Advice/Suggestions Honeymoon Itinerary Estimated Spring 2024

10 comments

1. If you’re factoring things like *walking times* into your itinerary you are already overthinking things and need to chill more.

   The obvious question is whether you can fly out of KIX instead of adding several hours of unnecessary travel to your departure itinerary.

2. Really great to see some chill days in there. I see way too many itineraries that are packed with activities but no time to slow down and soak up the atmosphere.

   Tokyo is BIG. You will spend a lot of time travelling around. Try to put nearby things together. For example your day 2 and day 7 are similar areas: Sensoji (Asakusa) and Skytree are quite close together, so you could combine them or keep them as they are and have a backup plan of going to Skytree on Day 2 afternoon if you have seen enough of Asakusa by mid afternoon.

   You might have already decided not to visit these areas in Tokyo but: Shinjuku, Akihabara, Odaiba? Definitely visit one of the big department stores. Takashimaya in Shinjuku, Isetan in Shinjuku or Mitsukoshi in Nihonbashi.

3. Just a quick remark on day 12.
   Saiho-ji used to be reservations only, so I’d check what’s their current system 12-6 month before the visit. If it’s still reservations, it’s a pain and you might not get there on your desired day/time/at all, so have some backup plan.

4. Universal Studios Japan are highly overrated and expensive and we should have skipped these, retrospectively. Don’t recommend. My GF and I think we should have spared the time and money spend on the Studios and did something else instead. While most scenery is nice, the park is not as big and the rolercoasters are for children. Hogwarts is nice to walk through but once you’re done, the rest is lame.

5. I’m not a big fan of Tokyo and Osaka (but it doesn’t deserve full 5 days anyway) so I’ll let people who enjoy them talk, but a few things about Kyoto seem a bit off to me.

   Day 9
   I’m happy somebody remembered Kodai-ji, it’s great. Higashiyama is always awesome and you can spend the full day there visiting temples and museums. But I’m surprised not to see Kiyomizu-dera, Sannenzaka or any of the geisha districts. Ideally I’d go to Kiyomizu in the morning, then follow Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka till Kodaiji, chill in Maruyama, check out Chion-in and then make my way to the hotel through Gion (it’s overrated, but Gion Shirakawa is still awesome) and Miyagawa-cho.

   Day 10
   Could you please tell me your reason for picking Nanzen-ji? It’s not a very spring place, more early summer or autumn.
   Fushimi Inari is better in early morning / at night. I prefer night, but both options are valid.
   And I’d you’re already there I’d go to Tofuku-ji (rock gardens) and Sanjusangendo (beautiful Buddhist sculpture) after. There is more in the area, but you’ve marked it as a chill day.

   Day 11
   I lived in Kyoto for 7,5 years and I have to admit I’ve never heard of Club Okitsu. Google map doesn’t help me.
   Also, why Funaoka onsen? If you want a good onsen experience, Kyoto is not the best place to have it.
   If you tell me what’s your interests are I’ll be able to help you fix this day, but so far it’s a mystery 😅

   Day 12
   Wrote about it in a separate comment, but Saihoji is a pain to get in to. So you might need a plan B. Arashiyama area could easily fit in this day and there are other moss temples there.

6. Plan looks solid to me, here are some more ideas:

   Osaka (day15 maybe)

   I recommend Osaka castle (i’d say dont need to buy ticket and enter the building, but you can get past the walls for free and its worth a walk).

   If you’re into skyscrapers and want to see the city from above, go visit Abeno Harukas or Umeda Sky Bldg.

   ​

   In Kyoto, I highly recommend Arashiyama (Tenryu-ji, Togetsu-bridge, Bamboo forest, Nonomiya-shrine, Jojakko-ji) as well as the area around Kawaramachi sta. (Teramachi, Nishiki-market, Pontocho)

   I think the days in Kyoto are not really packed so you should be able to fit all of these in your schedule and still be able to have one chill day.

7. In my opinion, you plan is way too chill. I would personally plan more extra every days so in case you want to do more, you do not have to search what to do in the middle of the day. Even your non-chill days are empty. What you can do is decide on 1 or 2 “must see” for each day, then you can add as many extra as you want. During the day just check your list, how you feel and how much time you have. I would not even leave and empty day, put things every day and if you are tired, then just just drop the plan for that day. For me a travel plan is not a thing you have to follow, it’s just idea of things to do, just be flexible.

   Senso-ji and Skytree are really close to each other and just doing these two things is already a chill day.

   From what I’ve seen before, it should be one day Disneysea and on Disneyland.

   I would finish the day by Dotonbori, not start it by it.

   Instead of doing a lot of super relax days with almost nothing, do a two days one night in Hiroshima. You can do it between Kyoto and Osaka. What I would do is start early the morning of the first day and be in Himeji when the castle open, you can eat bento box in the train to Hiroshima, check the peace museum then eat okonomiyaki for dinner. Next morning go to Miyajima then return to Osaka at the end of the day. If you do not want to carry all luggage, just use a forwarding service and send if from Kyoto to Osaka.

8. Tokyo is probably one of if not the coolest city in the world. You could spend months there and not see everything. The food, the culture, the sites! Nothing like it anywhere.

   But you want to waste 2 days at an American theme park? So of your 14 days in Japan 21% of the time will be at American theme parks? May as well stay in America!

   Also in Tokyo for one or two of your chill days, or even the Tokyo Sky Tree day, you can do that in the evening, i’d do some day trips. Kamakura, or maybe even Kawagoe, super easy to get too and walk around.

9. Honestly, I would skip Disney. I don’t understand why people would travel all the way to Japan to go to an American cultural “experience”. Long lines, expensive, not worth it.

10. I’ve tweaked our itinerary and would love your feedback!

    Day 1- Arrive in Tokyo

    Day 2- Tokyo (chill day)

    *Sensoji Temple

    *Skytree

    Day 3- Tokyo

    *Harajuku

    *Shibuya Crossing

    Day 4- Tokyo

    *Tokyo DisneySea

    Day 5- Tokyo (chill day)

    *Yanaka

    *Gyokurin Ji

    Day 6- Shinjuku City (Day Trip by Train)

    *Isetan Dept. Store

    *Tokyo Metro Gov. Building

    Day 7- Odaiba City (Day Trip by Train)

    *Teamlab Borderless Museum

    *Diver City Tokyo Plaza (Gundum Statue)

    *Tokyo Joypolis (Arcade)

    *Palette Town Ferris Wheel

    Day 8- Travel/Arrive at Kyoto (chill day)

    ~Estimated 2 1/2 hr train~

    Day 9- Kyoto

    *Kiyomizu-dera

    *Sanneizaka (Sannenzaka)

    *Nineizaka (Ninenzaka)

    *Kodai-ji Temple

    *Maruyama Park

    *Chion-in Temple

    *Yasaka Shrine

    Day 10- Kyoto (chill day)

    *Nanzen-Ji Shrine

    Day 11- Kyoto

    *Fushimi Imari Taisha

    *Tofukuji Temple

    *Rengeoin Sanjusangendo

    Day 12- Kyoto to Hiroshima (Day Trip by Train, stay overnight)

    *Himeji Castle

    *Arrive at Hiroshima

    *Peace Museum

    Day 13- Hiroshima to Osaka (chill day)

    *Miyajima Temple

    ~Estimated 1 1/2 hour train ride~

    Day 14- Osaka

    *Todai-Ji Temple

    *Nara National Museum

    *Nara Park

    Day 15- Osaka

    *Universal Studios Of Japan

    Day 16- Osaka (chill day)

    *Osaka Castle

    ~Estimated 40 min train~

    *Osaka Aquarium

    Day 17- Osaka

    *Kuromon Market

    *Dotonbori

    Day 18- Depart from Osaka and head home