Hello,
Planning out a japan trip with my best friend, we have a rough plan for what we want to do, but other than things we’re scheduling/reserving in advance we plan on playing it pretty loosely once we’re there, and we’re looking for ideas.
* March 5th-8th: Arrive in Narita at 2:30 PM local time, train to hotel, Spend Time in Tokyo
* March 9th: Train to Hakone, ryokan (we have a request for a ryokan reservation, but nothing definitive yet)
* March 10th-16th: Train to Kyoto, This is our Kyoto / Osaka / Kobe time, can be extended to the 17th or 18th if we feel
* March 16th-20th: Tokyo
Things we have queued up as potential activities:
* Tokyo – Nakano Broadway
* Osaka – Universal Studios Japan
* Tokyo – Meiji Jingu Shrine
* Tokyo – Ueno Park (especially if cherry blossoms come early)
* Tokyo – Tokyo Tower
* Tokyo – Sunshine City Mall (Pokemon Center, new gotcha store)
* Tokyo – Harry Potter Cafe/Store (Can only create reservations the same month and reservations go really fast. So we’d need to setup reservations on March 1st)
* Tokyo – Shibuya Sky
* Tokyo – Red Tokyo Tower
* Kyoto – Hozugawa River Cruise
* Kyoto – Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
* Kyoto – Tenryuji Temple
* Kyoto – Arashiyama High Street (Cool shopping street, at the end of the street is the Togetsu-kyo bridge)
* Kyoto – Iwatayama Monkey Park
* Kyoto – Kiyomizu-dera
* Kyoto – Higashiyama District (walk leading up to kiyomizu-dera with lots of shops and food)
* Kyoto – Pontocho Alley
* Kyoto – Gion District (Gion Shirakawa & Hanamikoji Street)
* Kyoto – Nishiki Market (just across the street from Gion)
* Kyoto – Maruyama Park
* Kyoto – Kinkakuji Temple
* Kyoto – Ginkakuji Temple
* Kyoto – Philosopher’s Path (little path leading up to the temple with lots of shops)
* Kyoto – Fushimi Inari Shrine
Would love to know personal experiences with any of the above items, as well if you think we’re overlooking any of these in any way. To be honest we scheduled our flights back in november and the trip has definitely snuck up on us, so we’re scrambling a little.
Any additional suggestions are very welcome as well, would love to know some hidden gems. We’re very interested in food and unique cultural sights.
thank you