Hello, My boyfriend are planning on going to Japan for the first time for our honeymoon next year (assuming Japan reopens to all travelers) and I want to make sure our itinerary is feasible. We’re planning on using the JR pass for intercity travel. Also with all this travel some days we might use a luggage forwarding system and just take a backpack for trips to the places we’re just staying one night (like Kinosaki and Tsumago).
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**Day 1 (5/26 – Friday)**
Leave America
**Day 2 (Saturday) – Osaka**
Arrive in Osaka – nothing major planned to get rid of jetlag, check into hotel and enjoy food at night
**Day 3 (Sunday) – Osaka**
Day trip to Nara. Nighttime in Osaka. We’re mostly interested in Osaka for the food/nightlife, so I thought just spending the evening/night here would be fine?
**Day 4 (Monday) – Osaka to Kinosaki Onsen**
Check-in time for Kinosaki is 3PM and about 3 hours from Osaka. If we got up early enough is it feasible to do Himeji castle in the morning on the way?
**Day 5 (Tuesday) – Kinosaki Onsen to Izushi to Kyoto**
Check-out time for Kinosaki is 11am. Spend most of the day in Izushi (boyfriend is a ceramicist so I’m trying to incorporate ceramics towns) and then go from there to Kyoto
**Days 6-9 (Wednesday-Saturday) – Kyoto -Stay in Gion**
Day 6: Fushimi Inari shrine, Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Kodaji temple with its bamboo forest, Gojozaka street for the pottery (is this too much?)
Day 7: More Gion focused, tea ceremony, shows, shopping, more of a relaxing day
Day 8: kinkaku ji temple, other northern tenples
Day 9: Flex day or day trip. Currently thinking Uji for the day trip. Is it possible to go to Wazuka as well as part of a day trip there? Is Kokedera temple (The moss temple) good this time of year?
**Day 10 (Sunday) – Kyoto to Tsumago**
This is the step I’m most concerned about. From what I’ve found this is the path below. Has anyone done this before to know what bumps in the road might happen. Is it worth it to do some of these steps the night before? Also any reccomendations on a ryokan?
Kyoto train to Nagoya train to Nakatsugawa bus to Magome, then hike to Tsumago
**Day 11 (Monday) – Tsumago to Tokyo**
Not sure if there’s an easy way to do this or we just have to eat the travel time
**Days 12-16 (Tuesday – Saturday) – Tokyo – Stay in Shinjuku**
Day 12: Asakusa in the morning (i’ve read tuesday is less busy. Is this a must-do stop coming from Kyoto which is so temple heavy?; Tsukiji market area for food later in day; Shinjuku at night
Day 13: Disneysea (maybe add on disneyland at night just for the rides not available in Florida) Want to do this on a Tuesday or Wednesday it seems based on crowd calanders.
Day 14: Morning in Shibuya (mostly just to see scramble crossing and hachiko); most of day in Harajuku area, Finish in Ikebukuru.
Days 15 and 16: Flex days in case things take longer than expected. Possibly for day trips if we feel good (Kamakura? Lake Kawaguchiko?)
**Day 17 (Sunday) – Leave**
Thank you in advance for your help! If you have any suggestions for day trips that you’ve enjoyed in these areas I’m open. Things with a little more of a smaller feel might be nice to break up these big cities (though we don’t speak Japanese if that limits our options). Other Pottery towns I’ve found in the areas we’ll be are Bizen, Mashiko and Shigaraki but I’m not sure if they are easy to get to/accessible enough to tourists who don’t speak Japanese.
Thanks!!
4 comments
>We’re mostly interested in Osaka for the food/nightlife, so I thought just spending the evening/night here would be fine?
If that’s what you interested, yes.
>Check-in time for Kinosaki is 3PM and about 3 hours from Osaka. If we got up early enough is it feasible to do Himeji castle in the morning on the way?
It’s not exactly “on the way” but there are a few express train from Hineji to Kinosaki onsen. Your only feasible connection is 13:25 departure on Hamakaze No. 3 arriving 15.08 at Kinoseki Onsen. An hour or two is enough for the main attraction, Himeji castle.
>Currently thinking Uji for the day trip. Is it possible to go to Wazuka as well as part of a day trip there?
Yes it’s totally possible. The main attraction at Uji, the Byodoin temple, only take like an hour at most.
>Kyoto train to Nagoya train to Nakatsugawa bus to Magome, then hike to Tsumago
Take Local train from Nakatsugawa to Nagiso and take bus for Tsumago. Only 3 bus per day though.
>Not sure if there’s an easy way to do this or we just have to eat the travel time
No there aren’t easy way to do that.
>Other Pottery towns I’ve found in the areas we’ll be are Bizen, Mashiko and Shigaraki but I’m not sure if they are easy to get to/accessible enough to tourists who don’t speak Japanese.
There’s another one in Tokoname (near Chubu (Nagoya) airport). If you leave early enough you might be able to squeeze it in Day 10. Leave early for Nagoya, visit Tokoname, and back to Nagoya to continue to Tsumago. It’s easily walkable from Tokoname station, which has a direct train from Nagoya station (not a JR line though).
Would it be possible to do Himeji before Kinosaki, yes, possibly, just check the train schedule to see when the rapid train are between Himeji and Kinosaki. It’s also a detour and not exactly “on the way”. Here is a good example of time I would forward luggage direct to Kyoto.
Day 6 is totally fine, worst case you finish what you want to see around Higashiyama on the next day that is in the same ara.
Day 9, if you want to do a tea plantation tour in Wazuka, that’s pretty much a full day thing. If you do Uji like the area around Uji station, then an easy area to do along it is Fushimi Sake district.
Tsumago, you seem to have the right route. For ryokan recommendation, the best I could do is do some search for you as I’ve not been in the area yet. To go to Tokyo, you have two options, via Nagoya or via Matsumoto. Obviously, you can stop in one of those city on the way before reaching Tokyo.
Day 12 : Senso-ji is probably the most famous temple in Tokyo. You may want to make your decision once you left Kyoto, you might love temple an shrines. If you get tired of it, then skip. Tsukiji there is several places that close in early afternoon, so probably better to plan it for breakfast or lunch.
Kamakura and Kawaguchiko are both good day trip options. Note that Kamakura is a bit more temple/shrine heavy than Kawaguchiko, so again, if tired of them, then skip Kamakura.
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Pretty sure that JR Pass is not worth for you. The Himeji/Kinosaki part can be done for 10 000 with the Kansai Wide Pass [https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/kansai_wide/](https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/kansai_wide/) Then Kyoto-Tsumago-Tokyo is like 9000 + 14 000 yen, so total 33 000. It could be worth considering the JR Pass if you did all that within 7 days, but you are not.
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Other pottery town I know is Tamba, it’s kind of between Kinosaki and Osaka/Kyoto, the museum that is really nice with a shop that sell pottery from most of the artist of the region is less than 20 minutes from the closest station by bus : [https://matcha-jp.com/en/sasayama/9019](https://matcha-jp.com/en/sasayama/9019)
I would make sure to have a pocket wi-fi or sim card to have internet at all time and use google translate.
Can check these video about the city, of course if you just want to stop on the way to Kyoto, you won’t have time to do all what he did in these video.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOIOM24AXdM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOIOM24AXdM)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9uNWxBpJuE&t](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9uNWxBpJuE&t=4s)
Not very familar with Kyoto/Osaka since I’d been there once. I have 2 suggestions on others though.
Ryokan from Kyoto to Tokyo: Since this is your first time to Japan, you may want to do a trip to Kawaguchiko / Hakone for Ryokan and with a beautiful Mt Fuji in the background. These 2 places are much easier to go back to Tokyo.
Tsukiji Market: You should go in the morning to for breakfast on the first or 2nd day of your Tokyo trip before heading to Asakusa. I would usually go more than once to Tsukiji Market as there are lots of food to try there.
Check out the trip report I posted on our Himeiji-Kinosaki side trip.
– [Kansai Side Trip: Tattoo Friendly Kinosaki Onsen and Himeiji Castle. I’d highly recommend 2 nights in Kinosaki. You can have the ryokan/onsen town experience here without needing another stop off on your way to Tokyo](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/sna5au/kansai_side_trip_tattoo_friendly_kinosaki_onsen/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)