Itinerary Check – First Timers 17 Days March 2024

Flying out end of March 2024, staying for 17 nights all over Japan. Any help would be appreciated as I’ve never been outside Europe!
We’re fast pace travellers that want to see as much as possible efficiently, but so far we had to skip museums and parks due to time/locations. Not sure if anything we planned could be left out or substituted for something else?
Main interests: FOOD (especially sushi), Sakura blossoms, culture and collecting eki stamps from stations, temples etc.

**Questions**

* We’ll book all our shinkansen trains on Klook and reserve seats – are there any downsides to this (e.g. cheaper in person, harder to scan at gate etc)?
* Is it worth getting any Tokyo day passes or the Koyasan pass?
* We’ll take advantage of jetlag be out around 7:00AM each day, should we move any particular activities to be early in the morning/weekdays to avoid crowds?

**Day 1 (Tokyo)**

* Land at Haneda around 8:00, allow 2h for customs and bag collection, pick up welcome suica or pasmo passport, activate esim
* Head to hotel in Ginza to drop off bags
* Tsujiki market for lunch or find a sit-down place if Tsujiki is too crowded
* Don Que to buy snacks, coin purse, stamp book, hand towels, umbrella/raincoat – any other essentials?
* Check-in and chill for a bit, have ramen near the hotel
* Go to Roppongi hills or Azabudai Sky Lobby for sunset and Tokyo Tower on way back – skip if too tired

**Day 2 (Tokyo)**

Really wanted to go to Mt Fuji on this day but we don’t have enough days in Tokyo and jetlag might get to us.

* Visit Tokyo Tower during the day
* Spend a day in Shibuya / Harajuku shopping
* Booked dinner near Meguro River to see it at night

**Day 3 (Tokyo)**

* Senso-ji Shrine and go through market
* Go to Pokemon Centre Sky Tree
* Have lunch at Kura Sushi
* Shop around sky tree
* Walk around Nakamise (try one of the famous matcha places) and Kappabashi streets to buy kitchen knives, chopsticks etc.
* Have dinner at Gyokatsu Motomura and spend evening in Akihabara

**Day 4 (Tokyo)**

* Breakfast at Tsujiki market and head to Shinjuku national gardens for 9:00
* Lunch at Tsujihan
* Ginza shopping: Uniqlo, Gu, Loft, Daiso, Thrifting, 3coin – anything else worth visiting?
* Booked sushi omakase for dinner

**Day 5 (Tokyo to Hiroshima)**

* Walk along Meguro river and arrive at Starbucks Reserve for breakfast
* Check-out and forward luggage to Osaka
* Tokyo station, browse shops/pokemon centre and get bento to have on the train to Hiroshima – is Ekiben nice? I’ve heard mixed things
* Check-in, drop bags and go to the Memorial Museum
* Find somewhere for dinner, and explore Dome area

**Day 6 (Hiroshima – Miyajima)**

Some places might seem in the wrong order – this is so we can catch both low and high tides at Itsukushima Shrine

* Breakfast at hotel and head to Miyajima
* Walk through Omotesando street and get to Itsukushima in time for low tide
* Find somewhere for lunch and head to Mijayima Ropeway – would 2h be enough for there and back?
* Return to Itsukushima Shrine for high tide
* Daisho-in temple, Momijidani Park, Itsukushima Pavilion
* Have dinner and see Itsukushima at night before heading back

**Day 7 (Hiroshima to Osaka)**

* Have hotel breakfast and explore the area (or get a couple more hours of sleep)
* Get snacks to have on the train to Osaka
* Have lunch at Izakaya Toyo (would having cabin bags be an issue?) and head to hotel to check-in and drop bags
* Explore and eat! Check the shops and Dotonburi

**Day 8 (Osaka – USJ)**

We are so excited for this day – we got the express passes but we’ll still go early to make sure we do the rides that aren’t included. Any tips for Kinopio’s cafe or souvenir shopping would be welcome. We hope the Donkey Kong expansion is there but not looking likely.

**Day 9 (Osaka)**

We were going to have the Osaka 1 day pass to do the Sakura cruise and Tombori night cruise but we’ll probably skip due to time.

* Osaka Castle (just outside)
* Kuromon market for lunch
* Maccha House for dessert
* Namba Yasaka Shrine and Shinsekai
* Tendon or Kushikatsu for dinner

**Day 10 (Osaka to Koyasan)**

* Fluffy pancakes for breakfast
* Check out, all luggage to Kyoto, grab lunch at Dotonburi
* Head to Koyasan – would the Koyasan pass be worth it?
* Check-in and rest at the temple for a while, have dinner there
* Cemetery night tour

**Day 11 (Koyasan to Kyoto)**

* Buddhist service, fire ritual and breakfast at the temple
* Check-out and head to Kyoto, have lunch at Namba during a train change
* Check in at 15:00 and go around Higashiyama and Nineizaka streets
* Have dinner and see Kodaiji or Yasaka at night

**Day 12 (Kyoto – Nara)**

* Train to Nara and rent bikes
* Todaji Temple, Daibutsu-ike Pond, Isuien Garden and Nara Park to feed the deer
* Lunch and go through the Manyo Botanical Gardens
* Go to Natakanidou for the mochi pounding – when does it start/end?
* Kofuku-ji Gojunoto Pagoda and return bikes
* Return to Kyoto and go to Men-Ya Inoichi for dinner

**Day 13 (Kyoto)**

* Nineizaka streets to Kiyomizu-dera, then return for breakfast at the traditional Starbucks, Thinking of renting Kimono but not sure if it’s worth it / if our feet can handle it
* Kodaiji Temple, Yasaka-jinja Shrine, Heian-jingu Shrine
* Go to the Pokemon Centre, and have lunch at Nishiki market. Get some souvenirs
* Chill at hotel, do some shopping and find somewhere for dinner

**Day 14 (Kyoto)**

* Head to Fushimi Inari Shrine – spend around 1-1.5h as we’re not fit enough to reach the top
* Lunch somewhere near the Kinkakuji Temple and then visit the temple
* Fluffy pancakes and go around Pontocho and Gion streets for souvenirs, matcha, coffee beans and tea to take back home
* Find somewhere for yakiniku dinner

**Day 15 (Kyoto – Arashiyama)**

* Be at the Bamboo Forest around 7:30, walk to Observation deck and go to Tenryuji Temple at 8:30
* Get Arabica coffee and walk from Togetsukyo Bridge to the Monkey park – would 2 hours be enough to do this and return to the station area?
* Booked lunch at 11:15, rent bikes afterwards
* Jojakkoji, Gioji, Saga-Toriimoto Street, Otagi Nenbutsugi, Daikakuji – do rentals provide locks so we can keep the bikes outside?
* Return to station to drop off bikes and try the desserts nearby
* Return to central Kyoto and find somewhere for dinner. Forward luggage to the Tokyo hotel to ensure it goes there on time

**Day 16 (Kyoto to Yokohama)**

* Check-out but leave bags at hotel
* Ginkakuji Temple – should we skip this?
* Get lunch head to Yokohama
* Check-in, drop bags – we heard that Gundam Factory is closing so not sure whether there’s anything else to do around or just rest?
* Chinatown for dinner, Cosmoworld for a couple rides and have early night

**Day 17 (Yokohama to Tokyo)**

* Grab breakfast and get early train to Tokyo
* Drop bags at hotel and explore Shinjuku – Godzilla, 3D Billboards, Shops
* Have last sushi of the trip – already sad about this
* Spend the whole afternoon shopping at Mega Don Qui and play at arcades
* Go back to hotel to check-in, see how much luggage space we have left
* Find a Shabu Shabu for dinner
* Find Gashapon to get our last souvenirs and get rid of some coins, see Shinjuku at night and sleep early to be at airport by 6:00.

Thank you so much for reading this – I would be very grateful for any feedback!

by TheLegendOfDelta