The Roavi Blog
Stories from people who live there.
Travel tips, city guides, and local insights from the Roavi team.
1173 articles
Travel Guides · Tokyo
Tokyo in April: Cherry Blossom Week, Weather, the Start of Golden Week, Crowds and Prices
April is Tokyo's most famous month and its most crowded: sakura in the first week, mild weather after, and Golden Week beginning on the 29th. What the weather does, the blossom timetable, how the month calms down in the middle, the Golden Week problem, prices, and what to do when the petals have fallen.
Oscar Garcia··2 min read
Travel Guides · Tokyo
Tokyo in May: Weather, Surviving Golden Week, Sanja Matsuri, the Sumo Tournament and Why Late May Is Underrated
May in Tokyo starts with Golden Week chaos and settles into some of the best weather of the year: warm, mostly dry, green, before the June rains. Weather by week, how to handle the first five days, the Sanja Matsuri (Tokyo's wildest festival) in the third weekend, the May sumo tournament, prices, and what to do.
Oscar Garcia··2 min read
Travel Guides · Tokyo
Tokyo in June: The Rainy Season Honestly, Weather, Hydrangeas, Low Prices and How to Do It Well
June is tsuyu, Tokyo's rainy season, and it's less of a problem than the name suggests: grey, humid, showery, rarely a washout, with hydrangeas everywhere, low prices and few tourists. What the rain is really like, early vs late June, what to do on wet days (Tokyo is the world's best indoor city), the Sanno Matsuri in even years, and what to pack.
Oscar Garcia··2 min read
Travel Guides · Tokyo
Tokyo in July: Heat and Humidity Honestly, the End of the Rains, Fireworks, Summer Festivals and July vs August
July in Tokyo is hot, humid and alive: the rainy season ends mid-month, the fireworks and summer festivals begin, and the heat becomes the thing you plan around. What the weather does by week, the Sumida River fireworks, Mitama Matsuri's lanterns, beer gardens, how to survive 33°C with 70 percent humidity, and whether July or August is better (July, narrowly).
Oscar Garcia··2 min read
Travel Guides · Tokyo
Tokyo in August: The Hottest Month, Obon Week, Festivals, Typhoon Risk and How to Do It Anyway
August is Tokyo's hottest month, the Obon holiday when Japan travels, and the start of typhoon season. It's also fireworks, Bon dancing, Koenji's Awa Odori and the summer the city is designed for. What the heat really means, Obon week and what it closes, the typhoon odds, what to do and when, and how to come out of it saying it was worth it.
Oscar Garcia··2 min read
Travel Guides · Tokyo
Tokyo in September: Still Hot, Typhoon Month, the Autumn Sumo Tournament and September vs October
September in Tokyo is summer's long exit: hot and humid in the first half, cooling by the end, and the month most likely to bring a typhoon. The autumn sumo tournament, Silver Week holidays, moon viewing, lower prices, and the honest comparison with October, which most people should pick instead if they can.
Oscar Garcia··2 min read
Travel Guides · Tokyo
Tokyo in October: The Best Weather of the Year, Events, Shibuya Halloween, Early Autumn and October vs November
October is the month Tokyo locals would pick: warm days, cool nights, blue skies, low humidity, and a calendar full of festivals, food and the start of autumn colour. Weather by week, the typhoon tail in early October, what's on (Sports Day, the jazz festivals, Shibuya Halloween and what the city now does about it), prices, and the comparison with November.
Oscar Garcia··2 min read
Travel Guides · Tokyo
Tokyo in November: Autumn Leaves Timing, Weather, Tori no Ichi, the Start of Illuminations and Prices
November is Tokyo's autumn: cool, dry, clear, with the ginkgo and maple turning from mid-month and peaking in the last week into early December. Weather by week, where the colour is and when, the Tori no Ichi markets, the start of winter illuminations, the Labour Thanksgiving holiday, crowds, prices, and the early vs late November question.
Oscar Garcia··2 min read
Travel Guides · Tokyo
Tokyo in December: Weather, Illuminations, Christmas the Japanese Way, the Year-End Shutdown and Does It Snow
December in Tokyo is cold, dry, bright and lit up: illuminations in every district, Christmas as a date night with fried chicken and strawberry cake, bonenkai year-end parties filling the izakaya, and then the shutdown from the 29th as the country turns to New Year. Weather, snow, what's on, what closes and when, prices, and New Year's Eve done the Tokyo way.
Oscar Garcia··2 min read
Travel Guides · Tokyo
Tokyo 7 Day Itinerary: A Week Done Properly, Neighbourhood by Neighbourhood, With Two Day Trips and One Evening with Locals
Seven days in Tokyo is the right length: enough for the famous districts at a human pace, two day trips, a day with no plan, and the neighbourhoods tourists never reach. Day by day, with the logic (one or two areas a day, never three), the two day trips to pick from, the rainy-day swaps, and the evening that turns a sightseeing week into a trip.
Oscar Garcia··2 min read
Travel Guides · Tokyo
Tokyo in 2 Days: Is It Enough, What to See, What to Cut, and the One-Day Version for a Layover
Two days in Tokyo is enough for the old city, the neon city and one night that feels like the real place, if you accept you're sampling. The itinerary, what to cut, where to sleep so you don't lose an hour each way, the one-day version for a long layover, and the mistake every short visit makes.
Oscar Garcia··2 min read
Travel Guides · Tokyo
Day Trips from Tokyo by Train: Hakone, Nikko, Kamakura, Mount Fuji, Yokohama, Kawagoe and Which to Pick
The best day trips from Tokyo, all by train, ranked honestly: Hakone for Fuji and an onsen, Nikko for the shrines, Kamakura for temples and the sea in half a day, the Fuji Five Lakes for the mountain itself, Yokohama for an evening, Kawagoe for old Edo streets, Enoshima, Mount Takao. Times, how to get there, which season, and which one to pick with a single free day.
Oscar Garcia··2 min read