Greetings everyone!
My family and I are off to Japan for two weeks mid September and I would very much appreciate your thoughts on our itinerary. We have two children, aged 8 and 10, and so we'd absolutely love to hear about alternatives or ideas for places that we will all enjoy.
We think our itinerary has a good balance of tourist stuff, culture, and things for the kids. However it's our first time, and we're concious of doing too many "touristy" things, because we really want to experience the culture, food, and life in Japan. We feel we've left a lot of space to fill with exploring, etc, but would love some more ideas.
TOKYO – 4 NIGHTS
Day 1, Wednesday
- Arrive Narita evening
- Transfer to hotel near Akihabara
Day 2, Thursday
- Early morning organise Shinkansen tickets for the whole trip
- Asakusa
- Explore Senso-Ji and surrounds, try the street food
- Kappabashi street
- Tokyo Sky-tree
- Checkout KIrby cafe/store (we couldn't get reservations, but the 10 year old loves Kirby)
- Early night in prep for the next day
Day 3, Friday
- Tokyo Disneyland
- Early arrival, stay for the lights parade and fireworks
Day 4, Saturday
- Sleep-in
- Explore Tsukiji markets and surrounds, try the food
- Explore between Tsukiji and Teamlad Borderless
- Hamarikyu Gardens?
- Tokyo Tower?
- Teamlab Borderless @ 1pm
- No plans, maybe back and explore Akihabara, or over to Shinjuku?
KYOTO – 3 NIGHTS
Day 5 – Sunday (also my birthday)
- Shinkansen to Kyoto (morning)
- Luggage forward if we can
- Accomodation near Nijo Castle
- Kyoto Imperial Palace
- Nijo Castle
- Nishiki Markets
Day 6 – Monday (also wedding anniversery)
- Fushimi Inari Taisha (early morning)
- We may come back and rest, take the middle of the day casually depending on the kids
- We're certain we can fit in more here, ideas?
- Explore Gion
- Hoping to book a good dinner spot for the anniversery
Day 7 – Tuesday
- Kinkaku-ji
- Arashiyama
- Monkey Park
- Bamboo Forest
- We're certain we can fit in more here, ideas?
- Wife would like to go Kimono hunting?
- Knife shopping?
OSAKA – 4 NIGHTS
Day 8 – Wednesday
- Train to Osaka via Nara
- Explore Nara
- Accomodation near Namba Station
- Explore area around accomodation
Day 9 – Thursday
- Universal Studios Japan
Day 10 – Friday
- Rest day post USJ
- Osaka Castle and Park
- Hozen-ji Temple
- Namba Yasaka Shrine
- Dotonbori
- An ideas of places to go, explore, shopping?
Day 11 – Saturday
- Hiroshima day-trip
- We're not yet 100% committed to this, but very likely to go
- Itsukushima Jinja
- Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
- Atomic Bomb Dome
- Hiroshima Castle
TOKYO – 3 NIGHTS
Day 12 – Sunday
- Shinkansen to Tokyo (morning)
- Ginza, Tokyo Station
- Imperial Gardens
- An ideas of places to go, explore, shopping?
- Alternatively, do we do somehting in Osaka and take a later Skinkansen?
Day 13 – Monday
- Mount Fuji day-trip
Day 14 – Tuesday
- Harry Potter Studio Tour
- Nakano Broadway
- Shibuya
- scramble crossing, shopping, Shibuya Sky
Day 13 – Wedenssday
- Check out and leave our luggage at the hotel or lockers at Ueno
- Today is a shopping day, what else did we miss or want to do day?
- Evening flight, need to be at Narita by about 7:30pm at the latest
by toomsp
