Japan in Every Season: When to Go, What It Costs, and the Ten-Day Route That Works
Cherry blossom dates shift every year and the JR Pass is not always worth it. A clear-eyed Japan guide for Indian travellers planning a first trip.
Japan in Every Season
Japan is the most rewarding country in Asia to plan carefully and the most punishing to plan casually. Two weeks either side of a date can be the difference between cherry blossom over Ueno Park and bare branches in the rain. Everything else — trains, hotels, safety, signage — works so well that once the calendar is right, the trip runs itself.
Here is what actually matters when you plan it from India.
Get the dates right first, everything else second
Cherry blossom (sakura) — late March to mid April, moving south to north. Tokyo and Kyoto usually peak in the first days of April; Hokkaido waits until early May. The forecast only firms up two or three weeks out, which is why we book flexible hotel rates for blossom trips. It is the most expensive and most crowded fortnight of the Japanese year, and it is still worth it.
Autumn colour (koyo) — the underrated one. Mid-November in Kyoto is, for our money, the better trip: the same temples, better weather, sharper light and fewer people. It runs late October to early December, north to south.
Winter — December to February. Powder snow in Hokkaido and Nagano, illuminations in the cities, and the lowest fares of the year. Clear enough that Fuji actually shows up.
Summer — hot and humid, but festival season, and Hokkaido stays pleasant while the main island bakes. The cheapest way to see the country if you can handle July.
The ten-day route that works
For a first visit, the Golden Route is popular for a reason: it is efficient and the trains do the heavy lifting.
Days 1–3, Tokyo. Asakusa and Senso-ji, Shibuya and Harajuku, teamLab, Shinjuku after dark. Keep one day for Nikko's shrines or Kamakura's Great Buddha.
Day 4, Hakone. The Romancecar out of Shinjuku, the ropeway over the sulphur vents at Owakudani, a night in a ryokan with a private onsen and a kaiseki dinner. This is the day people remember.
Days 5–7, Kyoto. Fushimi Inari before 7am, when the torii tunnel is genuinely empty. Kinkaku-ji, Ryoan-ji, the Arashiyama bamboo grove, Gion at dusk. Hold one day for Nara's deer park and Todai-ji.
Day 8, Hiroshima and Miyajima — if you have a rail pass covering it. The Peace Memorial and the floating torii make a long but worthwhile day.
Day 9, Osaka. Osaka Castle, Kuromon Ichiba market, Dotonbori at night. Universal Studios instead if there are teenagers involved.
Day 10, home — out of Kansai, or back to Tokyo for Haneda.
Under seven days, drop a city rather than compressing. Tokyo and Kyoto both deserve three nights.
Is the JR Pass worth it?
Not always, and the honest answer depends on your route.
The pass makes sense when you have two or more long Shinkansen legs — a Tokyo–Kyoto–Hiroshima–Osaka trip clears the bar comfortably. It does not make sense for a trip that stays around Tokyo, or one that flies between cities, and it has not been the automatic buy it was before the 2023 price rise.
We run the arithmetic against your actual itinerary before recommending one. Sometimes the answer is a regional pass — Kansai, JR East — rather than the national one, and sometimes it is just buying the tickets.
Separately, get an IC card (Suica or Pasmo) on arrival. It covers local trains, buses and convenience stores, and it ends all thinking about tickets.
What Japan actually costs
Japan's reputation for expense is half-deserved. Hotels and long-distance trains are the real costs. Food is not: an excellent bowl of ramen or a conveyor-belt sushi lunch costs less than a cafe sandwich in a metro city back home.
Our Japan packages start at ₹1,69,999 per person for eight days including flights, hotels, transfers and sightseeing. Blossom dates, ryokan nights and a rail pass move it up from there.
Where to spend and where not to:
- Spend on one ryokan night with a private onsen. It is a different experience from any hotel.
- Spend on a Shinkansen green car for the longest leg if you are travelling with parents.
- Skip the airport limousine bus if you have luggage forwarding — send the bags ahead and take the train.
- Skip the expensive breakfast buffets. Convenience-store breakfasts in Japan are genuinely good.
Visa, for Indian passport holders
Indian nationals need a visa for Japan. An e-visa route is available for eligible tourist travel alongside the traditional application through the authorised visa centre. Expect to submit a day-by-day itinerary, confirmed flights and hotels, bank statements and income proof.
The itinerary format matters more than people expect — a vague plan gets queries. We prepare the document set in the format the mission expects, which is most of what our visa desk does for Japan bookings.
Eating well as a vegetarian
This is the single most common worry, and it is a real one: dashi, a fish stock, is in a great deal of Japanese cooking, including miso soup and many noodle broths.
What works:
- Shojin ryori — Buddhist temple cuisine, entirely plant-based, and excellent. Kyoto does it best.
- Vegan ramen shops — now in every major city, and seriously good.
- Indian restaurants — abundant, and better than you expect.
- Convenience stores — onigiri with umeboshi (pickled plum), egg sandwiches, fruit.
The phrase worth saving to your phone is watashi wa bejitarian desu — dashi mo dame desu ("I am vegetarian — no fish stock either"). Tell us at booking and we build the food stops into the daily plan instead of leaving them to chance.
Small things that make the trip better
- Forward your luggage. Takuhaibin sends your suitcase to the next hotel overnight for a modest fee. Shinkansen luggage space is limited and oversized bags now need a seat reservation.
- Carry cash. Cards are widely accepted in cities, but shrines, small restaurants and rural stops are cash-only. 7-Eleven ATMs take Indian cards reliably.
- Book Fushimi Inari for dawn. By 9am it is shoulder to shoulder. At 6:30am it is yours.
- Get a pocket Wi-Fi or eSIM. Free public Wi-Fi is patchy away from stations.
- Carry a small bag for rubbish. There are almost no public bins, and the streets are still spotless — that is not a coincidence.
- Learn two phrases. Sumimasen (excuse me) and arigatou gozaimasu (thank you) will carry you a long way.
The short version
Choose the dates before anything else. Give Tokyo and Kyoto three nights each. Do the maths on the rail pass rather than assuming. Plan the vegetarian food in advance. Then let the country do what it does, which is run beautifully on time.
Browse our Japan packages, or send us your travel window and we will tell you honestly what will be in bloom.
