Hello – I'm hoping to a check on itinerary for travel in March/April 2025.
TLDR: Summary of paragraphs below:
- Travel March 28-April 9 [basing out of Tokyo and Osaka]
- First time to Japan
- Kid-friendly needed (4.5 year old at time of travel)
- We like low-key/relaxed travel pace and exploring – we love wandering
- While a long flight, it's actually easy for us to come back again in the future (and likely we will if we like it)
We are travelling March 28-April 9, 2025 (arrive in Tokyo on the 29th). This will be our first time to Tokyo and I'll be travelling with my spouse and 4.5 year old. Time change will be 15 hours for us (we live in Western Canada). We are basing ourselves in hotels in Tokyo (near Tokyo Tower) and Osaka. Just a note, I built our itinerary knowing that it is actually pretty easy for us to come back again in the future if we feel like we didn't get everything we wanted done as we can get a direct flight (10 hour flight).
For awareness some of travel preferences – we like to mix attractions with what I call "purposeful wandering". We like to experience the places we go beyond just getting the iconic photo (although 1-2 of those is nice too). We enjoy just experiencing streets and happening upon cool things. Also I think an important point is we wouldn't enjoy going to temples and shrines all day long, but would like to include 1-2 in our trip and then if we happen upon more great!
Our evenings for the most part will probably be low key, we can generally get the full day out of our kid, but she does end up needing the decompression time later on in the evening. That being said, we will also make sure we experience some of the other districts in the evening in Tokyo.
We are also going to try work in a baseball came in once the schedule is available, so I didn't include it below.
Day 1 (Arrive in Tokyo)
- Arrive in Tokyo in the afternoon
- Hotel check-in and rest (our arrival time is 4:30pm but will feel like 1:30am for us)
Day 2 (Tokyo)
- Rest day and wandering of Minato when we are up for it (we are staying new the Tower)
- PM Activity: TeamLabs – Borderless
Day 3 (Tokyo / Travel to Osaka)
- AM: Travel to Osaka (bullet train)
- PM: Osaka Aquarium and activities around it OR Osaka Castle (going to see what the kid is up for as she's likely will still be adjusting to the time change)
- Evening: Donotoburi area
Day 4 (Kyoto for the Day)
- Going to focus on the Gion district for the day (likely Yasaka-jinja Shrine, Chion-in Temple, Maruyama-koen Park and making a walk up to Philosopher's Path or Keage Incline if we will up to it)
- Samaurai Ninja Museum
Day 5 (Day trip to Hiroshima from Osaka)
- We plan to take the first train out.
- We will focus on the museum, I understand we may not have enough time for Miyajima (or at maximum a light tough).
- This day trip is a must do for us as we are interested in historical significance of the site.
- We thought about travelling up right from Tokyo and staying in Hiroshima for a few nights, but then we would miss Kyoto and I wasn't sure I want to do that (but if you have opinions on that please feel free to share). We want to limit the hotel movement with our kiddo, so that's why you don't see us do Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima and back Tokyo.
Day 6 (Osaka / Kyoto or Nara)
- AM: Osaka castle (if we didn't do it on day 3 – if we did, we may do some more exploring in Kyoto – Monkey park as an example)
- PM: Nara
- This day will be somewhat flexible to let us do anything we missed in Kyoto / Osaka area.
Day 7 (Osaka / Travel to Tokyo)
- AM: Kids Plaza
- PM: Travel to Tokyo (bullet train)
Day 8 (Tokyo)
- Spend the day exploring Shinjuku (Fire museum, Takashimaya Times Square complex for lunch, lots of wandering)
Day 9 (Tokyo)
- Senso-ji
- Ueno Park (will likely pick one of the zoo or the museum and then wander the park)
Day 10 (Day trip to Mt. Fuji/Hakone)
- I'm debating whether I want to do this. I want to see Mt. Fuji, but I heard that visibility isn't always there. If we do do it we will probably do it via a booked tour. I appreciate Mt. Fuji is iconic, but I have very easy access to the Canadian Rockies to get my mountain fix when needed.
- If we don't do this I'll probably replace it with another day trip like Enoshima, Kamakura or Yokohama OR add more exploring in Tokyo).
Day 11 (Tokyo)
- Spend the day exploring Shibuya (Meiji Jingu, Shibuya crossing, Shibuya sky, etc.)
Day 12 (Tokyo / Fly out)
- We fly out in the evening, I'll likely leave the morning free for us to go back to wandering an area we missed or want to see again.
by nollamaindrama