Tokyo is a good base for day trips because the trains leave early and the distances are short. These are the places covered in detail on this site, grouped by how much of the day they take and which line they use. Every guide includes the access, what the crowds do hour by hour, and the details worth checking before you set out.
Half day, inside the city
Under an hour each way. Good for a morning or an afternoon rather than a whole day.
- Shibuya — the crossing, SHIBUYA SKY and the alleys behind Center-gai
- Tokyo Skytree — two observation decks, and how timed tickets work
- Mount Takao — a temple hike on the western edge of Tokyo
- Kawagoe — warehouse streets and sweets alleys, 30 minutes out
Coast and mountains, one hour to ninety minutes
Doable as a full day, and better with an early start.
- Kamakura — the Great Buddha, temples, and a coastal walk
- Enoshima — a shrine island with caves and a lighthouse
- Hakone — ropeway, cable car, pirate ship, and Fuji on clear days
- Nikko — the carved shrines, plus lake and waterfall side trips
Longer days
Two hours or more each way. Worth an overnight if you can.
- Chichibu — shrine, mountains, and a December night festival
- Hitachi Seaside Park — flower hills by the Pacific in Ibaraki
- Lake Kawaguchi — the Fuji view, and the buses that reach the lake
- Odawara — a rebuilt castle on the way to Hakone
For planning: Kamakura and Enoshima combine in one day by train, and Hakone and Odawara sit on the same line. Nikko is the one to give a full day, or a night, rather than squeezing into an afternoon.
Other collections on this site
- Japan’s Twelve Original Castles
- Japan’s Onsen Towns
- Day Trips from Kyoto and Osaka
- UNESCO World Heritage in Japan
- First Time in Japan: how to plan a trip
- Japan by Season: spring, summer, autumn, winter
- Japanese Gardens — groups them by garden type, and by season
- Japan’s Old Towns — sorts the preserved streets by what kind of town they were
