Hello Guys
I’m planning on visiting Japan in late May/early June 2022 (if possible). It’s my first time in Japan and it is my first time traveling alone. I’m still in an relatively early stage of planning, but I put together a list of the locations I want to visit and how long I’m planning to stay there. As with activity planning I have some things planned, but I think I will do many things spontaneously. My focus will be manly on photography, food, shrines and temples and often just walk around and explore.
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**Tokyo 5 days**
Fly from Zurich to Tokyo
Hotel or Airbnb in Shinjuku
Shopping, Food etc.
Day trip to Nikko and start of my 14 days JR Pass
Exploring the temples in Nikko
**Fuji Five Lakes 2 days**
I’ve never been to a big city like Tokyo, so I’m planning on relaxing in those two days after getting out of Tokyo, explore the region and take loads of photos. And do some hiking.
**Kyoto 3 days**
Just explore the city and visit some temples. Visit the imperial castle and maybe visiting the manga museum, Nishiki Market etc. Like I said, most things to do I will chose spontaneously.
**Osaka 3 days**
The food will definitely be a highlight here. Universal Studios, Market, temples etc.
**Nara daytrip**
Rent a bike and explore the city. Visit some temples and see some deers…
**Hiroshima 2 days**
Visit the Peace Park.
**Miyajima Island daytrip**
Just explore the Island
**Back to Tokyo for 1 night**
Flight back to Zurich
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I’m actually quite happy with my plan so far. I only have some things I really want to add, but I’m not quite sure where.
I want to visit Himeji. The city looks so beautiful. Maybe I could add it on my way from Hiroshima to Tokyo.
I would like to see some of the countryside of Japan. Maybe visiting the Kinosaki Onsen and stay there in a more rural village. That way I would also experience an Onsen. But than again it would be a little time consuming to get there.
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I’m open for all sorts of suggestion and criticism. The length of the trip isn’t really fixed so feel free to advice to add or remove some days.
5 comments
I like it, pretty similar to our trip in 2019. Personally I would skip the imperial palace in Kyoto for some of the other famous sights like Kiyomizudera or Fushimi, since it’s mostly just a very large park.
For onsen, you have the easy option to do it in Kawaguchiko.
If you were to do Kinosaki, you would need most of 2 days. The first day you spend the morning in Osaka or Kyoto, go to Kinosaki and soak in the onsen. Next morning after breakfast at the ryokan, take the train to Himeji then finish the day in Hiroshima.
If you do not add Kinosaki, you can still stop by Himeji on the way to Hiroshima, I would try to be at the castle when it open at 9am, eat bento lunch in the train to Hiroshima and next day to Miyajima. Not sure if your 2 days in Hiroshima include the trip to Miyajima, but it it realistic to do both in 2 days, it can even be 2 days 1 night. If you were to do Himeji on your return to Osaka/Kyoto, then you can likely only spend the morning in Miyajima as you need to be at Himeji before the castle close at 4 pm.
Also, to avoid doing the long Hiroshima to Tokyo ride, do Tokyo-Kyoto-Hiroshima-Osaka for example, so you are in the train for a shorter amount of time.
You could consider flying in and out of a different airport, like in Tokyo and out of Osaka. This should allow you to cut down the JR Pass to 7 days and not have to return to Tokyo by train. If you cannot fit all in 7 days, you can consider going to Nikko with the Tobu pass, that will be cheaper than the extra week of JR Pass and it also include the bus in Nikko. And if still not 7 days, you can go to Kawaguchiko by bus as JR Pass will not cover the full distance as a part of the train is not JR.
If you do return to Tokyo, you might want to move ore or two of the Tokyo days there, so if you want to go shopping, you won’t have to carry everything all around the country.
Fushimi Inari and monkey park whilst in Kyoto?
They also do (did) an hour long walking tour of Kyoto palace for free and in English – can’t remember if you had to prebook or not.
You don’t need to spend the night in Himeji if you go early you can finish it by lunch time including the garden nearby.
For Kyoto I think 3 days is a bit tight if you want to cover all the main areas: Arashiyama, Fushimi Inari, Nijo Castle, Kinkaku-ji and Ginkakuji temple.
For Nara there is not much to do in the city, maybe see Naramachi. The main attraction is the huge Nara Park along with the Todaji temple and Kaiga Taisha Shrine. But it will easily take 4~6 hours exploring the place.
Lastly I think summer 2022 is super optimistic, Japanese government is in no mood to lift the 10 day mandatory quarantine (regardless of vaccination).
I recommend to have a day to recover after the flight. you could make some Plans for less important things in case you feel good to go.
Nikko: dont forget Kegon Falls, if you’re travelling by train, im not sure how to get there… maybe by bus? But it’s pretty close to Nikko so it would be a pity not going there, too.
Some places you might want to visit (please do Research by yourself to figure out if you want to go there, feel free to visit my Profile, I live in Kyoto and I made Videos of some places.)
Kyoto: Arashiyama (Bamboo forest, Tenryu-ji, Jojakko-ji, Pontocho, kiyomizu-dera, Sannenzaka, Yasaka-jinja, Ginkakuji, Kinkakuji, Gion
Osaka: Osaka castle, Dotonbori, Abeno Harukas, Umeda Sky Bldg.