Hold hands and get-jet-ready for a beautiful place with everything to offer to everyone, any season — welcome to Japan!
Whether you are a traveller of historical marvels, culturally rich towns or those bustling with the sirens of a metropolitan city, Japan is a must-pin destination from your map of honeymoon checks. Be it from the summer months ahead of April when the cherry blossoms are in full blossom or the autumn-baked streets, or the months of winter when you can ski and be hooked to winter sports, the Land of the Rising Sun awaits your arrival with open arms. Skyscrapers at one length and securely preserved traditions at another, the limit to explore Asia’s third largest economy. Here’s what you can explore on a 14-day trip to the island country, painting contrasts of tradition and modernity.
Tokyo
Begin your journey with a direct flight to Tokyo, a capital landscape much beyond sushi and uramaki. This is the place where serene takes a backseat while the super-advanced capital takes a bow with immaculate environments (Japanese beat your OCD!) and on-time transport facilities that make getting around a cakewalk. It is here you get to press your enthusiastic buttons with crazy shopping at Harajuku Takeshita Street, live childhood dreams at Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea, and treat yourselves to the best-in-class luxurious hotels. For those who can only do with satiating their wandering souls and tastebuds, Tokyo is the city of the most Michelin-starred restaurants in the world. Our advice? Do not leave the city before indulging in Edomae, a type of sushi prepared with only freshly caught fish.
Perfect Stays: Hoshinoya Tokyo; Aman Tokyo; The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo; Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo.
Love To Eat: Takazawa, Fukamachi, Kanda, The SG Club.
Okinawa
In case you want to now hop to the other extreme with tranquillity, the Okinawa islands are your calling. Here your beach-water crazy souls can find respite with its white-sand-turquoise-sea beaches. A popular belief is that the tropical island’s people are known for living longer lives, so you can take the island’s blessing. Owing to its history of US Military stationing after World War II, Okinawa has an American-themed outdoor village with shops, a Ferris wheel and restaurants. The sunlit azure sea repels reflections of a civilisation known for its down-earth lifestyle. Yet the island is resplendent in luxury beach resorts for a perfectly relaxing stop in your Japanese honeymoon vacay. The music of the ocean also breathes life for aquatic adventure seekers with its excellent scuba diving experiences. Come June, and you can surf high waves in the otherwise calm sea here.
Perfect Stays: Hoshinoya Taketomi Island; ANA InterContinental Manza Beach Resort; The Busena Terrace; Hyakuna Garan
Love To Eat: Ryukyu Soba Ashibiuna; Yakiniku Hana; Yunangii; Chatan Harbor Brewery & Restaurant
Kyoto
Yes, we are talking about a place celebrated for Sakura groves and wandering petals of cherry blossoms — the traveller’s favourite Kyoto. A hand-in-hand stroll indeed leaves anyone mesmerised in love at the cherry tree-shored Philosopher’s Path. You will be spoilt for choice with a thousand temples cradling traditions in their installations. The old capital of Japan nurtures the past and the present equivocally in a romantic-small town poem. The red-roof temples, imperial palaces and shrines are worthy of a visit. The Zen Temple and its Zen Rock Garden release your captive souls into a pool of peace. You can always tour the historic city on a bike and even take a pitstop at the artisanal Kyoto Gin Distillery. To experience the way of the past and ancient Japanese living, you can stay at the traditional inns called Ryokans. If you want to capture yourselves in a frame with Geishas on their way to work, Gion tea house might be the best place to visit.
Perfect Stays: Ritz-Carlton; Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto; Kyoto; Old Kyoto; Tawaraya
Love To Eat: Rai Rai Tei; Menya Inoichi Hanare; Kura Sushi; Wadachi
Hakone
This place finds a special mention as a separate destination on our list for your lovely visit to Japan owing to its proximity to iconic Mount Fuji. The mountain-forest town is known to welcome its visitors with spectacular views of the snow-coated peak, spring onsens, ryokans and glamping resorts magnetising travellers from all over the world. You can always chuck the luxury stays for glamping resorts or ryokans here at the rurban town that often leads you to ‘campsy’ cabins that open to the dramatic opera between clouds and Mt Fuji. Hakone is also famous for its ever-relaxing hot springs that can worthily bring a curtain down to your Nippon adventure.
Perfect Stays: Hakone Kowakien; Ryokan Hakone Airu; Gora Kadan; Yoshiike Ryokan
Love To Eat: Itoh Dining by Nobu; Sushimiyafuji; Bakery & Table Hakone; Takeyabu
