FORGET CHERRY BLOSSOM. I'D GO TO JAPAN IN AUTUMN.

Mention Japan and most people immediately think of cherry blossom.

And I can see why. Japan covered in pink is undeniably beautiful and sakura season is a huge part of Japanese culture.

But, having visited at both times of year, faced with the choice between Japan in cherry blossom season and Japan in autumn - I'd take autumn.

For a start, autumn Japan isn't just a slightly prettier version of what you'd see at any other time of year. Japanese maples turn brilliant shades of scarlet, crimson and orange, while ginkgo trees go almost ridiculously gold. Throw in mountains, temples, traditional gardens and the odd bullet train and you've got quite a combination.

There's also rather more time to catch it.

Like cherry blossom, autumn colour travels through Japan – only in the opposite direction. It starts in the cooler north and at higher elevations, then gradually moves south and downhill. So while Hokkaido can be turning colour in September, Kyoto and Tokyo may not reach their best until late November or even early December.

We're dealing with trees rather than train timetables, so obviously nobody can guarantee peak colour on a particular Tuesday. But the longer season gives you considerably more scope to plan a route around it than the sometimes maddeningly brief peak of cherry blossom.

So, if I've persuaded you that autumn deserves a look, where should you go?

Hokkaido

If you want to see Japan's autumn colours early, head north.

Daisetsuzan National Park is usually one of the first places in the country to change, and this is autumn on a rather grander scale – mountains and huge expanses of forest rather than beautifully positioned maple trees beside a temple. Japan does do both rather well.

It's a very different Japan from Tokyo and Kyoto – and, if you've got the time to venture that far north, rather spectacular.

The Japanese Alps

I'd be trying to squeeze the Japanese Alps into the itinerary anyway. In autumn, the argument for doing so becomes even stronger.

Places such as Kamikochi and Takayama give you forests, mountains and rivers alongside traditional towns – and a very different Japan from the one you'll see in Tokyo and Kyoto.

Because altitude affects when the leaves change, timing becomes particularly important here. Higher areas colour considerably earlier than the cities – another reason why the route and the dates need to be thought about together.

Tokyo

And before you assume you need to disappear into the mountains to see all this, Tokyo gets in on the act too.

The city's ginkgo avenues turn brilliant yellow, while its parks and traditional gardens provide plenty of red maple. Meiji Jingu Gaien's famous ginkgo avenue is probably the place to go if you've decided you've had enough red for one day.

I rather like the contrast. One minute you're in one of the world's great modern cities; the next you're wandering through a garden full of red maples.

Kyoto

If I were choosing one place where autumn really gives cherry blossom a run for its money, it would probably be Kyoto.

Red and orange maples surrounding temples, reflected in ponds and framing traditional buildings make some of the city's already beautiful sights look extraordinary.

Kiyomizu-dera, Tofuku-ji, Eikando and the temples of Arashiyama are among the best-known places to see the colours.

The downside?

Everyone else knows they're beautiful too.

Sadly, no one has discovered a cunning way of having Kyoto to ourselves. Peak autumn foliage can be extremely busy, so this isn't a clever way of avoiding the crowds of cherry blossom season.

As with so much in Japan, the answer is not to avoid it but to be a bit clever about how you do it – early starts, sensible planning and enough time that you don't have to visit every famous temple at precisely the same time as everybody else.

Nara

Nara combines autumn colour with temples, parkland and, of course, its famously free-roaming deer – who remain entirely unimpressed by both the foliage and the number of people photographing it.

It's an easy addition to a Kyoto stay, but I'd resist treating it simply as somewhere to dash through on a day trip if you have the time to stay longer.

Autumn or cherry blossom?

There isn't a wrong answer.

If you've always dreamed of seeing Japan beneath clouds of pink blossom, go in spring. It's a wonderful time to be there.

But there are a couple of catches.

Cherry blossom is notoriously difficult to predict far in advance. The flowering dates depend on the weather and the period of peak bloom in any particular place can be remarkably short. You can plan intelligently and give yourself several opportunities along your route, but ultimately the trees haven't read your itinerary.

Autumn isn't completely predictable either, but the season is longer, so you've got rather more margin for error.

Both seasons are popular. Both need to be booked well ahead if you want a good choice of hotels. And both can produce some fairly formidable crowds at the most famous sights.

So if your cunning plan was to choose autumn and have Japan to yourself, I should probably disabuse you of that now.

But if the choice is purely about when Japan looks its best, autumn gets my vote.

Perhaps it's the combination of colours rather than one great burst of pink. Perhaps it's seeing brilliant red maples around Kyoto's temples one day and golden ginkgo lining a Tokyo avenue a few days later. Or perhaps it's simply that autumn seems to complement Japan's landscapes particularly well.

Cherry blossom will continue to get the headlines.

Given the choice, though, I'll take the red maples, golden ginkgo and Japanese Alps in autumn.

If Japan is on your wish list and you're not sure when to go, get in touch. The best time isn't simply a question of spring versus autumn – it depends on where you want to go, what you most want to see and how the different parts of the trip fit together.