Day Trips from Tokyo: Katori City, Chiba

Looking for ideas for day trips from Tokyo? Katori City in Chiba is a lovely traditional old town which feels like stepping back in time to the days of Edo Japan. Just 15km from Narita Airport and less than 2 hours by bus from Tokyo station, Katori in Chiba is the perfect day trip away from the bright lights of Tokyo, where visitors can enjoy local experiences in a small Japanese city.

Day Trips from Tokyo: Katori City One Day Itinerary

9:00 AM Depart Tokyo for Katori

Take the Keisei Express bus from Tokyo to Katori or alternatively take the train from JR Tokyo to Narita station, then change for the train to JR Sawara Station. You can check further details here

11:00 AM Arrival in Katori City

After arriving in Katori, head over to the Michi no Eki (roadside station) and pick up rental bikes to explore the town. The cost to rent bikes is just 500 yen per day. Before you leave the building, you can also browse local delicacies and souvenirs in the shop.

12:00 PM Visit Katori Jingu Shrine

Start the sightseeing experience by visiting the Katori Jingu Shrine and exploring the temple and grounds. This popular Shinto shrine is unusual because it is painted black, which is quite rare in Japan. The road leading up to the shrine is lined with small shops and restaurants so it’s easy to spend a couple of hours here wandering around the temple complex, feeding the deer, and stopping for a snack or lunch in one of the restaurants.

1:30 PM Lunch at Sawara Merchant Town Hotel

After exploring the shrine head over to the old town of Sawara and stop for lunch at the amazing restaurant which is part of the Sawara Merchant Town Hotel. The food is French cuisine with a Japanese twist, using locally grown produce wherever possible. Dining here is a really special experience and the food is of very high quality.

3:00 PM Explore the Old Merchant Town of Sawara

Katori was once a wealthy merchant town as it used to be a stop off for samurai on their way back to the Tohoku region. Today many of the Edo era buildings remain along the riverfront so you get a sense of how the town would have looked during that period. Many of the buildings now house shops, cafes, and restaurants so it’s very easy to spend the afternoon here exploring. The visitor center has English volunteer guides available to show tourists around if you prefer a guide.

During your visit, I recommend stopping in a café for a slice of cake and coffee and picking up some traditional Japanese souvenirs in the boutique shops.

If you have time then another interesting place to visit in Sawara is the Museum of Festival Floats, where visitors can watch a video presentation and see the huge floats that are used in the annual festival that takes place every October. Each float is based on a story or fairytale, and some of them reach up to 8 meters in height and weigh over 4 tons! The visitor center has an English translation app you can use to understand the video.  

6:00 PM Stay Overnight or Return to Tokyo

If your schedule allows then I highly recommend staying overnight in Sawara as there are a couple of really interesting places to stay. The first is Hostel Sawara, which is the nicest hostel I have ever stayed in. The building is very modern and many of the rooms are private with en-suite bathrooms.

If you have a bigger budget then without a doubt you should stay at the Nipponia Merchant Town Hotel. The hotel is actually a collection of buildings located throughout the town which have been converted into luxury guest accommodation. The rates start from around 30,000 yen per person and include breakfast and dinner at the French restaurant. If you are in Japan celebrating a special occasion then this would be a nice treat!

If you are looking for other ideas for day trips from Tokyo then check out my one-day itineraries for Kashima and Itako in Ibaraki prefecture. Have you been to Katori before? Let me know what you thought about it in the comments below!