Day trips from Tokyo
Find local
The famous view is an hour away.
The street that decides your day is one turn behind it.
SANPO publishes the lane behind the famous approach — with the time it takes to get there, how far you walk, and what the day actually costs.
What is SANPO
散歩 — a walk with no particular errand. The name is the method.
Most guides send you to the view everybody photographs. We go one street back, walk the day ourselves, and publish what it cost us.
One street back
The approach to the temple is full. The lane behind it is not. That lane is what we write about — the shop with the striped awning, the level crossing, the bench that gets the afternoon sun.
The numbers, written down
Every route carries its leaving time, its walking distance and its real fare — a ticket, a pass or a bus, whichever it actually uses. Where we have no figure, we leave it blank rather than guess.
Out and back in a day
Nothing here needs a hotel. Leave after breakfast, be back for dinner — and know before you go whether that is really true of the place you picked.
How far is a day trip, really?
Each area is plotted at the time it takes door to door from central Tokyo — not the map distance, and not the fastest theoretical connection.
18 areas plotted. Where an article publishes a range, the dot sits at its earliest figure and the range is written out below.
Start from what the day has to be
The weather, who you are with, and how long you have decide more than the destination does.
18 departures
Times are door-to-door from central Tokyo, quoted as the article publishes them. Costs are a journey fare unless marked as a whole day.
台場Shimbashi~15-25 min~¥330-390
橫濱Tokyu Toyoko~25 min~¥300–500
川越Tobu Tojo~30 min~¥480
三島Tokaido Shinkansen~45-60 min~¥4,000-4,500
熱海Tokaido Shinkansen~50 min~¥3,700
高尾山Keio (direct)~50 min~¥400 each way
橫須賀Keikyu line~50-70 min~¥700-800
鎌倉JR Yokosuka~57 min~¥940
成田Keisei Skyliner~60 min—
江之島Odakyu~70 min—
輕井澤Hokuriku Shinkansen~70 min~¥5,500
秩父Seibu Laview~80 min~¥1,500 w/ seat
箱根Odakyu Romancecar~85 min~¥6,100 / 2 days
佐原JR Narita line~90 min—
日光Tobu (Spacia)~110 min~¥2,800+
河口湖Shinjuku~2 hr~¥4,200
富士山Highway bus~2 hrs~¥2,000 bus
草津溫泉Ueno Station~3 hr~¥6,000–7,000