Trip Report – 21-day trip in Late November. Part 1: Osaka, Hiroshima and Miyajima.

Hello everyone!

Trip reports really helped me on the final planning of my trip – I had my itinerary ready, but would read the trip reports and make some small changes, add restaurants, change the order of things etc. I found it really helpful so will leave mine here for future travelers. I apologize in advance, but it is going to be a long read 🙂

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**Some background:**

We are a couple in our early 30s and spent our 3-week honeymoon in Japan. My husband is very interested in anime and all things Japan, so this was his dream trip. We are not the going out type, so you won’t see many night life recommendations here. We both love nature and walking, but the trip focused a lot on cities as it was our first time in Japan.

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**Some general thoughts:**

* We travelled from November 11 to December 02. It was past peak autumn foliage but still very beautiful to see. Temperatures were warmer than I was expecting, around 13-17 °C and very little rain.
* Things weren’t as expensive as I thought they would be. We travelled from Ireland, and Ireland is definitely more expensive than Japan. You can eat really cheap, hotels weren’t too bad either, except for the ones we decided to splurge on. Our biggest expenses apart from the flights were the internal transport (JR pass) and all the souvenirs we bought
* A lot of people complain about the lack of bins, but I didn’t find it too bad. There’s bins close to most of the vending machines (which are everywhere) and one of our tour guides recommended just using the convenience stores’ bins – that’s what we did, so we were never really carrying trash with us.
* We used [booking.com](https://booking.com) for booking all our hotels (don’t forget to filter by non-smoking rooms if you’re not a smoker, and for hotels that have wi-fi). Breakfast is really not a thing in Japan, so if you don’t want to have breakfast from convenience stores and vending machines, book a hotel with breakfast. We didn’t book any restaurants, but also didn’t go to any of the TikTok famous ones.
* Regarding booking Shinkansen tickets – we had reserved seats for all our journeys and I really recommend booking it a couple of days in advance. Most trains will have non-reserved cars, but you never know if they will be super busy and you will have to stand etc. We booked our journeys 2 or 3 days ahead – whenever we were in a train station, we would just go to one of the booking machines with our JR passes and book our seats for any journeys we would take on the following days. It takes a bit of planning as you need to commit to a certain train time.
* Pack light. I read this advice and ignored it. You won’t use all the clothes you’ll bring. I brought boots, never used them. 2 pairs of runners were enough. And you will fill a suitcase of things to bring back, so might as well have the space. We ended up buying an extra bag from Don Quijote and filled it with souvenirs, but nothing stops you from just bringing and empty bag.
* You will walk a lot, and as most on this sub we averaged 20k steps per day. Your legs will be sore and you will most likely be too tired to be up and running from 8am till 8pm, so add some breaks to your itinerary.

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**Our itinerary:**

Osaka – Hiroshima (and Miyajima) – Himeji – Kyoto – Matsumoto – Shibu Onsen – Nikko – Tokyo – Kawaguchiko

I think it was a good shout to start from Osaka and finish in Tokyo. During the trip everything got ‘bigger’ and ‘busier’, so we were never underwhelmed. And it was good to see how the public transport worked in a smaller city, I imagine it would have been a bit overwhelming to start my trip at Shinjuku or Tokyo Station!

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**Day 1 – Arrive at Kansai Aiport and Osaka (Shinsekai)**

*Osaka hotel:* [*the b namba kurumon*](https://www.booking.com/hotel/jp/the-b-nambakuromon) *8/10 – room was small (as most during our trip were), but comfortable. Shower was great (in fairness we didn’t have a single bad shower during the trip). Location was excellent, right across the street from Kurumon Ichiba Market. You could pay extra for breakfast, but it wasn’t that good. They also helped us with forwarding our luggage to our next destination.*

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* Flight landed at 11.20am and we got to our hotel right before 3pm to check in. We booked the [Limousine Bus from Kansai Airport to Osaka on Klook](https://www.klook.com/activity/18203-kansai-airport-one-way-transfer-osaka/) as I didn’t want to figure out trains right when we landed.
* Things to do before leaving the airport:
* Get cash from an ATM
* Buy your IC card (these machines only take cash). Don’t leave the airport without an IC card – at least when we went there was a shortage of cards all over Japan so you weren’t able to buy it from train stations. We lost one of our cards mid trip and were stuck with paying all fares with cash, which is doable but annoying. Oh, and bring a little bag for coins (or buy one from a souvenir shop) – you will have a lot of coins with you.
* We didn’t have much of a plan for this day as I knew we were going to be tired from all the traveling and jet lagged. All we did was a [Food tour around Shinsekai](https://www.getyourguide.com/osaka-l1204/osaka-shinsekai-food-tour-t315237/) which I highly recommend. It was probably the best tour we did during all our time in Japan, and we didn’t have to figure out what/where to eat on our first night. We went to several restaurants that we wouldn’t have tried otherwise and walked around Shinsekai. 10+ dishes and 2 drinks were included, more than enough to make you feel very full. To get to the tour’s starting point, we walked through Den Den Town. Not my thing, but my husband checked a couple of shops. We were back at the hotel by 9pm and that was the end of the day.

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**Day 2 – Universal Studios Japan**

* The park opened at 9am, we got there at 8.20am and were inside the park by 8.45am. It was a Monday morning and a bit rainy, so that might have helped. We had the express pass, but I’m not sure it was entirely necessarily. If you are buying the express pass, buy it way in advance as the ones with decent time slots sell out very quickly.
* Our timed entries for Super Mario and Harry Potter were at 11.50am and 4pm, a good gap and we were able to have lunch in between. We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant (Saido) and I really don’t recommend it, worst food of the entire trip. My mistake, in an amusement park I should have just had pizza, but oh well, it was our second day in Japan and I though Japanese food would be a good shout. It was not.
* The best rides in my opinion were Hollywood dream (and Backdrop) and the Flying Dinosaur. We went twice in each, even though our express pass covered only one ride in Hollywood Dream. The Minions ride was cute but I wouldn’t queue for it, unless you have kids. Harry Potter rides were fun. Super Mario rides weren’t great to be honest, and I wouldn’t recommend spending two hours in the queue for it.
* I’ve never been to Universal Studios before, so I had a very fun day and would recommend it.

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**Day 3 – Osaka (Umeda, Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi)**

* The initial plan was to go to Nara, but we ended up deciding against it after talking to a few people who had just visited (we had no interest in seeing the deer, plenty of them in Ireland) and considering we wanted to see more of Osaka.
* We were dying for a good cup of coffee (they are not that easy to find), so we started the day getting brunch at the [Melbourne Cafe](https://maps.app.goo.gl/wcy1jNEWwpdDxw6H8) (7/10)
* We then headed to Umeda, which wasn’t in our itinerary initially. Getting there, we first exchanged our JR passes and I’m glad we did it there instead of the airport, the queue was much much smaller (it took us less than 15 minutes). We also booked our Shinkansen seats for the next day – the earlier trains were already sold out, so we learned our lesson to book the next ones a couple of days beforehand.
* Then we checked the Pokémon Center, Nintendo and One Piece Stores and bought a good few things (even though I would advise you to leave most of your shopping to the end of the trip, as you’ll find these stores almost everywhere)
* After, we headed to Umeda Sky Building – really cool building and views, be mindful they only take cash for the tickets. Looking back, we should have probably gone to the building first, so we weren’t carrying shopping bags around with us.
* Back to the hotel for a quick power nap (jet lag is tough). We spent our evening walking around Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi and eating some delicious street food. Very busy but really cool area. We finished the night having drinks and playing video games at [Space Bar](https://maps.app.goo.gl/GkiUANFL74ZrcEwY6)

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**Day 4 – Osaka and Miyajima**

* We checked out of our hotel and shipped our luggage to Kyoto – always check with the hotel if they actually do this service and when should you go down to the reception to fill the forms, some will say the night before, some will say on check out.
* Kurumon Ichiba Market for breakfast. There were plenty of options open at 9am – we had sushi and wagyu, both delicious.
* We walked to Namba Yasaka Jinja, not much to see there but it’s a cool photo spot. We left in less than 10 minutes.
* We then got the Shinkansen to Hiroshima. Our initial plan was to spend the day in Hiroshima, go to the museum, peace park etc. and go to Miyajima on the next day for a full day. However, the day was very sunny and the forecast for the next day was rain, so we decided to go Miyajima instead for a half day only, and enjoy the good weather.
* Since our time was limited after changing plans, we opted to get the [this ferry](https://www.aqua-net-h.co.jp/en/heritage/) instead of the JR option. We got on the 12.55pm boat and were in Miyajima by 13.40pm. We were starving, so had oysters for lunch at [Kakiya](https://maps.app.goo.gl/1HTyWQUkLFGWy2MEA) (10/10, absolutely delicious, less than 15 min wait and quick service).
* After lunch we got some photos at the Torii gate and started to walk towards the ropeway station. After getting on the gondola, we arrived at Shishiiwa observatory at 3.40pm so unfortunately we didn’t have time to hike to the summit of Mt. Misen as the last gondola down would be at 4.30pm. Still, the views from the observatory are spectacular.
* We took the last gondola down and made our way to the ferry which would leave at 5.30pm. Realistically, two extra hours in Miyajima would have been perfect to explore the island – in the end we didn’t go to the pagoda, climbed the summit of Mt. Misen or checked the souvenir shops. But I think it was a good trade off to go there with less time but on a sunny day.
* Back to Hiroshima, we got dinner at [Kikuya](https://maps.app.goo.gl/EeE8ESzPSqMn1wraA) (9/10), a tonkatsu restaurant, and headed to our hotel for check in.

*Hiroshima hotel:* [*Candeo hotel*](https://www.booking.com/hotel/jp/candeo-hotels-hiroshima-hatchobori) *(8/10) Spacious room, good breakfast and has a public Onsen. Ok location, you still have to walk \~15 min to get to most places.*

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**Day 5 – Hiroshima**

* We started the day by checking out Hiroshima Castle at 9am. I don’t think it’s worth getting in – it’s more like a museum telling the history of the castle and the village around it, but none of the internal structure is original, you feel like you are in an office to be honest. So if you wanna see a Japanese castle inside, this is not the place. It is a very quick visit anyway and you can get to the top floor for some nice views.
* We then headed to the A-bomb dome and walked around the peace memorial park checking all the monuments.
* At 10.30am we headed into the peace museum and spent 1.5 hours there. When we got in there was no queue for tickets, but the queue was massive by the time we left. I paid for the audio guide, but that was not entirely necessary, most of the information was written on the walls during the exhibit. So unless you don’t wanna do a lot of reading or want to listen to things in your own language, I don’t recommend getting it.
* We got lunch at [Nagataya](https://maps.app.goo.gl/nip57jbiCB4ZLXrS6), for Okonomyiaki. We walked past it on the night before and there was a big waiting queue, so I thought that was a good sign. For lunch we had to wait for about 15 minutes. It was just ok (6/10), clearly aimed at tourists – we had another Okonomiyaki later on the day and it was much better, so I wouldn’t recommend considering there’s likely gonna be a queue to get in.
* We walked down Hondori street and stopped at Taito Station for a few games. I hadn’t planned for it but it was so much fun, we spent a good couple of hours checking all the floors and games. I would advise going to arcades in places other than Tokyo, as the ones we went in Tokyo were considerably busier and more often than not the games we wanted to play were busy. We then had Pokemon shaped donuts at Mister Donut – they weren’t great but oh well, they looked like Pikachu so no complaints.
* Back to the hotel for 2 hours and a quick visit to the public Oonsen.
* We headed back out in the evening for a [Food and Bar Hopping Tour](https://www.magical-trip.com/product/10316ca2-d78f-49ec-b011-0aa1c0937c18). Our guide was a local, so it was great to talk to him about all things Japan. It was a small group tour, so easy to chat and get to know each other. We had 6 dishes and 3 drinks in 3 different restaurants (one Izakaya. I don’t remember all the dishes, but there was definitely Okonomiyaki, gyozas, chicken skewers and horse meat sushi) and the tour lasted for about 3 hours. We were very full after it and I would recommend doing it.
* We went back to the hotel at 11pm straight to bed, as we had an early start on the next day to get the Shinkansen to Himeji.

Final notes on Hiroshima/Miyajima: If you are really tight on time, Hiroshima and Miyajima can be done in a day (at least in my opinion!). We were done with most of what we had planned on Hiroshima by 12pm (A-bomb dome, Memorial Park, Museum), could have taken the ferry to Miyajima for the Torii gate and Ropeway. It would be a VERY BUSY but doable day.

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Well, this got way longer than I expected so I will stop here. Will try to do a part 2 in a few days about Himeji, Kyoto, Matsumoto and Shibu Onsen. If you have any questions feel free to ask!