itinerary check, first-time travelers tips

hello everyone!

My friend and I are planning to visit japan in march for 3 weeks, from march 8 to march 31

I have been reading the sub for several months now, and with all your tips and the information we found, this is what we have put together so far. we have the flights, accommodation reservations, and we are just waiting for the dates to get park tickets, like disney and reservation for pokemon cafe, for example.

This is my first trip of this scale, going out of my city, taking a flight, to a place where I don’t speak the language, and for so long…to be honest, I don’t know what to expect, but I am excited haha

• **08/03:** arrive at narita airport (\~6:20 AM), travel directly to the first lodging in osaka, near dotonbori and explore the area in the afternoon/evening.

• **09/03:** hiroshima day trip, go to miyajima and the museum.

• **10/03:** day trip to himeji, visit the castle, the gardens, maybe visit kobe on the way back.

• **11/03:** universal studios japan (tickets already bought).

• **12/03:** free day, hopefully visit the pokemon cafe (maybe go to the aquarium as plan b), explore the nippombashi area, den den town and shinkekai.

• **13/03:** on the way to the next lodging in kyoto, near kyoto station, visit the Nijō castle and the imperial palace.

• **14/03:** get up early to start at arashiyama/monkye park/tenryu-ji, then go to Toei Kyoto Studio. Park, then go to ginkaku-ji and explore the place.

• **15/03:** day trip to nara, passing through fushimi inari in the morning.

• **16/03:** day trip to Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum.

• **17/03:** day trip to amanoshidate.

• **18/03:** start in the morning in kiyomizudera, then visit gion, maruyama park and explore the higashiyama area.

• **19/03:** on the way to the next lodging in hakone, (near hakone shrine), just relax and explore the surroundings.

• **20/03:** take the hakone loop, take the pirate ship ride, the cable car, visit owakunadi, and try an onsen in the area.

• **21/03:** travel to the last accommodation in tokyo, very close to asakusa station. visit the sensoji temple and maybe the skytree in the afternoon.

• **22/03:** get up early to go to Ushiku Daibutsu in the morning, return to ueno park, and go to akihabara in the evening for a tour to daikoku.

• **23/03:** start the day at teamlabs borderless (tickets already bought), then walk around shinjuku and shibuya for the rest of the day.

• **24/03:** day trip to kamakura and enoshima.

• **25/03:** tokyo disneyland (expected date).

• **26/03:** tokyo disneysea (expected date).

• **27/03:** spend the day in yokohama, Nismo showroom, nissan museum, chinatown, cup noddles museum and gundam factory.

• **28/03:** travel in one of those futuristic boats to odaiba and spend the day there, diver city, tokyo joypolis, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation…

• **29/03:** get lost in akihabara all day long.

• **30/03:** last day, since the return flight will be in the morning of the next day, my plan would be to continue in akihabara for the rest of the day, and head to narita in the evening, to stay in one of the capsule hotels at the airport, and be ready for the return trip.

• **31/03:** return home, flight departure at 9:35 am.

with this itinerary in mind, I would like some help with a few questions:

**1)** Researching about the jr pass, with the increase in cost, and according to the calculators I used, the 14 day pass seems like a good option for the first part of the trip, but the price would be a little less than buying individual tickets. for convenience, would you recommend it?

**2)** Not counting lodging, reservations like disneyland, or the long shikansen trips, what would be a reasonable budget? local transportation, eating, maybe buy some souvenirs, I was thinking about something like 10,000¥ per day.

**3)** Do you think that there are some days that are too tight, or some that can be condensed into one day? for example, spend the morning in kamakura and the rest of the afternoon in yokohama?

**4)** For the last day, do you have any other recommendation? i already checked and i could not add one more night in tokyo, so the idea is to squeeze the most of the day and travel to the airport at night.

Any advice, comments and feedback is welcome, thank you very much to all of you!!

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