Itinerary critique for 18M solo traveler

I’m looking to travel around Japan for 14-15 days and have devised an itinerary based on videos, blogs and reddit posts i’ve seen in the last few days but I’m anxious to waste valuable time.

I’m currently solo backpacking SE Asia and have been budgeting hard since I heard that Japanese travel reopens on the 11th. I also plan to budget while I’m in Japan, meaning I’ll make a packed lunch every day to avoid spending loads on food, and I’ll be staying in hostels and guesthouses which average out at £15 a night. If anyone has any other budgeting tips I’ll be all-ears.
I’m also going to buy the 2 week rail-card as I used the calculator to determine whether it was worth it (it is)

While I’m happy with my itinerary so far, i’m sure plenty of you will know Japan better than I, so if i’ve missed anything worthwhile, feel free to point it out.

Here goes so far…

Tokyo 22-24th: Izakaya Alley

Hakone 24-26th: Hot springs, Fuji view, Hakone loop

Kyoto 26-29th: Bamboo forest, Monkey park, Gion, Kiyomizu-dera temple

Nara 29-31st: Deer park, Nara national museum, Todai-Ji temple, Isui-En garden

Osaka 31-2nd: Osaka castle, Dotonbori

Kanazawa 2-4th: Art district, castle, shrines

Takayama 4-6th: Kamikochi, Old town, Folk village

Airport – Osaka 6-7th: Flight home

I’m hoping to keep to £800-£1000 (¥130,000-160,000) over the course of my 2 week trip. This includes travel, food, day trips and hostel stays. I understand Japan is expensive compared to SE Asia (and most other countries for that matter) but I’ve been told by friends who’ve been that it is possible to stay on my ¥9000 a day budget.

Thanks in advance for any tips 🇯🇵❤️

1 comment
  1. Have you actually booked accommodations? Price are rising and cheaper place are being fully booked left-and-right. Not only because there are tons of people dying to visit Japan but it’s the beginning of the peak foliage season so domestic tourist is also competing for everything, especially anything near weekend. I am not sure if you could keep your budget if you haven’t booked anything yet.

    Also Kamikochi is not in Takayama. It’s quite a travel from Takayama actually.

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