Hi, it’s my girlfriend and I’s first trip to Japan together and I was just looking for some general advice and feedback. Februarys the only really good time for us to visit so please let us know if there are any weather/ seasonal constraints to the things we want to do. Food recommendations would also be great.
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Day 1 (Feb 5th) – Land in Narita airport in the afternoon, head to airbnb around shinjuku station. Get dinner around there and wander around.
Day 2 – Get breakfast from bakery, eat at airbnb or park nearby. Get train to Hamarikyu gardens, wander around and visit the tea house. Casual day, try to walk and get over jet lag. Get dinner in Kabukicho.
Day 3 – Start the day in Sumida Aquarium, go to Ueno park and walk down after through Akihabara. Visit the national museum if time allows (or find another day to go).
Day 4 – Day trip to Yokohama. get breakfast around the station to eat on the train. Visit the Sankei En garden and walk through Yamashita Park. Get dinner in Chinatown then go home. (looking for more things to fill up the day)
Day 5 – Leave for Hakone. Check out of Airbnb, get the Romance car from Shinjuku station to Hakone. Take Tozan train and eat lunch at Naraya Cafe, get Tozan train to Gora park and walk around, get afternoon tea. Take cable car up Owukudani for the views. Get cable car back down and have dinner at Gora Brewery. (getting accommodation around there)
Day 6 – Check out, get breakfast, eat on the ropeway to Togendai station. Take the Hakone sightseeing cruise, get off to see Motohakone -en. Go to Hakone shrine ( not sure whether to go to Hakone-en garden). Take the bus back to station an eat in the square. Get on the train for Nagoya. Check in airbnb and get dinner near airbnb.
Day 7 – Head to Ghibli park around 10am and spend the day/money there. Head back to the city and take the train to Kyoto. Check in airbnb and figure out dinner.
Day 8 – Aim to get to Arashiyama Monkey Park around 10am, make sure to visit Daihikaku Senkoji temple. Ask info desk for good lunch options in the area. Eat dinner at the airbnb.
Day 9 – Start the day in Kyoto Gyoen national Garden. Eat lunch and head over to Kyoto International Manga Museum. Afterwards head back to Airbnb and get the train to Kinosaki Onsen, get a late dinner there.
Day 10 – Spend the day at the onsen, have a relaxing valentines day. Have a nice dinner.
Day 11 – Leave in the morning. Get the train to Osaka, leave stuff at the Airbnb and get the train to Nara park. Spend the ret of the day there then leave and get dinner in the city.
Day 12 – Have a lazy morning, head to Osaka castle after lunch, afterwards walk over to bear paw cafe and eat at a park around there. Afterwards get the train to Dotonbori, get dinner in America-mura. (would it be a good idea to take the Sleeper car back to tokyo? or wait till the next day and get the bullet train back to Tokyo?)
Day 13 – Start the day by walking around Meiji Jingu and the surrounding forest. Get lunch somewhere on the way to Harajuku. Walk around then head over to Shibuya, visit the nintendo store, get shopping done etc. Drop shopping off wherever we’re staying then take the train and grab dinner at Golden Gai.
Day 15 – Leave for the airport, get home.
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This is my outline for now. I’m very open to food, accommodation suggestions. If anything wouldn’t work with the time of year, or if I’m missing anything that would be fantastic please let me know! Also is getting the JRail pass worth it? or should I just stick to getting the region-specific tickets?
I’ve also considered not going to Kinosaki Onsen, just so we wouldn’t have to move around so much and we could just probably stay in Kyoto and take the shinkansen out to Osaka instead of finding another place to stay there. Either way thanks!
1 comment
>Get breakfast from bakery, eat at airbnb or park nearby.
No. Despite February being Plum blossom season, it is also still quite cold with chance of snow. Eating in the park is not a really good idea.
>Day trip to Yokohama. get breakfast around the station to eat on the train.
No. From Shinjuku to Yokoyama, you can use different lines, but they are all local commuter trains. Those are not train where you can eat… well, you can if you want to be a rude foreigner. The only trains where it is really ok to eat are Limited-express trains (like the romancecar) and shinkansen, as you have designated seats and sometimes even a tray when you can put down your food.
>Check out, get breakfast, eat on the ropeway to Togendai station.
No. Again that is not an appropriate place to eat breakfast. The ride is also not really long.
>Head to Ghibli park around 10am and spend the day/money there.
If you do not have tickets purchased by someone in Japan already, it will not be possible. They are only going to open sale of tickets to foreigners from March 15. If the park was your only reason to go to Nagoya, then don’t go straight to Kyoto, maybe use that saved time to go to Nara instead.
>Afterwards head back to Airbnb and get the train to Kinosaki Onsen, get a late dinner there.
If you want to do that, you have to get a ryokan without meal because doing kaiseki meal usually require check-in before 5 or 6 pm. Personally I would suggest to get to Kinosaki for 3pm (when you can check-in) so you can get your onsen pass, start going to the onsen, back to the ryokan for dinner, some more onsen. Next morning you can do some more onsen, maybe get lunch there or get something to eat in the train because you can get a limited express train with proper seats. I would also not go to Nara on that day as it would be an extra 2h+ in the train on that day.
>(would it be a good idea to take the Sleeper car back to tokyo? or wait till the next day and get the bullet train back to Tokyo?)
Personally, I think that no it is not especially a good idea. Instead just get the shinkansen. You could also use the 7 days JR Pass from day 7 to 13. And yes it would be worth to get the pass if you go to Kinosaki. If not, then I think it would be really close to save little to no money.
>I’ve also considered not going to Kinosaki Onsen, just so we wouldn’t have to move around so much and we could just probably stay in Kyoto and take the shinkansen out to Osaka instead of finding another place to stay there.
It’s up to you to decide if you really dislike changing accommodation, but I personally think that Kinosaki is an incredible experience. And to be honest, most of the time, the shinkansen between Kyoto and Osaka is the worst way to move between the two cities.