My partner and I have booked our flights for our first trip to Japan – yay! Arriving 12th May and departing 27th May 2025.
We haven’t booked our accommodation yet. We’re hoping to sense-check our itinerary first, if anyone would be kind enough to take a look? We’d like to prioritise a better experience over being cost-conscious. We’re planning to buy a lot of cute things and alternative clothes, so we’re trying to keep a lot of time open for shopping. And we’re imagining that we should be flexible about which day we do what in Tokyo, so we can use the least cloudy day to hopefully see Mt Fuji.
Day 1 – Tokyo
Arrive by Narita airport
Stay in Tokyo (in Minato, Asakusa or Roppongi?)
Shibuya crossing
Shibuya sky? Or one other sky viewing experience
Yoyogi park to rest
Shibuya Centre Gai after dark for izakayas
Day 2 – Tokyo
Meiji shrine
Shop in Harajuku
Day 3 – Tokyo
Senso-ji Temple
Shop on Nakamise Street
Ueno Ameyoko open air market
Akihabara
Day 4 – Day trip to Hakone
onsen
maybe Hakone shrine
gondola up to Owakudani (Boiling Valley)
eat a black egg
Day 5 – Lake Kawaguchiko
get bus or train to Lake Kawaguchiko to see Mount Fuji
Ikebukuro
Days 6-8 – Kyoto
Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto
Hotel in Kyoto, one of these:
Downtown Kyoto (easiest to access)
Higashiyama (very traditional)
Kyoto Station Area (good for travelling around)
early morning: Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
Fushimi Inari Taisha
Geisha districts Higashiyama and Gion
Kinkaku-ji Temple?
have Pontocho
Day 9 – Osaka
Shinkansen to Osaka
Stay at hotel in Osaka
see Dotonbori big 3D signs street
Shinsekai for food
Namba Shrine
Nipponbashi Den-Den Town
Day 10 – Day trip to Nara
JR Nara Line or the Kintetsu Line to Nara
Nara Deer Park
Todai-ji Temple?
Kasuga-Taisha
Day 11 – Day trip to Kobe or Kinosaki, or more time in Osaka?
Kobe day trip?
Or Kinosaki onsen? Stay at ryokan overnight in Kinosaki?
Day 12 – Okinawa?
Move to a hotel in Okinawa? Or keep our things in Osaka and do an overnight stay in a hotel in Okinawa?
- Ishigaki for beaches
Day 13 – Tokyo
Zoshigaya Kishimojin
Shinjuku Gyoen garden
Kabukicho during the day and after dark
love hotel?
Day 14 – Tokyo
- shop until departure via Narita airport
by Mrfazzles