Going to Japan in October for 2 weeks. First timers. Just 2 of us travelling together.
I see time and time again on this thread that many people overplan and overpack their itineraries. I definitely don’t want to feel too rushed during our trip – and just take each place as it comes.
Given that, do you think it’s realistic to cover the following places in 2 weeks?
Tokyo,
Kyoto,
Osaka,
Hiroshima,
Fukuoka.
Ideally, we would do a good few nights in Tokyo with a day trip to a smaller city during that time. I’ve heard wonderful things about Fukuoka – which is why I’ve included it.
FYI – we will be flying into and out of Haneda.
Would love to get to Hokkaido, especially at that time of year, but I realise we would probably have to sacrifice one of the above places if not two to make that happen. (We also will not be renting a car).
Would be very grateful indeed on your thoughts and indeed any recommendations on the above-mentioned places!
It’s our first time. What should we not miss?
by Queasy_Ad_4269
31 comments
That’s doable in 2 weeks, you won’t see everything in each place and I wouldn’t bother with day trips. You’ll definitely leave like every place wishing you could stay longer (except Fukuoka)
Doable. When people overplan it’s when they have more than one activity booked and paid for in advance each day. If you have 10 things a day in your itinerary, it does not matter as long as they are idea, just note your priorities and decide what you will do next in the list during the day, just take your time to enjoy and you do not have to do everything.
We did pretty much the same locations (Tokyo to Fukuoka) last year, but took 3 weeks to do it (granted, we also had a couple of overnights in Fujikawaguchiko and Nara for rest days) – and that felt comfortable for us. I’m thinking for a 2 week trip, you might want to axe one place off your list (probably Fukuoka, if I had to pick).
I’m doing Fukuoka, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, back to Osaka for flight to Tokyo. May i ask what good things you have heard about Fukuoka?
I would do a week in Tokyo and a week in Osaka. From both of these places you can do day trips to other cities/places.
In fact, I would probably just do two weeks in Tokyo.
ive been here two weeks (leaving tomorrow) and we did tokyo, kyoto, osaka with day trips to hakone and nara. we got bored in osaka and ended up leaving early and went back to tokyo lol
Doable but imo Tokyo itself is worth one week, because from there you can also visit places like Yokohama and Kamakura. I would cut out Fukuoka and maaaaybe Hiroshima and spend more time in Osaka/Kyoto. If you ever come back I recommend flying in to Osaka and cutting out Tokyo so you have plenty of time to tour southern Honshu.
Best tip I ever got: do Tokyo last.
The biggest bulk of the shopping most people do will be in Tokyo. There’s no need to lump around all that weight.
I’m not a huge fan of Osaka, some people love it, but personally I’d skip it, there are better cities in Japan.
Hiroshima is a beautiful city. I’d suggest a day trip to Miyajima if you have time.
Note though, that you can easily spend weeks in Tokyo alone using it as a hub to get to towns like Kamakura and Nikko.
Personally I love Gifu prefecture as it has some wonderful towns like Takayama, Shirakawa and Kanazawa, which are all so unique.
Was in the exact same situation as you last year October.
First time with my wife and thought we needed everyday planned down to the hour.
Best advice is to probably make sure you got transport and accommodation sorted.
Then a list of must do ,must see things.
Then another loose list of things you would like to see,do.
If you get tired or don’t feel like travelling its fine to just relax and take some time out to just enjoy wherever you find yourself.
You will love it!
Safe travels 👍🏽
If those are the cities you are planning to visit I’d probably stay overnight in Tokyo on your first night near Haneda and fly down to fukuoka the next morning.
To get to fukuoka and back from any of the places you have mentioned is going to take quite some time even on the Shinkansen.
It’s a lot of travel, but doable. My first trip there was pretty similar, with lots of train travel and a new city every two days. Good to have a first taste of the country. However, you won’t have time to do much more than quickly see stuff and move on. If you really want to explore Japan and have a feel of the country, I would shorten the distances and skip Fukuoka and Hiroshima, so as to have more time to explore Tokyo for instance. It’s so massive that unless you spend a week there, you’ll hardly see anything and it will feel like you’ve missed out of tons of stuff.
I have covered those places, and a bit more, in 10 days before. It’s a fast paced trip for most people (from what I can tell on this sub), but I like to move around and see lots of places. I actually give a bit more time to Fukuoka than most places because it’s still got a lot to see and do but fewer tourists, so I disagree with all the people saying to cut it from your itinerary—the biggest reason to consider that, IMO, is just simple geography. It’s the furthest out so will require a bit more sacrifice of your time to get there.
I’ve been to Fukuoka last year but I don’t think it’s worth to go to from Osaka or Kyoto. Don’t get me wrong because I love Fukuoka more than Tokyo. It’s just not worth visiting if you’re going there for like a day or two.
People say there’s not much to do there but I researched a lot before my 2 week trip in Kyushu and there’s so much to visit. You can do multiple day trips around Fukuoka (Nanzoin, Itoshima, Dazaifu, Kitakyushu, etc.) and around Kyushu (Kumamoto, Yufuin, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Takeo Onsen, etc.).
It’s doable but I don’t think it’s particularly worth cramming in Fukuoka unless you really want to go there – there’s plenty of stuff to do in the other places and I don’t think it’s a must visit place
Would you consider yourself an experienced traveler? If you just estimate how much travel time each of those locations will take domestically during your trip, you’re losing about 3-4 days all together in just travel. Basics of packing, checking out, getting to train station/airport, travel time, heading to accommodation, check-in; that in itself is a half day. To me, your 5 locations are unrealistic unless you like to travel like you’re on the Amazing Race. I would chose 3 major destinations (if that) as a stretch. As others have mentioned, you can spend an entire week in Tokyo and not get bored. Remember, there is a lot of walking involved all over Japan, you want to include at least one rest day in the middle of two weeks.
Cut Fukuoka, all the other placs are so worth it
Basically what I was able to do besides Fukuoka in two weeks, and 3 of my dates were eaten by theme parks. Just depends on how much you’ve got planned per day. Ideally narrow it down to 5-6 relatively close things to be safe test
I would cut Fukuoka from this trip. It’s too out of the way and would make more sense to include as part of a future trip around that part of Japan (Fukuoka/Nagasaki/Yufuin/Kumamoto/Kagoshima/maybe even Busan in Korea)
Book a domestic flight from Haneda to Fukuoka on your arrival. Domestic flights in Japan are very reasonable and plentiful. Much cheaper than the train. Then train back from Fukuoka towards Hiroshima, Kansai, and Tokyo.
Yes this is pretty close to my itinerary last year besides fukuoka. If you visit Hiroshima don’t miss Miyajima!!
NO. God no. Too much time spent on the train going from place to place and not enough time in each place. Imo Tokyo deserves a full 2 weeks in itself. You’ll see why once you get there
Doable. Literally just came back from my 2 weeks in Japan. Was my first time there. Went to Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto, Mt. Fuji and Tokyo.
Flew to and from Haneda. Airbnb was in Tokyo.
Took the Shinkansen trains from Tokyo to all those cities in the first week there. Try to at least spend two days for each city. Had to stay at a hotel for Hiroshima and Osaka (travel between Tokyo to Kyoto isn’t bad enough to need an overnight stay).
Saved Mt. Fuji and Tokyo last to explore since I had the JR pass for only the first week to hit up all those other cities first. My week in Tokyo was mainly shopping in places like Akihabara, Shibuya, Shinjuku etc. Mt. Fuji was a last minute decision for my final day there. Did a tour guide that went around places for the scenery.
2 weeks in those 5 locations? hell no.
I would start from Fukuoka and go North, finishing with Tokyo at the end. Flying to Fukuoka is pretty easy from Tokyo, and it should be much cheaper and faster than the train. But you MIGHT need to fly from Narita.
I think it’s doable. Those were some of the major destinations on my first trip.
We used the Sanyo San’in Regional Pass to go from Hakata(Fukuoka)-Kokura-Hiroshima-Osaka-Himeji, it worked out that we saved some money that way. It’s a six day pass if you can fit the longer journeys in there.
If you want a unique way to go between Fukuoka and Osaka, try an overnight ferry! We tried the Cityline/Meimon Taiyo Ferry, but there’s also Hankyu Ferry as well. Saves a night of accommodation, and it’s comfortable and reasonably priced.
Fukuoka is fun, I recommend checking out Canal City and the teamLab building there, and the Toto Museum in nearby Kitakyushu. If you’re a Kirby fan, it’s also easier to reserve the Kirby Cafe there rather than in Tokyo.
Hokkaido is gorgeous in the fall (I went there on my second trip last October), but you’d have to cut out a couple places to fit that in.
Happy planning, and feel free to message me if you have any questions!
1. How’s your basic Japanese? Fukuoka is awesome (so awesome I stayed two years there) but you need some basic Japanese in Kyushu to get more out of it. Google translator spoils the fun. Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo — easier to get by without Japanese.
2. What is the main thing you want to see in Japan? Usual touristy instagram stuff ? If main attractions, then you have to factor a day for one or two in each attraction.
Tokyo has neighbouring Tochigi which has Nikko with the Toshogu shrines and a few other places. You can also go around Hakone in Shizuoka from Tokyo if you like the Mt Fuji views. Kyoto has a lot of old style buildings with Nara next to it and convenient near Osaka. Depends on your must see.
**Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto (with** a **side of Nara) are recommended for first timers** because they have better tourism infrastructure and more help for non-Japanese speakers. Two weeks will be good to spend on just these three to get the most of them. After you are done with the three, then you explore on the second round.
** Tip : sometimes using Kankou (sightseeing) taxi may be worthwhile. Flat rate per the hours of hire.
Hiroshima is a day trip from Osaka or Kyoto ( around an hr and 45 minutes by shinkansen) if you just want to see the preserved aftermath of an atomic bomb. If you want to see Miyajima – recommended two days with a night stay in Miyajima.
Bolded below are main stops for two or three days.
Kyushu (**Fukuoka**, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Miyazaki, Oita, Saga and the Iki/Tsushima/Goto islands) is worth a week on its own but require some basic Japanese to get its **full worth**. Island hopping requires basic Japanese — ticket booths from two years ago were completely in Japanese. I rather go to Kyushu for a two week holiday but I’m biased because I lived in Kyushu and still love it to bits . Google translator usable but…
Hokkaido and Tohoku region (Iwate, **Aomori, Miyagi**, Yamagata, Akita, Fukushima) also worth a week on their own. I loved Miyagi…Aomori has good apples and bear meat. Hokkaido has tourism support but the rest of Tohoku…well…speaking japanese is better
My mate did a week in Fukuoka and didn’t even get to see Tenjin. And he was staying near Canal City.
For two weeks, I would only go to three locations. It takes time to transition to multiple locations. The packing and checking in repeatedly. Flights and/or trains to catch.
There are a lot of things to do in Tokyo. That could easily take one week.
Last year I did Tokyo, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and Okinawa in ~12 days, but I felt like I could’ve used an extra day or two to see Fukuoka more. This already sounds like too much for 2 weeks unless You’re only doing a day or two in some of these cities
If you haven’t bought your flights yet, look into flying into Osaka and out of Tokyo, or vice versa. We went for two weeks, round trip out of Haneda, and felt like we lost a good bit of time to travel and switching hotels.