Hi there,
My family (me, husband, 8-yr-old) will be traveling to Japan from-to Taipei the first week of April. I could use some advice and help on this itinerary. I should preface by saying when I booked this, it was with a vague idea that we’d be at the tail end of cherry blossom season. And now we’ll be arriving at the peak.
April 2:
Fly TPE-KIX – arrive at noon
Planning to get rail passes, Suica cards for husband, child, and whatever other necessary tools at Osaka airport. I have an iPhone; husband has a Google phone without an online payment app (he doesn’t want one). I can use a Suica card with my Apple wallet, and thought it would be fun for my kiddo
to have her own money to buy small things. Husband can also have his own Suica – he has one Visa card as an additional payment form (and we will have some yen). I have a MC and AMEX as well. Any unforeseen problems with this idea?
Leave Osaka and go to Nara Deer Park and surrounding shrines for 2-3 hours. Due to time, I do not anticipate we will be able to visit anything in Osaka on this trip. Kiddo is really excited for the deer park.
Continue on to Kyoto via HSR
We are staying at a ryokan/onsen in Kameoka for three nights. (Which I think is another hour of travel away from the HSR station?)
Day 2 and Day 3 in Kyoto:
I don’t have a hard itinerary but the things that we really want to do separately are the Suntory Prestige tour for husband (on Thursday, if I can get tickets) and a solo yarn/fabric/craft store tour for me We are planning to split forces for these excursions; SO and kiddo are interested in the Interactive Samurai Museum (she is an orange belt in American Kenpo karate and wants to learn about more martial arts), and taiko drumming. Kiddo and I would probably do the Botanical Gardens and maybe the Rail museum or Aquarium. I welcome your suggestions and ideas for activities? We like nature; we want to spend time at our onsen; we kinda like to schedule one Big Thing a day and then see where the rest of the day takes us.
Day 4 (April 5): Kyoto to Tokyo
We would like to stop at Mt. Fuji 5 Lakes on our way to Tokyo.
I want to do as much as possible and was wondering if it would make sense to find a local guide and driver that could pick us up at Mishima HSR station and drive us around rather than waiting for buses. How would I go about finding someone? We do not speak Japanese, and would appreciate someone who could speak some English. Otherwise we’re happy to communicate with Google Translate.
Night of Day 4:
Arrive Tokyo. Stay in Asakusa for 3 nights.
Day 5:
tickets booked for teamLab Borderless. Nothing else booked. Suggestions welcome
Day 6:
Tickets booked for teamLab Planets. Willing to cancel if we find we are satiated with Borderless. Nothing else booked. Suggestions welcome
Day 7-9
We are booked and will be staying at Tokyo Disneyland/Disney Sea, MiraCosta. We have the whole vacation package.
Late afternoon day 9:
NRT to TPE, transport to airport via limo bus
All of our hotels and flights are booked. Japan is part of a larger trip we’re doing between California and Taiwan. I’m still trying to calculate if it would be more efficient to purchase a JR Rail Pass or individual train tickets. We are fascinated by bullet trains and would prefer to take those over regional trains. I do have ideas for activities and places to visit in Kyoto and Tokyo beyond what I posted above but am always happy to hear of activities I should look into.
I’m also more concerned about efficiently using our time rather than saving a few dollars. Any advice and feedback is appreciated. Thank you!
