Since 2013, our award-winning team has been designing unique, original Japan itineraries for discerning travelers from around the world.

Find inspiration in our sample trips below, but let us create your trip completely from scratch (if you’re still in the early planning stages, go down the rabbit hole in our information-filled blog).

Sample Japan Itineraries

When it comes to your itinerary, the possibilities are endless. The sample itineraries below include some but far from all of our favorite destinations in Japan.

For more inspiration, also see our 9-day sample itinerary, and our favorite off-the-beaten-path places in Japan.

Meaningful Japan Experiences

Japan offers an incredible array of cultural and culinary experiences, from the sublime to the exhilarating. Look forward to the following on a trip with us:

Unique accommodations.

Enjoy boutique and luxury hotels and ryokans with character, chosen to match your taste and priorities.

Cuisine.

Enjoy the best of Japanese food with local experts, from casual ramen shops and izakayas, to exquisite kaiseki and sushi.

Drinks.

Sample beverages — from tea and coffee, to sakewhisky, wine, and shochu — and marvel at Japan’s refined culture of cocktails.

Arts.

Gallery hop in Tokyo, visit the art island Naoshima, and meet master artisans and traditional craftspeople in Kyoto and rural Japan.

Contemporary culture.

Find inspiration in Japan’s spectacular architecture, renowned culture of design, and pioneering fashion — not to mention some of the world’s best shopping.

Tradition.

Stroll through impeccable gardens, visit remarkable temples and shrines, and experience the high energy of sumo or a traditional matsuri (festival).

Nature.

Get outdoors and off-the-beaten-path with vigorous hikes, historic village-to-village walks, and the chance to soak in remote rural onsen (hot springs) deep in the Japanese countryside.

What’s Included in Your Trip?

Each Japan trip we design is unique, but our trips typically include all of the following:

Bespoke design.

We take personalization seriously. Not only do we really listen to you, our profound expertise and extensive connections mean your trip will be both completely unique and authentically special.

Beautiful accommodations.

A trip to Japan offers the chance to stay in stunning boutique and luxury hotels and ryokans. We’ll make thoughtful recommendations based on our personal expertise and your taste and priorities.

Fun and insightful private tours and experiences.

When it comes to private guides and local experts, we have unusually high standards (see why in the FAQ below). Your trip will include unique private tours and experiences, curated around your interests — and as much free time as you’d like.

In-country transport and seamless logistics.

We meticulously arrange your in-country travels around your preferences and priorities. Getting around Japan is an absolute pleasure thanks to the comfort and efficiency of its various modes of transport, from impeccable trains and the shinkansen to courteous white-gloved drivers.

Selected meals.

Your trip includes meals at your accommodations — breakfast at hotels, plus amazing dinners and breakfasts at ryokans — and any meals included as part of your guided culinary experiences, such as private izakaya outings, intimate sushi dinners, ramen crawls, whisky tastings, and more.

Pre-departure information.

Essential advice as you prepare for your trip, including key tips on Japanese etiquette, packing, money, language, Wi-Fi, and more.

Extraordinary support.

We are here to answer any questions that may come up at every stage of the process, and provide thoughtful service to our travelers from start to finish.

Pricing for a Trip with Boutique Japan

The pricing guidelines below are intended to help you estimate the cost of your trip.

However, please keep in mind that these are not fixed categories. For example, some travelers love small boutique hotels, others prefer top-end luxury properties — and many like a mix of both.

The main factors that determine the price of each trip include:

  • The number of travelers in your party
  • Your travel dates (pricing is higher during peak seasons)
  • Your preferences and priorities (for example, a trip including suites at Japan’s top hotels and a full-time private guide will cost more than an itinerary featuring stylish boutique hotels and a mix of guiding and free time)

Boutique | US $1,000-$1,200 per person per day

A Boutique trip includes a thoughtful selection of boutique accommodations, a mix of unique private experiences and independent exploration, and transport throughout the country primarily via Japan’s fantastic rail system.

Luxury | US $1,200-$1,800 per person per day

A Luxury trip includes a thoughtful selection of luxury accommodations, a mix of exclusive private experiences with local experts (along with as much free time as you would like), and transport throughout the country via Japan’s fantastic rail system and private vehicles where appropriate.

Premier | US $1,800 per person per day and up

A Premier trip simply includes the best of the best, with boundless possibilities.

Special Notes

Please note that we specialize in trips of one week and longer.

The prices above are per person per day and based on double occupancy. We love working with solo travelers, but even though we do not charge a single supplement per se, some services do cost more (on a per-person basis) when not shared with other travelers.

In the course of planning your trip, we typically require a small itinerary design fee. This enables us to dedicate truly personalized attention to each of our travelers. The amount varies depending on factors including trip length and the nature of your request, and is fully applicable to the final cost of your trip.

Your personalized itinerary is offered as a completely bespoke package, and we don’t include itemized pricing. Some travelers don’t have a specific budget in mind, but if you have a preferred range or limit please just let us know and we’ll be happy to work with you.

For any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

FAQ

These are some of the most common questions we get from travelers. If you have any other questions, we’ll be happy to help so please contact us.

Are these group tours?

No, at Boutique Japan we specialize in completely private itineraries, designed around you.

How does your service work?

We begin by listening and learning about your interests, priorities, and travel style. Then we provide expert input to make sure you’re aware of special places and experiences you may not have considered.

Next, we design a completely customized Japan trip just for you, taking your feedback into account along the way. Throughout the process, we make things as easy and enjoyable as possible for you. See more details in Planning Your Trip with Boutique Japan.

Which areas of Japan do you offer?

We offer private itineraries throughout all of Japan. Our sample trips above are here to provide inspiration, and there are also many other places in Japan we absolutely love.

When it comes to your itinerary, we’ll provide personalized suggestions in the course of planning your trip.

How do you choose your private guides and local experts?

We hear a lot from travelers who have had lackluster, unsatisfying tours in the past.

While some of our clients enjoy having a guide from start to finish, most commonly our travelers enjoy a mix of guided time along with free time for independent exploration and relaxation (in our experience, the optimal balance is quite different for everyone).

When it comes to private guides and local experts, we have unusually high standards (few things in travel are more disappointing than a mediocre guide), and through constant travel and exploration we’ve personally developed a network of wonderful guides and insightful experts throughout Japan. In Japan, even more so than most elsewhere, trust is established only over long periods of time. Our tours are based on valuable relationships carefully cultivated over many years, and we’re extremely fortunate to work with remarkable people around the country.

For us, it’s about far more than just having knowledge: we seek out the truly engaging individuals who are not only bright and knowledgeable, but also flexible and quick-thinking. Perhaps above all, they must be fun, interesting people you’ll actually want to spend your valuable time with.

Can we use points or miles to book our own hotels?

As points lovers ourselves, we completely understand wanting to use them. However, because accommodations form such an integral part of each trip we design, we arrange all accommodations as part of our service.

This helps us ensure a truly seamless experience for all our clients, from start to finish.

What about restaurant reservations?

For nearly all of our travelers, Japanese food is a high priority!

As part of your trip, we can include special culinary experiences such as private market tours with local experts, as well as intimate guided dining experiences at unique and wonderful restaurants throughout the country.

It’s important to note that we don’t make additional restaurant reservations as part of our service. However, like virtually all of our travelers we are very passionate about Japanese cuisine, and will go out of our way to ensure you have the information you need to make any reservations of interest as easily as possible.

To start, well before your trip we’ll provide you with a short list of remarkable restaurants to consider. These days, most high-end restaurants in Japan prefer to take reservations directly from hotel concierges (for a variety of cultural reasons, it’s less of a headache for the restaurants), and for convenience we can connect you directly with the concierge at your hotels. In some cases, we also recommend using a reputable reservation service such as TableAll.

As part of the booking process, we’ll also provide insight on when you should be starting to think about reservations and other essential details.

I want to visit Tokyo Disney and Universal Studios Japan.

These can be wonderful places, and are especially popular with families traveling to Japan, but in the interest of being upfront please note that we are far from theme park experts. Because of this, we can’t provide any special insight when it comes to visiting theme parks or obtaining tickets.

This being said, we do have many clients visit on their own, and we’re more than happy to build free time into your itinerary for you to self-arrange any theme park visits of interest.

Will booking through you save me money?

Some travel companies tout their access to discounts, but the main reason travelers book through us is to gain access to our profound Japan expertise and extensive network throughout the country.

Not only will we help you dream up a completely unique itinerary through our in-depth knowledge of Japan and extraordinarily personalized trip-planning process, we’ll also save you countless hours expertly coordinating the nitty-gritty logistics of your trip.

Our service is ideal for travelers who appreciate expert assistance and meaningful, personalized experiences.

Who are your trips for?

Our travelers are based around the world, in the Americas, Australia, and beyond. The majority of our travelers are couples, families, small groups of friends, and solo travelers.

Why should I travel with Boutique Japan?

We are accredited Japan Travel Specialists, and maintain active memberships with respected organizations including IATAN and ATTA.

Perhaps more interestingly, unlike most travel companies we intentionally work with fewer travelers. This lets us take an extraordinarily personalized approach when it comes to your trip. Along with our expertise and creativity, our low-volume approach is one reason Condé Nast Traveler magazine considers Boutique Japan founder Andres Zuleta a Top Travel Specialist for Japan:

“Zuleta’s Boutique Japan is a small company that eschews volume and spends more time customizing each trip to offer travelers a fresh, creative approach to Japan – something that discerning travelers seek out after learning of Zuleta’s deep immersion into the Japanese language and culture from years of living in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.”

If you’re as obsessed with the details as we are, chances are we’ll be a good fit — see what our travelers say here and on Google Reviews.