[Itinerary check] 21 days in Japan

17 comments

1. Day 1 is absurdly over-ambitious given you’ll be jet lagged when you arrive, and day 2 is also extremely ambitious.

   All of the first half of the trip is very rushed. The pace of the second half is better, but still a bit rushed. This is really a 4+ week itinerary.

2. I’d say the Tokyo part of your trip is very ambitious. Maybe three days.

   Reconsider Okayama if you dont have any set places you want to go.

   DONT skip Kanazawa, its a great little city with amazing seafood.

   If you switch the Nikko and Hakone days, the JR Pass may be worth it. Then you could activate it on the day you go to Nikko. Its pretty worthless in and around Tokyo.

   Check the maps / train routes to see if you can avoid any unnecessary backtracking.

3. Day 2 is way too busy. You’ll have to cut out one or two of those things, at least. I would stop at Koishikawa Garden. Even that will be a busy day. The whole Nezu area is really nice. You could easily spend 2-3 hours there. Don’t just go to Nezu Shrine. I would recommend getting off at Nippori Station, then going to Tennoji (Temple), strolling through the tree-lined street and graveyard, then walking through the Yanaka area enroute to Nezu Shrine. There are a ton of really nice temples and shrines tucked in that area.

   Matsumoto is beautiful. Make sure you get up really early and catch the highway bus up. It’s faster and cheaper than the train. So much to do there – the castle, Nawate-dori, the art museum, lots of temples and shrines, the ukiyo-e museum, etc.

   If you’re going to Tsumago, you might want to consider going to Naraijuku as well. It’s just another old post town, but it’s quite nice.

   Otherwise it looks pretty good.

   I’d like to go to Denmark one day.

4. Only 3 days in Tokyo? that is a shame. Tokyo is enormous. I would spend at least a week there.

   Osaka too. No way you are getting a proper experience with only one day.

5. I’d recommend doing an estimate on transportation costs to get a better idea of whether or not you need the rail pass. The reason for this is that the JR pass cannot be used ubiquitously throughout japan; you will inevitably need to pay from some trips out of pocket.

   My trip was 22 days split very similarly to your in terms of destinations and I chose to not get a rail pass. I spent ¥50000 on transportation while in Japan. ¥10700 was bus/subway. The balance was spend on Shinkansen and other types of transportation in and to smaller cities.

6. In my opinion, it’s very packed, and you’ll spend very much time just going between destinations.

   Day 1 and 2 sounds like at least 4 days for me. And it doesn’t really make sense to stay in Shinjuku if you spend the majority of the time in eastern Tokyo. Some of the things are pretty spread out, so it would require traveling in between. Counting an average of 1 hour per location, you’ve crammed in 13 hours in 2 days, and it the you have to add travel time, lunch, dinner, and perhaps some resting in between. Doable, but tiring. Day 1 should probably be extra calm, since you may have a jetlag or be tired from the long flight.

   The rest sounds like a lot of traveling in general. It looks like the focus is quantity over quality, and very little time to relax. In my opinion, it would be very stressful.

7. That’s a “I’ll never go to Japan again” itinerary and tbh I think you’ll be exhausted by week 2. Those day trips in your first week alone will kill you.

   Having been to most of the places you listed… I’d say it might be good to do a Tokyo – Kyoto – Osaka – Koyasan – Ise – Tokyo trip. The rest you can do on another trip or more.

   I don’t know if you drive, but if you do driving in Japan can be pretty handy. For Osaka to Koya to Ise having a car would free you to go to a lot of places without being a slave to the bus schedule or rural trains. Driving along the Wakayama coast is also quite interesting. We stopped at places like Taiji that you otherwise will never go to without a car. You can do hikes more easily this way too. Then drop the car off in Ise or maybe Nagoya and get back on the train to Tokyo.

8. Honestly, that is a very overly enthusiastic itenary.

   I have no idea how you can fit day 1 and 2 in a day unless you just come, take photo and leave.

   And I think you are underestimating transport time. The transport time is not just about time you spent in a train, but also how long it takes for you from your hotel to station, from station to train platform. 1 1/2 hours train can be a 2 even 2 1/2 hours journey. Plus if you are doing one day return trip, multiply that by 2. And that’s what you have left in a day. Plus some cities transportation can stop operating early. Hakone’s train and bus stop operating at 6 pm. Unless you wanna take a very very expensive taxi ride, then plan accordingly

   No relax time also will hinder you greatly, you can’t expect your body holding up when you will walk 12+ hours a day for 21 days

9. As always- I have thoughts! Overall it looks like a fun trip- but you’ve really packed it to the gills. I do think you’ll have to cut a few things.

   One thing I notice is you have a LOT of one night stays in general. You are going to be on the move, and constantly packing and unpacking. I’d streamline some of those one night stays.

   More specifically- I rarely reccomend doing a day trip to Hakone/ Fuji from Tokyo. If you are super into it- stay in Hakone/ Kawaguchi-ko, preferably for two nights. If that sounds like too much and you aren’t into it? Skip it! Hakone is fun, but its also crawling with tourists and you can find better hot springs elsewhere. This could save you a night from Tokyo that you can use elsewhere.

   Speaking of which- one night Matsumoto/ Tsumago/ Takayma/ Kanazawa is hauling some sweet ass! One in Matsumoto is fine if you only one to see the castle, and one in Tsumago is fine too. But both Takayama and Kanazawa can use two nights, there is plenty to see and do in each area.

   I worry too about day 17. Assuming you are finishing the Kumano Kodo at Kii Katsuura, its a pretty long train journey around the peninsula back to Osaka. Doing that and visiting Nara on the same day will be a lot. To be honest- I think cutting the Kumano Kodo entirely may be a good idea. It’s amazing, and super pretty. But its a lot of travel for two nights. I usually do at least three nights. And getting from Koya to Kii Tanabe by public transit is doable, but its another long day on trains with a bunch of changes. That section of the trip would be five one night stays in a row with three days of pretty solid travel (Osaka -> Koya -> Kii Tanabe -> Hiking -> Hiking -> Kii Katsura -> Osaka -> Nara.) That is a LOT of moving around.

   As to your railpass question- I probably wouldn’t get a rail pass for this itinerary. While you are moving around a lot- you’ve got a lot of time off of JR or on busses. There are JRP calculators around (I think there is one on Japan Guide.) Put the journeys in and see what it says, but my gut is you’ll be better off buying individual tickets. You can buy them all in Tokyo when you arrive if you feel like planning ahead, or just rock up to the train stations on the day and get tickets for the next departure.

   I hope that helps and I hope you can go and have a lovely time!

10. Day 1, considering jetlag, that might be a lot. Also consider opening time of things. Would make more sense to do Tsukiji, Hamarikyu and Planets first, you can do Nihonbashi at any time of the day as there is no opening hours.

    Day 2, you have to make choices, this is easily 2-3 days you want to do in one. Also, starting in Akihabara is a bad idea. Akihabara focus on shopping and shop do not open before 10-11am. Do something that does not have opening hours like Nezu-jinja, or that open super early like Meiji-jingu or that open at 9am like the gardens. But as it’s already a lot in a day, the easiest thing to remove from this itinerary is Nezu-jinja, that is nice, but not exceptional, you will see much more impressive one in Kyoto. Also, likely just have time for one of the garden.

    Day 5, I would consider going to Kawaguchiko instead of Hakone and you can stay there for the night, it will be on the way to Matsumoto and stopping for the night will give you a chance to try a onsen.

    Kyoto should be possible if you properly split these places between the 3 days and do not spend the day moving from one side to the other of the city. And I would probably prefer Higashiyama than Philosopher’s path.

    I think that Miyajima is still worth a visit even if the shrine is under restoration, it is not the only appeal of Miyajima. Hiking Mount Misen is also nice. But that would be better a day for Hiroshima and one for Miyajima, and you seem to be a bit short on extra days.

    ​

    JR Pass, do your calculation. 14 days could work if you do Nikko with the Tobu pass and pay for the ticket to go to Matsumoto. Ideally, you would want to go within the pass, so you would have to take the train to Tokyo at the end of day 20 and cut one day somewhere to go to Matsumoto on day 7. You can also consider flying out of a different airport, even if it is a regional airport, so you can fly to Tokyo and right away back to Europe, this way you do not have to return to Tokyo. This could make a change in the value of the different pass and could end up being better do use a combination of regional pass too.

11. You might want to use google maps to get an idea of where places are so you can calculate logistics. Many of your days are very rushed with points of interest far from one another. Getting from the outpost villages of magome and tsumago to takayama for example will likely take half a day and you won’t have enough time and energy to appreciate takayama. Seeing the bamboo grove but not seeing any of the other sites in arashiyama would be a shame. Also, arashiyama alone would probably take up an entire day.

12. If you’re into hiking and nature, you might consider [Kamikochi](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6040.html) when you visit Matsumoto.

13. Day 1 is probably not happening. You’re going to be tired after your flight, and that’s a lot of ground to cover on arrival day.

    Day 2 is also way too packed, in my opinion. Akihabara and Shibuya are on opposite ends of the city. Also, many of the gardens close early, so you might not have time to see them all in the same day.

    DO go to Takamatsu, and Ritsurin Gyoen. It’s the best Japanese garden I’ve been to, IMO, and I’ve been to a bunch. Takamatsu is also really, really cute and the people are amazing.

14. Day 1 is kinda overpacked knowing you just arrived to Tokyo. I would suggest going on light walks near your hotel’s vicinity. If you are planning to stay in Shinjuku, then you can go around Kabukicho, Harujuku (2 stops), or Shibuya (3 stops).

    Tokyo is really huge and 2 days isn’t enough tbh.

15. I thought I was an ambitious Japan traveler!

    You need more time in Tokyo for all of that. Tsukiji should be done in the morning.

    When you’re ready to leave Tokyo, I’d recommend stopping in Kamakura (and maybe Yokohama, it’s a neat town) on the way to Hakone and getting a nice onsen there (there’s a lot.) The next day, spend the whole day doing things around Hakone and Fuji, then head to Matsumoto (or nearby Nagano.) Then you can go straight from Matsumoto to Takayama if you [want.](https://want.To) To make this work, you’d need to do Nikko before Kamakura.

    BTW Takayama is a nice little town and it’s close to where I live so i’ve been a few times, but based on where you’re planning to go i don’t think you’ll see anything there that you won’t have already seen or will see again. I understand if you still want to go, just putting that out there

    Your Kyoto plan looks solid.

    Consider spending some of your Osaka time in Kobe. Absolutely adore Kobe. I haven’t done a ton in Osaka and really don’t feel like i’ve missed anything besides some food. You can also give more of that time to Nara.

    I was in Okayama recently (i had a 10 day new years holiday break and went Kumano Nashi Taisha-Koyasan-Osaka-Okayama-Imabari-Shimanami Kaido-Uwajima-Kochi-home) and there’s really not much to do there. If you’re on the way there to see Kurashiki then it makes sense, just noting.

    If you’re not sure what to do on the 20th, and considering Shikoku, allow me to recommend Matsuyama instead of Takamatsu (which is a fine little town to be sure.) Matsuyama has maybe my favorite castle in the country (right up there with Himeji) and my favorite onsen (Dogo). If you’re there in October, you can pair this with a bike ride along the Shimanami Kaido, the best bike ride I’ve ever done in my life.

16. Your itinerary for first two days in Tokyo is very unrealistic.

    Firstly, on the arrival day you will be exhausted after staying 11 hours in a plane. Flights from Europe to East Asia usually take place during your biological clock night, which means that if you arrive in Japan in the morning you will be sleepy. You should not make any plans for that day as most likely you will just go to hotel and lay on a bed.

    Secondly, you have put too many activities in one day. I would recommend you doing the same thing I did when I was in Tokyo: one day = one neighborhood, e.g. visit Ueno on Monday, visit Asakusa on Tuesday, visit Shinjuku on Wednesday, etc. Each Tokyo ward has so many interesting spots to see that trying to visit only most tourist places in such short time is the waste of time and money.

    But if all you have is just one day for Tokyo I would recommend you one place only which describes this city perfectly: Shinjuku.

17. If you start your days at 4am, your Tokyo itinerary is doable, but you’ll be on your feet till midnight or later. I did it, and more and by day 7 I walked through 25 years of martial arts calluses on my feet until they were bleeding. You will have to decide for yourself if it is worth it or not. For me it was, at the time, not sure I could say the same again.