This is really detailed for a trip that’s far out, but it’s actually a remix of my plans from a trip that was meant to happen in 2020 (and then 2021…you know how it is). I’m iffy about 2022, but in that case, just change the title to 2023. There will be 2 of us, so not too many bodies to manage. We both like food, architecture, art, and gentle hikes. Dates are somewhat flexible but need to have Thanksgiving in there somewhere. I’ll know a bit of Japanese for this trip, but not much.
I know this itinerary is ambitious. Originally, this was meant to be a 2-4 week trip, but now I’ve graduated university, so we’re working within the vacation time we have. I’ve had a very hard time paring everything down, but I *believe* that with all of the jenga-ing I did what I have below should result in a feasible if tiring trip (which is okay, since it’s only about a week). Lastly, I have been to Japan before on a whirlwind tour when I was younger. I don’t remember as much of it as I’d like, but I left out some destinations that I felt I wouldn’t get much more out of. Notably things like Tokyo Skytree, Meiji Shrine, Monkey Park, Kamakura, Kinkakuji, etc.
My main questions for the itinerary:
1. Is it actually not a feasible trip? I jigsawed things as much as I could and estimated travel times, but I’m worried I’m overly optimistic.
2. Can anything be rearranged to make the trip more efficient and leave more time for doing rather than traveling?
3. Are any of the destinations on bad days/times?
4. Is there anything I’m absolutely crazy for leaving off, or leaving on?
5. Are there better areas of the city to stay for the Tokyo/Kyoto leg of the trip?
6. Is there an event/festival that I’ve missed? That’s one thing I really wanted to do, but I couldn’t find anything in November.
7. Any specific recommendations in Arashiyama (not Monkey Park) or Nara?
Without further ado, here it is. I split each day into roughly 4 hour increments (morning, afternoon, evening, with wiggle room depending on the activity) to better see if I could hit everything I want, and marked hotels when there’s a ‘shift’ (whatever’s below them is the night we’d be staying at that hotel). “Flex time” is just where I marked significant chunks of time that I don’t have anything specific planned, hopefully to be filled with spur of the moment things or longer stays at other itinerary items.
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11/18, FRI – Home -> NRT
>Plane all day
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Hotel in Ueno
11/19, SAT – NRT -> Taito City, Tokyo (half-day)
>**Morning -** Plane
>
>**Afternoon** \- Airport + Check into hotel
>
>**Evening** \- Check out **Akihaibara** (if able)
11/20, SUN – Taito City -> Mitaka
>**Morning -** Wake up early to see **Sensoji Temple**
>
>**Afternoon** \- Visit the **Ghibli Museum**.
>
>**Evening – Flex time** in Tokyo.
11/21, MON – Taito City -> Koto City -> Shinjuku
>**Morning -** Forward luggage to Kyoto. **Flex time** in Tokyo.
>
>**Afternoon -** View the **Fukugawa Edo Museum** or **Teamlab Planets**.
>
>**Evening -** Visit **Harajuku** and then the **Mori Art Museum** for night views of the city.
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Bus
11/22, TUES – Tokyo DisneySea -> Osaka
>**Morning/Afternoon/Evening** \- Arrive at **Tokyo DisneySea** and spend the day there.
>
>**Night** \- Take the night bus to Osaka.
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Arima Onsen ryokan
11/23, WED – Osaka -> Kobe
>**Morning** \- Head to **Kobe** and explore.
>
>**Afternoon** \- Explore Kobe, and end the afternoon at **Arima Onsen**.
>
>**Evening** \- Relax at **Arima Onsen** and ideally enjoy some wagyu beef at the ryokan.
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Osaka hotel
11/24, THURS – Kobe -> Himeji -> Osaka
>**Morning** \- Travel to and explore **Himeji Castle**.
>
>**Afternoon** \- **Flex time** in Osaka.
>
>**Evening -** See a show at the **National Bunraku Theatre**.
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Hotel in Gion
11/25, FRI – Osaka -> Kyoto
>**Morning** \- Travel to **Obubo Tea Farm** and start tour.
>
>**Afternoon** \- Tour Obubo Tea Farm and travel to Kyoto.
>
>**Evening** \- See **Kiyomizudera** for nighttime illumination.
11/26, SAT – Arashiyama -> Gion
>**Morning** \- Ride to **Arashiyama** first thing and explore the area.
>
>**Afternoon** \- **Flex time** until late afternoon, then walk the **Philosopher’s Path** from **Nazenji Temple** to **Ginkakuji Temple** for some sightseeing.
>
>**Evening** \- Hike to **Mt. Daimonji** from Ginkakuji for nighttime views and the sunset. **Flex time** in Kyoto the rest of the evening.
11/27, SUN – Nara
>**Morning** \- Travel early to **Nara** and explore.
>
>**Afternoon/Evening** \- **Flex time** in Nara/Kyoto
11/28, MON – Kyoto -> KIX (half-day)
>**Morning** \- Hike **Fushimi Inari** to see the sunrise before heading to the airport.
​
Thank you!
8 comments
>Is it actually not a feasible trip? I jigsawed things as much as I could and estimated travel times, but I’m worried I’m overly optimistic.
Physically possible? Should be. Enjoyable? depends on you guys. Pretty rushed and tiring/stressful, almost definitely, if things start going awry could be challenging to do everything.
>Can anything be rearranged to make the trip more efficient and leave more time for doing rather than traveling?
I think if you want to hit all those locations you’ve split it reasonably well into Kanto and Kansai and stuck to relatively central locations in those locales. You’ve minimised large relocations which is pretty good, that said some of the travel within regions is going to be tiring but doable.
>Are any of the destinations on bad days/times?
Nothing insane but depending on what you define as Morning, Afternoon and Evening and your flight times etc, things might be tricky
>Is there anything I’m absolutely crazy for leaving off, or leaving on?
Personally, I think your trip is still quite tourism focused, which is absolutely valid and fine, but if possible and if you know anyone living there, im a big fan of going to more local restaurants/haunts that dont appear on big travel sites etc. might be good to link up with people you know if possible or even look for these ‘anaba – 穴場’ as they are often awesome.
That said everything here is pretty fun and looks to be a productive and highly experiential trip!
>Are there better areas of the city to stay for the Tokyo/Kyoto leg of the trip?
Gion can be a bit of an awkward spot, not horrible, very interesting, cool area, but slightly awkward? (depends exactly where too and whether you’re mainly taxiing or using trains). Personally, I would prefer to stay somewhere more mid-town like Shijo/Karasuma just for proximity to night life and shopping etc. However given you’re going to Fushimi Inari, Uji, etc its not the worst. Maaaaybe closer to Kyoto station would be easier given you’ll be going to KIX too.
>Is there an event/festival that I’ve missed? That’s one thing I really wanted to do, but I couldn’t find anything in November.
If you search location name – （東京 or 大阪 or 京都）and １１月祭り（november matsuri) you might get more Japanese results that you can translate and will be more comprehensive.
I know around end of oct Kyoto has a Youkai (monster) matsuri/parade which is pretty fun and cool. I feel like around that time there are actually a decent number of small festivals as its pretty peak season for Kouyou – autumn leaves. Speaking of which Rurikouinn temple in Kyoto might be a worthwhile stop around that time, its beautiful, google it.
There are often little local matsuri that happen too, if you cant find one online you might be lucky and run into one by accident, happens to me all the time where I suddenly find myself in a blocked of street with a parade or stalls.
>Any specific recommendations in Arashiyama (not Monkey Park) or Nara?
Unagi Hirokawa in Arashiyama – awesome eel dishes (unagi donburi, unajuu) hard recommend.
If you’re hiking to the Western Daimonji, Funaoka onsen might be a cool stop to experience Japanese bath culture, its a super old (oldest?) bath house in Kyoto and while technically not a hotspring, its a cool, classic bathhouse.
Other than that, Enjoy, sounds tiring but I think its a great itinerary and hope it works out great!
I think in general it is possible. I do not think there is much to improve the order to make it more efficient.
The area you selected to stay in in both Tokyo and Kyoto are fine, no problem there. Realistically, you do not HAVE to stay in Osaka, you can totally get in the train to go to Kyoto on that night. But on the other hand, after Bunraku you can go enjoy some drinks and street food in Dotonbori.
The thing I do not totally understand is the night bus. I guess you want to do it to save some money, but do not expect it to be the best night of sleep.
Arashiyama can take a full day, of course you will likely see the bamboo grove, you can also check the Sagano Scenic Railway and return by boat. Can check the Togetsu bridge, that in itself is an a nice location with a nice view (actually, you likely want to go on the other side to have a view of the bridge) For temple, Tenryu-ji is the obvious famous one, but if you want to go where less people go, then maybe walk all the way to Adashino Nenbutsu-ji.
Nara, the obvious is Nara Park and the temples/shrines around. Do not miss Todai-ji. Most of the other things outside of the park area would likely require an extra day, but if you ever return, I would highly suggest south of Nara prefectures, area like Kashihara, Asuka, Sakurai, that is totally worth a couple of days. Note that most of the attraction around Nara park will close around 5pm, so either eat before returning to Kyoto or in in Kyoto, then go walk in Gion or check Yasaka shrine.
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For events in November, if you found nothing, you did not search enough. These are just some links I found
* [https://www.discoverkyoto.com/event-calendar/november/](https://www.discoverkyoto.com/event-calendar/november/)
* [https://www.gotokyo.org/en/story/guide/november/index.html](https://www.gotokyo.org/en/story/guide/november/index.html)
* [http://yumemakura.travel.coocan.jp/November.html](http://yumemakura.travel.coocan.jp/November.html)
* [https://tokyocheapo.com/events/november/](https://tokyocheapo.com/events/november/)
* [https://www.newotani.co.jp/en/osaka/attractions-events/events/november/](https://www.newotani.co.jp/en/osaka/attractions-events/events/november/)
* [https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2304.html](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2303.html)
I think this is well-scheduled. It doesn’t seem too rushed in my opinion, and it seems like you know what you want to see and do, so I’d say this is definitely feasible. Adding ‘flex time’ is a good idea too. I hope you’re able to go this year too, I had a trip planned in 2020 as well but had to cancel. I’m just waiting til Japan opens up before I start planning another trip there
I did a similar-ish trip in 2019 (started in Osaka > Kyoto > Kanazawa > up into a mountain for 2 nights, then to Tokyo all over 2 weeks). You are going at a pretty fast pace but it is doable. I stayed at least 2-3 nights at major cities and had at least one major activity each day, and the rest was exploring and sightseeing. It’s good that you have such a solid plan!
My advice is more about tips to make it more enjoyable, since a whirlwind trip like this will be tiring. But I think you will be able to see everything that you have listed here. Kyoto is worth an extra day in my opinion, especially if you want to venture up to the bamboo forest for a hike or splurge and stay at a real onsen hotel.
I would honestly not underestimate the sheer size of Tokyo… it’s literally endless and navigating the trains will take a lot of time out of your day. Make sure you are staying close to your main attraction for those days and triple check the hours they are open because sometimes they are closed.
If you are comfortable with onsen public baths… highly recommend!! You will need to relax every couple of days from all the walking. Even better if your hotel has one.
A tip for all museums & you may already know this: buy museum tickets ahead of time. Make sure to do that about a month in advance, as most major museums in Tokyo require it and can sell out quickly. You can sometimes get lucky and purchase at the Konbini markets. I don’t know if this has changed since Covid though.
7-11, Lawson or FamilyMart will be your best friends on this trip! They’re everywhere and you can buy fresh (yes, fresh and delicious) food there, and load up bus cards and get cash. The bus cards double as payment at konbini so you can tap them instead of using cash if you want.
Kyoto was our favourite city and we spent a few days there. Inari shrine was one of our favourite days of the whole trip and absolutely worth seeing. Don’t go up too far because it’s a loooooong hike!
Keep in mind the trip from Inari Shrine back up to Kyoto for a train to KIX is a couple hours by public transit. As long as you factor in, definitely see it!
Google maps has all the train timetables and time estimates, so that is a handy app to plan your days also.
Get a photo translater on your phone, as it can make reading signs and menus much faster.
I think you’re going to have a great time! Make sure to eat and enjoy the food wherever you go!
(I hope this isn’t too big of an info dump)
> Visit the Ghibli Museum.
Please remember to book your tickets early. It opens on the 10th of the month prior to the month you are booking. Eg 10 Oct for the month of November. If it were open for booking it would be sold out within 1 day. As of now they still haven’t reopened booking to foreigners.
> Team lab Planets
The news is they will close by the end of the year so if you miss it then you might have to change plans.
Other than that I feel like it’s OK because you are not doing too much.
Be sure to get your Ghibli and theatre reservations made way in advance. I think the last time I did Ghibli it was booked 6 months in advance (I see in your comments others may have more current info on that, I went there years ago).
Also, I’m assuming that you’re planning for Japan to be open to foreigners by then? Because currently you’ll need to add quarantine in there and ONLY if you’ve got Japanese citizenship. (Edit, yeah, I see you’re okay with putting it off until 2023…2024…#sigh)
Arima Onsen should have buses that go direct from Kobe (I know they do from Shin-Osaka station). Again, you’ll want to reserve early. The “Silver” bath there is a radium bath, just FYI. If you like onsen, you can check out http://www.OnsenJapan.net — they have a lot listed with pics and descriptions.
I prefer Hyperdia for my train schedules.
If you can get access, the Moss Temple in Kyoto is pretty cool. They make you sit and copy a page of scriptures before you can walk around the grounds. It’s reservation only though. Kokedera.
You may benefit from getting a Lonely Planet guide and giving it a read, as I agree that many of your destinations are somewhat blah. You might find the real experiences lie beyond what’s on the top page of Google.
Agree as well that the moment you miss a train you’ll be in trouble. And if you can, Shinkansen is a great experience — yes, a bit pricey but I’d skip Disney Sea and take the Shinkansen any day. Nothing in that theme park will impress. If you will do a few major trips you may benefit from the JR Pass, 1 or 2 weeks. It covers a lot of the country, including lots of local trains.
Good luck, and again, I think you may benefit from waiting to plan until things are back to “normal” again.
Did you know Tokyo Disney is actually really close to Narita Airport? Assuming that is the airport you plan to arrive into, you could just get a hotel room near the park for Friday night, do Disney on Saturday, and then head into Ueno for your central Tokyo nights.
Or, if you don’t want to go on a weekend, still do Disney on Tuesday but I would not recommend an overnight bus to Osaka. This is a very long trip, the seats don’t recline very far, and unless you are a very deep sleeper you won’t get a good night’s sleep. There are nicer ones like the [Dream Sleeper](https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-tokyo/in-shinjuku/article-a0003371/) but they are quite expensive. It’s much better to take the Shinkansen or fly.
What I’d suggest instead is to stay the night at a hotel near Narita/Disney and take an inexpensive domestic flight from Narita to Kobe airport the next morning. If you book far enough in advance you can get one-way discount airfare for about 10,000 JPY (~$100 USD).
– [Domestic Air Travel Japan](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2365.html)
– [Kobe: Access](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3554.html)
If you fly into Kobe, you could start by staying in Arima Onsen for one night, then the next day go to Himeiji on your way to Osaka. Check out of your hotel in Osaka and visit Nara as a day trip on your way to Kyoto. You can store your luggage in a locker at the station while you explore Nara. Finish up in Kyoto then fly out of KIX/Osaka airport.
You could then also take advantage of a JR West Pass for travel around the region. Given your itinerary, you could make good use of the [Kansai Area Pass.](https://japancheapo.com/travel/jr-west-pass/)
Also, in mid-November, Kyoto will have lots of evening autumn leaves illuminations. Given this, I’d actually recommend going from Kobe/Himeiji straight to Kyoto and staying there. Then just do Osaka and Nara as day trips from Kyoto. That way you can enjoy more of the evening gardens/shrines each night in Kyoto. It also keeps you from having to pack up all your luggage and shift hotels again.
– [My Trip Report: Kyoto: Autumn Leaves Illuminations (mid-Nov to early Dec)](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/mjt5yf/kyoto_autumn_night_illuminations_at_temples_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
Happy Planning!
I really liked that my hotel in Kyoto had free bike rentals, may be worth looking into. Biking around Kyoto was fun, since I’m a Pokemon fan. The quiet areas were very tranquil, and the downtown across the river was great too.
Osaka was cool, and the ferris wheel connected to the Don Quixote was worth the ¥500 too. https://goo.gl/maps/1aL6uYPbDceXYcVTA