Hi. This is the itinerary for 2 people (My gf and I), we plan to do this November starting Oct 28th. It’s our first time in Japan, first month-long trip and first multi-city trip, so I am still a bit overwhelmed with the planning. After quite a few changes we think we already have a good balance of the places we want to visit but would love some feedback in case we are making obvious mistakes. Some info, we would love to make the most out of the autumn season and see the foliage. We are big foodies and love japanese food so this will be a big part of our trip as well.
**Day 1 Oct 28**
We arrive at 6 a.m. to Narita Airport. We’ll go from Narita Airport to Narita for Unagi and Naritasan Park surroundings. We’ll travel to our accommodation in Tokyo (Close to Tokyo Skytree) and just look around the area, depending on the energy level/time, we might go to Asakusa but not sure how the jetlag will hit.
**Day 2 Oct 29**
Travel to Kusatsu Onsen to either a ryokan with its own onsen or a hotel and explore the town and use the public onsen.
**Day 3 Oct 30**
From Kusatsu Onsen to Kanazawa. No specific plans, just walk around and relax from the trip.
**Day 4-5 Oct 31-Nov 1st**
Get to know Kanazawa, no plan for day trips or museums since it’s just two days, we just want to get to know the oldest parts of the city and and the main areas.
**Day 6 Nov 2**
Explore a bit more of Kanazawa then travel to Osaka. This day is mainly to get our accommodation and explore Dotonbori.
**Day 7-8 Nov 3-4**
Explore more of Dotonbori (We are foodies, so between all days in Osaka we plan to try as many different dishes as we can), Osaka Castle and Osaka Aquarium. We are not sure how long the Aquarium visit is going to take so we are not packing lots of planned spots but we are open to suggestions considering our interests. Regarding the nightlife, we are not huge drinkers, so we are not looking for bars or nightclubs but we might grab a drink along with some dinner.
**Day 9 Nov 5**
Day trip to Himeji for Himeji Castle and Engyoji (Mount Shosha)
**Day 10-13 Nov 6-9**
Short tip to Seoul We were not originally planning for Korea but since the plane trip is short and cheap, we feel that we have to take the opportunity since the trip to Korea is really expensive from Mexico.
**Day 14 Nov 10**
Return from Seoul to Osaka. No specific plans other than rest a bit and try some more food.
**Day 15 Nov 11**
Trip to Hiroshima for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, surroundings, Hiroshima castle if we have time and Okonomimura, then we plan to stay in Itsukushima Island.
**Day 16 Nov 12**
Mount Misen if possible and breakfast on the island, then make the trip to Kyoto and get our accommodation. After that just relax and know the surrounding area.
**Day 17-18 Nov 13-14**
With the current overtourism, we are not sure what activities to do, which is why we have just two full days for Kyoto. We might opt to go for least known spots but we want to spend some time around Arashiyama area for sure.
**Day 19 Nov 15**
Day trip to Nara for Nara Park and Todai-ji.
**Day 20 Nov 16**
Go from Kyoto to Toyama in the afternoon as preparation for the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route the next day. This is the biggest question mark since we feel the itinerary feels a bit packed already and going there is a pretty big detour, but we have never seen snow nor mountains like these so we loved what we saw on some videos and would love to try it.
**Day 21 Nov 17**
Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, from what we know it might take the whole day so nothing planned for this day besides this. We’ll go to either Matsumoto or Nagano to spend the night.
**Day 22 Nov 18**
From Nagano/Matsumoto to Tokyo This day we would like to go to Shibuya and Shinjuku, just walking around might take the whole day but we’d love to go to Shibuya Sky if possible.
**Day 23 Nov 19**
Tokyo Akihabara and Tokyo Station surroundings, Imperial palace and Asakuza in case we did not have time to go on our first day.
**Day 24 Nov 20**
From Tokyo to Takayu Onsen near Fukushima. We ended up deciding on this Ryokan from the many options we had. We wanted to experience a classic ryokan experience with outdoor baths and this seems like a good balance.
**Day 25-27 Nov 21-23**
**Tokyo**
No specifics yet but we will focus on doing some shopping, trying some of our marked food spots, going to the supermarket and Don Quijote, going to a Jazz bar in the evening and a Burlesque show as well. Maybe Tokyo Skytree but Shibuya sky might be enough. We would like to enjoy some autumn foliage if there is still some in Tokyo. Enoshima island looked pretty nice in a video we saw but it’s a bit far so we are looking into a trip to Yokohama plus Enoshima island if we have the time.
**Last day Nov 24**
Last minute shopping if we forgot anything, otherwise straight to Narita Airport and back to reality.
Any feedback is appreciated. Also, any recommendation based on the current over tourism is welcome, we were even planning for a Tohoku trip since we could avoid some crowds but we are looking into a ‘Japan winter trip’ a couple of years down the road and Tohoku seems like a better option for that one. One last thing, does anyone have experience going into japan then leaving the country and then returning to Japan a few days after? I looked it up and it seems there should be no trouble but if anyone has done this and can share their experience with migration, I’ll really appreciate it.
by Joaquin8911