Greater Tokyo

Tokyo beyond the first trip, plus the overnight escapes you can reach by train.

The Second Trip

Where to Stay in Tokyo

Tokyo's best neighborhoods are a stop or two off the tourist circuits. Shimokitazawa, Yanaka, Koenji, Kagurazaka. Small streets with completely different food, different shops, different vibe from one station to the next. If you've already done Shinjuku, here's where to stay this time.

Beyond the city, Hakone, Nikko, the Fuji lakes, and the Izu coast are all 1-3 hours by train. The 10 best day trips run from 25-minute Yokohama to 2-hour Kawaguchiko. Hakone and Nikko are both better as overnights than day trips. Kusatsu is the real deal for onsen.

Budget 4-5 days. Business hotels across Tokyo run ¥8,000-15,000/night. The Tokyo Wide Pass covers the trains to all of these. ¥10,180 for 3 days, pays for itself on one round trip.

Stay Overnight

Featured Destinations

The best places to stay in Tokyo and the trips around it that are worth a night or two.

Your base city

Tokyo

Your Greater Tokyo Hub

Shimokitazawa has the curry shops and live music bars, Yanaka still has pre-war wooden houses and kissaten coffee, and Koenji is where you find ¥300 thrift stores right next to jazz bars open past midnight. These are the neighborhoods that keep people coming back to Tokyo. You could spend your whole trip here and not run out of things to do. Business hotels run ¥8,000-15,000/night across the city.

Your base for this region Neighborhood guide
85 min from Tokyo

Hakone

Sengokuhara, Miyanoshita & the Old Tokaido

The Romancecar from Shinjuku takes 85 minutes, but the whole point of Hakone is staying the night. Sengokuhara is the better base, 10 minutes from the Open Air Museum and the hilltop trails. Tonosawa is the pick if you want the river gorge setting. At ¥15,000 you get a tatami room and the shared baths. ¥25,000+ gets you the private rotenburo and kaiseki dinner in your room.

1–2 nights recommended
2 hrs from Tokyo

Nikko & Kinugawa

The Overnight Nikko

Most people day-trip to the shrine area and leave. The real Nikko is 50 minutes up the mountain at Lake Chuzenji, where Kegon Falls drops 97 meters and the Senjogahara Plateau trail runs 3 hours through marshland and forest. Stay the night in Kinugawa Onsen, 30 minutes by train, where riverside ryokan start around ¥10,000. You eat yuba (tofu skin) here. It's on every menu.

1–2 nights recommended
2–2.5 hrs from Tokyo

Fuji Five Lakes

Saiko, Shojiko & Motosuko

Kawaguchiko gets all the attention, but the better lakes are 20 minutes further by local bus. Motosuko has the Fuji view printed on the ¥1,000 bill, Saiko has lava tube caves, and forest trails connect all three. You stay in lakeside lodges and guesthouses here instead of hotel towers. Get houtou while you're there, thick handmade noodles in miso broth with pumpkin. Two hours from Shinjuku by direct highway bus.

1–2 nights recommended
2–3 hrs from Tokyo

Izu Peninsula

Shimoda, Ito & Shuzenji

Three towns, three different trips. Shimoda has the black-sand beaches on the southern tip, Ito has onsen hotels and the Jogasaki cliffside walk along the east coast, and Shuzenji is a traditional onsen town in the interior, 30 minutes off the Shinkansen at Mishima. Izu doesn't get the attention Hakone does, but the coastline is better. You eat kinmedai (golden-eye snapper) here, and the Odoriko express from Tokyo gets you there in about two hours.

2–3 nights recommended
3 hrs from Tokyo

Kusatsu Onsen

The Onsen Town That Earns the Trip

Kusatsu has the best water of any onsen town near Tokyo. pH 2.1, acidic enough that you can feel it the second you get in. The whole town is built around the yubatake, this steaming hot water field in the center, and you just walk between dozens of free public baths all day. Ryokan with dinner run around ¥12,000/night. Three hours by direct bus from Shinjuku, which is a haul, but you won't care once you're there.

1–2 nights recommended

Greater Tokyo Guides

Deep dives on where to stay, what to do, and how to get there.

Neighborhoods

Where to Stay in Tokyo

10 neighborhoods with the stations, lines, and trade-offs that matter. Hotel costs, day trip access, and what each area is actually like at night.

Read the guide
Day Trips

10 Best Day Trips from Tokyo

From 25-minute Yokohama to 2-hour Kawaguchiko. What you do at each one, how to get there, and whether it's worth the time.

Read the guide

Keep Exploring

If You Like This Region

The Japanese Alps

The onsen towns get bigger west of Tokyo. Nozawa Onsen for ski-town hot springs, Takayama for morning markets, Kanazawa for seafood and Kenrokuen garden.

Northern Japan

Nyuto Onsen is milky outdoor baths in Akita forest. Noboribetsu is volcanic hot springs in southern Hokkaido. Both are harder to reach than Kusatsu, but the water is worth the trip.

Beyond Kyoto & Osaka

Kinosaki is seven public baths, one yukata, one town. Koyasan is a temple stay on a mountaintop. Both are 1-2 nights from Osaka, same overnight logic as these Tokyo escapes.