Japan tempts travellers to keep moving. The trains are fast, the cities close together, and every region seems to hold a ryokan worth a night. Yet the most common thing we change in a draft itinerary is the number of hotels. Each change costs more time than it appears to on a map, and a journey with too many of them is spent arriving and leaving.
This article sets out what a change of hotel actually costs in Japan, how check-in times, ryokan dinners and luggage shape the day, and how many places to stay suit trips of different lengths. We read hotels' and ryokan's own pages, the railways' rules, Yamato Transport's guide to luggage delivery, Kyoto City's accommodation tax and a long-standing travel guide, and contacted none of them; the sources are listed at the end. For choosing the overall length, see How Many Days in Japan? 5, 7, 10 and 14 Day Plans (2026) →.
Key points
- Check-out is commonly around 11:00 or 12:00 and check-in from 15:00, so a change of hotel takes most of a day even when the train ride is short.
- A ryokan dinner is served at a set time, often around 18:00 or 19:00, and some ask guests to arrive well before it.
- Two nights is the shortest stay that leaves one full day; three nights or more lets a place settle in.
- As a rough guide, three or four places suit a fortnight and about five suit three weeks.
- Large suitcases can be sent ahead by courier, usually arriving the next day, which makes a short stop much easier.
ASK US ABOUT THE SHAPE OF YOUR TRIP →
WHAT ONE CHANGE COSTS
On paper, Tokyo to Kyoto is about two hours and twenty minutes on the fastest Shinkansen, and Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto about eighty minutes by Odakyu's Romancecar. The ride is the smallest part of the day. Around it sit the breakfast and packing, the check-out, the drive to the station, the transfer at the other end, and then the wait for the room.
The hotels' own times make the point. HOSHINOYA Kyoto, in Arashiyama, gives check-in at 15:00 and check-out at 12:00. Its guests arrive by the hotel's boat from the foot of the Togetsu Bridge, which runs from 14:30, with the last boat at 17:45. A guest who leaves a Tokyo hotel at noon arrives in Kyoto in mid-afternoon and is on the river by evening. That is a beautiful arrival, and it is also the whole day.
THE RYOKAN AND ITS DINNER
A ryokan organises the evening around dinner. The long-established guide japan-guide.com notes that check-in is typically possible from 15:00, with dinner around 18:00 or 19:00, and recommends arriving at least an hour before dinner. Ryokan publish their own rules. One of them, Yokikan, states in its English FAQ that check-in is from 15:00 with no early check-in, that dinner starts between 18:00 and 18:45, that guests with dinner should arrive before 18:30, and that those arriving after 19:00 may not be served dinner.
This is why a single night at a ryokan between two cities often disappoints. The guest arrives late in the afternoon, bathes quickly, dines, sleeps and leaves the next morning, just as the place begins to feel familiar. Two nights change it completely: one whole day for the bath, the garden, a walk and an unhurried second dinner.
LUGGAGE BETWEEN HOTELS
Japan has a very good answer to luggage. Yamato Transport, the largest courier, accepts suitcases at hotel front desks, airport counters and its own sales offices, with delivery as early as the next day; at sales offices, bags dropped off by about 18:00 are delivered the next day. Its example price for one suitcase of size 160, meaning length, width and height adding up to 160 cm, from the Tokyo Station office to a Kyoto hotel, is from ¥3,160. Bags of size 200 or more are not accepted, and Yamato advises confirming in advance that the hotel can send luggage.
On the train the rule is strict. On the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen, a bag of 161 to 250 cm in total needs a reserved seat with an oversized baggage area, or a ¥1,000 fee is charged. Sending the large cases ahead and travelling with a small bag makes every change lighter; the timing is set out in Luggage Forwarding in Japan: Sending Bags Between Hotels and the Airport →.
HOW MANY PLACES FOR HOW MANY DAYS
We use a simple guide when drafting. Two nights is the shortest stay that gives a full day in a place. Three nights or more lets it settle: one day for what you came for, one for what you discover once there. One night belongs only where the evening itself is the point, such as a ryokan dinner, and even then we prefer two.
On that basis, a week suits two places, a fortnight three or four, and three weeks about five. A first fortnight might be Tokyo for four or five nights, Hakone or the mountains for two, and Kyoto for four or five, with a day trip to Nara. Over three weeks, five places with three nights or more in most leaves four travel days and still room for rest, as described in 14 Days vs 21 Days in Japan: Is the Extra Week Worth It? →.
Day trips do much of the work that extra hotels would do. Nara, Uji and Osaka are easy from Kyoto, Nikko and Kamakura from Tokyo. Staying put and travelling out for the day often shows more than a night in each place.
WHEN A CHANGE IS WORTH IT
Some changes earn their day. Moving from a city hotel to a ryokan with a hot spring changes the whole rhythm of the trip. Moving within a city can also make sense: from a hotel near the station in the first days to one in a quieter part of town, or the reverse before an early flight. In Tokyo, Aman Tokyo sits at the top of the Otemachi Tower, connected to Otemachi subway station, close to Tokyo Station, and about forty minutes by car from Haneda, which suits the last nights before departure.
Cost matters less than it seems. Some costs run per night whatever the number of hotels. Kyoto City's accommodation tax, revised on March 1, 2026, is charged per person per night according to the room rate, up to ¥10,000 for rooms of ¥100,000 or more. What a change really costs is time.
A FEW SIGNS OF TOO MANY
We revise a draft when we see any of these: more than one change in three days; a one-night stay that is not there for the evening; an arrival at a ryokan planned after about 17:00; or a travel day followed directly by an early start. Each one can be fixed with a day trip, a longer stay or luggage sent ahead.
Within Signature, our planning for journeys of 7 to 21 days, we draw the places to stay first, then the travel days, so that the number of changes is a choice you make with the reasons in front of you. The hotels, ryokan, cars and luggage are arranged by us and settled with each of them in the simplest way available, usually on your hotel bill or on the day.
SOURCES AND HOW WE CHECKED
We read the pages below on November 4, 2026. Travel times are rounded. We did not contact any hotel, ryokan, railway or other body.
- HOSHINOYA Kyoto, official site: check-in 15:00, check-out 12:00
- HOSHINOYA Kyoto, Maps and directions: boat from 14:30, last boat 17:45
- Yokikan, FAQ: check-in from 15:00, dinner from 18:00 to 18:45, arrival before 18:30
- japan-guide.com, Ryokan guide: arrival: check-in from 15:00, dinner around 18:00 or 19:00
- Aman Tokyo, official site: Otemachi Tower, subway connection, about 40 minutes to Haneda
- Yamato Transport, Hands-free travel: next-day delivery, size limits, example price
- JR Central, Luggage information: oversized baggage seats and the ¥1,000 fee
- JR Central, Shinkansen guide: Tokyo to Shin-Osaka in about 2 hours 21 minutes
- Odakyu, Romancecar: Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto in about 80 minutes, all seats reserved
- Kyoto City, Accommodation tax (Japanese): rates from March 1, 2026
QUESTIONS TRAVELLERS ASK
How many hotels should I book for two weeks in Japan?
Three or four is a comfortable number for a fortnight, for example Tokyo, Hakone or the mountains, and Kyoto, with day trips from each. More than that and the travel days begin to outnumber the full ones.
Is one night at a ryokan enough?
It can be, if the dinner is the reason. But dinner is served at a set time, often around 18:00 or 19:00, and a single night leaves no full day. Two nights let you enjoy the bath and the place.
How long does a hotel change take in Japan?
Most of a day. Check-out is commonly around 11:00 or 12:00 and check-in from 15:00, so even a short train ride fills the time between them.
What do I do with luggage when changing hotels?
Send large suitcases ahead by courier. Yamato delivers as early as the next day from hotel desks and its offices, and you travel with a small bag.
Is it better to stay in one place and take day trips?
Often, yes. From Kyoto, Nara and Uji are easy day trips; from Tokyo, Nikko and Kamakura. Staying longer in fewer places usually gives more time to enjoy each one.
ASK US ABOUT THE SHAPE OF YOUR TRIP
Send us your dates and the places you have in mind. We will draw the stays and the travel days side by side, with the reasons, so that you can decide how often to move.
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Some of the restaurants and bars we arrange seat guests only by introduction or membership. We ask on your behalf; the table and the evening are the house's decision. We do not publish their names.