Should YOU Travel Japan’s ‘Golden Route’? (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka)
Japan has been blowing up as a tourist destination over the past few years with vibrant culture, beautiful architecture, and of course, cherry blossom. But with most tourists only having 14 days to see Japan, most people rely on having a strict itinerary in order to do and see as much as possible. And for that we have the [Applause] As someone who recently returned from a twoe trip to Japan, I was actually amazed at how much planning I did for it. I’m not usually an organized person. It’s probably going to take me months to finish this video. But over the past couple of years, I’ve been taking so many notes of places I want to visit in Japan, from restaurants to shrines. and I genuinely think I could fill a book with the amount of notes I have written down. At some point, I gave in and I looked at Tik Tok to see what other people around the world had been doing when they’ve gone to Japan. And that is where I stumbled across the golden route. The golden route always consists of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto with Hakane and Nara usually being thrown in there as day trips. And in this video, I want to go over the pros, the cons, as well as any other bits of information I think might be relevant to you, the viewer, someone who is likely interested in doing this holiday for themselves. So, let’s get started. Why has this route become what it is, the go-to itinerary for millions of tourists a year? With 40.2 million international arrivals in 2025, there’s been an almost 9% increase in 2024’s numbers. It’s one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the world. Anyway, when it comes to the golden route, we first need to presume a few things. First off, let’s say the golden route goes like this. Start in Tokyo with a day trip to Hakone and Muji. Then head to Kyoto and then head to Osaka. Let’s also say the people doing this route are first-time visitors to Japan. And finally, we’ll say the person doing this route has 14 days in the country. In the UK, at least 14 days is usually the most amount of time a business or company will let an employee take off from work. So that’s why we’re going with 14 days. So first up, Tokyo. Of course, you’re going to go to Tokyo. It’s the first place you think of when you think of Japan. It’s got shrines, temples, anime, fashion, drinking, eating, shopping. It’s safe to say you’ll struggle to think of something that isn’t on offer in Tokyo. It’s also the hub for the international airports, hence why the route starts here. So, unless you hate cities and everything that comes with that, like trains, people, and general busyness, it’s an obvious location for the average tourist. Most golden route itineraries recommend four to five nights in Tokyo. And realistically, you’re not going to fit in everything you wanted to do. I know I didn’t. But you can comfortably fit in tourist hotspots like Shabir Sky, Team Labs, shopping in Ginsa, and all that good stuff. Moving on from Tokyo, we have a day trip to Manfuji and Hakane. The most popular day trip is an 11-hour venture from Tokyo to Fuji to Hakane and then back to Tokyo. This day trip will be great, and these two locations thoroughly deserve their place on the Golden Route. After all, where else can you cable car over a volcano and eat life expanding black eggs? I just got back from my twoe holiday which was the golden route and Hokon was probably my favorite place of the whole trip. But I’ll touch on my experience later. Okay, let’s say we’ve had five nights in Tokyo. That leaves us with nine nights to go. So, a hop skip and a 200 mph bullet train away from Tokyo. We head to Kyoto, the culture capital of Japan. It even has a coffee shop that ancient samurai used to visit called Sutabaku. Very historic. But even though it’s no secret Kyoto has seen massive change in recent years, primarily due to tourism and globalization as a whole. After all those ancient uh shrines and stuff, I’m sure we found one shrine that might be more ancient than all the others put together, the Coca-Cola bench, which I am very aware that I am part of that problem and so is every other tourist. But I mean, what you meant to do, not go to Kyoto? I I don’t know. That’s a whole another video. Okay, all you need to know is it’s still bloody lovely. And with so many amazing places to visit such as Pushimi Anari and the Arosyama Bamboo Forest, it’s 100% earned its place on the Golden Route. So, most golden route itineraries recommend four nights in Kyoto, which gives you plenty of time to visit all the places I mentioned and any other places you see on Tik Tok. And then we head to Osaka. Guides recommend three nights in Osaka with one day being taken up by Nara and uh the deer park. Very cool, by the way. And then it’s back to Tokyo and you fly home. I rushed Osaka a bit there, didn’t I? That’s intentional because three nights in Osaka feels rushed. And it’s safe to say three nights is not enough time to explore Osaka fully. But honestly, I could say that about every part of the Golden Route. And obviously, this isn’t exclusive to Japan. It goes for anywhere you go on holiday, you know. Yeah, you never have enough time. So, don’t expect to do everything and see everything. You won’t have time, and that’s okay. But with Osaka specifically, I thought there were so many cool bars and restaurants and places and attractions that I couldn’t go to. Maybe I would take off a night from Tokyo and add it to Osaka. Probably worth doing, I think. But hey, I’ll leave that to you. So, we have established what the golden route is and why each location has earned its place on that route. But there are so many places in Japan that are just as cool and pretty and exciting as the places mentioned. So, why not go there? Why stick to the golden route? Well, number one, transport convenience. Quite a boring first point, but you’ll see what I mean. Japan has a world-class transportation system, most notably bullet trains. Getting from Tokyo to Kyoto takes 2 hours and 15 minutes and covers 280 mi or 450 km. On UK trains, it takes 3 hours 40 minutes to get from Manchester to Bryson, which is 260 mi. That is a lot of time saved with the bullet train. And, you know, every second counts when you’re in a country far away for 2 weeks. You want to be able to get places fast. you don’t want to spend a whole day traveling, you know, and transport is just as convenient and efficient once you’ve entered a city. The metro system is amazing. And the fact you even have 4G when you’re in the metro, you know, as someone in the UK, that blows my mind. Everything is bang on time, and as long as you avoid rush hour, you’ll have plenty of room to sit or stand. I did travel rush hour time uh on one of the days, and that was less amazing. I literally felt like the sardines all crammed in uh next to each other. It It was It was tough. And it’s also very capable of handling the massive influx of tourists who take the Golden Route every year. And because it’s so popular, there’s no shortage of guides on how to get from A to B to C in the most efficient way possible. And talking of guides, the second big pro to the Golden Route is convenience, especially for foreigners. Because the Golden Route is so popular, many businesses, hotels, restaurants, they all cater to English speakers, which can lead to some pretty funny signs. Uh, if you look around, they either can speak English themselves or they have English menus or English printouts that they can point to. It’s very good. I’ve been learning Japanese for a year because I want to go back to Japan for an extended amount of time. And I don’t want to be a rude Englishman who doesn’t even bother to learn the language, which is what I’ve been for my entire life. But I didn’t even have to break out my very limited Japanese because everyone spoke English. Like I said, it was just very convenient. I still recommend if you’re going to Japan, try and learn some Japanese, even if it’s just dualingo so you know the basics. I I I think they appreciate it. In contrast, places outside of the golden route might not be so accommodating to English speakers. And this doesn’t have to be a problem if you’re okay with using translate apps and stuff like that. But for a lot of people, it might be a bit daunting if your hosts don’t know how to communicate with you and you don’t know how to communicate with them. So having that level of communication prevalent might be a big bonus factor for a lot of people. Number three is cool. It’s very, very cool. It’s genuinely an amazing way to experience Japan. You’ll never be stuck for things to do. You’ll be able to see some amazing places. The deer in Nar, the shrines in Kyoto, the Tokyo skyline, the hot springs in Hakane. It’s the golden route for a reason, right? And since there are millions of tourists doing the same thing, you have a great opportunity at meeting other people who you can share some beers with or sing some karaoke in Shabuya. It’s genuinely the most fun I’ve ever had on a holiday. And for this reason alone, I say you have to do the Golden Route. And I know many people out there have a strong dislike for foreigners doing the Golden Route. And they might think, “How dare I recommend places as touristy as Kyoto?” But look, if you’re avoiding places just because they’re touristy, you’re going to miss out on some really good times. Yes, the places get busy and crammed and you might be queuing for a long time. But I still it’s not worth missing out on just because of that. Although, I guess if you’re claustrophobic, yeah, maybe avoid Kyoto and Aroyama Bamboo Forest. Yeah, that that was pretty rough. But anyway, as with all things, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Even the golden rat. One of the biggest cons of this route is that it is not for the weak willed or the weak-legged. This route is busy. And if you’re someone who enjoys lounging around and shopping and not walking 25,000 steps a day, seriously, then this route may not be for you. And guess what? That’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with that. On my recent trip, we cut a lot from our itinerary. I realized a few days in that a combination of jet lag, early mornings, and excessive walking was not something I was used to, and it wasn’t a good fit for an hourby- hour planned itinerary. At first, I felt bad because I was missing out on so much. But then I realized I’m on holiday. I should be enjoying this, which is one of the biggest criticisms I have of the Golden Route. If you look at people’s itineraries online and stuff, some of them are even paid. You will be doing stuff from 6:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. And you know, sometimes you don’t want to do that on a holiday cuz it saps the enjoyment out of it. I missed out on a lot of things like the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto or a cool samurai museum I wanted to go to or a town called Niko. There there was just there was so many things I missed out on. And I don’t care because you know what? I’m going to go back. I’m going to go back and I’m not going to do the golden route because I’ve done it and I’m very happy with how I did it. I I didn’t overburden myself needing to keep myself busy. You know, we sat in a park for 3 hours one day and just ate food and it was nice. It was great. That being said, you still do need to do a lot of walking. Otherwise, you’re going to miss out on too much stuff. You know, even if you do the bare basics of the golden route, it’s still a lot of walking. Obviously, not everyone has the luxury to go back to Japan again. It’s an expensive holiday. So, maybe you do want to do as much as possible, in which case, good luck to you. uh it just wasn’t for me. I think the bottom line of what I’m trying to say is there are too many people online who get stressed about needing to do every single thing on an itinerary. But just keep in mind you should never sacrifice your holiday experience to tick off boxes on a list, okay? Take your time at places and enjoy them and I think you’ll have a much better time. Another con of the route is that it is busy. I know I had a whole rant about avoiding places being too touristy before, but hear me out. Some people don’t like crowds and it’s as simple as that. And although Tokyo can comfortably house the tens of millions of tourists uh without ever feeling overwhelmed, Kyoto and Osaka and other small places do struggle a bit more. Uh and there will be times where you’re slowly waddling along the pavement, especially in places like Fushimi Inari and uh the bamboo forest again. And in cherry blossom season, which is when I went, you might struggle to get picturesque shots of uh the Mura River, for example, or an unobstructed view of literally any cherry blossom tree. And it’s not just crowded areas that come as a result of the mass tourism. Making reservations at any restaurant or attraction can be really hard to do, loading us into our final con. It requires a lot of planning. To illustrate what I mean by this, I will tell you my experience booking Shabia Sky. I know a lot of people say don’t even bother with Shabir Sky, but I think you should. It was really cool. Anyway, I set an alarm for like 3:00 a.m. UK time because the tickets were going on sale that time in Japan. At the time I was booking, you could only buy the tickets 2 weeks in advance for the date that you wanted. I was a bit sluggish getting out of bed, right? It took me a minute or two. By the time I loaded the laptop, the tickets were gone. So you get the idea and the same applies for animal cafes or restaurants and uh a lot of things that they generally need to be booked two, three, four weeks in advance if you want to guarantee a slot, especially in cherry blossom season. And booking hotels gets even more intense. The good hotels that don’t break the bank will fill up really fast. I booked my hotels about 8 months in advance and even then I had to make some changes based on my initial plan because the initial hotels had sold out. I imagine this does become less of a problem outside of cherry blossom season, but it’s definitely a downside to the golden route. You either have to be very organized or you might have to break the bank a bit. Okay, so the golden route, we’ve established what it is, the pros, the cons, and other stuff. So, is it worth it? Yeah. Yeah, I I think it is. I think it is worth it. It’s easy to navigate, plan, and shows off some of the best parts of Japan. But, as I said, it really comes down to what you are looking for in a holiday. Maybe you want to chill at a hotel with a pool. You can do that in Japan. But the golden route probably isn’t for you. And that’s all there is to it at the end of the day. Make your own choices. Don’t get swayed by Tik Tok or Instagram because at the end of the day, only you know what you want in a holiday. And lastly, final bit of advice. If you’re going with your girlfriend, just do whatever she wants to do. The entire trip will be better because of it. Subscribe if you enjoyed. I’ll be returning to Japan soon for a much longer period of time. I’m looking forward to getting the videos out. And until then, I do have some more lined up. So, thank you for watching. See you soon. [Music]
The “Golden Route” is Japan’s most popular tourist route, with millions of people following it every year. But is it worth your time and money?
From Tokyo, to Kyoto and Osaka, the Golden Route is filled with amazing sights, especially during chery blossom season!. But as with everything, there’s always a downside!
My first video on the channel! It took too long to make, and I don’t like it much, but it’s out there now! I will be making content in Japan when i return, but until then subscribe for Japan related videos!
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