Hi I'm planning on doing a 3 week trip to Japan in January with a couple of friends. This will be our first time in Japan. Please let me know what you think of our current itinerary:
Day 1: 1/4 – Tokyo
Arrive in Haneda mid afternoon
Get Suica cards, travel to hotel in Asakusa
Generally just settle in, nothing major planned here
Day 2: 1/5 – Tokyo
Go to Ueno Park in the morning
After an hour or two head into Tokyo National Museum and explore for a few hours
mid afternoon head to Tokyo Skytree for Kirby cafe, skytree, and mall exploration
In the evening get some dinner and check out sensoji temple at night
Day 3: 1/6 – Tokyo
Take the boat ride from Asakusa to Odaiba
Spend the morning checking out things like the malls and gundam
Around noon go to teamlabs planets, maybe another museum if we feel like it
In the evening take the railcar to ginza for a fancy dinner, then explore the fancy malls that we can't afford before returning to hotel in asakusa
Day 4: 1/7 – Kyoto
Allocate morning to check out, bullet train, and maybe exploring the area near the Kyoto station
Check out northern area things like Kinakuji, Nijo Castle, and higashiyama
Evening go to kyoto tower, maybe the mall and explore
Day 5: 1/8 – Kyoto
Get up early to see Fushimi Inari
After that have tea ceremony with kimonos
Spend rest of afternoon exploring gion checking out some of the temples like hokan-ji before returning kimonos
In the evening catch a geisha theater show then get dinner in pontocho
Day 6: 1/9 – Kyoto
Get up early to see arashiyama bamboo forest
Then go check out monkey park
See some of the temples in the area like tenryuji and shokakuji
Get lunch then go to uji to see nintendo museum
after museum go to byodoin and some of the surrounding areas
Maybe just dinner again for night? Could use more night activities for kyoto
Day 7: 1/10 – Osaka
Train to Osaka in the morning, then do aqualiner and go to osaka castle
midday go to toka ebusu festival and do festival things
evening check out dotonbori and maybe some shopping
Day 8: 1/11 – Osaka
Go to Minoh National Park in the morning
afternoon Explore nipponbashi denden
Night check out shin sekei and tsutenkaku
Day 9: 1/12 – Osaka
Day trip to Nara
Explore Nara Park, Todaiji, Kasuga Taisha
Return in the evening
Day 10: 1/13 – Osaka
Day trip to Himeji
Explore Himeji castle, Kokoen, Mount Shosaza
Return in the evening
Nights are all generally just explore osaka night life, maybe bars, maybe karaoke, maybe arcades, nothing set in stone currently
Day 11: 1/14 – Nozawa
Take trains to Nagano in the morning
Afternoon explore nagano such as zenkoji temple
In the evening go to nozawa and check in
Day 12: 1/15 – Nozawa
Spend whole day skiing
Go to fire festival in the evening
Day 13: 1/16 – Nozawa
Go see snow monkeys in the morning
Later maybe ski more
Evening explore town and onsen
Day 14: 1/17 – Kanazawa
Train to kanazawa
Explore higashi chaya and kazuemachi chaya
Day 15: 1/18 – Kanazawa
Check out kenrokuen and castle ruins
Oyama Shrine and nagamachi district
Day 16: 1/19 – Shirakawago
Explore Omochi market in the morning
Midday head to shirakawago
Explore and see light up
Just vibe then check into gassho house
Day 17: 1/20 – Hakone
Leave asap for hakone
expecting to have enough time to check into ryokan
Day 18: 1/21 – Hokone/Tokyo
Explore Hakone, Owakudani, Hakone shrine, etc
In the evening take train into tokyo (not sure where to stay exactly yet)
Day 19: 1/22 – Tokyo
Check out Shibuya in the morning, hachiko, scramble, some shops etc
Later head to harajuku and explore there
In the evening check out meiji jingu and get dinner
Day 20: 1/23 – Tokyo
In the morning head to kamakura
Explore kotokoin, kamachi dori
in the afternoon go to yokohama
check out minatominai and chinatown
return in the night
Day 21: 1/24 – Tokyo
Want to see akihabara and shinjuku
kind of just a free day here
Day 22: 1/25 – Tokyo
Check out and fly out in the morning
Trying to keep the trip not too overly packed. We do have a bunch of other places and museums and restaurants tagged on maps for ideas to do (Kyoto looks like a giant blue blob for example). Travel for the later half feels a little clunky but we want to hit those places up so idk.
Also should we try packing more skiing in? None of have ever skied before but figured if we're there for the snow monkeys and fire festival then might as well do it at least one day.
by PM_ME_AMAZING_THINGS