Hi all! This sub has been super helpful in my research, so thank you all for the great tips so far. We’re a group of 5 adults traveling in May, first week is Golden Week, tried to avoid it but couldn’t.
I’m looking for some help in deciding between what’s feasible in the time we have vs. what we should absolutely make time for given there’s still some flexibility in our itinerary (only Tokyo booked so far).
We’ll be using our JR rail pass for the shinkansens the first 2 weeks, then possibly rent a car for the last leg of the trip for Kyushu Island.
Our group is made up of 40 to 60 year olds, all relatively active and healthy, and all interested in getting the most out of this trip without being overly ambitious, because I’m already sure some of us will be back!
**Week 1 – Tokyo** as base for 4 nights (May 1-5)
We’ll be spending Golden Week in Tokyo, so we plan to explore the city for 2.5 days to see what we can, we won’t try to cram all this in but here’s a sample list of what we’re interested in:
* **Landmarks & museums**: Meiji Shrine & garden, Sensō-ji temple, Tokyo national museum or Intermediatheque, Tokyo skytree one of the evenings, Kōkyo palace, Fukagawa Fudō-dō during goma fire ritual, d47 museum for the 47 prefectures overview & food sampling, Yayoi Kusama museum
* **Neighborhoods & experiences**: Shimokitazawa & Ginza district (shopping and maybe Kabuki performance), Harajuku, TeamLab borderless, Shinjuku Golden Gai, maybe Tsukiji Outer Market depending on day & crowds, Farmers Market at UNU on Saturday if no day trip
* **Gardens & parks:** Rikugi-en, Ueno Park
* **Possible day trip on Saturday**: Nikko for nature/hike, eg Nikko National Park OR Kamakura for the sea, Great Buddha and food/drink specialities
***Need help with***: is half a day for Teamlab borderless enough time? Given the time we have in Tokyo and the things we want to see, is it even worth doing a day trip to see Nikko or Kamakura? Is there anything we worth adding/omitting from this list?
We’ve booked a place from May 1-5 in Tokyo, is it worth extending for a couple more days to keep Tokyo our base to do some more day trips to Izu Peninsula, Lake Kawaguchi, Hakone or keep to our Week 2 plan below?
**Week 2 – Lake Kawaguchi** for 2 nights / **Izu Peninsula** for 2 nights & try to squeeze in **Hakone** **(May 5-9)**
This week is still being planned out because due to national holidays on May 5-6, it’s proving tricky to find good hotels near Lake Kawaguchi. Plus I’m aware we’re moving every 2 days this week.
* **Lake Kawaguchi** list: Kitaguchi-hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine, Chureito pagoda (and if we’re lucky, a view of Fuji-san), Itchiku Kubota Art Museum, Oshino Hakkai, Iyashi no Sato, either Kachi Kachi Ropeway or hike up to Mt. Tenjo if open, canoeing and/or biking around the lake,
* **Hakone**: open air museum, Fuji Hakone Izu National Park, Owakudani volcanic area
* **Izu Peninsula**: We love the beach so time here by the water would be great, likely stay in Shimoda. Looking forward to hiking in this area and exploring the coast, sea caves, etc. List right now: Kawazu Nanaduru Waterfalls, Jardin de Bagatelle in Kawazu since it’ll be rose season and it looks lovely, Shuzenji Onsen & bamboo forest, Jogasaki Coast, Mount Omuru peak, Ryugu Sea Cave, Shirahama Beach
***Need help with***: As noted above, given the holidays and difficulty so far in getting a hotel in Lake Kawaguchi, are we trying to pack in too much in these 4 days? Is it even easy to navigate Hakone between Lake Kawaguchi and Izu Peninsula without a car and likely with luggage? Is it easy to navigate the Fuji 5 lakes area and Izu Peninsula (given where we plan to stay and what we want to see) without a car?
**Week 2 into wk 3 – Kyoto** as base for 5 nights **(May 9-14)**
* Spending 2.5 days exploring **Kyoto**: Kinkaku-ji, Koke-dera, Kiyomizudera Temple (maybe in the evening), Fushimi Inari-taisha, Nishiki Market, Arashiyama bamboo grove & Ōkōchi Sansō, Osawa-no-ike Pond, Shodenji Temple, Gion District (where hopefully respectful tourists will still be allowed)
* Planning days trips to **Osaka**, **Nara, Uji** from Kyoto – can the Nara (for Nara park, Todaiji Temple) & Uji (Byodoin Temple, Uji tea and Taihoan tea house) be combined in a day?
* As foodies, we’d probably prefer to spend the whole day into the evening in Osaka, also want to experience Osaka in the evening before getting back to Kyoto late. We plan to see Osaka castle, Nakanoshima Park and Rose Garden, Shinsaibashi Shopping, Shinsekai & Dotonburi districts,
***Need help with*****:** We’re trying to decide if we spend an extra night in Kyoto to do a day trip to **Miyama Village** (it looks lovely but is it worth a day trip?) or leave on the 14th and check out the Seto Inland Sea area. More specifically **Naoshima Island** (enjoy contemporary art, want to see Chichu Art Museum, Benesse House Museum, Giant Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama, Minamidera House), **Ogijima Island** and/or **Okayama** (for Korakuen Garden).
If **Seto Islands**\* , then we would spend at least a night here (May 14-15), making Okayama our base since we’d be coming from Kyoto? Do we reasonably have enough time to go check out **Naoshima island** when we get there on the 14th and then maybe check out either Ogijima island the next day OR Okayama (e.g. Korakuen gardens) before taking train to **Fukuako**? *\*I can totally envision this area as a separate trip but likely won’t travel to Japan again in the same group so we know this may be a stretch to pull off, but willing to try.*
**Week 3 + some days – Kyushu** for 5 nights **(May 15-20)**
We plan to get a car in **Fukuako**, and originally planned to find a town to base our 5 nights in but realized that wouldn’t work given what we want to cover.
* **Nagasaki** (Peace Park, Nagasaki museum, Nagushiyama Park, Dejima, Huis Ten Bosch, Night View on Mt. Inasa) + one of the islands, maybe **Iki / Goto / Tatsunoshima;** **Okawachiyama Village, Unzen jigoku, Arita** (love pottery)**, Kurokawa** (likely spend at least a night here, looks lovely), **Yufuin, Beppu/Oita, Kuju mts., Onbara Falls, Udo-jingu Shrine, Takasakiyama Monkey Park, Yutoku Inari Shrine, Yufugawa Gorge,**
***Need help with:*** does it make sense to make **Nagasaki** our base for 2 nights, **Kurokawa** for 1-2 nights and then maybe **Fukuako** for our last night before we fly out from there back to Tokyo? Is there anything we worth adding/omitting from this list?
Thanks a bunch in advance for tips and insights!!
by baaqq
