Japan family holidays
Japan is wonderful with children of any age: bullet trains, temples, theme parks and very safe cities. The key is planning — food, luggage and pace — which is exactly what we do.
Plan it with usWhat we'd suggest
Luggage
We send bags ahead between hotels so the family travels light on trains.
Food
Vegetarian restaurant lists and dietary cards in Japanese.
Planning Japan from India
- When to go
- Late March to early April for cherry blossom, and late October to November for autumn colour — both book out early. May and early June are pleasant and quieter.
- Getting there
- Direct flights from Delhi to Tokyo take around eight hours. We use the shinkansen between cities, with luggage sent ahead.
- Visa & entry
- Indian passport holders need a visa for Japan. Rules and processing times change, so we confirm the current requirements when you book, prepare the document checklist with you, and help schedule any appointments.
Places worth the time
Shibuya & Shinjuku, Tokyo
Tokyo at its most kinetic: the Shibuya scramble crossing, the neon alleys of Omoide Yokocho and the lanes of Golden Gai. A short walk from Shinjuku's towers, Shinjuku Gyoen offers formal gardens and some of the city's finest cherry and maple trees, a calm counterpoint to the evening crowds.
Asakusa & Senso-ji
Tokyo's oldest temple sits behind the great red lantern of the Kaminarimon gate, approached along Nakamise-dori, a street of snack and craft stalls that has served pilgrims for centuries. Incense smoke drifts across the main hall, and the five-storey pagoda glows softly after dark.
Mount Fuji & Hakone
Hakone pairs hot-spring inns with long views of Fuji across Lake Ashi, linked by a ropeway over the steaming Owakudani valley and a gentle lake crossing. The open-air sculpture museum is a quiet surprise, and an evening soak in a private onsen bath is the essence of a stay here.
Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto
Thousands of vermilion torii gates, each donated by a business or family, climb the wooded slopes of Mount Inari in long, tunnelled corridors. Stone foxes, messengers of the rice deity, guard small sub-shrines along the way, and the upper trail opens onto views across southern Kyoto.
Arashiyama, Kyoto
On Kyoto's western edge, a path runs through towering stands of bamboo that creak and sway in the breeze, leading towards Tenryu-ji, a Zen temple with a pond garden designed in the fourteenth century. The Togetsukyo bridge and the Hozu river frame the hills beyond.
Six days in Japan: Day 1, Tokyo · Arrival · Day 2, Tokyo · Old and new · Day 3, Hakone · Lake Ashi and the ropeway · Day 4, Kyoto · Higashiyama and Gion · Day 5, Kyoto & Nara · Fushimi Inari at dawn · Day 6, Arashiyama · Departure. See the day-by-day plan →
Is Japan good for children?
Very — safe, clean and endlessly fascinating, with excellent family hotels.
