By Japan Roamer · Published 2026-10-24

Kanto travel guide: Tokyo, Kamakura, Nikko or a Hakone overnight?

Use Tokyo as your city base, compare coastal and mountain side trips, and decide when Hakone needs a separate night rather than another long day out.

How to plan a first Kanto trip

For a first Kanto trip, keep Tokyo as the base for city sightseeing and add one excursion that changes the kind of day: Kamakura for temples and coast, Yokohama for a waterfront city walk, Nikko for shrines and mountain surroundings, or Hakone for a hot-spring overnight. Do not try to visit all four around three Tokyo sightseeing days. Kanto is the region around Tokyo, including Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma. Hakone is in Kanagawa. Kawaguchiko is a common Tokyo-side extension but lies in Yamanashi, outside Kanto; we include it here as a planning alternative, not as another Kanto prefecture.

JNTO: Kanto and its seven prefectures

Choose the excursion before choosing a pass

Scroll sideways to compare every column.

Compare	Best reason to go	Day trip or overnight?	Main planning cost
Kamakura	Temples, Komachi-dori and a coastal option	A focused day from Tokyo	Local rail or bus fares and individual temple admissions
Yokohama	Minato Mirai waterfront, Red Brick Warehouse area and Chinatown	A day or afternoon-to-evening visit	The station closest to your first stop; paid museums are optional
Nikko	A shrine-focused day; a longer visit if you want mountain-area stops	A full excursion day or separate overnight	Limited-express seat ticket, basic fare and onward buses are separate decisions
Hakone	Ryokan time, hot springs and mountain/lake transport	One overnight is our default suggestion	Room/meal plan, local transport and any Romancecar supplement
Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi	A Fuji-area stay rather than a city day	Day trip or overnight, with weather flexibility	A separate return journey and local transfers; no promised mountain view

Kamakura: temples first, then decide on the coast

Choose Kamakura if Tokyo is your base but you want a temple day rather than another large city. Start at Kamakura Station for Komachi-dori and Tsurugaoka Hachimangu. For the Great Buddha at Kotoku-in and nearby Hasedera, continue towards the Hase area rather than treating every temple as part of one short station walk. Use one of those clusters as the main visit and the other as the afternoon option. A beach walk is a reasonable substitute for another temple; adding Enoshima as well makes a longer and less focused day. If walking capacity is limited, use local transport between clusters and drop the extra coast stop. JR Yokosuka Line trains connect Tokyo Station with Kamakura; the local railway and buses serve different onward points.

JNTO: Kamakura access, temple clusters and coast

Yokohama: a waterfront day with a different station choice

Yokohama is the better choice if you want harbour walking, shops and Chinatown instead of temple admissions. Build a day around Minato Mirai and the Red Brick Warehouse area, then continue towards Chinatown if time and energy allow. You can shorten the visit to one waterfront section and dinner. Yokohama Station and Shin-Yokohama are not interchangeable: the shinkansen stops at Shin-Yokohama, while city rail links serve the central waterfront districts. Choose a station for the actual first stop rather than assuming the shinkansen is the useful route from Tokyo. This is a different excursion from Kamakura; combining both removes much of the time you intended to spend walking.

JNTO: Yokohama districts and access

Nikko: allow for the station-to-sights journey

Tobu runs routes from Asakusa towards Tobu-Nikko, with some journeys requiring a change at Shimo-imaichi. Choose the destination and connection shown for your actual train; a departure towards Kinugawa-Onsen is not automatically a direct train to Tobu-Nikko. The railway journey is only part of the day, since buses or walking remain after arrival. Keep a Tokyo day trip focused on the shrine area. If the purpose is also to reach the lake and higher mountain surroundings, give the extension a separate overnight rather than adding it after a full shrine visit. That overnight recommendation is editorial pacing, not a claim about a particular bus departure or hotel package.

Tobu: Asakusa, Tobu-Nikko and connecting routes

Nikko tickets: a reserved seat is not the basic fare

For Tobu limited-express trains, passengers need both the basic fare and a limited-express reserved-seat ticket. A qualifying NIKKO PASS can provide the basic-fare component within its coverage; the limited-express ticket is still a separate requirement. Do not buy only a seat reservation and assume the entire journey is paid. The national Japan Rail Pass does not cover Tobu Railway on its own. Start with the route and the buses you will actually use, then compare the appropriate ticket basket. A pass name containing Nikko does not establish that every departure station or train is included.

Tobu: basic fares, limited-express tickets and JR Pass limitations

Hakone: separate a ryokan stay from a transport circuit

Choose Hakone when the overnight itself matters: arriving with time for the property, dinner and a bath is a different plan from completing every segment of the mountain-and-lake circuit. For one night, keep the first afternoon modest and use the next day for a selected sightseeing section. Confirm the property meal and arrival terms before building the day around them. Odakyu sells Hakone Freepasses from Shinjuku and an area-only version from Odawara. The included coverage differs with the starting point. The Romancecar requires a separate limited-express ticket; it is not included merely because you hold the pass. Compare the pass with the transport you will use, not with an aspirational list of eight modes. Weather or operating restrictions can change a ropeway or boat plan, so do not make every connection essential to reaching your hotel.

Odakyu: Hakone Freepass coverage and Romancecar supplement

Kawaguchiko: a Fuji-area extension, not an extra stop in Hakone

Kawaguchiko and Hakone are different bases with different access journeys. Choose Kawaguchiko for a Fuji-area stay; choose Hakone when the hot-spring property and mountain/lake transport are the stronger reason to travel. Neither choice guarantees a clear view of Fuji. Yamanashi lies outside Kanto. Its Fuji-area access includes a rail approach via Otsuki and the private Fujikyu line; do not assume a national JR Pass pays the private-rail portion. A lake visit is also not a summit-climbing itinerary. This guide makes no claim that a climbing route, fifth-station bus or seasonal attraction is open on your date.

JNTO: Yamanashi geography and Fuji-area rail access

Choose a night pattern that leaves time in Tokyo

For six nights, a city-led pattern is six Tokyo nights with three city days, one Kamakura or Yokohama day and a flexible day between arrival and departure. If a ryokan is a priority, use four Tokyo nights, one Hakone night and a final Tokyo night before a Tokyo-area international departure. These are suggested allocations, not bookable packages. For the second pattern, arrival is day one, days two to four stay in Tokyo, day five moves to Hakone, day six returns to Tokyo and day seven departs. A final Tokyo night avoids depending on a mountain connection on flight day. If you have only three full days, keep them in Tokyo or deliberately replace one with a single excursion.

Season and weather: keep the mountain day replaceable

In summer, shorten exposed city walks and make room for indoor stops. Nikko and Hakone require their own weather and operating checks rather than the assumption that Tokyo conditions apply. In winter, a city waterfront day and an upland excursion need different clothing and transport preparation. Spring blossoms and autumn leaves are reasons to keep a park or garden option, not guarantees for a booked date. Fix any reserved trains or meal-plan arrival first, then leave the remaining walking sequence flexible.