Japan itinerary: 12 days in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka
12 days · 10 nights · 4 stays · sample itinerary
Twelve days on the classic first loop: Tokyo, the shinkansen to Kyoto, a short hop to Osaka, and back to Tokyo for the end — flying Japan Airlines direct from Bangalore to Narita.
It is a sample itinerary — a starting point, not a timetable. The hotels, flights and trains are real, and timetables change, so check them before you book. Open it in the planner and it becomes a trip of your own, starting a month from today.
Day by day
Day 1
Bangalore → Tokyo
Flight · Japan Airlines JL 754 · 02:15–14:25
Lands at Narita, well outside the city — allow an hour or more into Ginza.
Stay: ibis Styles Tokyo Ginza, Tokyo
2 nights
Day 3
Tokyo → Kyoto
Train · Shinkansen Nozomi 21 · 09:30–11:44
Stay: The Blossom Kyoto, Kyoto
3 nights
Day 6
Kyoto → Osaka
Train · Shinkansen Nozomi 17 · 10:46–11:00
Fourteen minutes to Shin-Osaka.
Stay: ibis Osaka Umeda, Osaka
2 nights
Day 8
Osaka → Tokyo
Train · Shinkansen Nozomi 328 · 10:00–12:27
Stay: ibis Styles Tokyo Ginza, Tokyo
3 nights
Day 11
Tokyo → Bangalore
Flight · Japan Airlines JL 753 · 18:55–00:50 (next day)
From Narita, landing in Bangalore just after midnight.
How the route fits together
Tokyo sits at both ends, so the long flights start and finish at the same hotel, and the middle of the trip is spent west of it: three nights in Kyoto, two in Osaka. All three cities are on the Tokaido Shinkansen line.
The shinkansen
In this plan, Tokyo to Kyoto is 09:30 to 11:44 on the Nozomi; Kyoto to Osaka takes fourteen minutes; Osaka back to Tokyo is 10:00 to 12:27. All three are morning departures, which leaves the afternoon for the city you arrive in.
Getting in from Narita
The flight from Bangalore lands at Narita in the afternoon. Narita is well outside central Tokyo, so allow an hour or more to reach a hotel in Ginza — and the same again on the way out for the evening flight home.
Before you book
The times in this plan are indicative. Timetables change, so check the current ones before you book.
Check the entry requirements for your own passport with an official source before you go. They are deliberately not written here: they change, and a wrong one would be worse than none.
What the planner does with it
Open the plan and the planner reads the whole trip. Every night has a bed and every move has a journey, so it has nothing to flag. Change a date and it will tell you what breaks — a night with nowhere to sleep, or two cities with nothing booked to carry you between them.