Hello fellow travellers, I’m planning to go to Japan for the autumn season this year, hoping the travel will be unrestricted by then, otherwise I’ll be going for the spring season 2023, following is my itinerary I made with some research, I’ll be travelling solo and will be living mostly in hostels/cheaper accommodations.
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**Tokyo**
Day 1 – Arrive at Tokyo Narita and spend the day exploring Tokyo inner city.
Day 2 – spend in Tokyo, visiting Asakusa, Shinjuku, Shibuya.
Day 3 – daytrip to Yokohama visiting Sankein Garden, Chinatown and back to Tokyo in the evening to explore more.
Day 4 – daytrip to Kamakura visiting Great Buddha, a few temples (would love an advise which one to not miss) and back to Tokyo in evening.
Day 5 – daytrip to Nikko visiting a few shrines (would love a suggestion) and waterfalls (if they are good to visit), then back to Tokyo in the evening.
**Kawaguchiko**
Day 6 – train from Tokyo to Kawaguchiko, exploring the area and possibly take the ropeway. (I’m not sure if I should add more days to the five lake area, would love a suggestion.)
**Nagoya and Ise**
Day 7 – Travel from Kawaguchiko to Nagoya and visit some shrines in Ise and spend evening and night in Nagoya.
**Takayama**
Day 8 – Nagoya to Takayama and visit old town, Hida Folk Village and spend night in Takayama
**Kanazawa**
Day 9 – spend most day in Takayama exploring the area and leave for Kanazawa and stay overnight.
Day 10 – spend in Kanazawa visiting Kenrokuen Garden, D.T. Suzuki Museum, and Higashichaya Old Town.
**Kyoto**
Day 11-13 – leave for Kyoto and explore Kyoto visiting places such as Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine, Kinkakuji temple, Sanjusangendo Temple, Nijo Castle, Aarshiyama, Eikando Zenriji Temple,
Day 14 – leave for mount Koya, visit Okunoin temple, and spend a night.
**Osaka**
Day 15-16 – Spend in Osaka visiting Osaka Castle, Minami, Shinsaibashi-suji shopping street, Umeda Sky Building,
**Hiroshima**
Day 17 – leave for Hiroshima visit peace park and daytrip to Miyajima exploring Miyajima for rest of the day and stay overnight in Hiroshima.
**Nagasaki**
Day 18 -19 Leave late from Hiroshima and visit places in Nagasaki such as, Atomic bomb museum, Hashima island, Mt. Inasa and explore Nagasaki.
**Himeji**
Day – 20 Spend day in Himeji visiting Himeji Castle, Koko-En and spend evening in Tokyo.
Day 21- Return back.
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I would love your views on the itinerary and any changes or additions would be welcomed. This would be my first time in Japan and I’m wondering if a JR pass would be worth considering my itinerary or should I pay as I go?
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Thanks and hoping to see some advises. Cheers 🙂
7 comments
That hits many of the same spots we did in 2019. Sounds like a good plan so far!
You should buy a single act ticket at Kabubiza Theater in Ginza. 1400 yen for a quintessential Japanese cultural experience!
On your current schedule, you’ll be visiting Miyajima when Itsukushima shrine & the floating torii gate is under construction. The main building is open as it’s only under partial renovation, but the torii gate is covered in scaffolding so you won’t see it. It’s due to finish right at the end of this year, so you might be lucky if it ends early, but I don’t think its likely.
There’s a website to keep a track on shrines and castles that are under construction.
Day4; I recommend Tsuruoka Hachimangu Shrine, Zeni Arai Benten (Ugafuku-jinja Shrine),　 and Hase-dera Temple but there are so many other famous temples!
Day5; Nikko Toshogu Shrine is a must see. If I were you, I would visit a ryokan to experience Onsen hotspring (Some ryokan accept one-time use of its hotspring).
Day 7; I think it is a bit tight. You need 1.5 hours from Tokyo to Nagoya (and addtional time for moving from Kawaguchiko to the nearest Shinkansen station) and 3 hours for round trip between Nagoya and Ise. By the way, there is a really good seafood restaurant called Toramaru in Ise.
Day10; Ninja-dera（[http://www.myouryuji.or.jp/en.html）](http://www.myouryuji.or.jp/en.html）), Kanazawa 21 Century Museum and Nomura-ke Samurai Residence ([http://www.nomurake.com/](http://www.nomurake.com/)) are also fun to vist. Kanazawa has a lot to see! And never forget to eat sushi there, if you love raw fish.
I’ll just say that the middle is really quick. Three one night stays in a row, with some considerable distances covered. Kawaguchiko to Ise Grand Shrine and back to Nagoya is a Very Long Day. The on to one night Takayama? I just think that’s a lot of moving. I might snip ise and keep that day in Kawaguchiko before heading through Matsumoto to Takayama.
Use something like Google Maps or Jorudan to really track some of these journeys. So you really want to spend so much time in transit?
I would also be very pessimistic about being able to do your own travel this fall. I don’t think they’ll be full open til January.
Nikko, I think that it would be better to have 2 days if you want to go see the waterfall ans the temple/shrine.
I general, seems ok, but I do not thing that Kawaguchiko-Ise-Nagoya is realistic at all. In general, I think that Kawaguchiko is not the best stop on the way to Nagoya because transit is not as convenient, you either have trackback a bit toward Shin-Yokohama or get a bus to Mishima. In general I think that Hakone have easier access to the shinkansen.
I think I would rather start the day early, go to Miyajima first, spend the morning there, get lunch, move to Hiroshima for peace museum, get okonomiyaki for dinner and you can spend some time in more downtown area, check the stores. Ending the day in Miyajima, most of the stuff will close around 5pm.
For JR Pass, technically would be worth a 14 days pass for sure. Nikko I would do it with Tobu. To know how much you would save, just check how much it would cost doing it on JR.
You are traveling very far and double backing is wasting time. As this your first time to Japan, I suggest not to cross-country hop from East to West. It not as easy as you think and worrying about getting to your next location in time isn’t enjoyable.
My suggestion is limit your cities or pick on central location and give it a 100 miles radius. From there you can stay at places longer and able to visit most of things you want to see. As plans can be flawed or have unseen issues happening.
Also, some places you want to visit has extra travel time getting to there may cause issues. Such a going to temple and shrine that explore the grounds could take hours. Visiting a section of of city can take half-day or more depending on what your exploring. It hard to visit more than two museums in a day and the later one might closed early. Traveling to island and a mount would take most of your day. So plan out your travel timing and always be aware that local train are could be require to use.