Hello,
Going to Japan for the very first time from March 31st to April 13th with my boyfriend.
I had asked for opinions on my preliminary itinerary a few weeks ago and have since worked a bit on it and made some changes. I would like to know if you think this is reasonable, or if maybe I planned too much time for Kyoto and/or Tokyo. My boyfriend feels as though we aren’t spending enough time in Tokyo, but I’m not sure if too many days in the big city won’t just knock us out. Plus 3 full days… Maybe 4… Isn’t that plenty? (We don’t live in a large city)
Here is what I had come up with:
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|31.03.23|Luxembourg to Paris|and then being in the air|
|:-|:-|:-|
|1.04.23|Arrive in Tokyo around 3pm|just walk around the area where we are staying and rest|
|2.04.|Tokyo|either go somewhere less touristy in Tokyo or do a day trip to Kamakura|
|3.04.|Tokyo to Kyoto|take Shinkansen, explore Gion and area around where we are staying|
|4.04.|Kyoto|explore Kinkaku-ji and Arashiyama|
|5.04.|Kyoto|day trip to Nara, maybe explore another area of Kyoto in the afternoon|
|6.04.|Kyoto|Fushimi Inari, 2nd Shinkansen, explore Osaka in the evening|
|7.04.|Kyoto|Day at USJ (Super Nintendo World)|
|8.04.|Hakone|take early shinkansen to get to Hakone, little bit of sightseeing and enjoy an onsen|
|9.04.|Tokyo|stay the day at Hakone and explore some more, go to Tokyo in the afternoon|
|10.04.|Tokyo|use the next 3 days to explore Tokyo|
|11.04.|Tokyo||
|12.04.|Tokyo||
|13.04|Tokyo back to Lux|departure day, leaving in the morning|
At first, I also wanted to stay a night or 2 in Osaka, but considering how close Osaka is to Kyoto, I wonder whether a half-day to sample some food wouldn’t be enough already – some people consider two modern cities too much for such a short trip and I am unsure..
IF you think that we are spending too much time in and around Kyoto, what other interesting areas would you suggest? I also considered Himeji as a possible day trip if we are tired of Kyoto. There are other areas such as Kanazawa (could be too similar to Kyoto?) that I was interested in, or maybe the Fuji 5 Lakes, but I am not sure how I would fit them into the schedule without it being too crammed.
4 comments
It really depends on what you are looking to do, but for most itineraries you’d want at least 5 days in Tokyo to see most of the major sites. I highly suggest looking up the districts in Tokyo and figuring out where you want to see (ie Shinjuku, Shibuya, Akihabara, Odaiba, etc) and then kind of go from there.
Personally with this little time I would cut Hakone and then split your time pretty evenly between Kansai and Kanto. Do 2-3 days in Kyoto proper, one day USJ/ Osaka, one day Nara, and for a 6th day I would highly recommend Uji. It’s a really beautiful area like 30 minutes from Kyoto with tea fields and such. There are some tea plantation tours around there too that are super interesting.
Then do 4-5 days in Tokyo with a day trip to Kamakura/ Yokohama (personally I felt like Kamakura was a bit overrated). There’s also a tiny town near Kamakura called Kotsubo which has the best seafood in Japan imo.
> I also wanted to stay a night or 2 in Osaka, but considering how close Osaka is to Kyoto, I wonder whether a half-day to sample some food wouldn’t be enough already – some people consider two modern cities too much for such a short trip and I am unsure.
I wouldn’t relocate to stay in Osaka from Kyoto, but I would definitely go in to Dotonbori for a night out
First of all, it seems that you have planned this trip well already and thank you for that, it is easy to give advice when it is so beautifully arranged.
Some comments below.
Kamakura and Kyoto have a lot in common, which is a high concentration of ancient temples. However, Kamakura is on the seashore, while Kyoto is landlocked, which gives them very different vibes.
Therefore, I am at loss: since you will spend so much time in Kyoto, Kamakura sounds like just adding more temples, but then you can visit maybe a temple or two to avoid over saturation there and go to Enoshima there. By the way, Kamakura has some extremely interesting Buddhist museums near the temples, Hasedera in particular, giving an insight into Buddhist future cosmology. I’d take a day off Kyoto and visit Kamakura more properly actually. It’s a lovely place, and locals are way friendlier than in Kyoto.
Besides, visiting somewhere non-touristy in Tokyo doesn’t really make sense, because every place worth visiting will be full of tourists, like it or not, while places without tourists will be most likely not worth visiting.
Hakone sounds like a nice getaway, but during that season it will be still in winter mode: grey and cold. I would go to Fuji lakes instead. It will be cold there too, because of altitude, but it’s a beautiful place on its own and snowy Fuji will add to the charm. Besides, you can check out Houtou noodles there, totally worth visiting Kosaku or Fudo.
While you’re in Tokyo, visiting Yokohama is a good idea too. Minatomirai, Chinatown, Motomachi and Nihon oodoori, there’s a very particular atmosphere in that city, especially so in the evening, after the dark.
Do you either of yall enjoy Anime? There are a BUNCH on places to go focused around specific shows and seasons if you are. Tokyo is more than just a city. Tokyo has 23 special wards, 16 cities, 5 towns and 8 villages. Just depends how much of “Tokyo” you want to see. I plan on 10 days there, each day being a different ward and still not seeing everything.
The cherry blossoms move north along Japan, so if you can. Start in Osaka then Kyoto, then Tokyo. there is a website that keeps track of them.
>maybe the Fuji 5 Lakes
Being here with the cherry blossoms would be amazing.
>My boyfriend feels as though we aren’t spending enough time in Tokyo
All depends on what you are interested in. Little Tip, a sample of pretty much everything that’s unique to Japan can be found in Tokyo.