Hello all
Sat down with my husband to write out the entire trip plan. We will book everything this upcoming week when we hear from a friend. So things are still squishy. Would love feedback
Mar 31-April 1 **Flight from Canada** arrives at Narita at 3 pm AirCanada non-stop from Toronto.
April 1-5th **Tokyo** slush time. Getting used to the time change, and if our flight gets cancelled or disturbed, we can quickly leave on another day. We will be staying with a friend this whole time, so there is no need to worry about booking accommodations. But we could make a day trip from Tokyo if we arrive on the 5th. and also go to any temples if we miraculously get here with no problems like flight cancellation.
April 6th-7th **Hakone** sightseeing with the pass and taking all of the transit around, Ie. the Pirate ship. Eating black eggs, maybe a hike. **Is it worth it to get a Ryokan? or stay in a cheaper hotel?**
7th-11th **Tokyo again**, but we will try to book tickets to borderless planets, studio ghibli museum, Tokyo tower, pig cafe, and other animal cafes, hang out with friends in Tokyo and plan a day trip from Tokyo. Yarn and souvenir shopping if we have time. Imperial gardens and other gardens
12th-15th **Takayama**\- stay in a ryokan and check out this area. My husband wants to see the spring festival from April 14-15. I assume it is expensive because It is a festival and resort town because it all looks super expensive!
15-19th **Hiroshima**\- Bunny island, hiking up Itsukushima, tory gate, peace memorial **Suggestions welcomed in the hiking, exciting museum and natural phenomena area**
19th, leave Hiroshima and go to Osaka but on the way, stop at the art gallery on Naoshima island to see Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkins and another art gallery.
19th-23 **Osaka**\- food, palace, gardens, A fabric designers studio I want to see, Nara for a day/afternoon**. How long does Nara take**? **Any good hiking places around?**
23-28th **Kyoto**\- Kyoto textile tour, all the temples, tea village tour, tea ceremony, Kimono museum, textile museum, shibori museum. We plan to go to the temple first thing in the morning and do more activities in the afternoon. **suggestions welcome for hiking and textile related**
28-8th **Tokyo again**\- This is golden week, and we were not sure if we had enough time in Tokyo at the beginning, but because it is golden week, should we just cut the trip off here? Or should we spend more time shopping in Tokyo? We have not scheduled any shopping time for the whole trip up to this point other than the Kyoto textile tour. Will stores even be open? How do things work around golden week? Should we move the trip up one week to avoid this week??? **Note we will be staying with a friend again, so there is no need to book accommodations.**
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My husband has been learning Japanese for three years now and is at what I assume is a child’s speaking level. We know this is a long trip, but we have saved up for years.
We would hike up Fuji if it were open, but we also do NOT want to go during the summer.
Thanks for all of your help!
2 comments
Is it worth it to get a Ryokan?
In my opinion yes it is worth it. Well, it does not have to be in Hakone, but I would really do it at least once while in Japan, with Kaiseki meal and everything.
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Takayama, I stayed in a hostel, so there is ways to make it not that expensive, I am also not sure I would call it a “resort town”. Of course, if you go to a ryokan with meal included, it will be more expensive than a cheap business hotel. The big factor on the price will be the spring festival and room availability might even be a problem, in that case you would have to check to stay in a neighbor city, for example Gero onsen if you want to have a ryokan with onsen and Kaiseki meal, but at the same time you would have to get there a bit early (usually by 5-6 pm) for the meal.
Nara, if you focus on the park only, it can be done in a day or even less, but if you want to visit other area of Nara (even Nara as the whole prefecture) there would be ways to spend several days there.
Golden week is the time when stores and attractions don’t want to close as it’s a high period for domestic tourism. You would probably prefer to avoid taking the train for long distance during goldent week, or book tickets fairly in advance. Expect popular tourist stops and amusement park to be more crowded.
> Hakone.. and a Ryokan..
This will be a very popular time due to the recent blossoming of trees. Do you know about the Hakone Freepass by Odakyu company?
There are any older established places within Hakone (which is a huge region by the way) that have quite a variety of places which include admission to their own Onsens. Often the neighbouring hotel will allow guests from your hotel kinda thing no charge. Something to consider.
You are one of the few people who post here that ‘get it’ about arriving in the country and have three or four things on their first evening. You are smart about the consideration of delays as well.
Have you considered staying in the (the city of) Narita once you arrive for an overnight just to wind down and reset? The main centre of town has several decent hotels (some with a Sento) that is only a few hundred metres walking distance from the central Narita JR station or Keisei railway station (connecting Narita airport to central Tokyo.. )
As for Borderless / Teamlabs.. I have been reading (not confirmed) that the attraction remains closed. I can believe that once it re opens it will be ultra popular. Last I heard – and you may want to speak to your friend in Japan assuming he can read/ speak and has a local mobile phone number – is that tickets for these popular attractions require a local phone number to receive confirmation texts (this is due to fraud and international ticket sellers). Consider about that and keep your finger on the pulse. (if you get a eSIM/ SIM/ Wifi Hotspot these usually do not have a local phone number associated with them)
And edited from the other comment: if you are considering train travel and tickets, be absolutely certain to book and have confirmations. This is a very intense travelling time in the county. If you are not familiar there are sometimes two parts to train tickets: the seat and the travel portion of the ticket. An explanation [here](https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/japan-train-tickets)