Rail & Sail: Japan Uncovered with Silversea

Day 1: The World's Most Extraordinary City

There is no arrival quite like Tokyo. Your Scott Dunn representative will be waiting as you clear the airport, ready to transfer you by private vehicle into a city that never quite prepares you, no matter how many times you have been told what to expect. The scale is humbling, the energy unlike anywhere else on earth, and yet, within hours, Tokyo has a way of feeling surprisingly intimate. Tonight is yours to settle in, to wander if the inclination takes you, and to begin letting this city work its quiet, compelling magic.  

Day 2: Ancient Shrines, Hidden Neighbourhoods and a Night Eaten Well

Tokyo rewards those who look beyond the obvious, and a full day with your guide does exactly that. The morning begins at Meiji Jingu, Tokyo's most revered Shinto shrine, where towering torii gates open into a forest of over 100,000 trees, a pocket of profound stillness at the heart of one of the world's most frenetic cities. From here, the energy shifts entirely as you move through Harajuku and Omotesando, one anarchic and inventive, the other elegant and considered, before the afternoon brings you to the serene Korakuen Garden and finally to Asakusa, where the ancient Senso-ji temple and the bustling stalls of Nakamise Street capture Tokyo's traditional soul with effortless charm. As evening falls, the city reveals another side of itself entirely. Your guide leads you through three restaurants that together tell the story of Tokyo's remarkable food culture. First, a convivial tachinomi standing bar where locals gather after work over kushikatsu skewers and cold drinks. Next, a kappo gastropub whose menu turns on whatever the market offered that morning, sashimi, tempura, slow-cooked meat, each dish better than the last. The evening closes at a restaurant that has been serving its guests since 1850, where the menu moves with the seasons and the cooking speaks for itself. Three restaurants, one unforgettable evening.

Day 3: The Bullet Train and a Private Tea Ceremony

Board the bullet train and race southwest towards Kyoto, Japan's cultural heartland, home to 2,000 shrines and temples and 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The journey itself is part of the pleasure, the landscape shifting outside the window as the ancient capital draws closer. After settling into the hotel, the afternoon belongs to one of Japan's most quietly extraordinary traditions. Inside a tea master's private residence, you will be dressed in a kimono before being guided through the deep history and Zen Buddhist roots of the tea ceremony, not as a passive observer but as an active participant. Every movement in the preparation and serving of tea carries meaning, and your master will explain each one. Before drinking, delicate wagashi confectioneries sweeten the palate, preparing you for the clean, grassy depth of the matcha. It is an experience that asks you to slow down entirely, and is all the richer for it.  

Day 4: Torii Gates, Golden Statues and the Shogun's Palace

Kyoto rewards a full day's attention, and your guide ensures not a moment of it is wasted. The morning opens at Fushimi Inari, where thousands of vermillion torii gates climb the mountainside in long, atmospheric tunnels, one of the most iconic and transporting sights in all of Japan. From here, the Sanjusangendo temple offers something altogether more meditative: 1,001 life-sized golden Buddhist statues lining the interior of the world's longest wooden building, a sight that tends to produce a particular, lasting silence. Lunch follows a wander through Nishiki Market, Kyoto's celebrated covered street of tofu sellers, fishmongers, pickle merchants and knife makers, before the afternoon moves into the domain of the samurai at Nijo Castle, whose painted walls and famous squeaking nightingale floors were designed to prevent any intruder from moving undetected through the shogun's residence. The day closes at Nanzenji Zen Temple, where monks have lived in quiet contemplation since 1291 and a renowned rock garden invites you to draw your own meaning from its carefully placed stones.

Day 5: Hot Springs, Mountain Air and the Shadow of Fuji

The journey from Kyoto to Hakone is a gradual unwinding, from the cultural intensity of Japan's ancient capital into a landscape of volcanic mountains, steaming hot springs and, on clear days, the unmistakable silhouette of Mount Fuji rising above the clouds. Tonight, settle into the exceptional Hyatt Regency Hakone, where the drama of the surrounding landscape feels ever-present, and the restorative qualities of the region's famous hot springs are yours to enjoy at your own pace.

Day 6: Tokyo: Embarkation

A private transfer whisks you to the port, where your ship is waiting. Whether you spend these final hours losing yourself once more in the streets of Tokyo or settling into your suite as the city skyline recedes from the deck, this is a moment to savour, the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.  

Day 7: Shimizu: Fuji from the Water

There are views, and then there is this one. As your ship glides into Shimizu, Mount Fuji rises from the horizon with a clarity and symmetry that no photograph prepares you for, its snow-capped cone soaring above the coastline in quiet, volcanic authority. Beyond Fuji, historic Shinto shrines stand amid pine groves, green tea fields ripple across the hills, and the port's sushi, prepared with an artistry that borders on reverence, is among the finest in Japan.  

Day 8: Kobe: The City of Cuisine

To reduce Kobe to its celebrated beef would be to miss the point entirely. Shaped by centuries of international exchange and home to 98 nationalities, Kobe has developed a food culture of extraordinary diversity, from the freshest sashimi to an unexpected tradition of artisan bakeries and a sake museum dedicated to Japan's national spirit. Beyond the table, the magnificent Himeji Castle, widely considered Japan's most beautiful feudal fortress, lies a short journey inland.  

Day 9: Kochi: Castles, Rivers and Seared Tuna

One of only twelve original castles surviving in Japan, Kochi Castle commands the city with sweeping views across forested hillsides. The Shimanto River draws those in search of stillness, while the Makino Botanical Garden offers quiet contemplation. At the table, Kochi makes its mark decisively, the local katsuo no tataki, skipjack tuna lightly seared over open flame, is a dish of such vivid, honest flavour that it tends to linger long after the port has disappeared from view.  

Day 10: At Sea

Today belongs entirely to you, the spa, a long lunch, an unfinished book, or simply a deck chair and an uninterrupted horizon. Days at sea are the perfect counterpoint to days spent ashore.  

Day 11: Nagasaki: Japan's Gateway to the West

No city in Japan carries its history quite like Nagasaki. The old merchant quarter of Dejima Island, the elegant Oura Catholic Church and the soaring Urakami Cathedral all speak to centuries of cultural exchange. A dedicated museum and peace park memorialise the events of 1945 with quiet dignity, while nearby Arita offers a living tradition of porcelain craftsmanship four centuries in the making.  

Day 12: Busan: South Korea's Second City

Busan arrives with colour, noise and energy. The clifftop Haedong Yonggung Temple offers dramatic beauty above crashing waves, while Gamcheon Culture Village, a former shantytown reinvented as a vivid canvas of art and colour, is one of the most visually arresting places in the region. Street food is sensational, and as night falls over Gwangalli Beach, 16,000 lights illuminate the great arc of the Gwangan Bridge in a display that is, quite simply, spectacular.

Day 13: Sakaiminato: Manga, Castles and Sacred Shrines

Bronze statues celebrating manga legend Shigeru Mizuki line the streets, while nearby Matsue Castle rises in dark timber with an undiminished feudal grace. The Yushien Garden bursts with tree peonies and lotus ponds, and the ancient Izumo Taisha Shrine, one of Japan's most revered sacred sites, lies within easy reach.  

Day 14: Kanazawa: A Familiar City, Seen from the Sea

Returning to Kanazawa feels like greeting an old friend from a new angle. Its geisha districts, samurai quarters and the extraordinary Kenroku-en Garden remain as quietly magnificent as ever, gold-leaf workshops continue their centuries-old traditions, and the garden's ancient fountain still flows with the same natural pressure it has used since 1774.  

Day 15: At Sea

Enjoy the Spa, pools, restaurants and free time to yourself. 

Day 16: Hakodate: Squid, Sunsets and a Star-Shaped Fortress

The ropeway to the summit of Mount Hakodate delivers one of Japan's most celebrated views, the city stretched between twin bays, fishing boats shimmering on the water as darkness falls. At street level, redbrick warehouses and the onion domes of a Russian Orthodox church speak to a history shaped by international exchange, while the morning market offers the freshest seafood imaginable.  

Day 17: Miyako: Wild Coastline and Quiet Revelation

Bordered by the vast Sanriku Fukko National Park, 180 kilometres of dramatic coastline, pine groves and extraordinary birdlife, Miyako is a city that arrives as a quiet surprise. The beache