Hey everyone,
My wife and I are planning our first trip to Japan in October '24 which has been a life-long dream of mine. After extensive research, we came up with a shortlist of our must-see cities and a first idea of how to combine them to an awesome roundtrip.
We are flying to and from Osaka. We're still early into our finetuning of our activities in every city. The below is just a first few ideas / must see's rather than a complete list of what is to see. If you have any recommendations of things we should do, please let us know!
OSAKA
Sep 30th: Arrival at 12:30pm at Osaka Kansai Airport, get Suica Card, get Pocket Wifi, travel and check into HOTEL HILLARYS Shinsaibashi. Take a walk through Dotonbori, eat Dinner somewhere, try to keep awake.
Oct 1st: get up at 8am, get Breakfast in the Shinsaibashi Area and head to Universal Studios, we’re planning to visit mainly the Nintendo World, however my wife is interested in the Harry Potter Experience 😀 – afterwards, depending on the time left, head to Shinsaibashi-Suji, Umeda Sky
HIROSHIMA/HIMEJI
Oct 2nd: get up early and take the Shinkansen and travel to Hiroshima with a stop at Himeji Castle, take the afternoon Shinkansen to Hiroshima and check into our hotel- book Luggage Service from Osaka to Hiroshima
Oct 3rd: Hiroshima – Visit Peace Park and Memorial, Shukkei-en
Oct 4th: get up early and take the train to Miyajima for a day trip, visit Itsukushima Shrine & stroll through the City, – either sleep in Hiroshima or travel onward to Kyoto?
KYOTO
Oct 5th: Depending on whether we‘ve slept in Hiroshima -> Travel to Kyoto
Depending on whether we travelled to Kyoto the day before: -> Kyoto Activies tbd, Ideas: Geisha District, Tea Ceremony, Kinkaku-ji, Kiyomizu-dera, Nanzen-Ji, Eikan-dō, Fushimi Inari-taisha, Kifune, Kurama
Oct 6th: Daytrip to Nara & more Kyoto Activites (see above), depending on time & energy left
Oct 7th: Bamboo Forest, Arashiyama with Sagano Train and Hozugawa River Boat
KANAZAWA
Oct 8th: Travel from Kyoto to Kanazawa – visit Kenroku-en, Oyama Shrine, Kanazawa Temple, Higashi Chaya District, sleep in Kanazawa
Oct 9th: Since we've decied to skip the third night in Osaka after arrival, we have one night to spend elsewhere, so we can either extend our stay in Kanazawa, travel to Tokyo early or try to fit in something else (like a daytrip to Takayama, or the Nakasendo Trail)?
TOKYO
Oct 10th: Depending on where we are, take the Shinkansen to Tokyo, check into our hotel, probably book luggage service to Tokyo
Oct 11th: Get up early and visit TeamLab at 9am, do some shopping, visit Shibuya Sky, Shibuya Crossing, soak in Tokyo
Oct 12th: Tokyo – visit Fishmarket early in the day, visit Asakusa and Meiji Shrine, maybe Skytree if it’s worth – i’ve heard there’s another building that has also an excellent view of the city besides Skytree/Shibuya Sky – i think it’s the Metropolitan Government Building?
FUJIKAWAGUCHIKO
Oct 13th: Travel from Tokyo to Fujikawaguchiko, head to Iyashi no Sato & Oshino Hakkai, Chureito Pagode
Oct 14th: Fujikawaguchiko, do a Hiking Tour (any recommendations?), Busrides around the lake
Oct 15th: Travel from Fujikawaguchiko to Osaka
Oct 16th: Do things in Osaka we’ve missed on our earlier stay, maybe visit teamLab Botanical Garden, catch flight back home at 22:30pm
Any ideas and recommendations are highly appreciated. Our main question is, whether the initerary makes sense from an experienced-travellers' view. Especially the last part From Tokyo to Fujikawaguchiko and to Osaka doesn't seem to be the best connected, however, we thought Fujikawaguchiko would be nice after the busy Tokyo city life.
We are interested in spending a night in Koyasan too, but weren't able to fit in this little detour in the ininerary. Do you see room for that?
Any recommendations for a Ryokan along our way? Maybe one with morning meditation and traditional food?
What would be the best place on our way for an Onsen experience?
As we want to travel by train (and bus) which JRP would make sense for us? We were thinking about the Kansai-Hiroshima Pass for 5 days.
Thank you for your time!
by Kruel
