Fall Foliage in Japan: 2026 Peak Dates, Region by Region

On September 17, 2026, the summit of Mount Asahidake in Hokkaido hit peak color. Kyoto's maples will not turn until around November 24. Between those two dates, the koyo front travels 1,500 kilometers down the country at roughly 30 kilometers a day, and the whole business of planning an autumn trip to Japan comes down to intercepting it.

Fall foliage in Japan runs from mid-September in the northern mountains to early December in Kyoto and Tokyo. This year the forecasters agree it is running late: above-average autumn temperatures have pushed most of the country's peak dates to on time or later than usual, with some spots more than a week behind.

Kyoto's maples are the last to turn, usually in the last week of November

When to go in 2026

Three private forecasters publish koyo peak predictions, and none of them is the Japan Meteorological Agency, which does not forecast leaf color. They are the Japan Meteorological Corporation, Weathernews and the Japan Weather Association, and they update through the autumn as the temperature data comes in.

Both of the first two released their 2026 forecasts in the first days of September, and both said the same thing: peak color later than average across a wide area, with good color quality. The koyo forecast board is the easiest English-language place to track it, and it is updated with live reports from each region.

Here is how the 2026 season looks by region.

Hokkaido has already peaked at altitude. Daisetsuzan ran from mid-September to mid-October, and Sapporo comes in mid-to-late October, about ten days later than usual.

Northern Tohoku follows: Hachimantai through October, Lake Towada around October 29, Naruko Gorge around the same date.

Kiyomizu-dera

Nikko peaks from the end of October on the Irohazaka switchbacks, with the lower-lying Toshogu shrine area following in the first half of November. Kamikochi and the rest of the Japan Alps run mid-to-late October, and the Fuji Five Lakes late October into mid-November.

Then the cities. Tokyo peaks late November into early December, Kyoto from mid-November with the famous temple gardens clustered around November 24 to 25. Miyajima is late November, and Kyushu runs from early November to mid-December.

Pack for the spread. Using Japan Meteorological Agency data, Tokyo averages a daytime high of 22°C in October and 17°C in November, while Sapporo runs 16°C and then 8°C. If your trip crosses regions, you need layers and a waterproof shell.

Momiji, koyo and momijigari

Three words worth knowing. Momiji is the Japanese maple, the tree that turns the deep red everyone photographs. Koyo is the broader phenomenon of leaves changing color. And momijigari, literally autumn leaf hunting, is the practice of traveling to see it, documented since the Heian court and now a national habit that fills trains and hotels for six weeks.

Hokkaido

Daisetsuzan is the first place in Japan to turn, from mid-September

Hokkaido starts the season. The color arrives at altitude in the middle of September, six weeks before anywhere on Honshu, and the scale of it is different: whole mountainsides of birch and rowan rather than a temple garden.

Daisetsuzan National Park

Daisetsuzan is the largest national park in Japan and the earliest reliable koyo in the country. The Kurodake ropeway at Sounkyo is the easiest way into it: ¥3,000 round trip, running 7:00 to 17:00 in the first half of October and 8:00 to 16:00 after that.

Two things to check before you go. The ropeway closes for maintenance from November 9 to 30, 2026, and the pair lift above it shuts from October 16. Fares also rose by about ¥400 from 2024, so older figures are out of date.

The trails above the ropeway are exposed and can hold early snow by the beginning of October. Bring proper boots and a wind layer, and expect the summit to be past peak while the base at Sounkyo Onsen is still green.

Onuma Park

Onuma, in the southwest near Hakodate, is the gentle alternative: a lake dotted with islands, connected by footbridges, with Mount Hokodate behind it. Color arrives in the second half of October, about three weeks after Daisetsuzan, and you can walk the whole loop in an hour or rent a boat.

Tohoku

Tohoku is where autumn in Japan is at its best and least crowded. Six prefectures of mountains, gorges and hot spring towns, with the color running through October and into early November.

Lake Towada, a caldera lake that peaks around the end of October

Lake Towada and Oirase Gorge

Lake Towada is a caldera lake on the Aomori-Akita border, and its 2026 peak is around October 29. Boats cross it from Yasumiya to Nenokuchi, which is also where the better walk begins.

Oirase Stream is the lake's only outlet, and a path follows it for about 14 kilometers down to Yakeyama, staying beside the water the whole way past moss-covered boulders and a string of waterfalls. It peaks around November 1, a couple of days after the lake, and a JR bus runs the parallel road so you can walk a section rather than all of it.

Naruko Gorge

Naruko, in Miyagi, gives you the single most reproduced autumn photograph in Tohoku: a deep gorge with a bridge across it, seen from the viewing platform at the Nakayamadaira end. Peak is around October 29.

One correction worth making, because plenty of guides get it wrong: there is no long trail through the gorge. Two short sections are open, about 350 meters from the Nakayamadaira entrance to Kaikyo Bridge and about 230 meters at the Naruko end, both open 9:00 to 16:00 from late April to late November. The rest is closed.

Naruko Onsen sits ten minutes away and is one of the better hot spring towns in the region. The Onikobe Geyser nearby costs ¥500 for adults and ¥200 for children, and erupts every 10 to 15 minutes.

Kanto and Tokyo

Rikugien's autumn illumination now needs a separate timed ticket

Tokyo is the last major city to turn, peaking from late November into the first week of December, which makes it a good place to end an autumn trip rather than start one.

Rikugien Garden

Rikugien in Bunkyo is the classical option, a stroll garden laid out around a central pond with three teahouses and about an hour of paths. Daytime entry is ¥300, open 9:00 to 17:00.

The autumn illumination runs from November 25 to December 6, 2026, from 18:00 with last admission at 19:30. Note that it is now a separate, capacity-controlled ticket at ¥1,000 in advance or ¥1,200 on the day, and the garden closes completely at 17:00 before reopening for ticket holders. Any guide telling you the light-up is included in the ¥300 admission is out of date.

Koishikawa Korakuen, the other great Tokyo garden, holds its own light-up from November 13 to 24, so the two do not overlap and you can do both on consecutive weekends. Its Tsutenkyo maple bridge, the classic shot, has been closed since 2025 while it is rebuilt.

Mount Takao

Mount Takao is 50 minutes from Shinjuku and 599 meters high, with one of the highest counts of plant species per unit area anywhere in the world. Trail 1 is paved and busy; trails 6 and the Inariyama ridge are quieter and better.

The cable car and the chair lift both cost ¥490 one way and ¥980 return, after a fare rise in October 2025 that abolished the old round-trip discount. First departure is 8:00, and the last runs at 17:45 on weekdays.

Takao in late November is extremely crowded on weekends. Go on a weekday, start before 9:00, and you can be at the summit with views across Tokyo and out to Fuji before the queues build at the cable car.

Nikko, two hours north of Tokyo, peaks earlier. The Irohazaka switchbacks turn from the end of October, and Toshogu itself, lower down, follows in the first half of November. Toshogu admission is ¥1,600 for adults, up from ¥1,300 in 2024, and its closing time moves to 16:00 on November 1, which catches people out.

Chubu and the Japan Alps

Kamikochi's larches turn gold from late October, before the valley closes for winter

Kamikochi

Kamikochi sits at 1,500 meters, with the Azusa River running clear over white stones and the Hotaka peaks above it. Color peaks from mid-to-late October, and the golden trees are Japanese larch rather than ginkgo, turning roughly October 25 to November 5.

Takayama makes the obvious base on the Gifu side, and our guide to the old town in the Japanese Alps covers what to do with an evening there.

The valley closes for the season on November 15, 2026, marked by a ceremony at Kappa Bridge, and does not reopen until late April. Private cars have been banned year-round since 1996, so you park at Sawando or Akandana and take a shuttle bus in.

Korankei and Kawaguchiko

Korankei in Aichi is the biggest maple spectacle in central Japan, with around 4,000 trees along the Tomoe River. Entry is free and the grounds never close, though parking costs ¥1,000 a car. The Momiji Festival runs the whole of November 2026 with nightly illumination until 21:00, and new this year, the routes to the Iimoriyama summit are closed after dark.

The Momiji Corridor at Lake Kawaguchiko is the Fuji version: about 150 maples along a stream, free to walk, with the mountain behind them. The Fujikawaguchiko autumn festival runs November 7 to 29, 2026, with illumination until 21:00, and the corridor peaks from late October to mid-November.

Shiga Kogen in Nagano is the highland alternative, turning in early October, a plateau of lakes and ski runs that empties out between the summer hikers and the first snow.

Kansai and Kyoto

Kyoto is the main event, and it is the busiest week of the Japanese travel year. Peak is mid-November into early December, with the famous gardens clustered around November 24 and 25 in 2026.

Minoo Park, half an hour north of Osaka and free to enter

The Kyoto temples

Eikando is the best of them for maples, and its pricing changes with the season: ¥1,000 normally, ¥1,500 during the autumn treasure exhibition from November 11 to December 6, 2026, and a separate ¥1,000 for the evening light-up from November 20 to December 6. Day and night are separate tickets and the grounds are cleared between them.

Tofukuji's Tsutenkyo bridge looks down into a ravine of maples, and it also goes up in price for the season: ¥600 normally, ¥1,000 from November 14 to December 6, with the Hojo garden a separate ¥600. The combined ticket is not sold during the peak window. Tripods are banned year-round and photography on the bridge itself may be restricted when it is busy.

Kiyomizudera is ¥500, cash only, and opens at 6:00, which is the single best piece of advice for autumn in Kyoto: be inside a famous temple before 7:00. Its autumn night viewing runs November 21 to 30, 2026, until 21:00, on the same ¥500 ticket.

Arashiyama

Arashiyama on the western edge of Kyoto peaks around November 24. The district itself is not a World Heritage site, though Tenryu-ji within it is, as one of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto.

The Hozugawa river boat ride is the best way to see the gorge in color: two hours and 16 kilometers from Kameoka down to Arashiyama, now ¥6,000 for adults and ¥4,500 for children, running from March 10 to December 13. It is suspended in high wind or heavy rain, which happens often in typhoon season, so treat it as a plan that might change.

Minoo Park

Minoo Park is free, and the walk from the station to the 33-meter waterfall takes about 40 minutes through a maple valley. It peaks in the second half of November.

It is half an hour north of Osaka on the Hankyu line, which makes it the easiest escape from the city in the whole Kansai region.

The waterfall trail was partly closed after a fire in late 2025; the closure was lifted in August 2026, though the upper level of the rest area by the falls is still shut. The local speciality is momiji tempura, deep-fried maple leaves, sold along the path.

Chugoku and Shikoku

Miyajima's Momijidani Park, free to enter, peaking in late November

Miyajima

Miyajima, formally Itsukushima, sits off Hiroshima and peaks in late November, later than most guides suggest. Momijidani Park, the maple valley behind the town, is free.

Itsukushima Shrine costs ¥300 for adults and opens 6:30 to 17:30 from October 15 to November 30. Add ¥100 for the Miyajima visitor tax, which the ferry operators have collected with the fare since October 2023, on top of the ¥200 crossing.

The deer in the town will take a map out of your hand. The Momijidani ropeway up Mount Misen is ¥2,000 return, and the last hour to the actual summit is on foot.

Tottori and Shikoku

The Tottori Sand Dunes run about 16 kilometers along the coast and are the largest in Japan. In November the scrub and the hills behind them turn while the sand stays the same, which is a strange and good combination, and the Sea of Japan is usually rough enough to be dramatic.

Ritsurin Garden in Takamatsu, open from 6:30 in November

Ritsurin Garden in Takamatsu is one of the finest in Japan, with six ponds and thirteen landscaped hills under Mount Shiun. Admission is ¥500 for adults and ¥170 for children, raised in June 2025, and it opens at 6:30 in November. The autumn light-up runs November 20 to 29, 2026.

The Iya Valley in the interior of Shikoku is the remote option: vine bridges over a gorge, a road that clings to the cliff, and almost nobody there. Color arrives late October into mid-November. It is one of Japan's three traditionally hidden regions, and reaching it without a car takes planning. Our guide to the Setouchi islands covers the sea route into the region.

Kyushu and Okinawa

Kirishima's volcanic plateau, which peaks in mid-November

Kyushu closes the season, running from early November to the middle of December.

Kunenan in Saga is the set piece: a former private villa whose moss and maple garden opens to the public for a few weeks a year. It is no longer the nine days that older guides mention. In 2026 it opens for 16 days, November 14 to 29, from 8:00 with last entry at 16:00, at ¥1,000 a head with children free and parking at ¥500.

Kirishima in Kagoshima is the volcanic option, part of Kirishima-Kinkowan National Park, with peak color around November 12. The Kuju mountains in Oita run from late October to mid-November, and both come with hot spring towns attached.

Our guide to Japan's best onsen covers where to soak once you have finished walking.

Okinawa has no real autumn color, but November is its best month to travel

Okinawa has no koyo to speak of. What it has instead is November: 24°C, the sea still warm enough to swim in, and none of the summer typhoon risk or crowds.

Hiji Waterfall in Yambaru National Park is the walk to do, an hour through subtropical forest on boardwalks and steps.

Autumn festivals

The Takayama Autumn Festival, held every October 9 and 10

The Takayama Autumn Festival, or Hachiman Matsuri, runs on October 9 and 10 every year in Takayama, Gifu. Eleven yatai floats, some more than two centuries old, are pulled through the old town, and three of them carry karakuri marionettes operated by hidden puppeteers with strings and levers. The evening procession, with the floats lit by lanterns, is the part to stay for.

The Niihama Taiko Festival in Ehime runs October 16 to 18, and it is the loud one. Teams carry taikodai, drum floats weighing up to three tons, on their shoulders through the streets, and the rival teams' encounters are a test of nerve as much as strength.

Both fall before the foliage peaks in their regions, which makes them easy to combine with an early-season Tohoku or Alps trip rather than a Kyoto one.

Planning around the season

The last two weeks of November are the busiest travel days of the Japanese year

Book accommodation six months out for Kyoto in late November, and three to four months out everywhere else. This is the most competitive week of the domestic travel year, and ryokan in the foliage towns fill before international bookings open.

If you are moving between regions, work out whether a Japan Rail Pass is worth it for your particular route, because it rarely pays for a single-region trip. Reserve shinkansen seats as soon as you can in late November; the Tokyo-Kyoto trains sell out on foliage weekends.

Two practical habits make the difference. Go early: famous gardens at 7:00 are a different experience from the same gardens at 11:00. And build in a spare day, because the forecast shifts by a week either way and the boats and ropeways stop running in bad weather.

For photographs, the first hour after sunrise and the last before sunset do most of the work, and an overcast day saturates red maple better than bright sun does. Wet leaves after rain photograph best of all.

Where to go this year

If you can only travel in October, go north: Hokkaido, Tohoku and the Alps. Our twelve-day Tohoku route covers Towada, Oirase and the hot spring towns at exactly the right time of year.

If you are traveling in the second half of November, go to Kyoto and accept the crowds, or take the quieter version: Nikko, then Korankei, then Miyajima. Our two-week Japan itinerary shows how the distances actually work between them.

Our roundup of the country's most beautiful landscapes covers many of the same places in their other seasons, if your dates are fixed and they fall outside the koyo window.

Autumn is also cherry blossom season's quieter twin: the same gardens, the same crowds in the famous spots, half the prices for flights. If you want the spring version instead, our guide to Japan's most tranquil cherry blossom gardens is the place to start.

If you would rather hand the logistics to someone else, Trip To Japan builds trips around the forecast, which is the only sensible way to plan a foliage trip in a year running this late.