30 march to 10 april 2027 · japan
The Classic Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan
twelve days · a maximum of eight guests · USD $19,500 per person, twin share
In the first days of April the blossom reaches Kyoto. Along the old railway incline at Keage the cherry trees flower directly over the iron tracks, the canopy closes above the stone lanes of Higashiyama, and for a handful of mornings the ancient capital gives itself entirely to the season. Arriving at that moment is the whole art of this journey: to move down the length of Japan, from the blossom arching over the Tokyo palace moat to a red pagoda with Mount Fuji behind it and a picnic laid under the canopy at the water's edge, and to be in each place in the days it is at its height. We plan it, we arrange it, and we travel every mile of it beside you, so that across twelve days nothing is asked of you but to be there.
signature experiences
hanami
The thousand-year art of the blossom
Long before it was anyone's holiday, spring in Japan was an art. More than a thousand years ago the court would leave the capital when the cherry trees came into flower, gathering beneath the blossom to answer it with poetry, and they gave the practice a name that is still used today: hanami, the looking at flowers. It is a precise idea. Hanami is not a glance in passing but a sitting-down, a whole afternoon given to a thing met at its fullest, and out of it grew a deep national regard for the moment a thing comes most completely into its own. That regard shaped the gardens, the temples, and the reading of the season that follows it up the country each year. This tour is hanami as the court understood it, a considered gathering under the blossom at its height, in the company of people who have spent their lives learning where and when it flowers.
signature moments
The heart of the journey
hanami, at the table
A picnic under the blossom
A meal from a Michelin kitchen, laid on rugs beneath the canopy at the water's edge, with cold sake poured beside you. Hanami as the country has kept it for a thousand years.
chureito pagoda
Fuji, and the pagoda before it
A red pagoda on a hillside, a bank of blossom below, and the great snow mountain perfectly centred behind. The view every photograph of Japan is trying for.
gion
An evening with the geiko of Gion
An evening in a Gion teahouse, with the games and dances of the ozashiki explained as they happen.
two places, two days of relaxation
The art of the empty hour
Two places, and two days whose only plan is to do nothing at all.
The blossom keeps moving
Spring moves the length of Japan over three weeks. The same blossom that opens along Tokyo's Meguro river reaches Kyoto's gardens not long after, and Kinosaki's cooler coast last of all. It is always ahead of you, not behind.
the itinerary
the itinerary
The shape of the journey
The tour opens in Tokyo, the blossom arching over the Imperial Palace moat and running pink along the Meguro river, then follows the season out and south: to Mount Fuji, with a private onsen on your own terrace and the great snow mountain across the lake; into Kyoto at the very height of its blossom, with two hanami picnics and an evening in the teahouses of Gion; and out to the Japan Sea, to the old bathing town of Kinosaki, before a last night in Osaka. Twelve days, north to south, with the blossom moving beside you the whole way.
the journey begins at home
Before you depart
The journey begins weeks before Japan. Your Tour Director meets you in a private video call: introductions, the shape of the twelve days, and your preferences gathered quietly, so every kaiseki kitchen knows your table before you land. A pre-journey welcome pack follows: packing guidance for the season, arrival instructions with your chauffeur's details, and reading worth the flight. By the time you clear arrivals in Tokyo, you are already known, and already expected.
1 · three nights
Tokyo
2 · two nights
Mount Fuji, Lake Kawaguchiko
3 · three nights
Kyoto
4 · two nights
Kinosaki Onsen
5 · one night
Osaka
the extension
continue the season · nara 2 days · hiroshima 3 days
The Nara and Hiroshima extensions
For those who want the fuller shape of the country, the journey carries on. The blossom you have followed the whole way reaches its oldest and most sacred ground at Yoshinoyama, a mountain given over to some thirty thousand cherry trees rising in four great bands up the slope, a place of pilgrimage for more than a thousand years. Below it, the deer of Nara move under the cherry trees among the great temples, and the day closes with Kobe beef grilled at the table in the beef's home country. This extension returns to Osaka.
A quieter, more reflective coda continues west from there. An afternoon is given to Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park: the Atomic Bomb Dome, the cenotaph, the flame that will burn until the last nuclear weapon is gone, met with the quiet it deserves. The second day is the sacred island of Miyajima, where the great vermilion torii of Itsukushima stands out in the tidal flats, floating at high water and walkable at low. The last day runs the length of the country home to Tokyo in first class, Fuji through the window in the final hour. Taken together, the two extensions are USD $7,000 per person.
nara extension
2 days, USD $2,800 pp, ends Osaka
hiroshima extension
3 days, USD $4,200 pp, ends Tokyo
both extensions
USD $7,000 per person
ends
Osaka, or Tokyo (Haneda or Narita)
accommodation
accommodation
Where you stay
tokyo · nights 1 to 3
Palace Hotel Tokyo or similar
Rooms above the palace moat, where the cherry trees along the ancient stone walls come into full flower in the last days of March.
lake kawaguchiko · nights 4 to 5
FUFU Kawaguchiko or similar
A small resort in the trees beside the lake, each suite with its own outdoor onsen and Mount Fuji directly in front of it.
kyoto · gion · nights 6 to 8
Hotel The Celestine Kyoto Gion or similar
Three nights at the centre of the blossom, in the preserved machiya streets of Higashiyama.
kinosaki onsen · nights 9 to 10
Nishimuraya Honkan or similar
A historic ryokan of seven generations over the willow canal, seven public bathhouses within walking distance.
osaka · night 11
Imperial Hotel Osaka or similar
A final night on the Okawa River, the castle park and its blossom directly across the water.
*or similar
tour experiences
tour experiences
Moments along the way
Blossom over still water, at dusk
An evening in Gion, in the company of a maiko
Two places, two full days of relaxation
Cherry blossom on the palace moat, Tokyo
A private chauffeur, at every arrival
The blossom, at its closest
A maiko in the ozashiki
Petals drifting on the canal
what is included
Looked after, entirely
From the moment you land, everything is anticipated. This is omotenashi, the Japanese art of caring for a guest before they think to ask, and for twelve days it is the texture of the whole tour. A private car and chauffeur meet you at the airport and see you off at the end. The long crossings are made in the calm of first-class rail, the landscape sliding by the window. Every reservation is made and every arrangement is settled long before you arrive. Your only task is to give Japan your whole attention, while someone who knows it completely carries the rest.
One price, settled before you travel
USD $19,500
per person, twin share. Guests travel two to a room
Part of your journey
included, always
Every night of the journey, at the properties named above
Your Tour Director, from the welcome evening to the final departure
First-class rail and private vehicles, the length of the country
A private chauffeur at the airport, arriving and departing
Every entrance, and every arrangement in between
the days
The blossom tunnel along the Chidorigafuchi moat, and the Meguro river in flower
Two nights beside Mount Fuji, and the Chureito Pagoda with the mountain behind it
The thousand torii of Fushimi Inari, and the Golden Pavilion at Kinkaku-ji
Two hanami picnics under the blossom, in Tokyo and in Kyoto
An evening with the geiko and maiko of Gion
The seven bathhouses of Kinosaki Onsen, crossed in yukata and geta
at the table
Two hanami picnics from a Michelin-starred kitchen
Kaiseki beside Mount Fuji, and at the ryokan of Kinosaki
The Tajima beef and matsuba crab of the San'in coast
A farewell at an Osaka sushi counter
More than twenty meals in all, every one included
Every night, more than twenty meals, and every arrangement in between: one price covers everything from the airport car to the last dinner in Osaka.
how we work
We plan it, we run it, and we time it ourselves
We plan, organise, and run every tour ourselves, and your Tour Director travels every mile with you, in a group that never exceeds eight, a small number of couples and no more. That scale is what lets us follow the season closely. The route runs south to north because that is the order in which the blossom moves, from the warm lowlands to the cool coast, and each place is met in the days it is at its height. It is why we keep the group small, and why we secure the year's most sought-after rooms long before the season turns.
how it works
How it works, and the terms
The process
Enquire through the form and we reply personally. If you would like to talk the journey through, a call with your Tour Director is available, though many guests are happy to book on the strength of the itinerary itself. A deposit of USD $3,500 per person secures your place, and the balance falls due 95 days before departure. Nearer the time, your Tour Director calls you again, to prepare you for the days ahead.
Payment
One price, paid once, quoted in US dollars, tax included. It covers every night, every train, every transfer, every reservation, and every meal set out in this itinerary. Payment is by card or bank transfer.
The terms
Your booking is governed by our Booking Conditions, which set out what is included and excluded, and our cancellation terms in full.
Good to know
International flights to and from Japan are not included. Comprehensive travel insurance is a condition of booking.
questions
frequently asked
Questions before you enquire
If your question is not answered here, ask us; it is what the enquiry is for.
How many guests are on the tour?
Is the pace demanding?
What is included in the price?
Can you accommodate dietary requirements?
Where does the tour finish?
When does the tour run, and when should I enquire?
from The Japan Edition
Read before you go
when to speak to us
A journey that keeps coming back to you
This is a journey that keeps coming back to you long after you are home: the blossom arching over the moat, the red pagoda with the great mountain behind it, the shamisen sounding through the floor of a Gion teahouse, the sound of geta on a wet stone street. Months later a certain slant of spring light brings the whole season back, and you find you know Japan from the inside: a country understood, not only seen.
Considered. Intimate. Perfect.
The next step is a conversation. Begin your enquiry, and we will confirm your dates and your extensions before you book a single flight.
30 March to 10 April 2027eight placesUSD $19,500 per person, twin share