Japan must be one of the most exotic and culturally fascinating countries to visit on the planet. It’s home to some of the most modern and vibrant cities as well as imperial palaces, ancient shrines and temples and has unique, deeply rooted cultural traditions.
Japan also offers beautiful mountainous scenery, stunning nature, lovely gardens, geishas and tea ceremonies and lots of quirky and kitsch things that you really won’t see anywhere else in the world – Japan really has it all.
With so many interesting places to visit and with travel in Japan being quite expensive, it’s important to narrow down your choices to make the most of your time and money.
As it can hard to decide where to go here are the top 5 places that you can’t miss when visiting Japan.
Top 5 Must See Places in Japan
Tokyo
The capital of Japan, Tokyo, is the world’s most populous city and a vibrant and exciting place to visit.
One of the most fascinating things about Tokyo is the way that the city blends the ancient with the super modern, with world class shopping, dining and karaoke bars to ancient shrines, traditional gardens covered with beautiful cherry blossom in Spring.
Even just walking the streets can be an exciting and energizing experience, you simply can’t visit Japan without spending some time in Tokyo. This 5 day Tokyo itinerary is a super useful guide to help you plan your visit to include all the highlights.
Make sure to check out the trendy boutiques and shops at Shibuya 109 & Shibuya Crossing for that iconic Tokyo street scene, go up the Tokyo Tower & Tokyo Skytree for great views over the city and check out some of the old temples like Senso-Ji Temple, the Zojoji Temple and the Meiji Shrine.
Nikko
Nikko is a small town just outside the beautiful Nikko National Park with scenic mountain landscapes, lakes, waterfalls, wild monkeys and many hiking trails.
Nikko National Park is also home to Japan’s most extravagant shrine, Toshogu, the pretty and iconic red lacquered Shin-kyō bridge and the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Nikko National Park is one of the most beautiful parks in the country and one of the popular places to visit in Japan
Kyoto
The historical city of Kyoto is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Japan. Kyoto used to be the imperial capital of Japan for over 1000 years and is packed with history and culture that is a delight to explore.
Kyoto is known as the city of 10,000 shrines and exploring the tranquil Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, lovely traditional gardens and traditional wooden houses in Kyoto is simply blissful. If you visit in July, don’t miss the Gion Matsuri festival, it’s one of the best in Japan.
Nara
Nara is located less than hour away from Kyoto and makes a perfect day trip. Nara was once known as Heijo and was the first capital of Japan and is home to Japan’s oldest and largest temples and impressive Buddhist monasteries.
Hiroshima
The fated city of Hiroshima became the first city in the world to have an atomic bomb dropped on it in 1945 in the second world war and nowadays makes a compelling place to visit.
Most of the city’s attractions focus on peace – visit the Peace Memorial Museum, Peace Park and Peace Memorial. There is also the Hiroshima Castle and the sunken garden of Shukkein-en to visit here for a more light hearted day out.
While there are many more incredible places to visit in Japan not everyone has to time or money to visit them all. So if you have to narrow it down these are the 5 must sees.
I hope this post has given you some inspiration to visit Japan – add these 5 places to your bucket list today!
Have you been to Japan? Where was your favourite place?
