Hi !
My wife and I will be going to Japan for the first time in this october for our honeymoon. We did some research to build our itinerary, but it'll still need some ironing out ! I have a bit of FOMO, so we've got quite a lot of locations planned, but I wonder if we'll spend enough time in some places (for instance : Kyoto). We're foodies, so if you have any food recommendations, we'll gladly take them ! Otherwise we will do some hunting on tabelog 🙂
Any tips/recommendations are welcome 🙂
Tokyo – 4 days
Day 0 :
arrive at 9p.m at Haneda, checkin at hotel in Asakusa
Day 1 :
Sensoji Temple
Tokyo Skytree
Pokemon Center
Dinner at a sushi omakase – Any recommendations ?
Day 2 :
Tsukiji Market
Teamlab Borderless
Imperial palace ? I've read that it's not that interesting, but that the garden might be worth visiting
Day 3 :
Day trip to Nikko
Day 4 :
Ueno Park
Akihabara
Ginza
Japanese Alps – 8 days
Day 5 :
Day trip to Kawaguchiko, stroll around the lake, maybe rent bikes, take ropeway to have a clear view of the lake and mount Fuji if there is good visibility. If we have enough time, we'll visit an art museum.
Travel and checkin at Matsumoto
Day 6 :
Visit the city, Matsumoto Castle, Daio Wasabi Farm
Is this doable in a day ? The Wasabi Farm seems interesting, but also seems to be a bit far away (~1h each way)
Day 7 :
leave for Nagano, visit Zenko-ji, enjoy some soba, travel tu Shibu Onsen
Enjoy the onsens and spend the night in a ryokan
Day 8 :
Explore the Snow Monkey Park in the morning
Travel to Kamikochi and small hike
Night at Kamikochi
Day 9 :
Enjoy Kamikochi in the morning
Travel to Takayama
Explore Takayama's old town
Try some Hida Beef
Day 10 – 9th October :
Miyagawa Market
Showa Kan Museum
Hida Folk Village
Enjoy the first day of the Takayama Fall Festival – Still not exactly sure on what to expect (is it the whole day ? In the evening ?), but we're excited to experience a matsuri
Day 11 :
Travel to Shirakawago and explore the village
Travel to Kanazawa
Day 12 :
Omichou market
Ken roku-en
Higashi Chaya District
Nagamachi District
Kyoto – 5 days
Day 13 :
Travel to Kyoto
Kyotogoen
Nijo Castle
Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine in late afternoon / evening. Is it less crowded then ?
Day 14 :
Kiyomizu-dera very early in the morning
Ginkakuji
Philosopher's Path
Nanzenji
Day 15 :
Day trip to Nara
Day 16 :
Travel to Arashiyama to visit the Bamboo Grove and Tenryuji
Walk/hike up to Daihikaku Senko-ji to chill and enjoy the view.
Sagano Scenic Train
Hozugawa River Boat Ride back to Arashiyama
Day 17 :
Bit unsure on that day. I contacted Koyasan Shukobu Associtation to try to experience a temple stay, but I'm not sure that there will still be temple with room available, and making the round trip in a day seems to be quite a lot.
If staying at Koyasan isn't possible, we'll fit other Kyoto activities that we had to skip !
Osaka, Naoshima, Hiroshima – 4 days
Day 18 :
Travel to Osaka
Osaka Castle
Dontonbori
Shinsekai
Namba Yaksaka Jinja
Enjoy Osaka street food
Night in a capsule hotel
Day 19 :
Kuromon Market
Travel to Himeji, quick stop to see Himeji Castle
Travel to Naoshima
Rent Bike
Chichu Art Museum
Night on the island
Day 20 :
Benesse House Museum
Travel to Hiroshima
Try some Okonomyaki
Atomic bomb peace park + museum
Atomic bomb dome
Night on Miyajima
Day 21 :
Explore Miyajima : ropeway to have a view on the entire island, visit shrines & of course enjoy the sight of the torii both at low and high tide
Hakone, Tokyo – 5 days
Day 22 :
Travel to Hakone
Hakone open air museum
Relax at ryokan (ryokan is nearby the open air museum, in Gora)
Day 23 :
Ropeway
Try the eggs
Pirate Ship cruise on Lake Ashi
Lake Ashi Torii Gate
Travel to Tokyo
Night in Tokyo – accomodation still needs to be defined, but probably near Shinjuku or Shibuya since we stayed at Asakusa at the beginning of the trip
Day 24 :
Meiji Jingu
Harajuku
Shibuya (Crossing, Hachikō statue, Shibuya 109, shopping at MEGA Don Quijote, Shibuya Sky)
Day 25 :
Shinjuku (Kabukicho, Golden Gai, Hanazono Shrine, Gyoen National Garden, Omoide Yokocho)
Day 26 :
Ikebukuro + time available to buy gift/souvenir or time available to visit anything that crosses our minds !
Go back to the hotel early, because we have a flight early the next morning
Day 27 :
Fly back home with hopefully lifelong memories !
What would be you thoughts about this trip ? Any overcrowded or undercrowded days ?
Thanks for reading up my itinerary, and thanks in advance for any feedback !
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