We are a late 30s couple travelling from the U.K. and this will be our third trip to Japan. We’re staying right by Kyobashi station in Tokyo for 3 nights, on top of Yodoyabashi Station in Osaka for 5 nights and at Hatchobori in Hiroshima for 5 nights. We are ok with walking but don’t want to pack so much in that we’re exhausted and just rushing from one place to the next. We want to have enough time to wander around areas and explore.
Day 1:
Arrive Haneda in the morning (07:15).
Hire a shower room at Haneda to get showered and changed.
Drop bags at hotel.
Yoyogi Park, Takeshita Street, Shinjuku Gyoen, general hanging out in and around Shinjuku.
Day 2:
We are considering a Kawagoe day trip but we’ll be doing a lot of day trips towards the end of the trip with our rail pass. Is it better to ease into the itinerary a bit and take it easy or is Kawagoe worth the trip out?
Day 3 Tokyo:
We want to go to Teamlabs but not sure which one. We haven’t been to either before. Is borderless or planets better? We were thinking of doing Planets and then going to Senyaku Banrai.
Day 4:
Check out of hotel.
Morning and early afternoon in Tokyo with a bit of souvenir shopping in and around Ginza and Akihabara.
Afternoon Shinkansen to Osaka.
Check into hotel in Osaka.
Evening in and around Dotonbori. River boat cruise.
Day 5:
Osaka science museum.
Umeda area, sky building, Osaka castle, Pokémon centre.
Okonomiyaki for dinner.
Day 6:
Osaka Aquarium
Amerikamura
Shinsekai, Tsutenkaku tower slide, eat some street food.
Day 7:
Activate Sanyo-San’in rail pass. Day trip to Himeji to see the castle.
Is it possible to combine Himeji and Kobe in one day? We’re not trying to speed run Japan or anything, so was wondering if people think this is possible without feeling too rushed.
Day 8:
Uji day trip. Visit Byodo-in. Visit the Tale of Genji Museum and some other temples and shrines, have a fairly leisurely wander around and enjoy some food and matcha. Hopefully buy some souvenirs.
Day 9:
Morning in Osaka with a bit of shopping on Shinsaibashi shopping street.
Late morning/early afternoon Shinkansen to Hiroshima.
Check into the hotel. Have a bit of a wander around in central Hiroshima and relax in the park. Probably have dinner at Okonomimura, which is pretty near to our hotel.
Day 10:
Iwakuni day trip. Kintaikyo bridge, Iwakuni Castle, we want to have a wander through the centre, have a nice lunch and eat ice cream in weird flavours.
Day 11:
Onomichi day trip. We want to do the temple walk. Depending on how dead our feet are we know we may not manage all 25 temples. Any advice on which ones are unskippable would be welcome.
Day 12:
Miyajima day trip. Floating tori gate, Itsukushima shrine, ropeway and Mt Misen. Anything else that’s unmissable?
Day 13:
Kurashiki day trip. I really want to soak up the atmosphere in the centre, visit the Ohara museum of art, take a boat ride on the canal and eat blue ice cream.
Day 14:
Hiroshima Peace park and Atomic bomb dome.
Parco.
Our flight is about 8:30pm so will book a spot on a late afternoon limousine bus to the airport. We are flying back from Hiroshima via Tokyo.
Does this sound like a realistic and reasonable itinerary? Do the journey times seem ok? We don’t want to change hotels too much, but also don’t want to spend all our time on trains. On our last trip this Spring we stayed in Tokyo and Osaka and liked both. We also visited Nara (which we liked), Kyoto (which we didn’t really enjoy) and Kamakura (the highlight of our trip). Do the places that we are visiting this time make sense given what we liked and didn’t last time?
by Also-cute-and-fluffy