Hello all, let me start by thanking you for reading this, we really appreciate any and all advice anyone can offer.
This is the first time myself and my wife-to-be will be visiting Japan so we have researched and tried to make a three week itinerary plan. We are both teachers so this time of year was the only time we could go, we know that the heat can be unbearable so have tried to keep that in mind when planning.
We would really appreciate any tips or advice that anyone has for us. Our focus is to simply experience Japan as newly weds, see some typical tourist sites and to experience the culture. I am also an anime fan so if anyone has any good ideas that I’ve missed, let me know.
We both like food but to be honest we’re not sure where specifically to eat. At the moment our plan is to just head for nearby restaurants when hungry or to eat at our hotels (you’ll see lots of missing meals!)
I’ve tried to list things in the order we would plan to do them in the day (trying to avoid heat in early afternoons, timings are rough estimates). Thank you in advance!
**Day 1 – Arrival – Tuesday**
11:00 – Arrive in Haneda
15:00 – Check-in (Conrad Tokyo)
Evening – Check out Tokyo Tower
**Day 2 – Shibuya – Wednesday**
10:30 – Leave hotel for Yoyogi Park
11:00 – Arrive in Yoyogi Park, visit Meiji Shrine
13:00 – Return to hotel, eat lunch at hotel
15:00 – Leave hotel for Shibuya
15:30 – Visit Shibuya Scramble, get drinks from Lindt Cafe
16:00 – Visit Parco and shop! (Focus is Pokemon Centre)
Evening – Visit Shibuya Sky (**What time is best this time of year?**)
**Day 3 – Tokyo Disneyland – Thursday**
7:00 – Leave hotel to Visit Tokyo Disneyland (opens at 8:00)
Early Afternoon – Leave Disneyland (assuming heat is getting too much by this point)
**Day 4 – Taito City – Friday**
10:30 – Leave hotel for Akihabara
11:00 – Arrive in Akihabara (Head to Radio Kaikan)
13:00 – Walk to Kikanbo for lunch
13:30 – Return to hotel
15:00 – Travel to Sensoji Temple
16:00 – Travel to Sky Tree and take in the views
17:00 – Visit the Pokemon Centre SkyTree
17:45 – Return to hotel
**Day 5 – Rest Day – Saturday – Relax at hotel!**
PM – Visit Pokemon Cafe Tokyo
**Day 6 – Hakone – Sunday**
10:00 – Head for Hakone-Yumoto via Romancecar
Spend the day visiting the full loop, Lake Ashi, Mount Fuji, Cablecar, etc before returning to hotel (**could we visit the nearby shrine as well? We hear it’s overly busy**)
**Day 7 – Travel to Kyoto – Monday**
11:30 – Check-out of hotel and head to Shimbashi St. to take Shinkansen to Kyoto
15:00 – Check-in (Suiran, Kyoto)
**Day 8 – Tuesday**
6:00 – Get up and visit Arashiyama Bamboo Grove (before it gets too busy hopefully!)
Rest of the day – Depending on energy levels, either rest at the hotel for the day or explore central Kyoto
**Day 9 – Wednesday**
AM – Rest and take in the hotel
14:00 – Leave hotel and visit Kyoto Railway Museum (**any nearby sites worth visiting**?)
**Day 10 – Thursday**
AM – Rest and take in the hotel
14:00 – Leave hotel and visit Nijo Castle
**Day 11 – Friday**
AM – Rest and take in the hotel
14:00 – Leave hotel and visit Fushimi Inari Shrine (**thought about visiting mega early instead**)
**Day 12 – Travel to Osaka – Saturday**
12:00 – Check-out
15:00 – Check-in (Hilton Osaka)
PM – Visit the Umeda Sky Building
**Day 13 – Sunday**
9:00 – Leave hotel for Osaka Castle (opens at 9)
Take the rest of the day as it comes, exploring nearby areas
**Day 14 – Monday**
9:30 – Leave hotel for Kaiyukan Aquarium
10:00 – Arrive at Aquarium
11:00 – Return to hotel
14:00 – Leave hotel for Pokemon Cafe Osaka
PM – Explore Dotonbori after Cafe
**Day 15 – Tuesday**
8:00 – Leave hotel for Universal Studios (try to get into Super Mario/Harry Potter – **any tips**?)
Early afternoon – Return to hotel (assuming heat is getting too much by this point)
**Day 16 – Travel to Tokyo – Wednesday**
12:00 – Check-out, return to Tokyo
15:00 – Check-in (Andaz Tokyo)
PM – Visit the Government Building for the view when it’s dark
**Day 17 – Shinjuku City – Thursday**
15:00 – Leave hotel for Shinjuku National Garden
Evening – Visit Golden Gai when it’s dark
**Day 18 – Disney Sea – Friday**
7:30 – Leave hotel to Visit Tokyo Disney Sea (opens at 9:00)
Early Afternoon – Leave Disneyland (assuming heat is getting too much by this point)
**Day 19 – Rest Day – Saturday**
**Day 20 – Rest Day – Sunday**
For both of the above days our plan is to re-visit anywhere we could do with more time (perhaps Akihabara) or to explore any areas not explored by this point.
**Day 21 – Travel Home – Monday**
Domo Arigato!
by darren-mcg
