How many days do you really need?
The most common mistake on a first trip is trying to „see everything”. Japan is bigger and more varied than it looks on a map. The realistic minimum is 7 days (just the Tokyo area + one day trip), 10–14 days is comfortable, and to get off the beaten track you'll want 16+ .
- 5–7 days: Tokyo + day trips (Nikkō, Kamakura, Hakone). Skip Kyoto - the travel would eat up half your trip.
- 9–11 days: the classic „Golden Route” - Tokyo → Hakone → Kyoto → Nara → Osaka.
- 12–14 days: Golden Route + Hiroshima/Miyajima, or Kanazawa and the Japanese Alps.
- 15+ days: add a second island - Kyushu (onsen) or Hokkaido (nature/skiing).
The rule that saves your trip: fewer bases, more days
Every hotel change means packing up, checking out, getting to the station, finding the next place - it's easy to lose half a day. Better to set up 2–3 bases and take day trips from them than to sleep somewhere different every night. Tokyo and Kyoto make excellent home bases.
A sample 12-day skeleton
Tokyo (4 nights) → Hakone (1) → Kyoto (4, with day trips to Nara and Osaka) → Hiroshima/Miyajima (2) → back. The Shinkansen ties it all into a logical line, with no backtracking.
What NOT to do on a first trip
Don't squeeze Hokkaido and Okinawa into a two-week trip „while I'm already there”. They're separate destinations, with their own flights + acclimatisation. Save them for the next time - and almost everyone does come back.
💡 Paweł's tip: the first and last days are really only „half days” in practice (flight, jet lag, airport transfers). Plan your sightseeing from day two.