Every hotel change on a family trip means packing, carrying bags and a slow first evening in a new place. Many places families want to see are a day trip from Tokyo, so one home can be your base for longer.
Day trips you can make from one Tokyo home
・Mount Fuji and the Five Lakes: About 2 hours from Shinjuku by direct train or highway bus.
・Hakone: About 80 minutes from Shinjuku.
・Nikko: About 1 hour 50 minutes from Asakusa.
・Kamakura and Yokohama: About 1 hour or less from Shinjuku.
・Tokyo Disney Resort: About 15 minutes from Tokyo Station by train.
When to move on
- Kyoto is about 2 hours 15 minutes from Tokyo by shinkansen, and Osaka about 2 hours 30 minutes. Both are worth their own nights rather than a day trip with children.
- A simple plan for a two-week trip: a longer stay in Tokyo with day trips, then a few nights in Kyoto.
Family Tips
- Send big suitcases ahead with a delivery service when you move cities, and travel with a small bag.
- A washing machine at home means packing for a week, not for the whole trip.
- Stay near a station on a direct line to where you will go most often: Shinjuku for Hakone and Fuji, Asakusa for Nikko.
- For which day trip suits which ages, see Day Trips from Tokyo with Children.