Hello! Long time lurker, first time posting. Wanted a quick itinerary check and had some general questions!
Few notes:
– Going in early June 2023
– Flexible to move things around
– Traveling with my family of 4: me, my husband, and 2 kids (10M & 8F)
– This is the kids and husbands first time
– Have not booked Kyoto hotel 1 night stay yet
– Primary lodging: Tokyu Stay Monzen Nakacho
– Our family isn’t too big on shopping, more on food/exploring
– Wanted to try an Onsen but I have large tattoos (back and side), any suggestions? (Family friendly onsen would also be preferred)
Day 1: SFO > HND (sat depature > sun arrival)
– Arrive ~2PM (get suica cards, pocket wifis, etc)
– Get to hotel (I know it’s expensive but we’ll probably take a taxi since there’s 4 of us and all our luggage)
– Have dinner
– Tokyo Skytree if we have the energy (about 30 mins from hotel)
Day 2: Tokyo > Kyoto (<>Nara)
– Take the earliest train (I figured we might be jetlagged so sitting on a train we can still rest a bit)
– Leave our luggage at Kyoto station storage (might not even have luggage, only staying for 1 night)
– Eat Lunch
– train Kyoto > Nara
– Nara Park
– Walk around Nara
– Eat in Nara
– Nara > Kyoto
– Grab luggage then check into Hotel for 1 night
– Walk around if we still have energy
Day 3: Kyoto > Tokyo
– Check-Out and drop off luggage at station storage
– Earliest morning Fushimi Inari Taisha
– Nishiki Market
– Kyoto > Tokyo
– Short break @ hotel
– Pokemon Cafe
Day 4: Tokyo Disneysea
Day 5:
– Tsukiji Fish Market (trying to get a tour – more info in general questions)
– Team Lab
– Hotel break
– Shibuya (afternoon/evening)
Day 6:
– Asakusa (morning)
– Akihabara (afternoon/evening)
Day 7: HND > HNL
– Check out by 11am
– Store luggage at station then grab lunch
– Free day & grab dinner
– Head to airport around 7:30pm
– Late flight (~10PM)
General questions:
– Should we be worried about peak commute time for trains (we have kids so I want to avoid us getting squished or busy times) For example, Tokyo Disneysea opens at 9am, so we would try to leave at 8 but that seems like a peak commute time for trains. Any advice here?
– Any recommendations for Tsuiji Fish Market tour guides? We would like to walk around, get some history, and try some food (kids are not picky). We are not trying to see the auctions. Also what time is least busy?
– Is Pokemon Cafe worth it? Open to do other types of cafes as well
Thanks in advance for any help and advice!
3 comments
Yes, taxi is pretty expensive, and even if you are 4, it will be like twice the price of the Limousine bus that can easily bring you to several area of Tokyo and no problem with luggage. Would recommend doing something closer to your hotel on the day.
For such a short trip, I do not think it is worth going to Nara and Kyoto.
If you want to avoid rush hour in the train, then move before or after.
You cannot see any auction in Tsukiji anyway because the wholesale market close years ago. As if it’s worth getting a tour… I guess some will say it is. Buy you can easily just walk around and try different restaurant, if you really want to have an idea of what to do, [Paolo From Tokyo](https://youtu.be/LE9lvqyQVjE) did a video this week about some restaurants around Tsukiji (and it was not his firts about Tsukiji). By the way, he does love sea urchin, but it’s something that not everybody like (I remember seeing people say they tried something with sea urchin that he recommended in a different video an they did not like it).
Theme cafe, if you want to get an idea, check [Emirichu](https://youtu.be/qs2gVktxStQ) on Youtube, she went to 12 theme cafe in that video, conclusion is that it’s a bit expensive for the food quality (but honestly, if she had decided to not order 2 drinks almost everywhere, it would not be as bad). I guess it’s worth if you just want to have a cute lunch in a cute place, maybe put that on your instagram, but it’s will probably not be the best food you have in the whole trip.
The amount of travel you’re doing on Days 1 to 3 compared to how little you’ll actually be seeing seems kind of crazy to me, especially having 2 small children with you. When your time in Japan is already so short, traveling 9-10 hours round trip to Kyoto + Nara and barely spending any time there before heading back to Tokyo doesn’t really make any sense – it kind of handicaps your whole trip to me. I think your time would be much better served staying in Tokyo the entire time and taking a more reasonable day trip (Kamakura, Enoshima, Hakone, etc.).
If Disney Sea opens at 9 you want to be there to line up closer to 8. It’s super popular and there will already be people lined up to enter and not just the people staying at the hotels who get early admission. I would also either walk to Etchujima Station from your hotel or take a taxi there to get on the Keiyo line, since it will be faster than trying to transfer elsewhere. You will also then be heading against commuter traffic and will just be traveling with Disney traffic.
My tween loves the Pokemon Cafe. We’ve been twice or maybe more. I watched Emirichu’s video a few weeks ago (and thanks to her I learned about the Sailor Moon Cafe) and don’t completely agree with her opinions. We also like sweets/dessert and we tend to get things like pancakes at the Pokemon Cafe vs. an actual meal, so that is something to consider. We’re also on vacation vs. actually living somewhere. I think it sort of depends on what you eat? It is really hard to get reservations for it. Emirichu’s video did not make clear just how hard it can be to get Pokemon Cafe or Kirby Cafe reservations. (We do have both, but it was super hard.)
If you can’t get reservations or just don’t want to spend the time at the Pokemon Cafe, there is also the take out option of Pokemon Sweets in Ikebukuro. I really like the Pokemon art Lattes and my tween liked her fruity drink, but her drink and the gosh awful cupcake we got there are now off menu and they have different drinks and waffles, though they could have something else by your trip.
What do you mean by family friendly onsen? Do you mean you don’t want naked people? Or you want a private onsen for just your family?
If you all want to be naked together, a private onsen solves the issue of your tattoo easily since it will just be your family in the bath. I’ve had tattooed friends make that choice. If you mean bathing suits, you want someplace like Yunessun as long as a bathing suit can cover your tattoos. It’s gimmicky and not completely like a real onsen, but it’s also sort of fun? Outside of the poor food options when we were there my tween really enjoyed it.
If you’re not into shopping, I am honestly not sure why you would go to Akihabara.
Good luck!