A complete guide to planning a road trip across Japan
I recently went on a month-long journey across Japan, opting for a road trip that allowed us to fully immerse ourselves in the country’s diverse landscapes and culture. Instead of relying on the JR Pass, which seemed quite expensive, we chose to rent a car. This gave us the freedom to explore not only the iconic cities that draw visitors from around the world but also the more remote and lesser-known towns in the Japanese Alps where we could experience Japan’s stunning natural beauty and connect with its warm and welcoming people. We ended our adventure with a flight to Ishigaki, the tropical paradise of Japan. This road trip offers a bit of everything, providing an amazing introduction to Japan for first-time/second time visitors. We had a month to explore, but if you’re short on time, you can tailor the trip by selecting the destinations that resonate with you the most and customize your own journey.
Tokyo
We started our trip in the big capital city, since our flight arrived here. We spent 5 nights in Tokyo which we think was the perfect amount of time to spend here. We did the activities we wanted, visited the places we had in mind and walked around a lot. You can’t see the whole city spending 5 nights here, but it gives you a great idea of how the city is. It’s enough time to explore at your own pace. We stayed in a small Airbnb in Sumida city which we loved. The place had everything we needed and we liked the location. Sumida is a more quiet and local neighbourhood which was nice when we came back to the accommodation at night exhausted from the long day of exploring.
Mount Fuji
After our time in Tokyo we picked up our rental car and drove off to the most iconic landmark in Japan, Mount Fuji. Depending on traffic, it’s about a 2-hour drive. Also, make sure to take a break at one of the gas stations along the highway. We were amazed by these Japanese gas stations. The one you pass when driving towards Mount Fuji is huge! The toilets are spotless (around the whole country) and you have so many food options. We surprisingly had one of the best meals here during our trip. Around Mount Fuji we spent 1 night, but I would recommend spending some more nights here if you have time. We ended up spending more time here later on in our itinerary. We loved the surrounding area of Mount Fuji, we were also lucky enough to see it since you can only see Fuji on a clear day. The area feels peaceful and is beautiful during autumn when the color of the leaves are changing. Our accommodation was located next to Lake Yamanakako. We also recommend visiting Lake Kawaguchiko, which is only a 20-minute drive from Lake Yamanakako. Both lakes have a beautiful view on Mount Fuji. A highlight here is visiting Chureito Pagoda, probably one of the most famous Pagodas in Japan. I would recommend coming right before sunset, which is what we did. At this time of day, there weren’t as many people left, and the view was ten times better with the sky changing colors beautifully. A local lunch recommendation that is worth it, is Mikuri. Enjoy an affordable Japanese set meal with homemade vegetables. A more famous lunch place with a view on Mount Fuji, is The Park where you can enjoy the famous Japanese fluffy pancakes. If you come early you will have a good spot on the terrace. The pancakes are great actually!
Yamanouchi
You probably haven’t heard of this town, unless you know it from the famous Jigokudani Monkey Park where wild snow monkeys bathe in natural hot springs. Yamanouchi is located in northern Nagano and this town was actually the hosting town of the Nagano Winter Olympics in 1998. From Yamanouchi you have access to the largest ski resort in Japan, Shiga Kogen. The drive is about 3 hours and 30 minutes from Lake Yamanakako. We didn’t have lots of expectations for this town, we mostly went to see the snow monkeys in the first place. But this place ended up being one of our favourite little towns! When it isn’t ski season, the area surrounding Yamanouchi is truly beautiful. We stayed at an accommodation called AIBIYA and we cannot recommend this place enough. We stayed here for 3 nights which was the perfect amount of time to spend here. The true highlight of our stay at AIBIYA was undoubtedly the wonderful couple who run the guesthouse. They were incredibly welcoming, and we thoroughly enjoyed our conversations with them. They shared great insights about the local area and provided fantastic recommendations. We highly recommend doing the hike to Onuma-Ike Pond and the climb to the top of Shiga mountain. This was an amazing hike. Of course, we also recommend a visit to Snow Monkey Park but check the live video recording on their website to check if the monkeys are in the park. Since they are wild monkeys, they sometimes tend to leave the park. Yamanouchi also has great restaurant options. We recommend Isamizuchi for fresh and local sushi made by an old Japanese couple. Another amazing place to eat sushi at is Japanese dining GOEN. The fresh fish on the sushi just melted in our mouths. And in the evening, when you want to go out for drinks, go to Wkwk café & space. This bar had just opened its doors when we were there and it’s only a few minutes walk from AIYBIYA. The owner is an experienced bartender who had lived in different countries, but returned to his birth town to open his own bar. Honestly the best cocktails in my life! So affordable, only 500 yen for a cocktail (this was the first 2 weeks, now it will be a different price probably). Lots of choices on the menu, and if you don’t know what to order you can ask him to make a cocktail based on your preferences. Great place to connect with people living in Yamanouchi. We also recommend going to an onsen in the area. Yamanouchi is also known for its natural hot springs. We went to a private onsen booked through our accommodation.
Takayama
This town was one of our less favourite places during our entire road trip. This depends on personal liking of course. It’s about a 3-hour drive from Yamanouchi to Takayama. We stayed for a total of 3 nights in this town. We had 1 day to explore the town, 1 day for a day trip to Shirakawago and 1 day we had a long hike planned in Kamikochi. The reason why we didn’t love Takayama is because only the old center of the town is nice. It’s well known for the traditional wooden houses. It’s lovely seeing these pretty streets but there were lots of other tourist that made it feel crowded. Outside the old town of Takayama, the city looks outdated. We stayed at a nice hotel, FAV Hotel Hidatakayama West. Takayama is also famous for its street food. We recommend going to Hida Kotte Sushi. There was a line when we got there at opening time, but it was worth waiting for. Here you can order wonderful tasting beef sushi. It’s made with Hida beef, which is famous in the region. If you’re craving ramen, go to Menya Shirakawa Bettei for a good bowl of ramen.
Kamikochi - Mount Yake-Dake
As I mentioned we did a hike in Kamikochi National Park. If you love nature and hiking, we highly recommend doing this hike. Takayama is a great starting point for a day hike in this beautiful park. We left early in the morning and we drove our car to the bus stop where you can catch a bus to enter Kamikochi, since cars are not allowed. You begin your hike at Kappa bridge, a beautiful spot at the beginning of the park where many people come to take pictures. But if you arrive early like us, it won’t be crowded yet. We even saw a little family of snow monkeys crossing the bridge. The entire hike takes about 6 hours and 40 minutes, no breaks included. The difference in elevation is 1,189 meters. The hike is tough at some points, but so worth it. You continue the hike near the river and then you turn right at some point to continue the route in the forest. The hike is clearly marked, so you won’t get lost. Here the climbing gradually starts. The trails becomes more rocky and some parts of the hike require the use of steel ladders. Then you continue until you reach Yake-dake-koya mountain hut. Here you can take a break, or like us, we decided to go a little but further and uphill where you have one of the most stunning views on the hike. You can see all the surrounding mountains in the Kamikochi area. From here you also have a clear view of the volcano top your about to hike. You continue the path that becomes more and more rocky. Be careful with loose rocks. The end of the trail reaches the north peak of Mt. Yake-Dake and from here the view is spectacular. After this hike, we booked a spa hotel in Takayama called WAT Spa hotel. It’s a relatively new hotel offering modern facilities at a reasonable price. The rooms are spacious and stylish, providing a comfortable stay. Our booking included a generous breakfast buffet with a wide variety of options to suit every taste. One of the highlights is the top floor, where you’ll find several private open-air onsen that are perfect for unwinding.
Kyoto
After Takayama we drove to the well known city Kyoto. This was the longest drive, about 3 hours and 40 minutes. We stayed in this city for 3 nights which we find is enough time to see Kyoto. What we recommend is getting up early if you want to peacefully enjoy Kyoto’s most famous tourist spots, since they get really busy during the day and that makes most experiences not so enjoyable. We had two early mornings in Kyoto. The first morning we went to Arishiyama bamboo forest and the second morning we went to Higashiyama, Kiyomizu-dera and Fushimi Inari-Taisha. The famous Fushimi Inari was already becoming crowded when we arrived, but we recommend just following the hike up the mountain. Lots of people stay near the beginning of the trail, the more you go up the emptier the path is. We reached the top and we had plenty of empty photo spots. Feeling hungry after? Go to Panel café if you want to have fluffy Japanese pancakes. There was a bit of a line unfortunately, but the wait was worth it.
Osaka
The next destination on the road trip is Osaka, but before going to Osaka we recommend making a stop in Nara. Nara is famous for the bowing deer. It’s a fun half-day trip to make. The whole Nara park and surroundings are full of deer, we saw much more deers than we were expecting to see. We walked around and bought some deer crackers to feed the deer for some fun interactions. I also really recommend going to salon Naramachi, this is where I had the best matcha latte and matcha affogato on our trip. It’s a Japanese tea house, where you get seated on a tatami floor. I loved the experience.
Osaka was actually a city we didn’t have many expectations for. But we must say, we ended up having a great time in Osaka. We stayed for 3 nights, which gives enough time to explore this fun city. We stayed in an Airbnb in a local neighbourhood, but it is close to the metro station and it didn’t take long to reach the centre of Osaka. The most fun and well-known area in Osaka is Dotonbori. Walking through this street is an activity on itself. Street food stalls everywhere, huge billboards and cartoons hanging on the walls, shops and restaurants. We booked the Osaka amazing pass in advance for one day, which is a pass that gives you access to 40 different attractions in Osaka. With this pass we had direct access to the Osaka Castle and we could skip the whole line that was waiting to enter. We also did the Dotonbori River cruise in the evening, visited Umeda Sky building, we had access to use the metro the whole day and a cruise on the river surrounding Osaka Castle. Osaka is sometimes called Japan’s belly regarding the food culture here. The best meal we had in Osaka was Wagyu Idaten. This is a specialty bento restaurant that uses the highest quality wagyu beef over rice. It’s a popular restaurant, so make a reservation if you want to secure a spot. We were lucky and were put on a waiting list for about half an hour. We walked around and came back for lunch. It was delicious and also still pretty affordable. We also had dinner at one of the famous ramen chain restaurants Ichiran in Osaka. After seeing so many waiting lines for this restaurant, we were curious to see what the hype was about. It lives up to the hype in our opinion. We loved the fact that you can customize your ramen bowl to your liking and the dining experience with the separated seats and special ordering process was fun to experience. Also, you can’t leave Osaka without trying Takoyaki. We had way too much Takoyaki these three days but no regrets. Don’t wait in line for the famous stalls, there are plenty of Takoyaki stalls in Osaka that are amazing. Can’t go wrong.
Ishigaki
We added this beautiful island to our itinerary to have a change of scenery, and it was so worth it! It’s not part of the Okinawa islands, this island is part of the Yaeyama Islands. It’s close to Taiwan. The flight between Osaka and Ishigaki takes about two and a half to three hours. Ishigaki is a tropical getaway and it has a tropical climate the whole year round. We spent a week in Ishigaki, the perfect amount of time to explore the island while also relaxing and enjoying. We had an absolutely wonderful guesthouse. We stayed at ‘Guest House Ishigaki’. The location was perfect, right near the center of town with stores and restaurants within walking distance. The owner of the guesthouse is really helpful and friendly, he made sure we had the best stay. We loved the interior design of the house, simple but Japanese inspired and really clean. On the island, there are plenty of things to do and see. Even if you get bored on the island, there are different islands surrounding Ishigaki. You can easily take the ferry to a different Island. We did one trip to the island of Kohama, a small island close to Ishigaki. We also planned on going to the bigger island Iriomote, but because of an accident we had in Ishigaki we ended up not being able to do everything we had planned. I highly recommend doing a glass boat tour at Kabira Bay, if you are not able to dive or don’t want to. The tour doesn’t cost a lot and you see beautiful coral and marine life through the glass. We saw a lot of fish, a few sea turtles and even one shark. Osaki beach is a great beach to go to. It’s a small beach, but we went in the evening and we were the only ones on the beach. In the morning it’s a popular spot to leave for diving and snorkeling tours, so if you don’t take a guided tour, this beach is the place to be for snorkelling. You do have to swim far enough to reach the corals, where you can see lots of different fish and sea turtles. Klatch coffee was our regular place we came to almost every morning to grab a coffee and a roasted sandwich. The shrimp avocado sandwich and the apple custard sandwich are amazing.
Izu
The last days on our itinerary we spent on the Izu Peninsula. Izu is popular for it’s hot springs, beautiful rugged coastlines, scenic drives and since Mount Fuji only lies about 50 kilometers away, it can be seen from the western coast. For this part of the road trip, we hired a Suzuki Jimny Jeep with a rooftop tent from the company Overland Japan. We picked up our Jimny in Tokyo and drove to Izu. The first night we parked at a campsite high in the mountains. This was the Kumomi Auto campsite. It’s a spacious campsite with a beautiful view on the ocean and if you’re lucky enough you can park your car on one of the few spots that have a Mount Fuji view. The campsite is run by the cutest and sweetest Japanese old lady. The next day we drove a bit further down the coast towards a more southern point on the peninsula. Here we parked our Jimny on a parking lot with the most beautiful view on the coastline. The parking belongs to ‘Aiai South Point Cafe & Gift’ and there is a small toilet building next to the shop that’s accessible for the whole night. We made dinner and watched the stunning sunset from our roof tent. One of the most magical moments.
As your journey across Japan comes to an end, you’ll carry with you memories of bustling cities, serene temples, breathtaking landscapes and the warmth of Japanese hospitality. Whether it was tasting authentic ramen in a hidden alley or immersing yourself in the futuristic marvels of Tokyo, Japan offers an experience that lingers long after you leave. This itinerary is just a glimpse of what this amazing country has to offer, but it’s sure to inspire an unforgettable adventure. Until next time, sayonara and safe travels!