My friend and I are visiting Japan in October, from the 16th through the 29th. If anything we’re both just hoping the travel border will reopen for individual tourism by then. We’re going to purchase the JR rail pass if possible to get the most out of our transportation fees. Without further ado, here’s the 13 day itinerary:
Day 1: Land in Narita airport in Tokyo and chill out the rest of the night, possibly visit Tsutaya, Shibuya Crossing, and the Shibuya 109 top floor outlook
Day 2: Full day in Akihabara and Nakano Broadway (also points of interest would be Super Potato, Mandarake, HMV Record Shop, Tower Records, any animal cafe, etc.)
Day 3: Visit Senso-ji Temple, Ueno Park, and Meiji Jingu outdoor shrine in Tokyo
Day 4: Head to Nara to explore the deer park and the Todai-ji Temple
Day 5: Visit Osaka and eat a bunch of food, possibly visit Universal Studios if time permits
Day 6: Arrive in Kyoto and enjoy our stay at the Fushimi Inari Taisha orange gate shrine and the Kiyomizu-dera Orange Temple
Day 7: Spend another day in Kyoto, this time early to go to the Arashiyama bamboo grove and the Kinkakuji Golden Pavilion Temple
Day 8: Visit Kinosaki for a relaxing time at the onsens
Day 9: Head to Hiroshima to see the floating gate and Miyajima Island if time permits
Days 10, 11, and 12 are up in the air and I would like to open it up to anyone to make a call if you feel that we should spend an extra day anywhere I mentioned before, I was thinking at least one extra day in either Tokyo or Kyoto
Day 13: Return home
If you have any feedback on how to best improve this itinerary or how to spend the extra three days in a way that makes sense with this itinerary, please let me know! I’m eager to hear some input on this so my second time to Japan can be a memorable experience. Thank you in advance!
4 comments
Is it your first time going there?
Are you planning to only go to Miyajima? If you’ve never been to Hiroshima before, I’d recommend at least a day in the city. It’s very historically important and chilling to experience.
And there’s more to see in Kyoto as well, if you’re willing to spend another day there.
If you’re against spending another day in Kyoto or Hiroshima, a couple of days in Okinawa might be good. I’ve never been there, but it used to be its own kingdom before it was conquered by japan, so it has some unique culture you won’t see in the rest of Japan. But it seems like you’re mostly focusing yourself in Honshu, so it might be out of your range.
Shibuya 109 is not the only point of view you can get on Shibuya Scramble. You also have one at Hikarie and for a full view on the city, check Shibuya Sky.
Day 2 – I understand you want to do a thematic anime day, but it would make more sense to do the things thatare on the same side of the city on the same day, like Asakusa-Ueno-Akihabara one one days and Nakano-Meiji-jingu work really well together, just get the Chuo line between Nakano and Yoyogi station.
Day 4 – I would not exactly be my first choice, but possible, you can stop at Kyoto station, drop your luggage in a coin locker and continue to Nara… however, I think you can do better. First I would recommend a hotel around Kawaramachi/Gions/Sanjo. If you start the day early, you can be in Kyoto for lunch, go drop your luggage at the hotel (you cannot check-in yet) lunch in Nishiki market and go to Kiyomizu-dera via Yasaka-jinja, sanenzaka.
Day 6 – As you would have don Kiyomizu-dera previously, after Fushimi Inari-taisha (I recommend to go kind of early to beat the crowd) then you should be able to be in Nara for lunch.
Question, what it the orange temple ?
Day 9 : While doing Miyajima and Hiroshima in a single day as a daytrip from Kyoto (it would be a full day but possible) doing both on the day you move from Kinosaki would be much more difficult. First you won’t be able to start the day as early as you would expect yo get breakfast around 8-9am at the ryokan. Then it would take around 5h to reach Hiroshima. So even if you are able to be done with breakfast at 8am, you won’t be in Hiroshima before 1pm, so that is absolutely not enough to visit Hiroshima and Miyajima. There is a train that would make it faster between Kinosaki and Himeji, but that train does not run that often.
Actually, what could make more sense is to go to Hiroshima first. If you go from Kyoto, you can be there early and start by Miyajima, like your goal is to be there as close to 9am as possible. Lunch in Miyajima, move to Hiroshima for the peace museum, okonomiyaki for dinner. Next you have the morning to do something, a good option is Himeji to see the castle. It’s especially a good idea as you will take the train to Kinosaki from there. You could decide to stay the night in Hiroshima or Himeji, as you want. The reason you want to go to Himeji is that you can take the Hamazake Limited express direct to Kinosaki and it will take just 2 hours (so yes, counting the shinkanen, that saves you 2h in the train). The weekday schedule is leave Himeji at 1:20 pm and reach Kinosaki at 3:12, so just in time to check-in your ryokan, grab your onsen pass, yukata and go soak in the onsen.
​
Also, you should check to get a multi-city ticket, fly in Tokyo and out of Osaka. If you can, then you can buy a one way ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto for around 15 000 yen, JR West Hiroshima Area pass for 5 days (to go to Hiroshima-Kinosaki, return to Kyoto/Osaka, and can do a bit of extra). That would be much cheaper than the 2 weeks JR Pass, so even if the airplane ticket is a bit more expensive, it will cost less in train. No you would not have the pass in Tokyo, but that is not a problem, just get yourself a Suica or Pasmo to make payment easier and just pay for individual ride. You will also be able to use the subway. Then the pass can be use to ride the subway/bus/tran in Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka/Hiroshima.
You will also be able to use the faster shinkansen (Nozomi) if you do not get the JR Pass. The only “downside” to this is that the Hiroshima Area Pass does not cover the shinkansen between Kyoto and Shin-Osaka, so you will have to buy a ticket for that part. The staff at the ticket office should be able to sell you the ticket (even with a seat reservation) for the whole trip. Or just get a non-reserved seat ticket from Kyoto to Shin-Osaka (should be around 2000 yen) and just stay in the seat and ride all the way to Hiroshima (as long as the train go direct to Hiroshima).
​
And yes, easily add days in Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka, there is a lot to do there.
Feedback: the itinerary is a bit rushed and I’d recommend adding several more days for Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. At your pace you’ll only see the most openly touristy things it’s like going to new York city and only visiting times Square and Central Park.
On your next visit, spend more time in Okinawa.