Hi everyone. My boyfriend and I are going to Japan for the first time this September and we have prepared a rough itinerary. We don't know much but we did some research on this subreddit and on japan-guide and we have come up with the bellow itinerary. If you have any advices/recommendations, please comment, it would really help 🙂
Day 0 – Arrival (6 Sep)
We arrive to NRT at around 1pm, so we will just relax and check out our airbnb neighborhood
Day 1-5 Tokyo (7 Sep – 11 Sep)
These days in Tokyo will include:
- Day trip to Nikko
- Train ride around Mount fuji with different stops to check the view
- Day spent in Asakusa+Ueno+Ginza
- Day trip to either Yokohama, Kamakura or Kawagoe
Day 6 – Nagoya (Sep 12)
At 8am catch a train to Nagoya and spending 8hours in Nagoya:
- Nagoya Castle
- Tokugawaen garden
Around 6pm, catch a train and arriving in Takayama around 9pm
Day 7 – Takayama (Sep 13)
We don't have much planned for this, just a relaxed day walking around an old town
Day 8 & 9 – Kanazawa (Sep 14-15)
Take a train on day 8 around 11am and arriving to Kanazawa at around 1:30pm. Spend the remaining day and following exploring Kanazawa.
Day 10-14 – Osaka (Sep 16-20)
Leaving Kanazawa on day 10 arriving in Osaka at 10am.
These days in Osaka will include:
- Day trip to Himeji
- Day spent at Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan
- Roughly 2 and half days in Osaka
Leaving Osaka on day 14 at 5pm to Hiroshima.
Day 15 & 16 – Hiroshima & Miyajima (Sep 21-22)
Spend the nights in Hiroshima and take a day trip to Miyajima
Day 17-20 – Kyoto (Sep 23-26)
These days will include a day trip to Nara
Day 21-23 – Back to Tokyo (Sep 26-29)
We wanted to finish our trip with 2 more days in Tokyo, mainly for shopping food and gifts to bring home
Our flight is from NRT at 11pm on day 23.
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This itinerary is still a rough idea, but we would highly appreciate advices and recommendations. Here are some extra points/questions we have:
- We want to plan a trip that some days are relaxed and other rough. We believe we left enough time to explore each city, at least the main points
- We want to spend at least 1 night in a ryokan. Which city would be the best for this experience? Also, any ryokan recommendations? Nothing to break our wallets ahaha
- Is Nagoya worth it? We have seen multiple comments about this city, so we are a bit unsure on this.
- Should we get a JR pass?
- Would it be worth to add another city or change the number around of the nights/days spent in each city? We will book accommodation this weekend, for now we are seeing how we feel about this itinerary.
- Would it be worth to add Matsumoto?
- If there are any recommendations for restaurants/bakeries in any of these cities/towns, please comment them 🙂
If you're sill here, thank you so much for taking time to read our itinerary and giving advice 🙂
by NejTak26