[Itinerary check] 3 weeks in Japan for first time travelers

Hi everyone!

We are going on our honeymoon to Japan in mid October, 2023 and we’d love any and all feedback and advice! We have a bunch of questions too (at the end of the post) and would also appreciate any recommendations, especially on the accommodation side. Our itinerary is also just the first version, there are tons of question marks around it. There will be a 2nd post for sure.

Since this will be our first time in Japan, we would like to visit the main tourist destinations like Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, but we would also like to do some day trips here and there. We tried to come up with a diverse itinerary so we can experience Japan’s beautiful natural scenery and traditional architecture, city nightlife, ryokans, anime culture and so on.

That being said lets jump right to it!

## Osaka

– Day 1:
– Arriving to Japan in the morning: Right at the beginning we have 2 options and it depends on what kind of flight tickets can we get.
– Option 1: We land in Osaka Kansai. If we land in Osaka, we send our luggage to the hotel and will check in only later in the evening.
– Option 2: or land in Tokyo Narita/Haneda. In case we land in Tokyo, we will travel to Osaka right away with our luggage and check in to our hotel.
– Regardless of where we land, we will get our IC cards, pocket Wi-Fi / mobile sim cards at the airport.
– Afternoon: Osaka Castle
– Night: wander Dotonbori for some awesome street food, Hozenji Yokocho
– Day 2:
– Morning and afternoon: Universal Studios Japan
– Evening: Umeda Sky Building (entrance until 22:00)
– Day 3:
– Morning and early afternoon: Nara trip. Todai-Ji, Isuien Garden, Kasuga-taisha, Nara Park (and maybe climbing Mount Wakakusayama)
– Late afternoon and evening: Shitenno-Ji temple, Shinsekai for some more awesome street food, Tsutenkaku Tower
– Day 4:
– Morning and afternoon: Himeji and Kobe day trip. Himeji Castle and Mount Rokko by either foot or with the Shin-Kobe Ropeway. Otherwise not so sure what, if anything else
– Evening: enjoying the city night life some more either in Dotonbori or somewhere else.
– Day 5:
– Option 1: Koyasan
– In this case, we send our luggage to our Kyoto hotel after checking out from Osaka. Garan, Okunoin Temple, hiking one of the pilgrimage trails. Staying in a temple lodging for the night.
– Option 2: Nachi falls
– I know this is can be a huge time sink, but this place is one of the very reason I wanted to go to Japan in the first place. In this case, we send our luggage to our Kyoto stay and after visiting Nachi falls we go to Kyoto right away.

## Kyoto

These 3 days are packed with sights, we were wondering if we should stay one more day in Kyoto.

– Day 6:
– Morning: Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, Tenryu-Ji, Togetsukyo bridge (and maybe Saihoji/Kokedera)
– Afternoon: Kinkaku-Ji, Philosopher’s Path, Ginkakuji (and maybe Ruriko-in if we make it)
– Day 7:
– All day: Kiyomizu-dera, Higashiyama district with Sanneizaka and Nineizaka, Hokan-ji, Yasaka-dori,Kodai-ji,Hanamikoji Street and the Gion district, Pontocho
– Day 8:
– Morning: Fushimi Inari Taisha with Senbon Torii pathway
– Afternoon: Toji temple, Nijo castle, Nishiki market, more wandering in Gion and Higashiyama

## Fuji

– Day 9:
– Check out of hotel in Kyoto, send our luggage to the next hotel and head to…
– Option 1:… Ghibli park in Nagoya. Ghibli movies were really important in both of our lives, so missing it would be only acceptable, because we plan to visit the Ghibli museum in Tokyo. After the Ghibli park, we wouldn’t spend any more time in Nagoya, but continue on our way to Hakone. In the afternoon/evening we check into our ryokan in Hakone.
– Option 2: … Narai-juku. Sceninc route with train, and Narai-juku is also one of those beutiful sights one day we would like to visit. Huge time-sink though. In the afternoon/evening we check into our ryokan in Hakone.
– Option 3:… Hakone. We check into our ryokan in Hakone right away and just relaxing.
– Day 10: Hakone
– Morning and early afternoon: Trip around Lake Ashi, Hakone shrine, Heiwa no Tori, Hakone open air museum.
– Late afternoon to evening: Chilling in our ryokan.
– Day 11: Fujikawaguchiko
– Morning: checking out of ryokan, sending our luggage to our next ryokan in Fujikawaguchiko. Arakura Fuji Sengen Jinja Shrine, Chureito Pagoda, Fujiyoshida Sengen Shrine (any other recommendations are welcome)
– Afternoon: checking into ryokan and relaxing.
– Day 12: Fujikawaguchiko
– Morning: Tenku no torii
– Afternoon: Relaxing in the ryokan.

## Optional: Yamagata Prefecture ?

This part has a huge question mark after it since it require a lot of time for just travelling. The plan is to send our luggage to our Tokyo stay, but then visit Obanazawa and Ginsan and sleep there. Then visit Yamadera and the Risshakuji Temple on the next day and then arrive to Tokyo in the evening. This part needs a sanity check, so please don’t hold back on your thought.

## Tokyo

Depending on the previous part we either arrive to Tokyo in the morning or the evening, but even if we skip Yamagata and arrive to Tokyo from Fujikawaguchiko early in the morning we would have almost a full day. Below is just the initial list of things we would like to visit, there are just too much stuff to do in Tokyo! It was created without any need for completeness whatsoever, so please feel free to share with us spots we should avoid or absolutely must visit. The ordering doesn’t really mean anything either, it really is just a first version.

– Day 13: central Tokyo
– Imperial Palace
– Tokyo Station and Tokyo Ramen Street (Donguri Republic)
– Yasukuni shrine
– Akihabara
– Day 14: northern Tokyo
– Asakusa
– Sensoji Temple
– Ueno Park / Rikugien Gardens
– Tokyo Skytree
– Day 15: western Tokyo
– Shinjuku
– Omoide Yokocho, Shinjuku
– Meiji Shrine
– Shinjuku Gyoen
– Yoyogi Park
– Shibuya in the night, Shibuya sky
– Day 16: western Tokyo
– Nakano Broadway
– Inokashira Park
– Ghibli Museum
– Shin-okubo aka Korea town
– Strolling and shopping in Shinjuku, Harajaku and Shibuya in the night
– Day 17: southern Tokyo
– Roppongi hills
– Tokyo Tower
– teamLab Planets
– Day 18:
– Checking out of hotel , strolling the streets for one last time then going to the airport and fly back home.

## Questions

1. Does the Day 5 – Option 2 makes any sense at all?
2. Should we stay another day at Kyoto and possibly rebalance the number of sight we see each and every day?
3. Is the Yamagata part of the trip complete nuts?
4. Our budget is between 7-8000 USD for the trip depending on the flight tickets we can get. We would spend on ryokans with private onsens in Hakone and Fujikawaguchiko around 3-400 USD per night, but would try to stay in hotels in the other destinations that are around 150 USD per night. With quick calculation that would be around 3500-4000 USD for accommodations alone. Two 14-day (last week is only Tokyo) JR Pass is another 750 USD. I will check if the JR Pass worth it or we should buy the individual tickets, but I don’t think we would save much. Can we make it with our budget or should we cut some days?
5. Any tickets that are hard/tricky to get and we should be aware of? I know USJ and the Ghibli museum are always sold out quickly, but beside of them?
6. Any recommendations for hotels and ryokans?
7. Are we missing out on anything that we should absolutely see and we will be close to it anyway?

## The End

Last words if you made it here: you are an absolute hero! This post was long and tiring and my English isn’t the best either but if you still have some energy to write some advice to us, it would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!