**Kansai Itinerary – Early April 2024**
Hi all! I have 5 days in the Kansai region in early April with my wife. We would be so grateful for some advice on this first draft of an itinerary. I have read many posts on Reddit but of course, it is still a bit overwhelming in general trying to plan a trip. I hope to take some feedback from this in order to make improvements.
Background info: Couple in our early 30s. Interested in Japanese culture, anime, Japanese food (me more so than my wife), just general soaking in the experience.
Thanks in advance!
**Thursday – Arrive in Osaka from Tokyo**
Arrive early afternoon to hotel (Hotel the Leben)
After settling in, walk to LiLo Coffee Roasters and check out America-mura
6-9PM – Sake Crawl / Food Tour starting @ Temma Station
Back to hotel
**Friday – Osaka**
Current Ideas for during the day:
Den den town
Shinsekai
Osaka Aquarium
Dotonbori at night (sunset around 6PM)
**Saturday – Leaving Osaka, Ending day in Kyoto**
Early AM – Shinkansen to Himeji – Roughly 2 hours from hotel to Himeji Castle
Leave bags in coin locker to go see castle – expect to walk about castle grounds for an hour or so
Shinkansen to Kyoto – Roughly 2.5 hours from Himeji Castle to hotel
3-4PM – Expecting to arrive at Kyoto Hotel (Hotel Muso)
Fushimi Inari in the evening when it is hopefully less crowded (**EDIT:** forgot to mention we aren’t planning on doing the full hike. Mostly just interested in walking up to the point where we feel like we’ve experienced the climbing thru the tori gates as much as we wanted. Perhaps we will hike enough to the point where we feel like we’ve gotten a enough spacing to feel more alone)
**Sunday – Kyoto**
8 AM – Kiyomizu-dera and nearby shopping streets on the way back
10-11AM – Nara? (1 hr away) Want to do Todai-ji and Nara Park
Back to Kyoto for food and drinks in Pontocho area (dinner reservation at 7PM)
**Monday – Kyoto**
10AM – Nishiki Market – General hours are 10A-6P
12:30 PM or so – Sagano Romantic Train / Araishiyama? – I have heard on Reddit that Araishiyama area sights are pretty overrated in general. However, the train seems like a good way to see some springtime scenery if we can get a good reservation. If we do the train, it probably makes sense to see what else we can do in the area.
Kinkaku-ji – Could be skippable or take a taxi here because it seems relatively complicated/time consuming to get to via public transit?
After this, itinerary is a bit up in the air:
Philosopher’s Path if Sakura in season – skip otherwise most likely
Other ideas: Yasaka shrine in the evening
Pontocho or Gion/Higashiyama area for food and drinks
**Tuesday – Leaving Kyoto**
Shinkansen to Tokyo
**Main questions/comments wanted:**
Wondering what some fun activities would be on the Osaka day Friday before a night time visit to Dotonbori. As of now, it seems a bit light for our only full day in Osaka
Is it possible to pull off the Osaka → Himeji → Kyoto Check in → Fushimi Inari day or is that too much?
Is the Nara day trip feasible when leaving around 10-11? We want to avoid a “speedwalking thru temples and sights” vibe during our stay in the region, but we also don’t tend to luxuriate in areas for hours on end. I feel like we would stay in each Nara location for less than an hour
Any egregious omissions from our short Kyoto stay? Monday’s itinerary is a bit messy/up in the air.
Thanks in advance for any advice! I hope to improve from here, as this is my first draft!
by handofjupiter