Silver Moon - Hong Kong to Tokyo: Taiwan, Korea & Japan

Where this cruise calls, day by day

11 ports and 4 sea days over 14 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Hong Kong

   Hong KongDepart

   Hong Kong is one of the great arrivals in cruising if your ship berths at Ocean Terminal, which sits at the tip of Tsim Sha Tsui with the whole Victoria Harbour skyline in front of it. The alternative, Kai Tak, was built on the runway of the old airport and is stranded on a peninsula with no rail link, so the day starts with a shuttle. Either way you get a dense, vertical, fast-moving city where the ferries and the metro do most of the work.

   • The Star Ferry across to Central, then the Peak Tram up Victoria Peak
   • The Tian Tan Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery on Lantau, via the Ngong Ping cable car - a full-day commitment
   • Man Mo Temple and the antique shops of Hollywood Road
   • Wong Tai Sin Temple, or the street stalls of Temple Street after dark

   Getting ashore

   Docked. Ocean Terminal puts you directly in Tsim Sha Tsui on foot; from Kai Tak it is a 10-minute walk (or free shuttle bus) to Kai Tak MTR station, with free ship-day shuttles to the Star Ferry pier and the Peak Tram, and 15-20 minutes by taxi into town.

   Best months

   Oct-Dec (dry, clear); Mar-May is humid and hazy

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3

   Kaohsiung

   TaiwanPort

   Kaohsiung is Taiwan's southern port city, hotter and flatter than Taipei, and it has spent two decades turning its old harbour front into public space. The cruise terminal that opened in 2023 sits right in that redevelopment, next to the Pier-2 Art Center's converted warehouses, with a metro station within walking distance. That makes it one of the easier independent port days in the region.

   • The Pier-2 Art Center warehouses and the waterfront beside the terminal
   • Lotus Pond and its Dragon and Tiger Pagodas in Zuoying
   • The Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum, out towards Dashu
   • The short ferry to Cijin Island for seafood and the old lighthouse

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the Kaohsiung Port Cruise Terminal on the city waterfront; a light rail stop sits at the terminal exit and Pier-2 is effectively on the doorstep.

   Best months

   Nov-Mar (dry, less humid)

4. Day 4

   Keelung (Taipei)

   TaiwanPort

   Keelung is unusual among Asian gateway ports in that the ship ties up in the middle of town - the terminal is at the head of the harbour with the city wrapped around it. Keelung is a rainy working port with one of Taiwan's best night markets a few minutes' walk away. Taipei is under an hour inland, and the old gold-mining hill town of Jiufen is about the same in the other direction.

   • Miaokou Night Market, a short walk from the berth
   • Taipei 101 and the National Palace Museum's Chinese imperial collection
   • Jiufen's tea houses and stepped lanes above the coast
   • Yehliu Geopark and its wind-eroded rock formations

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the East or West Pier terminals in central Keelung - downtown and the railway station are a 10-minute walk; Taipei is about 45 minutes by train, Jiufen around 50 minutes by bus.

   Best months

   Oct-Dec and Mar-Apr; Keelung is genuinely the wettest city in Taiwan

5. Day 5 · At sea

6. Day 6

   Incheon (Seoul)

   South KoreaPort

   Incheon's cruise terminal opened in 2019 out near Songdo, and it is a long way from the Seoul most passengers have in mind - reckon on an hour or more each way. That leaves a real choice: one concentrated run at the palaces and old quarters of Seoul, or a slower day around Incheon itself, which has Korea's only Chinatown and the harbour where the 1950 landings took place.

   • Gyeongbokgung Palace and the changing of the guard, in central Seoul
   • Bukchon Hanok Village and the craft shops of Insadong
   • Incheon Chinatown and the Jayu (Freedom) Park above it
   • Songdo Central Park, close to the terminal, if you would rather not commit to the drive

   Getting ashore

   Docked at Incheon International Cruise Terminal on reclaimed land south of Songdo, about 7km from the nearest metro station; central Seoul is 60-90 minutes each way, so the ship's transfer is usually the sane option.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct; winter is bitterly cold

7. Day 7

   Incheon (Seoul)

   South KoreaPort

   Incheon's cruise terminal opened in 2019 out near Songdo, and it is a long way from the Seoul most passengers have in mind - reckon on an hour or more each way. That leaves a real choice: one concentrated run at the palaces and old quarters of Seoul, or a slower day around Incheon itself, which has Korea's only Chinatown and the harbour where the 1950 landings took place.

   • Gyeongbokgung Palace and the changing of the guard, in central Seoul
   • Bukchon Hanok Village and the craft shops of Insadong
   • Incheon Chinatown and the Jayu (Freedom) Park above it
   • Songdo Central Park, close to the terminal, if you would rather not commit to the drive

   Getting ashore

   Docked at Incheon International Cruise Terminal on reclaimed land south of Songdo, about 7km from the nearest metro station; central Seoul is 60-90 minutes each way, so the ship's transfer is usually the sane option.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct; winter is bitterly cold

8. Day 8 · At sea

9. Day 9

   Nagasaki

   JapanPort

   Nagasaki is built up the sides of a narrow harbour, and the cruise terminal at Matsugae sits at the bottom of the hillside that holds most of what you came to see. This was Japan's only window on the outside world for two centuries, so there is a Dutch trading post, a Chinatown and a hillside of Western merchant houses - and then, at the north end of the city, the ground zero of the second atomic bomb.

   • Glover Garden and Oura Church, both a short walk uphill from the terminal
   • Dejima, the reconstructed Dutch trading island
   • The Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb Museum in Urakami
   • A boat out to Hashima (Gunkanjima), the abandoned coal-mining island

   Getting ashore

   Docked at Matsugae International Terminal; Glover Garden and Oura Church are a 10-15 minute walk, and the tram from nearby reaches the Peace Park in roughly 20 minutes.

   Best months

   Mar-May and Oct-Nov; Jun is the rainy season

10. Day 10

    Busan

    South KoreaPort

    Busan is Korea's port city and second-largest, wedged between mountains and beaches with a working fish market at its heart. Ships use the international terminal near Busan Station, which puts the old downtown within a short taxi ride. The two things people remember are Jagalchi's tanks of live seafood and the painted hillside houses of Gamcheon.

    • Jagalchi Fish Market and the neighbouring Gukje Market
    • Gamcheon Culture Village, the terraced hillside of painted houses
    • Haedong Yonggungsa, a Buddhist temple built right on the rocks above the sea
    • Beomeosa Temple on the slopes of Geumjeongsan, or the sand at Haeundae

    Getting ashore

    Docked, but check which terminal - the Busan Port International Passenger Terminal in North Port is beside Busan Station, while the largest ships use the Yeongdo cruise terminal out on the island, which has no walk-out option and depends on shuttles.

    Best months

    Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct (mild, dry); Jul-Aug brings the monsoon

11. Day 11

    Kochi

    JapanPort

    Kochi sits on the Pacific side of Shikoku, an island most foreign visitors never reach, and it feels correspondingly untouristed. Its castle is one of only a dozen in Japan with an original keep, and the city's other landmark is a statue of Sakamoto Ryoma staring out to sea from Katsurahama beach. Ships berth at the new port a little outside town.

    • Kochi Castle, with its original Edo-period keep and palace
    • Hirome Market, a covered hall of food stalls where the local move is seared bonito
    • Katsurahama beach and the Sakamoto Ryoma statue
    • Chikurin-ji temple and the Makino Botanical Garden on Mount Godai

    Getting ashore

    Docked at Kochi Shinko (New Port); the centre and the castle are about 20-30 minutes away by shuttle or bus.

    Best months

    Apr-May and Oct-Nov

12. Day 12

    Osaka

    JapanPort

    Osaka docks at Tempozan Pier in the western harbour, five minutes' walk from a subway station, which makes it one of the more self-sufficient ports in Japan. The city is the blunt, food-obsessed counterweight to Kyoto - neon, street snacks and a rebuilt castle rather than temples and moss. It also works as the gateway to Kyoto and Nara, both about an hour away, which is what many passengers use the day for.

    • Osaka Castle and its park
    • Dotonbori and Kuromon Ichiba market for takoyaki and kushikatsu
    • Fushimi Inari's torii gates or Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto
    • Todai-ji and the free-roaming deer of Nara Park

    Getting ashore

    Docked at Tempozan Pier; Osakako subway station is a five-minute walk, central Osaka about 20 minutes, and Kyoto roughly an hour by train.

    Best months

    Late Mar-Apr (blossom), Oct-Nov; Aug is punishingly humid

13. Day 13

    Osaka

    JapanPort

    Osaka docks at Tempozan Pier in the western harbour, five minutes' walk from a subway station, which makes it one of the more self-sufficient ports in Japan. The city is the blunt, food-obsessed counterweight to Kyoto - neon, street snacks and a rebuilt castle rather than temples and moss. It also works as the gateway to Kyoto and Nara, both about an hour away, which is what many passengers use the day for.

    • Osaka Castle and its park
    • Dotonbori and Kuromon Ichiba market for takoyaki and kushikatsu
    • Fushimi Inari's torii gates or Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto
    • Todai-ji and the free-roaming deer of Nara Park

    Getting ashore

    Docked at Tempozan Pier; Osakako subway station is a five-minute walk, central Osaka about 20 minutes, and Kyoto roughly an hour by train.

    Best months

    Late Mar-Apr (blossom), Oct-Nov; Aug is punishingly humid

14. Day 14 · At sea

15. Day 15

    Tokyo

    JapanArrive

    Most itineraries that say Tokyo actually berth at Yokohama, half an hour down the bay - Osanbashi Pier for medium ships, Daikoku Pier for the very large ones, with the Tokyo International Cruise Terminal at Odaiba as the third option. Yokohama is not a consolation prize: Osanbashi opens straight onto the waterfront, with Chinatown and Minato Mirai on foot. But if you want Tokyo proper, budget the round trip and pick two neighbourhoods rather than five.

    • Senso-ji temple and Nakamise shopping street in Asakusa
    • Meiji Jingu shrine and the walk down through Harajuku to Shibuya Crossing
    • The Imperial Palace East Gardens and the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno
    • Yokohama's Chinatown, Sankeien Garden and the Minato Mirai waterfront

    Getting ashore

    Docked. Osanbashi Pier in Yokohama is walkable to Chinatown and about 30 minutes by train from central Tokyo; Daikoku Pier is an industrial berth 15km out needing a shuttle, and Odaiba's terminal is on the Yurikamome line.

    Best months

    Late Mar-early Apr (cherry blossom), Oct-Nov (autumn colour)