If a Japan honeymoon during cherry blossom is on your list, the most important thing I will tell you is this. Plan it now, even if the trip is twelve months away. The bloom is short (about ten days in any one city), the flights and the good hotels get expensive six months out, the ryokans in Hakone and the small heritage inns in Kyoto book out nine months ahead, and the Indian couples I have planned trips for who left it to the last three months had to settle for either bad timing or bad rooms or both.
I went to Japan for sakura in 2023, not on my honeymoon (which was Thailand, which is a separate story) but on a friend-and-cousin group of four, and I have planned five client honeymoons there since. The trip is as good as the reputation. The planning is harder than the reputation suggests.
On the bloom timing. The sakura front moves from south Japan to north. Tokyo's peak is roughly last week of March to first week of April. Kyoto is the same window, often a few days behind Tokyo. Osaka is similar to Kyoto. Hakone (mountains) is a late peak, often 5-15 April. The Japan Meteorological Agency releases bloom forecasts in January, and you can adjust the trip dates plus or minus five days based on those. The thing to know is that the bloom is so unpredictable that even with the forecast, you may catch peak or you may miss it by three days. Most couples who go in the right window catch enough of it to count.
Visa. Indians get an e-Visa for Japan, the process is online, around two thousand five hundred rupees in fees, allow three to five working days. Apply four to six weeks before travel.
The nine-night route I now recommend. Tokyo (4 nights), Hakone (2 nights), Kyoto (3 nights), back via Osaka. Most Bangalore couples fly via Singapore, Hong Kong, or Bangkok to Tokyo. Direct flights are limited.
The single most useful tool for a Japan trip is the JR Pass, unlimited Shinkansen and JR trains. The 2023 price increase (about seventy per cent) hurt, but for the nine-night Tokyo-Hakone-Kyoto-Osaka circuit, a 7-day JR Pass is around thirty-two thousand rupees per person and still pays off. Buy online before flying (cheaper than in Japan), exchange the voucher at any JR office on arrival.
Tokyo for four nights. Stay in Shibuya, Shinjuku, or Ginza for a couples' trip (lively, walkable, full of restaurants). Mid-range hotels around fifteen to twenty thousand rupees a night. The first day is for jet-lag adjustment, light walk at Shibuya crossing (which is genuinely a sight, three hundred people crossing in five directions simultaneously every two minutes), dinner at a small izakaya (the Japanese gastropub) which is the most accessible introduction to Japanese food for first-timers.
The second day is the sakura day. Best Tokyo spots are Ueno Park (huge, many trees, food stalls during hanami), Chidorigafuchi (the moats around the Imperial Palace, you can rent a small boat and row under the cherry-tree branches that lean over the water), and the Meguro River (narrow river lined with cherry trees, lanterns lit at night). Go at seven in the morning to avoid the crowds, or in the evening for yozakura (the night cherry blossoms lit up, which is in some ways the more spectacular version). Afternoon at Asakusa (Senso-ji temple, traditional shopping street called Nakamise-dori). Evening at Tokyo Tower or Tokyo Skytree for night views.
Day three is a day trip outside Tokyo. Nikko (two hours by train, UNESCO shrines and waterfalls, the Toshogu Shrine complex is stunning) or Kamakura (one hour, the Great Buddha and the bamboo grove at Hokokuji temple). Both are romantic and quieter than central Tokyo. I would recommend Kamakura for first-time honeymooners because the distance is shorter and the day has more room to breathe.
Day four is a slow Tokyo morning, breakfast at Tsukiji Outer Market (the wholesale fish market relocated, but the outer market with the sushi breakfast stalls is still there), then teamLab Planets or teamLab Borderless (the digital immersive art museum, couples love it for the photos, book online in advance, around three thousand five hundred rupees per ticket). Evening dinner in Ginza or a small ramen counter where you order from a vending machine and slurp your way through a bowl of pork-bone broth that will be in your top three meals of the trip.
Hakone for two nights. Train from Tokyo to Hakone (one and a half hours). Hakone is the onsen (hot spring) town near Mt. Fuji and this is where you stay at a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn). The ryokan night is the cultural highlight of the trip. Tatami floor, futon bed, yukata robe, kaiseki dinner (multi-course traditional meal served in your room or in a private dining room), private onsen bath in your villa or a communal one separated by gender. Twenty-five to fifty thousand rupees per night per couple, usually including dinner and breakfast. Day five settle in, the Hakone Open Air Museum in the afternoon (Picasso pavilion, sculptures, hot-water foot bath). Day six the Hakone Round Course, a series of trains plus a cable car plus a pirate ship across Lake Ashi, with the goal of seeing Mt. Fuji from the lake on a clear day. We were lucky. Half my clients have been lucky. The other half have seen clouds. There is no way to guarantee Fuji visibility.
Kyoto for three nights. Shinkansen from Odawara (near Hakone) to Kyoto, about two and a half hours. Stay in the Higashiyama district (old Kyoto, walkable to temples) or central Kyoto. Boutique hotels around fifteen to thirty thousand rupees a night.
Day seven, arrival afternoon at Kiyomizu-dera (the wooden temple on stilts with a famous viewing platform over Kyoto), evening walk through the Gion district (traditional geisha quarter, narrow lanes, old wooden buildings, the occasional sighting of a real geisha or geiko in full kimono and white face paint making her way to an evening engagement). Day eight is Arashiyama in the morning (the bamboo grove, the monkey park, and the Togetsukyo bridge over a river lined with sakura). Get there by eight in the morning, the bamboo grove gets crowded by ten. Lunch in Arashiyama. Afternoon at Fushimi Inari Shrine (the iconic orange torii gates, climb at least to the bamboo grove level halfway up, sunset is the best photo time). Day nine is a slow morning, a tea ceremony booking (one-hour traditional ceremony in a kimono, around three thousand rupees per person, available at several places, ours was a small one called Camellia in Higashiyama), lunch at a Kyoto kaiseki restaurant, afternoon walk along the Philosopher's Path (canal-side walk lined with cherry trees, gorgeous in bloom). Evening Shinkansen to Osaka (fifteen minutes), overnight, fly back next morning.
Food is the trip. Ramen (Tokyo for tonkotsu, Kyoto for shoyu, each city has its style). Sushi (the Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo or a small omakase counter in Kyoto). Tempura (light, crispy, often vegetable-only options). Kaiseki (the multi-course traditional dinner, splurge once, the ryokan kaiseki night is usually included). Matcha desserts (Kyoto specialty, every shop has its own). And cherry-blossom-themed everything during sakura week (latte, mochi, ice cream), cliched but genuinely charming.
Vegetarian is harder than other Asian countries but possible. Shojin ryori (Buddhist temple cuisine) is fully vegetarian. Kyoto has more options than Tokyo. Carry a few instant Indian meal packs as backup for the day a craving hits and you cannot find anything that fits.
Cost. Per couple, nine nights, mid-range hotels plus one ryokan, JR Pass, flights from Bangalore, comes in at around five lakhs. The premium version with better ryokans and business class flights pushes it to eight to fifteen.
The booking timeline. Six months ahead, book flights and the ryokan (the good ones book out six to nine months in advance for sakura). Four months ahead, the Tokyo and Kyoto hotels for sakura week. Two months ahead, the JR Pass. One month ahead, the visa application. Two weeks ahead, specific restaurant reservations, the tea ceremonies, the teamLab tickets.
Sakura week is one of the world's great honeymoon spectacles. The trees, the parks, the people having picnics under the blossoms (hanami is the word, "flower viewing"), the photographs you will look at twenty years later when you cannot quite remember the names of the places but can remember exactly what the petals felt like falling on your hair. It lives up to the reputation. Plan early. Spend more than you think you should. Travel slower than you want.