Hey everyone, me and my gf (both never visited before) are planning a trip to Japan this December. We were planning our itinerary and were wondering if anyone would have any suggestions for must-visit places or logistical stuff like transportation. We plan to have a more laid-back trip where we won’t spend every second traveling from one tourist spot to another.
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**Day 1:** Fly to Tokyo (NRT) and then directly fly to Hokkaido (CTS). We arrive at night in Sapporo.
**Day 2 – 3 (Sapporo):** We plan to stay in Sapporo and try eating food unique to Sapporo like miso ramen, genghis khan bbq, dairy stuff, seafood, etc. On day 2, we are planning a day trip to Noboribetsu to check out the onsens there (but open to different suggestions as well). We’ll be leaving in the morning on day 3 for Osaka.
**Day 3 – 6 (Osaka):** We want to fly directly from Hokkaido (CTS) to Osaka (ITM). In Osaka, we want to eat a lot of Kansai food like takoyaki and okonomiyaki. Activities include visiting the aquarium, visiting den-den town, cup noodles museum, and checking out the castle. Looking for more recs on unique stuff/hidden gems to do here!
**Day 7 – 11 (Kyoto):** We plan to take the train to Kyoto and stay there for the next 4 days. We’ll mostly be doing the cultural stuff like visiting Kinkaku-ji, Kiyomizu-dera, Nineizaka, etc. Also planning a day trip to Nara and feeding deer at Nara Park.
**Day 11-13 (Hakone?):** We aren’t sure if we should visit Hakone or not. Originally, we wanted to go here for the Ryokan experience but we also found some nice Ryokans in Kyoto. If anyone has any advice on if we should visit or not, please let us know! If we were to go to Hakone, we plan on doing some hikes and visiting the Hakone shrine.
**Day 13 – 18 (Tokyo):** We wanted to spend the holidays in Tokyo and see the decorations in the city. We plan to eat some high-end food, go shopping, go on a tall tower for views, and just explore the city.
Additionally, we are both 19, and wondering if that might be a problem for any checking-in or other logistical stuff.
Thanks in advance!
1 comment
I think Noboribetsu is worth a visit if you like Onsen.
Hakone is also a good place but if I were in your situation (in Kansai region), I would visit other places convenient from Kansai. Hakone’s advantage is acessibility from Tokyo. I think it would be better for you to avail yourself of the situation.