Hi all,
I would love some feedback and advice on our (first ever) trip to Japan in late May. We arrive in Tokyo and leava via Osaka.
Travelling as a family of 4 ,with a 10 and 4 year old child. We did entertain the idea of a stroller or even a carrier-backpack for the youngest child but that seems to be more hassle than it’s worth (we’ll be using lots of public transport) – I’m very much used to carrying my daughter in arms or shoulder during our travels (lots of walking last year in Borneo).
The absolutely unmoveable things (either booked/not able to cancel/make all the children cry) are Disney, USJ and the Pokemon Cafe.
* Day 1 \[**Tokyo**\] – Arrival (early afternoon). Check into hotel in Asakusa. A little walk around area depending on how exhausted .
* Day 2 \[**Tokyo**\] – Explore Asakusa (Senso-ji Temple + Asakusa-Jina Shrine being highlights). Venture off to Akihabara later in the day.
* Day 3 \[**Tokyo**\] – Shibuya/Shinjuku-focused day though would like to fit in either Sunshine City or Diver City as a mall visit (food and gatchapon) before or after (if Sunshine City, this would be the very first destination as it’s furthest away for exmaple). End the day at Tokyo Bay – checking into hotel at Disney.
* Day 4 \[**Tokyo**\] – All day Disneyland.
* Day 5 \[**Kanagawa**\] – Escaping Disneyland, we plan to head to Kamakura first thing in morning and spend the best part of the day there. Head to Hakone later, check in to our Ryokan (making sure to leave enough time for our Kaiseki within our room).
* Day 6 \[**Kanagawa**\] – Enjoy Hakone, doing the Loop. Check out and make our way to Odawara station to get the Shinkansen to Kyoto. Check in near the station
* Day 7 \[**Kyoto/Nara**\] – From Kyoto station, make an early morning visit to Fushimi Inari then venture to Nara for the day.
* Day 8 \[**Kyoto**\] – Explore Kyoto day. Would like to visit Kinkaku-ji in particular (furthest out), visiting Gion district later in the day. Check in to a Ryokan (2nights) nearer to Gion,
* Day 9 \[**Kyoto**\] – Exploring Kyoto West with a trip to Arashiyama with Tenryuji Temple + Monkey Park being the highlights. Possibly head back by boat on the river.
* Day 10 \[**Himeji/Osaka**\] – Shinkansen to Himeji, visiting its namesake castle. Full day? Half day? Head to Osaka after, checking-in not to far from Dotombori.
* Day 11 \[**Osaka**\] – Explore Osaka. Pokemon Cafe should be booked for sometime during that day (hopefully our proxy-booker is successful!) but otherwise at leisure in terms of what we do and by when. Would like to see Osaka Castle (from the outside – Himeji really fills our castle stuff!), maybe Kuromon market and definitely lots of walking around Dotonbori. Check in later that day near to USJ
* Day 12 \[**Osaka**\] – USJ day – tickets/express tickets booked with Nintendo World being the priority (booked via the Japanese language site complete with lots of back and forth with google translate).
* Day 13 \[**Osaka**\] – Morning at leisure. Either Umeda Sky Building for views or Cup Noodle museum visit, though time might be against us for that as our flight is around 4pm.
The obvious question – too much crammed in? Anything you’d chop or add to?
Day 5 & 6 (Kamakura and Hakone) – too busy or ok? We had toyed with the idea 2 days at Lake Kawaguchi though that seems a little more disjointed with our Tokyo to Osaka route. Also had a brief thoughts on Nikko but on paper Hakone seems a a little more interesting with the boat/ropeway loop (our kids love going on all forms of transport it seems).
I’d also love to stop in Uji though would that be too much to fit as a short stop after Nara?
Do you think a visit to Kobe (for food and possibly ropeway/botanical) on the return from Himeji would be viable? I can’t imagine that we’d be at the castle for the entire day (with it the sole reason for visiting Himeji).
Thank you!
edit: doh, title typo.
by IntriguedToast
