Hi everyone, my wife and I have finally confirmed our dates for our Honeymoon in Japan next year! I’ve been for work before but mainly been to Tokyo and my wife has never been but it is her number one place that she has always wanted to go.
Just after some advice around our proposed itinerary as I feel the Tokyo days are OK for timings but unsure around the rest of the trip. The dates of our trip are fixed and can’t be moved due to other commitments but what we are doing each day is still open for debate as we have not yet booked hotels. I know that somethings may not be ideal but thought has gone into the reasons why but we’re also open to suggestions on how to organize it better. It seems that the further we have got into planning, the more things there are that we want to do and the less time we seem to have!
Thank you for any advice!
Day 1 – Tuesday 21st March
* AM – Land, clear immigration, get to hotel, drop bags
* Rest of day – Explore Shinjuku as I know the area. Expect to feel very jet lagged so may check into a love hotel for a few hours sleep in the afternoon
Day 2 – Wednesday 22nd
* AM – Akihabara
* Lunch – Pokemon Cafe
* PM – Harajuku shopping ending up in Shibuya for night views from Shibuya platform
Day 3 – Thursday 23rd
* Disneyland
Day 4 – Friday 24th
* AM – Chidorigafuchi Rowing Boats
* 13:30 – Imperial Palace Tour
* PM – Senso-ji and Sky Tree Tower
Day 5 – Saturday 25th
* AM – Travel to Osaka (hope to get there late morning), drop bags at hotel
* PM – Few hours at Osaka Castle, a few at HEP Five for the wheel and shopping and end the evening at Umeda Sky Tower
Day 6 – Sunday 26th
* AM – Drop suitcases at locker, travel to Hiroshima with overnight bag
* Arrive mid morning – Explore Peace Park and walk around
* Mid afternoon – Travel to Miyajima and watch sunset
Day 7 – Monday 27th
* AM – Travel to Himeji and look around castle
* PM – Travel back to Osaka, pick up bags from locker, check in at hotel then visit teamLab Botanical Gardens. May have a couple of hours free here in the afternoon before the garden opens
Day 8 – Tuesday 28th
* Universal Studios Japan
Day 9 – Wednesday 29th
* AM – Namba Yasaka, Shitennoji Temple
* Rest of day – Walk Shinsekai-DenDen Town-Koromon Market ending in Dotonbori in the evening
Day 10 – Thursday 30th – *Could this be too much to attempt in a day?*
* AM – Travel to Nara,walk in park and visit Todai-ji
* Mid afternoon – Travel to Kyoto
* Evening – Watch sunset at Kodai-ji then walk through Gion to Pontocho
Day 11 – Friday 31st – *This feels like another day where we may be trying to do too much?*
* Early AM – Arishiyama Bamboo Forest, walk around Tenryu-ji gardens, across Togetsukyo bridge and on to Iwatayama Monkey Park
* Early afternoon – Kinkau-ji
* Late afternoon/evening – Kiyomizu-dera for illuminations *(I know this is the opposite end of town but it was the only way I could see to fit this in in the evening.)*
Day 12 – Saturday 1st April
* AM – Keage Incline, Philosophers Walk, Ginkaku-ji *(All might be very busy on a Saturday morning?)*
* PM – Yasaka Shrine, explore Gion in the day time/early evening then Pontocho and Kiyamachi-dori
Day 13 – Sunday 2nd
* AM – Fushimi Inari-taisha
* Midday – Travel to Tokyo
* Evening – Walk around Nakamugero
Day 14 – Monday 3rd
* Disney Sea
Day 15 – Tuesday 4th – *A day that can be substituted elsewhere when we are in Tokyo in case of bad weather!*
* Sega Joypolis
* teamLab Planets
* *Not sure what else to add here?!*
Day 16 – Wednesday 5th
* Day trip to Hakone
Day 17 – Thursday 6th – Last day 😥
* Spare day to do anything we may have missed/still want to do in Tokyo
* Maybe Ghibli Museum if we can get tickets
Day 18 – Friday 7th
* AM – Fly home
4 comments
Be prepared to be flexible with Keage Incline and Philosophers Walk. When we were there the sakura started blooming on the 2nd so just buds on the 1st. Past years is not a guarantee of future years though so your timing may be good.
> Travel back to Osaka, pick up bags from locker
If you’re staying at the same hotel after you return to Osaka you ask if they can hold the luggage for you. If the hotel is nice enough they’ll probably already have it in your room when you check back in.
> Day 10 – Thursday 30th – Could this be too much to attempt in a day?
Its doable, depends on how early you get a start in Nara and how late you’ll stay. Sunset is around 6:00pm in March, you’d probably want to leave Nara by 3:00pm to give yourself enough time to get to Kodai-ji. Can probably leave later if you take a taxi from Kyoto station to Kodai-ji.
Be flexible with your Osaka/Kyoto days. Sakura are very fickle, so you will have to check forecasts daily and adjust days around on the fly depending on where it is actually in bloom vs still buds vs already gone.
> Osaka castle / Himeji castle
Unless you guys are super into castles, one is enough. I would pick Himeji since it is an original. This then frees up Day 5 PM (maybe you could do teamlab botanical gardens on this day and do some other shifting around to have more flex in the schedule).
> Day 10
You already have Pontocho Alley on Day 12, not sure there is a reason to go twice. Just do evening Gion after Kodaiji sunset and have dinner around Kawaramachi, or even shift Kiyomizudera night sakura viewing to this evening since it’s in the vicinity. You can also decide on the fly if you even want to bother with sunset watching (e.g., if it is an overcast day) or if you are having too much fun in Nara.
> Day 11
If you’re really enjoying Arashiyama I would simply cut Kinkakuji. I know That Photo is all over social media…but it’s a small temple complex that has (bias alert) never really spoken to me, also you will be among 1000000 people around the same patch of land trying to take said photo.
> Day 12
Don’t forget Maruyama Park next to Yasaka Shrine
> shopping
Not sure why these are scheduled so early in the trip (Days 2 & 5) as this means you now have to carry these all around Japan with you…At the very least the Tokyo shopping could be moved to the last day?
Out of pure curiosity, if you have checked into your hotel already what’s the point of going to sleep in a love hotel? Besides those hotels aren’t really for sleeping anyway…