Planning a first-time trip to Japan in the last 2 weeks of May. It’s a family vacation (My Wife and I, 12yo and 5yo) We like to keep things fairly open and are most looking forward to just exploring and finding our own experiences. That said I have roughed out an itinerary that id really appreciate some feed back on. Don’t want to miss out on things by overextending, but don’t want to be found with not knowing what to do with ourselves either.
Thanks in advance for any feed back and to all the helpful information I’ve gathered from here!
Days 1 -3: Tokyo (Airbnb Asuka)
Days 4-6: Kyoto
Days 7-10: Osaka
Days 11-14: Tokyo (Airbnb Shinjuku)
Day 0:
\-Arrive at Narita (admin like pocket wifi, IC cards e.t.c)
\-Airbnb in Asakusa
Day 1: Pretty relaxed first day
\-Akihabara
\-Imperial Palace
Day 2: First day of Sanja Matsuri
\-Explore Asakusa
\-Senso-Ji Temple
\-Sky Tree (time dependent)
\- Boat From Asakusa to Odaiba: anybody done this? Thoughts?
\-Explore Odaiba: Any food recommendations as we will probably be here for dinner?)
Day 3:
\-Check out more of the festival happenings
\-Ueno Park and a Museum or 2
\-Shinkansen Tokyo to Kyoto
Day 4: Unsure if I’m Packing too much into this day?
\-Nintendo store and Nishiki Market
\-Gion and Kodai-Ji Temple
\-Ninenzaka/Sannenzaka and Higashiyama
\-Fushimi Inari
Day 5:
\-Arashiyama: With the consensus on the bamboo grove being pretty meh of an experience, is the area in general still worth a visit? I know the kids will love the monkey park.
Day 6:
\-Uji: Nintendo Museum
\-Nara
Day 7:
\-Travel Kyoto to Osaka
\-explore around accommodation
\-Osaka Castle (any other recommendations for places around the are?)
\-Umeda: Sky Building, Nintendo Store
Day 8: Universal Studios
Day 9: Explore the City
\-Shinsekai
\-DenDen Town
\-America Mura
\-Dotonbori
\-Teamlabs Botanical
Day 10: FREE
\-At this stage we have a free day here. Accommodation isn’t fully locked so could change is there are things you think we may be overlooking in other cities? Contemplating an overnight stay at Kawaguchiko between Tokyo and Kyoto.
Day 11: Back to Tokyo, Airbnb in Shinjuku
\-Shinkansen Osaka to Tokyo
\-Shinjuku/Ikebukuro
Day 12: Disneyland (never been to a Disney theme park. Would you recommend Disneyland or sea for a first experience?)
Day 13:
\-Shibuya/Harajuku
\-Meiji-Jingo
\-Teamlabs Borderless
Day 14: Last day
\-We fly out in the evening so have most of the day to do some last minute exploring, haven’t got anything in particular in mind so any recommendations would be appreciated.