Late March to May for cherry blossoms and spring, and October to early December for autumn leaves. December to February for snow. June to mid-July is the rainy season.
TRAVIGMA · Japan
Private Japan Holidays from India
In Japan, a season lasts five days. Don’t miss yours.
Japan’s old calendar divides the year into 72 micro-seasons, each about five days long. Neon nights in Tokyo, Mount Fuji at first light, cherry blossoms in spring and red maples in autumn, hot springs in the mountains, ramen at midnight and powder snow in Hokkaido.
Plan my Japan experience ↗WHY TRAVIGMA
Why choose Travigma for Japan holidays?
Japan is where the future and the old ways share the same street. Cross Shibuya at night, ride the bullet train past Mount Fuji, eat at an eight-seat counter where the chef hands you each piece, then soak in a hot spring under the stars. Come in spring for cherry blossoms, in autumn for red maples, or in winter for some of the world’s best powder snow, with direct flights to Tokyo from India. Travigma designs private, personalised Japan trips around the uncrowded version of the country: Kanazawa instead of another queue in Kyoto, a night by Lake Kawaguchiko so Fuji gets two chances to show itself, a quiet inn in the Kiso Valley. Every experience includes airport-to-airport transfers in a private vehicle, hotels chosen for quality, a guide whenever your plan calls for one and 24/7 on-the-ground support, so all you have to do is slow down. Whether you are a couple, a family travelling with children or senior parents, or a group, Travigma starts by listening to your priorities, then designs the trip around you.
7 to 10 days for a first visit. 12 to 14 days to add the Japanese Alps, Hiroshima or Hokkaido.
Air India, ANA and Japan Airlines fly direct to Tokyo from Delhi and Mumbai. Other cities connect in one stop.
Indian passport holders need a visa. Most apply through VFS Global in India and receive it in about five working days, often as an eVISA. Japan’s departure tax of ¥3,000 (roughly ₹1,800) is added to your airfare. Travigma guides every booked traveller through it.
THE ISLAND, REGION BY REGION
Japan, region by region
Explore the regions that make this country worth returning to.
Golden Route
Tokyo (TOH-kyoh), Mount Fuji (FOO-jee) and Hakone (hah-KOH-neh), Kyoto (KYOH-toh) and Nara (NAH-rah), Osaka (oh-SAH-kah), and Hiroshima (hee-roh-SHEE-mah) and Miyajima (mee-yah-JEE-mah): neon crossings and old shopping streets in Shibuya (shee-BOO-yah) and Asakusa (ah-SAH-ku-sah), teamLab’s digital art and day trips to Nikko (NEEK-koh) or Kamakura (kah-mah-KOO-rah); lakeside views of the mountain from Lake Kawaguchiko (kah-wah-goo-chee-KOH), hot-spring inns and a ropeway over volcanic valleys; the thousand red gates of Fushimi Inari (foo-SHEE-mee ee-NAH-ree), the Arashiyama (ah-rah-shee-YAH-mah) bamboo grove, geisha lanes and the bowing deer of Nara Park; street food in Dotonbori (doh-tohn-BOH-ree), Universal Studios Japan and Himeji (hee-MEH-jee) Castle; and the Peace Memorial Park, with the great gate that seems to float at high tide. Hiroshima and Miyajima are planned on Signature and Bespoke trips. Best: late March to May, and October to early December. Fuji is clearest from October to February; the climb runs from July to early September.
Kyoto, Kanazawa and the Alps
Kanazawa (kah-nah-ZAH-wah), Takayama (tah-kah-YAH-mah), Shirakawa-go (shee-rah-KAH-wah-goh) and the Kiso (KEE-soh) Valley, between Tokyo and Kyoto: gardens and old teahouse streets, thatched farmhouses, merchant towns and the Nakasendo (nah-kah-SEN-doh) trail between Magome (mah-GOH-meh) and Tsumago (tsoo-MAH-goh). Best: April and May, and July to November; January for snow-covered Shirakawa-go. June is the rainy season.
Sacred Kii Peninsula
Koyasan (koh-YAH-sahn), the Kumano Kodo (koo-MAH-noh KOH-doh) and Ise (EE-seh), with Kyoto: a night in a temple with dawn prayers and vegetarian temple food, forest pilgrimage walks between ancient shrines with nights in onsen villages, and Ise Jingu (EE-seh JIN-goo), Japan’s most sacred shrine, in its cedar forest. Koyasan and Ise are planned on Signature and Bespoke trips. Best: late March to May, and October to November. Koyasan is cold and often snowy in winter.
Tohoku
Sendai (SEN-dai) and Matsushima (mah-tsoo-SHEE-mah), Ginzan Onsen (GEEN-zahn ON-sen) and Dewa Sanzan (DEH-wah SAHN-zahn): a green city of beef-tongue grills, pine islets that make one of Japan’s three classic views, a gaslit street of wooden inns along a river, and three sacred mountains with 2,446 stone steps through cedar forest. Best: late April to June, and September to November; January and February for Ginzan Onsen in the snow.
Hokkaido
Hokkaido (hoh-KAI-doh), Sapporo (sahp-POH-roh), Niseko (nee-SEH-koh), Lake Akan (AH-kahn) and Shiretoko (shee-reh-TOH-koh): powder snow and the Sapporo Snow Festival in winter, the living Ainu (AI-noo) culture of Lake Akan, drift ice off a wild UNESCO peninsula, and lavender fields around Furano (foo-RAH-noh) in July. Best: December to February for snow, June to August for summer, and September to October for autumn colour.
Kyushu
Fukuoka (foo-koo-OH-kah), Nagasaki (nah-gah-SAH-kee), Yufuin (yoo-FOO-in) and Kurokawa (koo-roh-KAH-wah) Onsen: street-food stalls by the river and Hakata ramen, a harbour city of layered history from the Dutch trading post to the Peace Park, and onsen towns with private baths in the hills. Best: late March to May, and October to November. Early June to mid-July is the rainy season.
Shikoku and Setouchi
Naoshima (nah-OH-shee-mah) and the Iya (EE-yah) Valley: the art island of the Seto (SEH-toh) Inland Sea, with the Chichu (chee-CHOO) Art Museum, and vine bridges, thatched villages and deep gorges in the mountains of Shikoku (SHEE-koh-koo). Best: late March to May, and October to November. Many Naoshima museums close on Mondays.
Okinawa
Okinawa (oh-kee-NAH-wah), the Kerama (keh-RAH-mah) Islands and Ishigaki (ee-shee-GAH-kee): subtropical beaches, coral reefs and manta rays, a short flight from Tokyo or Osaka. Ishigaki is planned on Signature and Bespoke trips. Best: April and October. The sea is warm from April to October, but May and June are the rainy season and July to September is peak typhoon season. In winter, humpback whales pass the Keramas from January to March.
Kanazawa, the Kiso Valley and a night by Lake Kawaguchiko are where the Uncrowded Principle lives in Japan. Travigma combines regions by season, so your route follows the blossoms, the leaves or the snow instead of fighting the crowds.
CHOOSE YOUR DEPTH
Three ways to experience Japan
Classic
Thoughtful & Comfortable 4-star stays
Your first impression of Japan.
8 days · From ₹1.27L per person
Signature
Elevated & Boutique with a Signature Experience
A ryokan with a private hot spring, plus a private tea ceremony.
8 days · From ₹2.47L per person
Bespoke
Japan’s finest stays, with private access
A suite facing Mount Fuji, and private access built around a life event: a honeymoon, an anniversary, your parents’ big trip.
8 days · From ₹4.21L per person
A HIGHLIGHTED JOURNEY
Japan and India heritage, privately
You’ll find a little of India in Japan, if you know where to look.
In 752, an Indian monk named Bodhisena (boh-dee-SAY-nah) sailed to Japan and led the eye-opening ceremony of the Great Buddha at Todai-ji (toh-DAI-jee) in Nara, still one of the largest bronze statues in the world. He stayed in Japan for the rest of his life. Saraswati crossed the sea too. In Japan, she is Benzaiten (ben-ZAI-ten), the goddess of music, learning and water, usually shown playing a lute; Lakshmi is Kichijoten (kee-chee-JOH-ten), and Indra is Taishakuten (tai-SHAH-koo-ten). Some temples still write sacred syllables in Siddham (SID-dum), an old Indian script. The ties are modern as well. Rabindranath Tagore first visited Japan in 1916 and returned several times, and Japanese curry, now a national comfort food, arrived in the late 1800s by way of the British, who had brought it from India. Travigma plans Nara’s Todai-ji and the island shrine of Benzaiten at Enoshima (eh-NOH-shee-mah) privately, at a pace that works for senior parents and young children, with a guide who knows the stories as well as the trains.
Designed around you
Plan my Japan heritage experienceDESIGNED AROUND YOU
Plan a personalised Japan trip
The best Japan trips leave room for wonder.
Most Japan holidays don’t go wrong because of the weather. They go wrong because of a handful of planning traps that almost every first-timer falls into: A new hotel every night. Every move means dragging suitcases through stations at rush hour, and large bags on the Tokyo to Kyoto bullet train need a luggage seat booked in advance. Mount Fuji as a single day trip. It’s about two hours each way by road, and the mountain is often hidden by cloud. One day means one chance. Kyoto at midday. Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizu-dera (kee-yoh-MEE-zoo DEH-rah) and the bamboo grove are crowded by mid-morning, and the city buses are packed. Booking too late. The Ghibli Museum releases tickets a month ahead and sells out, and the best sushi counters and teamLab book up weeks in advance. Landing in the holiday weeks. Golden Week, Obon (oh-BON) and the New Year holidays are when much of Japan travels, and trains and hotels fill up. Day trips from one base. Hiroshima, Nara and Fuji all look close to Tokyo or Kyoto, and each day trip adds hours on a train. Here’s what those traps cost on a typical do-it-yourself week: Tokyo, a Fuji day trip, Kyoto and a Hiroshima day trip: Narita (nah-REE-tah) airport to central Tokyo and back: approx 3 hours A day trip from Tokyo to Lake Kawaguchiko and back: approx 5 hours Tokyo to Kyoto, door to door with luggage: approx 4 hours A day trip from Kyoto to Hiroshima and Miyajima and back: approx 5 hours Kyoto back to Tokyo for the flight home: approx 4 hours That’s 21 hours on trains, buses and airport transfers: a day and a half of your holiday, gone before you count a single queue. A day and a half of a seven-day holiday is more than 20% of your budget, and more than 20% of the leave you saved up all year, spent watching Japan go by from a train window. That’s where Travigma comes in. We send your luggage ahead so you travel light, plan a night by Fuji instead of a rushed day trip, and get you into Kyoto’s famous sights when the gates open. We book the tickets and tables that sell out before you land, keep you clear of the holiday weeks, and tell you honestly whether Hiroshima or Hokkaido is worth it for your group, so the hours you’d lose go back into the holiday. You make the few decisions that matter. We handle the rest. And when your family talks about this trip for years, you’ll be the one who planned it. You’ll hear back within 24 hours.
Tell us who’s travelling, when, and what a good day looks like. We design the pace, the stays and the moments.
Tell us what you’d like to spend, and we’ll show you how far it goes: which cities, which season, which experiences.
Already mapped it out? Bring it, and we’ll run it on the ground.
WHO IS IT FOR
Japan for couples, families and groups
Couples and honeymoons
A ryokan with a private hot spring, Kyoto’s lanes before the crowds, and Fuji at dawn, with a guide who steps back when you want to be alone.
Plan this way ↗Families
A pace that works for every age, from young children to senior parents: the deer of Nara, Universal Studios, a sushi-making class, and train journeys broken up so no one runs out of patience.
Plan this way ↗Groups
Long izakaya dinners, a private vehicle that moves as one, and a local team close by, so you arrive as friends, not as the organiser.
Plan this way ↗QUESTIONS, ANSWERED
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Japan trip cost from India?
A private Travigma Japan trip comes in three tiers, Classic, Signature and Bespoke, priced per person for 8 days in Tokyo, Fuji and Kyoto, including hotels, private transfers, trains within Japan, a guide whenever your plan calls for one, and experiences. The tier sets how you stay and what's added: handpicked 4-star hotels in Classic; characterful stays such as a ryokan, plus a Signature Experience such as a private tea ceremony, in Signature; and Japan's finest stays, plus private access built around a life event such as a honeymoon or an anniversary, in Bespoke. Every tier is private and personalised. International flights are not included. The final cost depends on your season, route, hotels and experiences, and cherry blossom and autumn leaf weeks cost more. Interim answer: prices aren't set, so this version names the three tiers without figures. Once prices are locked, replace it with the draft's version: A private Travigma Japan trip starts from ₹1.27L per person in Classic, ₹2.47L per person in Signature and ₹4.21L per person in Bespoke, for 8 days in Tokyo, Fuji and Kyoto, including hotels, private transfers, trains within Japan, a guide whenever your plan calls for one, and experiences. The tier sets how you stay and what's added: thoughtful & comfortable 4-star hotels in Classic; elevated & boutique stays such as a ryokan, plus a Signature Experience such as a private tea ceremony, in Signature; and Japan's finest stays, plus private access built around a life event such as a honeymoon or an anniversary, in Bespoke. Every tier is private and personalised. International flights are not included. The final cost depends on your season, route, hotels and experiences, and cherry blossom and autumn leaf weeks cost more.
Do Indians need a visa for Japan?
Yes. Indian passport holders need a visa for Japan. Most apply for a single-entry tourist visa through VFS Global in India, and it is usually issued in about five working days, often as an eVISA. Apply at least a month before you travel. Japan's departure tax of ¥3,000 (roughly ₹1,800) per person is added to your airfare, so there is nothing to pay at the airport. Travigma guides every booked traveller through the visa and confirms the current rules with you before you travel.
What is the best time to visit Japan?
The best time to visit Japan is spring, from late March to May, or autumn, from October to early December. Cherry blossoms: late March to early April in Tokyo and Kyoto, later in the north. Autumn leaves: mid-November to early December in Tokyo and Kyoto, earlier in Hokkaido and the mountains. Winter (December to February): powder snow in Hokkaido, and the clearest views of Mount Fuji. Rainy season: June to mid-July on the main islands. Summer (July to August): hot and humid, with typhoons possible from August to September. Mount Fuji's climbing season runs from July to 10 September. Busy weeks: Golden Week (late April to early May), Obon (mid-August) and the New Year holidays, when much of Japan travels. Travigma shapes the route around your dates.
How many days are enough for Japan?
For a first visit, 7 to 10 days covers Tokyo, Mount Fuji or Hakone, Kyoto and Osaka well. With 12 to 14 days, add the Japanese Alps, Hiroshima and Miyajima, or Hokkaido. With fewer than 7 days, choose two bases rather than three. The pace is set by who is travelling.
Is a Travigma trip a Japan tour package?
A Travigma Japan trip covers everything people look for in a Japan tour package from India: hotels, transfers, trains, sightseeing and visa guidance. The difference is that every trip is private and designed around you: your dates, your pace, the places you want to see and the ones you would rather skip. It comes with a private vehicle, a guide whenever your plan calls for one and 24/7 support on the ground, so nothing runs on a fixed group schedule.
Is the Japan Rail Pass worth it?
Only if you take several long train journeys in one week. From October 2026, the 7-day Japan Rail Pass costs ¥53,000 (roughly ₹32,000), while a single bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto costs around ¥14,000 to ¥15,000 (roughly ₹8,500 to ₹9,000). A Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka trip often costs less with individual tickets, while a route that adds Hiroshima, Kanazawa or the north usually makes the pass worth it. Travigma works out which is cheaper for your route.
Can you plan a Mount Fuji trip?
Yes. Most travellers see Mount Fuji from Lake Kawaguchiko or Hakone, and Travigma plans at least one night there, because the mountain is often hidden by cloud and a second morning gives you a second chance. The clearest views come from October to February. To climb, the season runs from July to 10 September, every climber pays a ¥4,000 (roughly ₹2,400) trail fee and registers in advance, and the Yoshida Trail is capped at 4,000 climbers a day. Travigma arranges the permits, mountain huts and a guide.
Can you plan skiing, diving and wellness, including onsen, in Japan?
Yes. Hokkaido's Niseko has some of the world's most reliable powder snow from December to February, with lessons for beginners and families. Okinawa and Ishigaki have coral reefs and manta rays, best in April and October, between the rainy season and the peak typhoon months. For wellness, Travigma builds in a night at a ryokan with an onsen hot spring, choosing inns with private baths for families or anyone who prefers privacy, along with forest walks and a tea ceremony in Kyoto. Lessons and dives are arranged with certified instructors and dive centres, at a level that suits everyone in your group.
Can you plan around dietary needs?
Yes. Tell Travigma about vegetarian, Jain or other needs at the start, and meals, restaurants and guides are planned around them. Vegetarian eating takes planning in Japan, because many dishes use dashi, a fish stock, even when they look vegetarian. Shojin ryori, the vegetarian cooking of Buddhist temples, is a highlight in Kyoto and Koyasan, and Tokyo has many Indian restaurants. Stricter diets such as Jain need advance planning. Travigma will tell you honestly what is possible.
Want to plan Japan your way?
Blossoms or maples, neon or hot springs, Fuji at dawn or powder snow in Hokkaido. Tell us what you have in mind, and we’ll design the trip around you. You’ll hear back within 24 hours.
Plan my Japan trip ↗