Obligatory itinerary review here.
I booked my flight last March and have been tinkering ever since. I've added ideas, removed travel, expanded days, contracted time, and everything in between. I'd originally had plans to hit Nagano, Kanazawa, Takayama, and possibly Fuji, in addition to the main two cities. It just seemed like short changing myself and the destinations to treat tham like layovers. At the end of the day I settled on two main locations with some day trips added. I felt like some of my other days were being lost to travel and wanted to have a more focused vacation.
In general, I'm much less of a "here is exactly how my trip will occur person," and more of a "here's a bunch of cool stuff, let me figure out the best order to do it in."
I really enjoy coffee and do have a bunch of coffee places I want to hit. Recommendations would be great as well. Food not so much. I really love ramen and sushi (but do have some food allergies here). I also am a big pizza person and have seen some cool spots. I'm not a "I have to eat here and will spend an hour in line or make reservations" person though. Big whiskey fan so would love to hit some spots for that. I have some bars in Shinjuku and Osaka on my list. Was not able to get tour tickets at either of the Suntory owned spots. Also a really big movie person and would love any recs for things related to Ozu or Kurosawa.
Anyway, here's what I have:
9/21 – Washington DC to Haneda, landing mid-afternoon
- Set up e-sim/buy portable Wifi, set up iPhone Suica and possibly buy card, get cash
- Take train to Tokyo station, walk to hotel in Ginza
- Check-in, explore area around hotel, find food, stay up late enough, bed
9/22 – Coffee, Teamlabs, Ueno/Akhibara
- Walk to Kyosumi Gardens and explore/try one of amazing coffee shops. Would love to do the tasting at Koffee Mameya Kakeru
- Walk to Koto City and get ready for Teamlab Planets (not necessarily sold on this in general, but thought one of the TeamLab spots would be cool. Should I sub this with another museum?)
- Go back to hotel to chill. Lunch at Terzo for pizza?
- End day Ueno/Akhibara for camera shopping, coffee at Kielo or Kissaten. Food and/or drink recs?
9/23 – Kamakura, Yokohama
- Hit Glitch in the morning
- Train to Kamakura to explore all that it has to offer
- Afternoon baseball game between DeNA and Yakult
- Explore Yokohama a bit if time and feel up to it
- Back to Tokyo for dinner and snoozing
9/24 – Harajuku and Shibuya
- Meiji Shrine first thing, coffee before or after
- Explore Harajuku
- Grab lunch and eat in/explore Yoyogi Park
- Explore Shibuya after Chatei Hato Espresso
- Find some too expensive jeans I don't need. Do some shopping and wandering.
- Dinner and drinks in Shibuya
9/25 – Hike/Day Trip
- Mt. Takao, Mt Odake or something else in the morning. Can I combine this with a day trip to Kawagoe or something? Is there somewhere else I can go for the morning that feels a bit outside of the city?
- Back to hotel to change/break
- Roppongi/Shibuya/Shinjuku for the evening.
9/26 – Asakusa/Shinjuku
- Start day at Senso-ji, check out Nakamise-dori
- Explore area
- Back to hotel for lunch
- Train to Shinjuku to explore/shop
- Brilliant or Zoetrope for whiskey in Shinjuku
- Food?
9/27 – Train to Kyoto
- Stop in Hakone or Izu Peninsula
- Suggestions on which one of the above to do on this day. Is Izu feasible? I'm going to try to stop at one or the other on the way back to Tokyo from Kyoto. Seems like maybe Izu is the right move today, being less time constrained?
- Arrive at Kyoto Station, cab or walk to Shimogyo for hotel, just across from Gion.
- Explore area around hotel, explore Gion a bit, nothing too exciting. Find dinner.
9/28 – East Kyoto
- Fushimi-Inari
- Kenninji-Temple & Yasaka Pagoda
- Gion or maybe Philosopher's Path, depending on 9/28 day
- Back to hotel
- Nishiki Market, central Kyoto
- Pontocho food and drinks
9/29 – Nara/Osaka
- Train to Nara first thing in the morning
- Visit Kofuku-ji
- Visit Todai-ji
- Deer park, explore
- Osaka in afternoon, Osaka Castle, explore as much as I can
9/30 – Extra Kyoto
- Visit Arabica or Kurasu for morning coffee
- Kibune for a quick trip?
- Back to hotel to I'm sure crash for a bit.
- Bus/train to Uji.
- Back to hotel to break and find dinner in Gion or Pontocho
10/1 – Himeji Castle, Hikone, Kobe and/or Osaka
- Train to Himeji Castle
- Mt Shosha or Himeji Castle in the morning, then other afterewards
- Koko-en Garden
- Train back… stop in Kobe or Osaka on the way back? Worth it to add a half day in Kobe, or sneak in some more of Osaka?
- Is it feasible to stop at Yamazaki on the way back?
10/2 – West Kyoto
- Bamboo Forest first thing
- Tenryo-ji
- Monkey Park
- Jojakkoji
- Saga-Toriimoto
- Back to hotel, open afternoon/evening to try to figure out my life and bags and get ready to depart
10/3 – Train back to Haneda
- Stop in Hakone to explore for a bit
- Stay in Shinagawa or one of the Haneda airport hotels (any recs or preferences?)
10/4 – Fly out of Haneda 10:00 am
- Assume I should be to the airport by 7:00 or so?
A lot of this is intentionally vague as I like to explore a bit. I like to have a general outline and then update as needed. If there are any things that sorely stick out I'm missing, please let me know. Anything I should do or add as I'm going, or swap with other days if more things make sense together?
by BBDBVAPA