Why winter is the perfect time to visit Japan

There’s no question Japan is one of the most popular destinations on the planet right now and with good reason. From its deeply distinctive culture to great food to fascinating historic sites, it has so much of what travelers love, and that also means it’s often crowded, even overtouristed. This is why I recommend it for a winter trip when many people are seeking sun and sand. Last winter I put together a 12-day getaway for myself and my husband that included Tokyo, Kyoto, and a drive across the region known as the Japanese Alps. It was perfect and gave us a taste of what makes Japan so great without intense crowds or logistical hassles.

Days 1-2: Acclimatizing in Tokyo

Adust to Japan after you land. We arrived in Tokyo late on Christmas Eve, and spent our first 48 hours in Japan sleepwalking through thrillingly massive superstores and quiet temples and gardens with locals in Santa hats wishing us “Happy Christmas.” We’d both been to Tokyo before, and the point here was simply to adjust to the time since the difference from the East Coast of the U.S. is no joke.

Good to know: No matter how you begin your trip to Japan—unless you’re coming from nearby or are one of those people who can adjust in a flash—I think it’s worth giving yourself a few easy days to acclimate to a different time zone and destination.

Days 3-5: Temples and tours in Kyoto 

I had never been to Kyoto, so I wanted to include it in our trip, even though it is arguably Japan’s most beloved destination. Even in winter, it’s busy, but not like cherry blossom season in the spring. We had a great time wandering the streets and popping into little shops and restaurants, and along the way, we managed to figure out a few ways to do the city right.

Choose your hotel wisely. Kyoto offers a variety of accommodations. I wanted the perks and concierge support of a full-service hotel, and also wanted to be able to walk places—some of the city’s top properties are a bit out of the way. So, we went with the centrally located Hotel The Mitsui, part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection and conveniently located across from the Royal Palace.

The Mitsui has handsomely appointed wood-paneled rooms overlooking a central garden; a very good Michelin-starred French-inspired restaurant, Toki; and a terrific spa with a natural hot spring-fed onsen. I love an onsen generally, and decided to make them a theme of this trip: after all, what’s better than a soak in a hot spring on a cold winter day?

One of the things I liked best about the Mitsui was its diverse clientele, including many Japanese travelers. While many of the city’s luxury hotels are packed with foreigners, staying at the Mitsui still delivered a strong Japanese vibe.

Get up early. If you want to experience the most popular sites in Kyoto without the crowds in winter daylight, you’ve got to get up early. We arrived at 7 a.m. for a brisk walk through the thousands of vermilion tori gates of Fushimi Inari, the most important shrine dedicated to the Shinto god of rice. One of the most Instagrammable spots in the city, it’s often mobbed with people taking photos, but it’s relatively quiet during the early hours of the day.

Good to know: The light filtered through the surrounding forest of the lower parts of the hill is not optimal in the early morning, so I recommend walking quickly past everyone else grabbing their selfies on arrival to get up to higher ground early. You’ll have better light and a better chance for an elusive moment of Zen.

Make reservations. This goes without saying in any popular destination. Known informally as the Moss Temple, Kokedera is one such site where you can arrange for tickets in advance, which helps the temple control crowds. The epic Nara-period garden features a breathtaking 120 types of mosses and visitors will quickly understand why it has been an important influence in modern Japanese garden design.

Good to know: In winter, dress warmly. All visitors are required to sit on the temple’s chilly floor and use a calligraphy pen to copy a Buddhist scripture onto a piece of paper before being allowed into the garden.

Go private. A highlight of our visit was an after-hours private tour of the justly famous and usually mobbed Kiyomizu-dera Temple. I’d arranged it through Naomi Mano of Luxurique, a company specializing in bespoke itineraries in Japan. Halfway up Mount Otowa at the entrance to the closed temple, we met with its head monk, who told us about the history of this shrine to Kannon, the Japanese Buddhist goddess of mercy. He took us on an hour-long tour around the temple and its grounds, which included a stop to see the waterfall from which the temple gets its name, a peek inside the main hall’s shrine, a memorable 10 minutes sitting and looking out at the legendary Moon Garden, and a chat about the temple’s restoration at the West Gate as the lights of Kyoto twinkled below.

Day 6: Kyoto to Takayama

Rent a car, see more. We like the ability to explore more rural areas when traveling, so we rented a car in Kyoto and set off for the Japanese Alps, an area known for winter sports including skiing. Nagano hosted the Winter Olympics in 1998. We’re not into winter sports people, but it’s a good choice for a visit even if you’re not because of the cold-weather infrastructure in this area and everything is open.

Japan has an extensive train network, and it’s easy to get around, but it will limit your ability to get outside of the bigger cities, which is why we rented a car in Kyoto for this portion of our trip. Many people warned us about the difficulty of driving in Japan, but we found it easy. Roads are incredibly well maintained and signs are in English. They drive on the left, British style, which can take some getting used to.

Good to know: Get an Electronic Toll Collection System (ETC) reader with your rental for paying tolls. Also, Japan is one of the few countries that requires an International Driver’s License to rent a car (in the U.S., AAA sells these for a nominal fee).

Explore a UNESCO-recognized village. Our first stop out of Kyoto was another place made famous on Instagram, the fairytale mountain hamlet of Shirakawa-go. One of two neighboring villages that were cut off from the world until the 1950s. The locals survived the snowy winters by building steeply pitched gassho-zukuri (thatched) roofed houses, now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Normally this place is choked with tour buses but it was relatively quiet when we visited. And it had snowed the day before, rendering the whole place picture-perfect.

We spent the night in the historic town of Hida-Takayama. Known as the home to the most skilled carpenters during the feudal period, this town has some of the most well-preserved 18th-century streets we have seen anywhere in Japan, particularly the historic district of Sanmachi.

Days 7-9: Takayama to Karuizawa

Enjoy a quintessential Japanese holiday. In the morning we drove to the even more charming village of Narai-juku. The midway point on the Nakasendo road (between Kyoto and Tokyo) during the Edo period (1603-1868), Narai became a prosperous stopover spot, and today, it’s one of the best-preserved villages found along the Nakasendo route. Narai is essentially a single row of wooden machiya houses stretching for a kilometer, and features shops, restaurants, and inns—a can’t-miss stop in the area.

For tourists, New Year’s is an ideal time to visit Japan because it’s a big holiday. We decided to ring in the new year with a couple of nights at the Hoshinoya Karuizawa. Karuizawa is a popular weekend destination for Tokyo residents, and many have country houses here. Surrounding a large lake, the Hoshinoya is a peaceful village-like resort that dates back to 1914 and is powered by geothermal heat from nearby volcanos and hydroelectricity from mountain streams.

Most of our fellow guests were Japanese, but all guests were given a stylish modernized version of traditional yukata to wear during their stay. We loved the large hot spring onsen, including a completely lightless section that’s meant to be especially calming. We also enjoyed the terrific cocktail bar by the ice skating rink, and the artistically presented multi-course tasting menu at dinner—the sashimi course alone was extraordinary.

Good to know: Most onsens that cater to foreigners will have some form of instruction for you, but it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the standard protocols before you take the plunge. Most important is to make sure you clean yourself in the onsen facility (there are showers for this purpose) before and after bathing, and no bathing suits are permitted, so you’ll need to be comfortable being naked.

Go on a guided trek for black bear. One afternoon we embarked on an Asiatic Black Bear excursion with a local conservation group, Picchio Wildlife Research Center. The organization’s director, Masaya Kusube, and Bear Team director, Junpei Tanaka, took us out to see the habitat of this small and elusive bear, explained their research and conservation program, and introduced us to their bear dogs. Brought from Wind River Bear Institute in Montana, the dogs are used when bears are sighted in the area to keep them away from people to reduce conflict. Thanks to tireless patrolling, in the residential area of Karuizawa, the number of conflicts between people and bears fell from 36 to nine in just 10 years. We didn’t see any bears ourselves that day but saw plenty of evidence of their existence.

Days 10-12: Matsumoto, Nagano, and the snow monkeys

Experience a traditional onsen and temple. We capped our trip with a couple of nights at two affordable boutique onsens—both also part of the local Hoshinoya group—that allowed us to take in more of Nagano Prefecture. First up was Kai Matsumoto, with an onsen fed by Asama Hot Spring. The area around Matsumoto is a Japanese wine country, and the hotel offers wine tasting, so we got a crash course in Japanese Merlot before enjoying the springs and a multi-course kaiseki meal in a private room. The next morning we hit Matsumoto Castle, one of the best-preserved feudal castles in the country, which is well worth a stop.

Good to know: In the winter, wear warm socks for your shoeless visit.

We then moved to Kai Alps, set in the mountains and—for our visit—shrouded in snow, which made for a cozy environment to gather around the Irori sunken open-flame kitchen. We made an excursion to the grand Zenkoji Temple in Nagano, which was thronged with Japanese visitors making their New Year wishes.

Good to know: Don’t miss grabbing a hot sweet potato from one of the vendors en route to or from the temple.

Hike to see animated snow monkeys. My husband loves monkeys so there was no way we’d miss the famed snow monkeys of Yamanochi. You’ve no doubt seen photos of these monkeys enjoying their outdoor onsen amid the Nagano peaks, and to be honest I was skeptical about how touristy the whole experience was likely to be. But it’s a fun 30-minute hike through the forest to get to the monkeys’ bathing spot, and I must say they were pretty delightful to watch.

Good to know: Hang around for a while observing them. They get up to a lot of entertaining antics and the groups that come to see them often don’t linger for long. While there’s no way you’ll end up with the place to yourself, people come and go in waves, and you might find yourself, as we did, with some unobstructed viewing of these specially adapted creatures.

This trip was created with the support of the Japanese National Tourism Organization, Hotel The Mitsui Kyoto, Luxurique, and Hoshino Resorts.