Tokyo Bullet Train

The bullet train is one of the most comfortable and fastest options to discover every corner of Japan, departing from Tokyo. With an extensive railway network that includes nine lines and routes covering practically the entire country, the Shinkansen, as they call the high-speed train, is one of the great prides of the Japanese.

Among the things to see and do in Tokyo, there are some tours that include trips on the Shinkansen to optimize the comfort of transfers and save time thanks to its speed of up to 320 kilometers per hour. Below I tell you which tours you can opt for and which cities you can visit with the high-speed train.

Among the bullet train tours departing from Tokyo, the most popular are the tours to Mount Fuji and Lake Ashi. Fuji is the highest peak in Japan and a natural site revered and considered sacred by the Japanese since ancient times.

It is currently one of the most visited attractions in the entire Asian continent and millions of people come to Tokyo every year to see the mountain from there, which offers one of the best panoramic views of Japan and the most interesting hiking trails.

Due to Tokyo's proximity to the mountain and the convenience of being able to reach it with the Shinkansen, many tourist service providers propose a full-day excursion departing from the Japanese capital to tour Mount Fuji, Lake Ashi at its foot and other nearby destinations such as Mount Komagatake and the Owakudani volcanic valley.

Both Mount Fuji and the Shinkansen are symbols of Japan and the photograph of the bullet train passing in front of the omnipresent volcano is one of the most representative images of the country, combining the traditional with the technological.

If you dare to take this bullet train tour from Tokyo you must take the Tokaido line to Mishima Station and, once there, get on the bus that will take you to Fujinomiya, very close to the top of Mount Fuji.

On the organized tour, a meeting point is usually arranged with the local guide in Shinjuku, and from there you will be taken by private bus to Tokyo Station to start the bullet train ride.

Details of interest

• Price... These tours have an initial cost of approximately 118 euros, including transfers, expert local guide and entrance fees to the attractions.
• Duration... The tour lasts approximately twelve hours from departure from Tokyo to return.

Kyoto is one of the most important cities in Japan. It was the capital of the country until the 19th century and the only one that was not destroyed by the bombings of World War II, so it remains unchanged.

It is noted for its Buddhist temples, gardens and imperial palaces, as well as for its exquisite gastronomic traditions, such as kaiseki meals. From Tokyo it is possible to visit it by bullet train with an organized tour.

On these tours you can visit the main attractions of the city, such as the Buddhist temple Sanjusangen-do, the Shinto shrine Fushimi Inari Taisha and the temple of Kiyomizu-dera, which stands out for its complex architecture on top of a hill.

If you have decided to visit Tokyo in summer, you will be able to see Mount Fuji from the Shinkansen along the way.

On this tour, once you meet the local guide and your group at Tokyo Station, you will use the Tokaido line, which is the busiest line of the Shinkansen, because it connects the Japanese capital with Osaka and Yokohama, the three largest urban areas in Japan, and you will get from Tokyo to Kyoto in two hours.

Details of interest

• Price... These tours have an initial cost of approximately 95 euros including transfers, expert local guide and entrance fees to the attractions. Since Kyoto is one of Japan's most outstanding gastronomic sites, these tours usually include lunch.
• Duration... The tour lasts approximately twelve hours from departure from Tokyo to return.

Yokohama is Japan's second largest city and has many attractions that make it worth a visit. Famous for its financial district and shopping malls, it is also home to lush gardens and the Minato Mirai 21 waterfront urban area with museums and an amusement park topped by a Ferris wheel.

From Tokyo it is possible to visit it on a day trip by bullet train.

The star of the futuristic city of Yokohama is the observation deck of the Landmark building, the second tallest in Japan, from which it is possible to get a panoramic view of the bay and Chinatown, home to the country's most populous Chinese community.

Opposite Minato Mirai 21, on Shinko Island, you can visit the Ramen Museum, dedicated exclusively to Japanese noodles.

Other sites of interest around Yokohama include the Enoshima Shrine with its huge red-painted cedar wood torii and the Aquarium, although these are not usually attractions included in the tour circuit.

Once you meet the local guide and your group at Tokyo Station, for this tour you will take the Tokaido line of the Shinkansen to the city of Yokohama.

Details of interest

• Price... These tours have an initial cost of approximately 85 euros including transfers, expert local guide and entrance fees to the attractions.
• Duration... The tour lasts approximately ten hours from departure from Tokyo to return.

Osaka is another of Japan's great cities and with a bullet train tour from Tokyo you can discover its best attractions, such as the Imperial Castle, the Dotonbori district, the Shitenno-ji temple and the Tsutenkaku tower viewpoint.

On a day tour you will also have enough time to visit the Kuromon Ichiba flea market and the Universal movie studios.

Osaka also has an extensive museum circuit, such as the National Museum of Art, the Science Museum and the Museum of History, which mainly recalls the events of World War II.

In any case, discovering this cosmopolitan city is an occasion not to be missed, especially if you travel to Tokyo during the spring and decide to take one of the excursions to Osaka, which has large parks and gardens full of cherry trees where you can take the best pictures.

On this tour the local guide will meet you at Tokyo Station and from there you will take the bullet train to Shin-Osaka, which is the final station of the Tokaido line, the most important and most used of the Shinkansen.

From Tokyo you will be able to travel the almost 500 kilometers that link the Japanese capital with Osaka in less than two and a half hours.

Interesting details

• Price... These tours have an initial cost of approximately 105 euros including transfers, expert local guide and entrance fees to the attractions.
• Duration... The tour lasts approximately twelve hours from departure from Tokyo to return.

You can book any of the bullet train tours from Tokyo online or once you are in the city.

From the Japanese capital there are many day trips and the speed of the Shinkansen helps with these tours.

Excursions to the cities of Yokohama, Osaka and Kyoto are usually available but the tours to Mount Fuji and Lake Ashi tend to sell out, especially if you visit Tokyo during the months of October and November. I recommend that in these cases you secure your reservation in advance.

It will depend on the destination chosen, but tours usually last between eight and twelve hours. They all include round-trip transfers on the Shinkansen and begin during the early morning hours, returning to Tokyo near evening.

The longest tours are to Kyoto and Mount Fuji and Lake Ashi. Please note that the duration of the tours is always approximate, as inclement weather or cancellation of services due to weather variables could alter the proposed tour, My advice is that when it comes to tours involving natural visits, such as Mount Fuji, consult the weather forecast for the day of the visit.

Each of the tours offers different itineraries. On the Mount Fuji and Lake Ashi tours, you will discover the magic of one of the natural sites revered and considered sacred by the Japanese since ancient times.

You can also access the viewpoint of Mount Komagatake and observe from there a panoramic view of the volcanic valleys and the crater lake.

In the case of Kyoto you will discover what was the ancient capital of Japan and one of the only cities that remain intact, as it was not hit by the bombings of World War II.

A city of temples and hills, you will discover magical constructions and delight yourself with the local food, as it has one of the most exquisite gastronomies in the country.

In Yokohama you will see the city of the future, with its huge skyscrapers and viewpoints and also its unique museums, such as the Ramen Museum, while in Osaka you will visit lush parks and gardens, varied museums and some of the most peculiar neighborhoods of the city, such as the luminous Dotonbori.

I recommend that you take into account the date of your trip to Tokyo and consult what is the best time of the year to visit the capital of Japan.

In some months, especially from August to December, the number of visitors increases and the tours, especially those to Mount Fuji, can be sold out. In any case I advise you to book in advance to ensure a place on the tour.

If you travel to Tokyo during the winter I also recommend that you bring warm clothes and a raincoat, as snowfall is common and persistent and temperatures drop significantly.

The tours are organized and have a planned circuit, but they all include rest periods in which visitors have time to do whatever activities they wish, so I recommend that you plan an itinerary to make the most of those in-between times.

If after the bullet train tour you are interested in touring other cities on your own and the Shinkansen is expensive per leg, you can opt for the JR Pass, which can be very convenient if you are traveling to Tokyo for seven days or more.

It depends on the destination you choose, but there are tours that start at €85, including round-trip transfers from Tokyo and most attraction tickets.

Except for tours to Kyoto, these excursions usually do not include any meals in the price.

In any case, a tour can be much cheaper than a visit on your own using the bullet train, as each Shinkansen ticket costs about thirty euros per leg.

To reduce costs, you can opt for the JR Pass, which will allow you to ride the high-speed trains unlimited, but will require continuous use to amortize the investment.

The Shinkansen is one of the great experiences to have on your visit to Tokyo and from the Japanese capital it is possible to reach virtually any city in Japan with the high-speed trains.

Besides, the tours that include transfers on the bullet train are very varied, so you will surely find one that suits your interests, whether you want to know a futuristic city like Yokohama or want to have a samurai experience

On the other hand, traveling at over 300 kilometers per hour through the mountainous roads of Japan can be amazing and very effective to save time if you are looking to see the surroundings of Tokyo. And they are also very comfortable, even if you are traveling around Tokyo with children!

Tokyo has the largest metropolitan area in the world and can be overwhelming. To a lesser extent, that pattern is repeated in the outlying cities of the Japanese capital, at least in the most visited ones like Yokohama, Osaka and Kyoto, so organizing the tour on your own can be exhausting and unmanageable.

In addition, the experience of traveling by bullet train from Tokyo is highly recommended but not usually economical, because each Shinkansen ticket per section costs approximately thirty euros, so adding the cost of the attractions to the transfers can be very expensive.

In the same way that I recommend you to get to know the Japanese capital through a guided tour of the city, opting for an organized excursion from Tokyo will solve all those problems and allow you to relax and enjoy the trip and the visit.

On the other hand, some sites such as Mount Fuji or Lake Ashi are a bit inconvenient to access by public transport, so an organized tour will optimize the time of your tour and will also allow you to discover some local secrets, such as the panoramic views from Mount Komagatake and the Owakudani volcanic valley.

You should also keep in mind that, due to the long distances, visiting some distant cities, such as Osaka or Kyoto, by car can be exhausting and time-consuming.