Hi everyone ! My three friends and I (all 25M) are planning a trip to Japan from May 1-14 during Golden Week. We land in Tokyo and plan to visit Hakone, Osaka and Kyoto as well! We have a rough itinerary lined up but would appreciate feedback on how to improve our trip or recommendations on what to include/exclude on certain days as this is our first time going to Japan 🙂.
**Info:**
We plan on purchasing a 7-day JR pass as well as a Hakone FreePass for a one-day excursion there. We’re also gonna be coming from Singapore (spending 3 days there) so I’m hoping by the time we get to Japan our jet lag won’t be too bad. (We’re originally from Toronto if that matters). We plan on taking the subway/train/bus to get around in every city as well as walking.
**Day 1 (Mon, May 1) – Land in Tokyo**
* Land in Haneda Airport at 7:15PM
* Pick up JR Pass, Suica card
* Take train/subway to Asakusa
* Hopefully check-in to hotel (Asakusa View Hotel) by 10PM
* Rest for the night, maybe walk to to konbini for some snacks or walk around if we have energy
**Day 2 (Tues, May 2) – Tokyo (Asakusa Area)**
* Tokyo Skytree and surrounding area in the morning
* Pokemon Center Skytree location
* Head to Nakamise Shopping area to do some walking around, grab lunch nearby
* Senso-Ji temple
* Akihabara for the rest of the day (Don Quijote, Yodobashi Camera, anime stores, general exploring)
* Dinner in Akihabara
* Back to hotel early if we’re too jet lagged
**Day 3 (Wed, May 3) – Tokyo (Chuo City Area)**
* Tsukiji Outer Market in the morning
* Subway to TeamLab Planets
* Toyosu Market for lunch
* Head to Ginza for some shopping (particularly Ginza Six)
* Tokyo Imperial Palace\* (Might skip depending on how tired we are)
* Dinner/Food at 日本橋とんかつ一 HAJIME (from Kimi no Na wa)
* Hoppy Street in the evening\*
**Day 4 (Thurs, May 4) – Tokyo – (Shibuya Area)**
* Check out of Asakusa hotel and subway to our next hotel (my friend wants to stay in two different places in Tokyo) in Shinjuku (The Knot Tokyo Shinjuku) to drop off our bags
* Roppongi Hills (should we skip this observation deck as we’ve been to Skytree already?)
* Head to サロン・ド・テ ロンド Salon de Thé ROND (from Kimi no Na wa)
* Subway to Harajuku and explore the area
* Maid cafe in Harajuku (@home cafe possibly)
* Late afternoon/ evening in Shibuya (Shibuya Crossing, Hachiko Statue)
* Shibuya Parco, Nintendo Tokyo
* Miyashita Park if we have time
* Shibuya Sky
**Day 5 (Fri, May 5) – Day trip to Hakone**
* [https://www.hakonenavi.jp/international/en/course/244](https://www.hakonenavi.jp/international/en/course/244)
* We essentially plan on following this route, unsure of whether we’re doing it clockwise or counterclockwise
* Back to Tokyo for the evening
* Omoide Yokocho at night for food/drinks if we have time
**Day 6 (Sat, May 6) – Tokyo (Shinjuku Area)**
* Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in the morning
* Lunch at Cafe La Boheme (from Kimi no Na wa)
* Suga Jinja (from Kimi no Na wa)
* Ikebukuro in the afternoon (Sunshine City, Otome Road)
* Spend the evening in Shinjuku
* Kabukicho
* Golden Gai at night (bar hopping, food, etc.)
**Day 7 (Sun, May 7) – Tokyo to Osaka**
* Check out of hotel
* Activate JR Pass, head to Tokyo Station and depart for Osaka Station
* \*Might stop at Nagoya to go to Ghibli Park (waiting on other redditors to share their experience on whether it’s worth visiting)
* Drop off bags/check in to hotel in Osaka (Hotel Monterey Grasmere Osaka)
* Shinsaibashi for the afternoon
* Dotonbori in the evening and dinner
**Day 8 (Mon, May 8) – Himeji/Kobe/Osaka**
* Take JR line to Himeji in the morning
* Himeji Castle + Garden
* JR line to Kobe (we were thinking Kobe Steak Propellor for lunch)
* Explore Kobe for a little then head back to Osaka
* Explore Namba (Namba Yasaka, Kuromon Market, Denden Town)
* Shinsekai for the evening (including dinner)
**Day 9 (Tues, May 9) – Osaka**
* Free day, thinking of filling it with Universal Studios Japan
* This day also could be used to visit places we didn’t have time to explore on Days 7/8
**Day 10 (Wed, May 10) – Osaka to Kyoto**
* Check out of hotel in Osaka, head to Kyoto
* Arrive at Higashiyama Subway station (we were planning on dropping off our luggage here as it’s super close to our AirBnb and check-in isn’t until 3PM. Does anyone know if this station has lockers available for the day?)
* Check in to AirBnb (located in Gion)
* Head to Ninnenzaka/Sannenzaka area in the afternoon
* Kiyomizu-dera
* Dinner and evening in Gion near our AirBnB
**Day 11 (Thurs, May 11) – Kyoto**
* Head to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest in the morning
* Tenryu-Ji temple
* Iwatayama Monkey Park
* Lunch nearby
* Kinkaku-Ji Temple
* Nishiki Market in the afternoon
* Dinner at Kichi Kichi Omurice (hopefully we can get a reservation)
* Evening in Gion again
**Day 12 (Fri, May 12) – Kyoto + Nara**
* Early morning hike at Fushimi Inari Taisha
* Arrive at Kyoto station before noon, grab lunch nearby before taking JR line to Nara
* Afternoon in Nara
* Kofuku-ji Temple
* Isui-en Garden + Todai-Ji Temple
* Nara Park
* Mount Wakakusa Hike (might skip depending on how exhausted we are)
* Kasuga-Taisha
* Nakatindou
* Back to Kyoto for the evening, dinner either near Kyoto Station or in Gion
**Day 13 (Sat, May 13) – Kyoto + Tokyo**
* Free day, not really sure what to do as our flight is in Haneda the next day. Either spending the day in Kyoto or Tokyo, depending on what we missed/still want to see in either city
* Might head back to Ninenzaka Starbucks in the morning if it’s too crowded on Day 10
* Check out of AirBnB, shinkansen back to Tokyo
* Shinjuku at night (Karaoke/club/bars)
* We plan on staying in a capsule hotel for the last night (maybe the Shinjuku Kuyakusho-mae Capsule Hotel? Not really sure how to choose a good one)
*Note: I’ve read online that many people say capsule hotels kinda suck lol, but we just want to do it for the experience*
**Day 14 (Sun, May 14) – Tokyo + Flight Home**
* Check out of hotel
* Drop luggage off at Shinjuku station for the day if we want to do some last minute exploring
* Arrive at Haneda airport at 3:30PM (flight leaves at 5:30PM)
**Questions:**
1. A few of the destinations are on our itinerary solely because they were featured in Kimi no Na wa as my friends really loved that movie (I’ve never seen it lol). Are these worth visiting or are there better places out there to eat/visit?
2. I’ve read online that May doesn’t have the best visibility in terms of actually seeing Mt. Fuji. Is Hakone worth the trip on a cloudy day? We’re willing to switch around the day trip to Hakone to a different day (anywhere between Days 2-6) depending on the weather, which leads into my next question:
3. Our Hakone trip on Day 5 is on the Friday of Golden Week so we’re expecting it to be super packed. Would we be able to check the weather in Hakone the week before for example and then reserve seats on whichever day is the best in terms of Mt. Fuji visibility or would that be too late?
4. Are there any festivals or events in Tokyo during Golden Week or during our trip in general that we should consider attending? [https://japancheapo.com/events/may/](https://japancheapo.com/events/may/) Other than this list I found I’m not sure of any other events going on.