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Four days that pair Tokyo’s older neighbourhoods with the shrine forests of Nikko, two hours north by train. Senso-ji before the shops open, the gilded carvings of Toshogu, and Kegon Falls dropping ninety-seven metres.
Trip Experience Guide
Half city, half mountain, with the train linking the two from Asakusa. Tokyo is taken on foot, one district a day; Nikko is given two full days in cooler air.
Day 1
Asakusa: Senso-ji & the Sumida River
Settle in on the east side of Tokyo, where Senso-ji’s great red lantern hangs in the Kaminarimon gate. Take a water bus down the Sumida in the late afternoon, and eat tempura at a counter in the evening.
Day 2
Yanaka & Meiji Jingu: Shrine Forest & Old Lanes
Walk the gravel paths through Meiji Jingu’s planted forest as the gates open. Later, Yanaka’s temples, wooden shops and cats feel decades removed from Shibuya, and Nezu Shrine’s tunnel of vermilion torii glows in the afternoon light.
Day 3
Nikko: Toshogu & the Sacred Bridge
Ride the Spacia X from Asakusa for just under two hours to Nikko. The vermilion Shinkyo bridge leads up to Toshogu, where carved monkeys, a sleeping cat and a gilded gate sit under cedars planted four centuries ago.
Day 4
Lake Chuzenji: Kegon Falls & Return
Drive the forty-eight hairpins of the Irohazaka road to Lake Chuzenji and the viewing deck at the foot of Kegon Falls. Back through Kanmangafuchi’s rows of stone Jizo, then the afternoon train to Tokyo and your onward flight.
Tokyo is shaped around what you want from it, whether that is gardens, food halls or galleries. Nikko’s colour peaks in mid to late October; add a night at the Okunikko hot springs, forty minutes above the lake.
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Similar Experiences
More Japanese journeys that travel by train, each short enough to pair with another on a longer stay in the country.
Hakone: Hot Springs & Fuji Views
Kyoto: Moss Gardens & Early Temples
