I’m planning a 21 day trip to Japan, between late March and Early April (2023). Would like some tips and suggestions on the itinerary.
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**TOKYO**
**Day 0** – Arrival, get Suica cards and Wifi Sim Cards. Go to hotel in Shibuya, settle and recover from jet lag.
**Day 1 – (SHIBUYA and HARAJUKU District) –** Start off at Shibuya Crossing then to Shibuya Sky (Scramble Square). See the Hachiko Statue then go to Tokyu Plaza, Cat Street, Omotesando Street and Meiji Jingu Shrine , Yoyogi Park. Have lunch at Aoyama. Go to Harakuju after for shopping. Go to Pokemon Center and Underground Mandarake. Have dinner at Gato Kaiseki restaurant or Tempura Motoyoshi.
**Day 2 – (Shinjuku) –** Start at Shinjuku Gyoen. Have lunch at Omoide Yokocho Izakayas or Golden Gai. Visit Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Go to Samurai Museum. Maybe go to Nakano Broadway. Maybe have dinner Ramen at Ippudo or Ramen Tatsunoya.
**Day 3 – (Asakusa and Akihabara) –** Start at Senso-ji temple. Go to Akihabara to have a meal at Maid-Café Maidreamin. Explore anime stuff at Tokyo Anime Center and Mandarake Store. Visit to Square Enix Café. and Kanda Miyojin Shrine.
**Day 4 – (Northern-Eastern Tokyo) -** Go to Tokyo Skytree or Tokyo Tower in the morning and then Imperial Palace East Gardens. Go go Ueno Neighborhood. Visit Tokyo National Museum. Have dinner Eat Ramen at Ippudo or eat Sushi at Tsukiji Fish Market. Watch Sumo training maybe. At night go to Roppongi for Muse nightclub.
**Day 5** – Get JRailpass and get train to Hakone in the morning or early afternoon.
**HAKONE**
**Day 5** – Arrive and spend the day at Ryokan. Eat and go to sleep.
**Day 6** – Have breakfast at Ryokan and then go sigthseeing in Hakone (get hakone pass). Have lunch. Go back to Ryokan, have dinner and sleep.
**Day 7** – Leave Hakone in the morning and go to Takayama (does JRailpass cover this trip?)
**TAKAYAMA**
**Day 7** \-. Arrive, go to Ryokan and chill. Have dinner at Ryokan and sleep.
**Day 8** \- Visit Takayama Old Town and Takayama Jinya. Lunch? Dinner?
**Day 9** – Shirakawago Day trip. Go back to Takayama and rest.
**Day 10** – Get bus to Nagoya.
**NAGOYA**
**Day 10** – Arrive in the afternoon, got to hotel and settle. Stroll around and have dinner at Ebi Furai Restaurant.
**Day 11** – Have breakfast at Komeda Coffee . Visit Nagoya Castle and then go to Atsuta Temple. Have Hitsumabushi for lunch, then go to Tokugawa-en Garden & Tokugawa Art Museum. At night go to Oasis 21. Eat tebasaki for dinner or eat Ramen at Manchiken.
**Day 12** – Get train to Kyoto
**KYOTO**
**Day 12 -** Arrive and go to hotel to settle. Do a little walk. Have dinner and chill.
**Day 13** \- Start off at Nijo Castle and have lunch at Menbakaichida Fire Ramen. In the afternoon go to Kyoto Imperial Palace and Kyoto International Manga museum. In the evening go to Nishiki Market for dinner.
**Day 14 –** Start off at Arashiyama and Tenryu-Ji Temple in the morning. In the afternoon, go to then go to Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine. Visit Toji Temple the and Ginkaku ji Temple. Have Diner at Ramen Muraji, Katsura Sanjo Honte or Tiger Gyoza Kawaramachi
**Day 15** – Get the train to Osaka in the morning.
**OSAKA**
**Day 15 -** Arrive at Osaka. Go to Hotel and settle. Walk around in the evening and have dinner Yakiniku & Horumon Susumu.
**Day 16** – Start off at Osaka Castle, Osaka Museum of History. Go to Kita(Umeda). Go to HEP Five Ferris Wheel, Umeda Sky Building then O-hatsu Tenjin. For lunch have Takoyaki at Takoyaki Wanaka at Kuromon Ichiba Market. Go to Kitanshinchi District at night. Have dinner or lunch Oretachi No Curry Ya.
**Day 17** – Start off at Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine and Shitennoji Temple. Then go to Shinsekai and Tsutentaku. Have Kushikatsu for lunch or go to Kuromon Market. Go to Osaka Expo 70 and Tower of the Sun. Later, go to Bunraku Theather and for Dinner go to Dotonbori (Kushikatsu Daruma?)
**Day 18** – Go to Nara in the morning. Get back to Osaka and go to Go to Minoo Park and Abeno Harukas and Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street.
**Day 19** **–** Get the train from Osaka to Tokyo in the morning.
**TOKYO**
**Day 19** – Arrive in Tokyo. Last night, have dinner. Sleep
**Day 20** – Free day/shopping. Go to Tokyo Tower. Have farewell dinner and drinks at Park Hyatt Hotel.
**Day 21** \- Go back home.
1 comment
Day 1, if you wake up early, start by Yoygi park and Meiji-jingu. Stores around Shibuya will only start to open at 10-11.
Day 2, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is ok, but I would say Shibuya Sky will be much more interesting. Samurai Museum closed and unknown if, when or where it may re-open.
Day 4 – If you want to do Sky Tree, do with Asakusa. Tokyo Tower is ok, but I would only go if there is an even you want to see or for Red Tokyo Tower. For observation deck, Roppongi Hills Mori Tower wold be my recommendation in that area…. if you do, maybe end the day by that as you want to go clubbing.
Have you calculated if JR Pass is worth ? You would need 21 days from what you wrote and I highly doubt it’s worth. Like Go back to Tokyo in the night of the previous day or go to Hakone using the Romancecar (that is not covered by the pass) to be within 14 days…. still, calculate all long distance trains and compare to cost of JR Pass.
JR Pass will cover from Odawara station to Takayama with a stop by Nagoya. The Hakone Free pass will cover travel within Hakone. But day 10, it’s take train to Nagoya…. not bus.
No idea at what time you plan to move between cities, but it should not take a full day, you can really do something on the moving days. Like if you go to Hakone in the morning, you almost have the whole day to visit. Like literally, it will take 1h to move from Kyoto to Osaka…. you have time to do something more than check-in to your hotel.
Day 14…. no Arashiyama and Fushimi Inari-taisha are 1h away… then Ginkaku-ji…. seriously not the best combo… get in the train early the 12 and spend the afternoon visiting some of these places.
17- Shitennoji is an hour away from the Expo 70 park… then will be at least 50 minutes to Bunraku… not best combo.
18- …. god you like strange combo… you have no idea. Nara-minoh is at least 1h40, then Abeno harukas (that by the way is next to Shitenno-ji from the previous day) is at least 50 minutes away…
Seriously, you have weirdly packed days and strangely empty moving days… like literally, there is days you will spend more time in the train than in visiting days… like Nagoya – Kyoto is 35 minutes by shinkansen, Kyoto – Osaka 1h, Shinjuku – Hakone-Yumoto, 1h50… Even Takayama – Nagoya at 2h30 will be less than total you will do on day 18…