Hey Everyone!
My wife and I have finally booked flights for February 9-25 and wrote up a rough draft of our itinerary (just locations we’ll travel to and general activities) and wanted some thoughts on my vision and the way it’s laid out. My wife will be 30 and I will be 36. This will be our first visit to Japan
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|Day #|Activity & Location|Hotel City/Location|
|:-|:-|:-|
|2/9|Flying out of Raleigh|In Flight|
|2/10|Landing in Haneda, getting to our hotel, and exploring the area around our hotel|Tokyo, Japan|
|2/11|Exploring Roppongi and Shibuya during the day (as well as Yoyogi Park) and exploring Shinjuku and Harajuku in the evening (also, tokyo tower/metropolitan government building)|Tokyo, Japan|
|2/12|Exploring Ginza and Ueno during the day and Asakusa and Akihabara in the evening|Tokyo, Japan|
|2/13|Free day for anything we might’ve not been able to do. Otherwise, perhaps a day trip to Nikko|Tokyo, Japan|
|2/14|Travelling to Kawazu for the early cherry blossom festival and then traveling to Hakone to stay at a Ryokan for the evening|Hakone, Japan|
|2/15|Exploring Hakone during the day. Taking a gongola on the Hakone Ropeway, Lake Ashi, and Hakone Sekisho before taking the shinkansen to Kyoto for the evening|Kyoto, Japan|
|2/16|Bright an early spending the morning on the Philosophers path and temples and going to Gion for the afternoon|Kyoto, Japan|
|2/17|Visiting Kinkaku-ji and other gardens that we may not have been able to see|Kyoto, Japan|
|2/18|Travel to Nara in the morning, then to Osaka in the afternoon checking out Osaka Castle, checking into our hotel, and spending the evening around Dottonbori and eating lots|Osaka, Japan|
|2/19|Todai-ji temple/Daibutsu-den and possibly a day trip to Universal Studios Japan|Osaka, Japan|
|2/20|Travel to Hiroshima fairly early and spend the day exploring and visiting the Peace Museum, Peace Memorial Park, and A-Bomb Dome|Hiroshima, Japan|
|2/21|Beginning our trek at Onomichi and cycling the Shimanami Kaido to Omishima|Omishima, Japan|
|2/22|Finishing the Shimanami Kaido and spending the evening in Matsuyama|Matsuyama, Japan|
|2/23|Explore Matsuyama, visit Dogo Onsen and Matsuyama Castle. Traveling back to Tokyo in late afternoon|Tokyo, Japan|
|2/24|Taking it easy and hitting any Tokyo locations we might have missed or want to revisit, like Akihabara or Asakusa… also souvenier shopping|Tokyo, Japan|
|2/25|Packing and getting to Haneda early before our flight|In Flight|
I think it’s a fairly well balanced trip, though it seems a little packed to me, I believe I haven’t overpacked it.
\- We have a total of about 6 days in Tokyo and we’ll hopefully be able to use one to visit Nikko
\- A day in Hakone and experiencing a traditional Ryokan
\- About 2 days in Kyoto… will this be enough time?
\- About 2 days in Osaka, but splitting the first day with Nara… so I’m wondering if this will be enough time or if I should cut something out to add a day. If so, what should be cut out? A day in Tokyo perhaps?
\- A day in Hiroshima I believe should be enough before starting the Shimanami Kaido
\- I figured I’d make the Shimanami Kaido a 2 day trek in order to give us time to stop, explore, and take it all in… take it easy.
\- Instead of travelling back to Hiroshima, I thought it’d be cool to spend the night and the next day in Matsuyama, visiting the Dogo Onsen and Matsuyama Castle before heading back to Tokyo in the evening
\- Figured having a day in Tokyo at the end would be good to cover anything we forgot or places we want to revisit… and of course to pick up any souvenirs we might need to pick up before heading back the next day
I would love any thoughts you guys might have. Thank you!