Hello everyone, I am going to visit Japan (traveling solo) in October. It’s probably pretty early to post an itinerary, but I just booked my hotels and couldn’t stop myself from planning, so I already got one. Since this will be my first of many trips to Japan, I am going to focus on Tokyo and Kyoto this time. Two weeks. Focus will be 50% food/drinks and 50% seeing the biggest sights.
I enjoy having trips planned out in detail (my calendar is already full), but I also like having some flexibility and not stressing myself out over maximizing my efficiency so a lot of the time I have just planned to spend a few hours at a part of the city with some recommendations to explore at a leisurely pace. I won’t go into detail for every area so this post doesn’t get too long, but feel free to comment if you feel strongly (positive or negative) about any attraction in some of the areas I will mention.
1: Arrival in Narita at 2PM, check-in, Shinjuku bars and the metropolitan government building for the evening
2: Hokusai museum, Akihabara & lunch at Iki na Isshou (ramen), dinner at French restaurant Yumanité
3: Tokyo Dome & Koishikawa Korakuen, Japanese sweets at IkkoAn, Meiji Shrine, evening at Shibuya and having cocktails at SG Club and The Bellwood
4: DisneySea, dinner at Tempura Shimomura
5: Asakusa (lunch at the famous onigiri place), Tokyo National Museum, dinner at Sushi Inomata, travel to Nikko by train (arriving around 10:30PM)
6: this day is October 17 so I will stay in Nikko to see the autumn festival and explore some of the other sights, go back to Tokyo in the evening and do laundry at the hotel
7: Teien museum, lunch at PST Roppongi, Mori Art Museum, Aoyama Cemetery, dinner at Japanese/Thai restaurant Bia
8: Tsukiji Outer Market, Odaiba, dinner at Sushi Satake
9: check-out, spending some time in Ginza (which is where I will be staying), lunch at Wagyumafia The Cutlet Sandwich, Shinkansen to Kyoto, check-in, dinner at Takayama (Italian), late night Fushimi Inari (which is close to the restaurant)
10: Nijo Castle, Kinkaku-ji, Lunch at Yamamoto Menzou, Ginkaku-ji, dinner at Kiyama (Kaiseki)
11: Kokedera Saiho-ji, Arashiyama, laundry at the hotel
12: Kyoto Railway Museum, Higashiyama, dinner at Nishikawa (Kaiseki)
13: Yamazaki Distillery, lunch at Warajiya (Unagi), Toei Park, cocktails and whiskey at Bar Rocking Chair and Bar Cordon Noir
14: Gyoen National Garden, donuts at Hitsuji, lunch at Kobe Beef Steak Mouriya Gion, Shosei-en Garden (near Kyoto Station), return to Tokyo to get to Narita
I have spent a lot of time researching the best food/drinks options and I am pretty happy with the results I got since it’s so difficult to find easily bookable fine dining places, especially as a solo traveler. Still, if there is any restaurant on that list you dislike, tell me the reason so I can possibly reconsider. As for bars, my top choices would be Gen Yamamoto and Ben Fiddich, but those are pretty difficult to book so I will try, but obviously no guarantee.
Some of the days end pretty early after dinner, but I have planned to spend some time visiting bars afterwards. I just haven’t put anything concrete in my plans because of variable dinner times and to give me more flexibility. Those are the bars I’ve picked to possibly visit after dinner:
**Shinjuku**
Ben Fiddich / B&F
Sanlucar
Spincoaster Music Bar
**Minato**
Gen Yamamoto
Bar RADIO
Kisala
**Ginza**
High Five
Star Bar
Samboa Bar
Little Smith
Thanks to anyone who comments. I appreciate any opinions on the itinerary or further recommendations.
by Infamous_Lab7531
2 comments
If you’re into it look into yokocho’s. Side streets with bars packed side by side and up and down! I like golden gai!
You’re spending a lot of time going to famous consumption places. It’s very likely you’re not going to have any better experience than you would at nearby walk-in places serving the same dishes but not Instagram-/Internet-famous. A ‘famous onigiri place’, for example, is like a ‘famous peanut butter sandwich place’.
Instead of trying to reproduce others’ experiences, you’ll likely have a much better and more relaxed time finding places on your own. Tokyo alone has from 60,000 to 100,000 restaurants, and the overwhelming majority of them are good. Decide what you’re going to eat when you’re hungry and going to any of the five or six restaurants within 500 meters of whatever spot in Tokyo you happen to be standing will be fine.