The Classic Japan Honeymoon: Tokyo, Hakone & Kyoto

Where to Stay:

Aman Tokyo, The Peninsula Tokyo, or Park Hyatt Tokyo

Tokyo hits you immediately. The scale, the organisation, the sheer density of things happening simultaneously. The key to enjoying it on a honeymoon is resisting the urge to see everything and instead going deep on a few neighbourhoods and experiences.

Start in Shinjuku, where the skyline and the street level feel like two different cities stacked on top of each other. Walk through the Golden Gai alleys in the evening, where tiny bars hold eight people maximum and the bartender already knows what you want. Cross to Harajuku during the day, then south through Omotesando, which is Tokyo’s answer to a luxury shopping boulevard and considerably more interesting than most.

Meiji Shrine is worth an early morning visit before the crowds arrive. The forest surrounding it is surprisingly quiet for a city of this size and sets the tone for the kind of Japan you are about to spend eleven days exploring.

Signature Experiences:

• Private guided tour of Tokyo’s hidden neighbourhoods
• Omakase or Michelin-starred dinner experience
• Sunrise at Meiji Shrine
• Optional day trip to Kamakura or Nikko

Where to Stay:

Hoshinoya Kyoto, The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto, or Suiran

Kyoto is where Japan’s history becomes tangible. The city has over 2,000 temples and shrines, seventeen UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and a cultural infrastructure that has been maintained and practiced continuously for centuries. It is also, in high season, extremely busy. The solution is simple: go early, go private, and go beyond the obvious.

The Arashiyama Bamboo Grove is genuinely extraordinary at 6am, before tour groups arrive. Fushimi Inari, the shrine famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates climbing up a forested hillside, rewards those who walk past the first set of gates into the upper sections where the crowds thin and the atmosphere shifts.

Gion is the geisha district and best experienced in the early evening, walking slowly through Hanamikoji Street in the hope of catching a glimpse of a maiko or geiko moving between engagements. It is not guaranteed, but the neighbourhood is worth the time regardless.

Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, is best visited mid-morning on a weekday when the reflection in the pond is clearest and the crowds are manageable.

Signature Experiences:

• Private tea ceremony in a Kyoto machiya
• Sunrise at Fushimi Inari Shrine
• Private temple tour with a specialist guide
• Couples kimono experience in Gion
• Optional day trip to Nara