Kyoto · days 1 & 2
Higashiyama
The lane our machiya sits on is too narrow for a car and too old for a sign. Kiyomizu at dusk, when the school groups have gone.
Meridian Travel · Departure 14 of 2026
Kyoto in November,
before the crowds.
Twelve days across Kyoto, Nara and the Kii Peninsula in the nine days the maples peak. Eight travellers, private townhouses, and a guide who grew up on the lane we stay on.
Hold a place
6 of 12 places open · no deposit
- 12
- days
- Kyoto · Nara · Kii · Osaka
- 8
- travellers maximum
- guided, never a coach
- 6
- machiya nights
- private townhouses, not hotels
- ₹2.4L
- per person
- twin share, flights excluded
The season
Maple season has a peak of about nine days.
The momiji turn inland and at elevation first. The last week of November is when the low temples — the ones in the city, the ones you can walk to — are still red while the mountains have already gone bare.
It is also the week everyone else targets. We don’t avoid it; we work inside it: gates at 06:40, lunch after the coach parties leave, and temple precincts after dark when the lanterns come on and the paths empty.
Twelve travellers go a year on this itinerary. The reason is not exclusivity. It is that Higashiyama at dawn stops being the place we’re selling the moment there are twenty of us.
Availability · 2026
Three departures, one guide.
Colour dates are estimates from the last eleven years. They move by a week either way; we will tell you honestly if a date is not worth it.
Momiji · November
28
Nov · departs 06:40
14° / 6°
Maple peak
6 left
29
Nov · departs 06:40
13° / 5°
Maple peak
6 left
30
Nov · departs 06:40
15° / 6°
Maple peak
6 left
Peak maple. Earliest cold mornings.
Hold one →Six places, one line
Kyoto to the coast, without doubling back.
A linear route. You cross the Kii mountains once, on foot, and never repeat a train.
01
Kyoto · day 2
Arashiyama
Bamboo before eight in the morning sounds like weather. By ten it sounds like a crowd. We go at seven, then take tea at Ōkōchi Sansō.
Nara · days 4 & 5
Nara
Deer in the water at Kasuga, and the oldest cedar walk in Japan behind Tōdai-ji. We stop for the forest, not the photograph.
Kii Peninsula · day 7
Kumano Kodo
Nine kilometres of stone stair with no road access. These are the maples the word momiji was minted for.
Kii Peninsula · day 8
Yunomine
Japan's oldest bath, drawn straight from the river, in a village of forty houses. You will be the only foreigner in it.
Kii Peninsula · day 9
Nachi
One hundred and thirty-three metres of falling water, seen from the root of the tree rather than from the viewing platform.
“We don’t sell Kyoto. We sell the ninety minutes before Kyoto wakes up.”
The twelve days
Day by day.
Two nights in most places. One long move only when the destination is worth it.
- 01Kyoto · HigashiyamaArrive, walk Kiyomizu at duskA machiya townhouse on a lane too narrow for cars.
- 02Kyoto · ArashiyamaBamboo before the crowds, Ōkōchi SansōPrivate tea in a 1920s villa garden.
- 03Kyoto · OharaSanzen-in, cedar ridge walkRural Kyoto, no coach park, no queue.
- 04NaraTōdai-ji, Kasuga forest pathsDeer, moss, and the oldest cedar walk in Japan.
- 05Nara → KiiTrain south, Yoshino descentThe mountains the maples were named for.
- 06Kii · KōyasanOkunoin by lantern lightNight cemetery walk with a resident monk.
- 07Kii · KumanoNakahechi trail, first sectionNine kilometres of pilgrim path, no road.
- 08Kii · YunomineRiver bath, mountain villageJapan's oldest bath, drawn from the river.
- 09Kii · NachiNachi falls, three-shrine circuit133 metres of falling water, seen from the root.
- 10Kii → OsakaCoast road, Kuromon marketA food city you'll want to come back for.
- 11OsakaFree day, or a knife-maker's workshopOptional: forge a blade with a fourth-generation smith.
- 12OsakaLast breakfast, Kansai departureTransfers timed to afternoon flights.
What the price covers
Included, and honestly not.
- All rail, including two reserved limited-express legs
- Eleven nights — six machiya, three ryokan, two city hotels
- A resident guide for days 1–10; no coach, no flag
- Okunoin night walk and the Kumano first section, guided
- Breakfast daily, four dinners, one kaiseki
- Airport transfers and a local eSIM on arrival
Not included
- International flights
- Travel insurance (required, we can advise)
- Three dinners left open on purpose
- Optional knife-forging workshop, ¥18,000
Single supplement ₹38,000. Under-16s travel at 70%. We cap each departure at eight and tell you where you sit in the queue before you pay anything.
November 2026
Six places left.
Tell us who’s travelling and we’ll send the full dossier — day notes, the houses we use, and an honest note on what the weather is likely to do.
Or write directly
hello@meridiantravel.example