.

Day three: Asakusa and something for your home

Travel east for Senso-ji and the streets around Asakusa. Afterwards, browse Kappabashi for tableware and kitchen tools. This is a good day to choose something you'll actually use together, rather than buying the first souvenir beside the temple.

For breakfast or lunch, the Asakusa route includes Pelican Café's toast and sandwiches, plus Katsukichi for a pork-cutlet meal. Pick one proper lunch, then keep the afternoon for browsing. If you are planning to buy fragile ceramics, ask the shop about packing before you carry them through the rest of Japan.

Day four: art or another neighborhood

Choose Ueno for Japanese art, or Ginza for design books and shopping. Our four-day Tokyo itinerary lays out the alternatives. You don't need to repeat a temple day just because this is your last full day in the city.

This is also a good night for the restaurant reservation you most wanted. Put it before the Hakone move rather than trying to make a Tokyo dinner after a day trip out of town.

Day five: arrive for the afternoon, not just dinner

From Shinjuku, the reserved-seat Odakyu Romancecar takes you to Hakone-Yumoto. From there, continue to the inn. If you are staying on Tokyo's eastern side, compare a Shinkansen to Odawara instead of crossing the city just to use Shinjuku.

The sample inn, Hakone Ginyu, is in Miyanoshita. Its access information describes a mountain-railway connection from Hakone-Yumoto and a short walk from Miyanoshita Station. Check-in starts at 2pm. Aim to use the afternoon at the inn, with dinner there rather than a sightseeing circuit after arrival.

If both hotels accept it, forward your main luggage from Tokyo to Kyoto and take a smaller bag for Hakone. Check the delivery date with the sender; our Japan luggage guide explains the options without assuming every route is next-day.

Day six: sculpture, then back to the bath

Have breakfast at the inn. For an outing, take the mountain railway toward Chokoku-no-Mori and visit the Hakone Open-Air Museum. Sculpture in the grounds makes this a different kind of art day from a large Tokyo museum. Its listed hours are 9am to 5pm, with last entry at 4:30pm.

Give it the morning and lunch, then return to the inn. Or stay at the ryokan all day. The extra night is there to let you choose, not to create an obligation to complete the lake, ropeway and museum circuit.

If a Lake Ashi outing matters more than the museum, use it as the day's main excursion. Don't choose this honeymoon route solely for a promised Mount Fuji view: clouds may decide that part for you.

Day seven: travel west and settle in

Return to Odawara, then book the Shinkansen journey to Kyoto through SmartEX. Choose a departure that actually stops at Odawara and check whether it needs a change. There is no reason to return to Tokyo first for this route.

Spend the afternoon around your hotel and central Kyoto. If you arrive early enough, Ippodo's Kyoto main store is a good first stop for tea. The Kaboku tearoom offers a hands-on brewing experience; this is useful if you'd like to take tea home and know how to prepare it. Save it for another day if the journey runs late.

Day eight: Higashiyama and dinner by the river

Make Kiyomizu-dera the morning visit, then walk down through the lanes. Stop for ceramics or a café when you find something you like. Continue through Gion and finish by the river instead of adding another faraway temple.

Our Kyoto guide has tofu near Kiyomizu and eel at Pontocho Idumoya as lunch alternatives. The eel option comes later in the walk, across the river. Choose based on where you want to stop, rather than making a second journey purely for lunch.

Day nine: Arashiyama and a temple lunch

Take the JR Sagano Line to Saga-Arashiyama and walk to Tenryu-ji. Start with the garden, then have lunch at Shigetsu. Its shojin ryori is seasonal vegetarian cooking, with rice, soup and small dishes. The setting and meal together are the reason for this day.

Reserve in advance: the simplest course needs at least two days' notice, while the other listed courses need three and at least two diners. Garden admission is separate. Shigetsu closes Thursdays, so move this day if needed. This is a temple restaurant, not a guaranteed private dining room for two.

Walk by the river afterwards, then return to the hotel. If lunch isn't available, keep the garden visit and use a neighborhood meal rather than treating the reservation as essential to seeing Arashiyama.

Day ten: Fushimi Inari and an afternoon without tickets

Take a JR Nara Line service that stops at Inari and walk the torii paths. Decide how far uphill you want to go together; you can enjoy the shrine without making the summit your objective.

The Kyoto itinerary includes Vermillion - cafe. for coffee and brunch before returning to the center. Use the afternoon for Teramachi shops, Ippodo if you missed it, or time at the hotel. This is a good place to leave space for a recommendation you've picked up during the trip.

Day eleven: Nara, or more Kyoto

Choose the Nara day trip if Todai-ji and the park appeal. Keep your Kyoto room and return for the evening. If you've had enough temple visits, use the day for shopping and a long lunch instead. Five nights in Kyoto means you don't have to turn every spare day into another city.

If your flight home leaves from Tokyo, this is your return-train day and final Tokyo night. Drop Nara in that version.

Day twelve: fly home

For a Kansai departure, the airport's transport guide lists direct Haruka trains and airport buses connecting with Kyoto Station. Use the departure timetable for your flight time. An early departure may make an airport-area final night a better fit, replacing night eleven in Kyoto.

TRUNK(HOTEL) Yoyogi Park, Tokyo: for design, neighborhood cafés and time at the hotel. Its rooftop pool and lounge overlook the park, making it a different proposition from simply choosing a room near Shibuya Station. It suits a western Tokyo base and slower mornings. The trade-off is travel to Asakusa and Ueno. This is the Yoyogi Park property, not TRUNK's Cat Street hotel.

Hakone Ginyu, Miyanoshita: for a private-bath splurge. The Hoshi rooms have open-air hot-spring baths on their terraces, with Japanese or Western sleeping arrangements. Dinner and breakfast are served in the room. Choose the layout you want, including a bed if floor bedding doesn't appeal, and confirm the meal plan when booking. This stay is about the room, bath and meals, so we'd spend two nights if the budget allows.

Hotel Kanra Kyoto: for Japanese materials and a bath after walking. The main-building double pairs a king bed with a tatami sitting area and a separate shower and cypress bathtub. That's a specific, useful reason to choose it for a couple. The wooden tub is not a claim that the room has natural hot-spring water. Other categories have different beds and layouts; look at the one you're booking.

If you want more of a restaurant-and-cocktail scene in Kyoto, compare Ace Hotel in our Kyoto guide. Kanra is the choice here for the room; Ace is the alternative when social spaces matter more.

Ten days: four nights Tokyo, one Hakone and four Kyoto. On the Hakone afternoon, go straight to the inn and skip the museum. The following morning is breakfast and travel onward. You still get the ryokan experience, with less time to linger.

Seven days: three nights Tokyo and three Kyoto, with one train between them. Or stay entirely in Tokyo and take one night in Hakone if Kyoto isn't a priority. Compare those choices in the one-week Japan guide.

Lower hotel spend: use simpler city hotels and save for the ryokan, or skip it entirely. A private bath is a preference, not a requirement for a honeymoon. Keep the neighborhood days, tea and temple lunch; those are the parts that give this trip its shape.