My fiance and I are going to Japan in late March/Early April and our current plan is: Tokyo>Hiroshima>Osaka>Koyasan>Kyoto>Kanezawa/Takayama>Hakone>Tokyo
For context, I went to Japan several years ago, but it’ll be my fiance’s first time. I would very much appreciate some feedback on this itinerary and I actually built it based on suggestions from this sub.
In general, I am worried about some redundancies with Takayama and Hakone both being onsen areas and our travel schedule seems a little condensed. We also aren’t too interested in Osaka per se. The order of days 7-12 is also very open for feedback.
Thank you in advance and sorry about the formatting!
Our Itinerary:
Day 1 – Tokyo
Arrive in HND in afternoon
Get to hotel and have dinner
Hotel closer to Tokyo Disney
Tokyo tower?
Day 2-Tokyo
Tokyo disney
Day 3 – Tokyo
Imperial palace
Shibuya crossing and area
Meiji Shrine
Yoyogi park for Sakura sightings!
Day 4 – Tokyo
Toyosu fish market for sushi!
Team Labs for pictures and cool exhibits
Art Aquarium for pictures and cool exhibits
Possibly Ueno park for more Sakura sights
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Day 5 – Hiroshima
Catch a morning train to Hiroshima (~4.5 hours)
Buy bento boxes to eat on train
Peace park and hiroshima atomic bomb museum
Exploring other hiroshima sites and activities
Day 6 – Hiroshima
Train to Miyajima
Take the ferry to the island with Itsukushima shrine
See deer on the island
See the itsukushima shrine
Climb Mount Misen
We have the rest of the day to relax/explore.
Day 7 – Osaka
Train ride to Himeji (~1h)
Stop at Himeji and put luggage in a locker
See Himeji castle and surrounding area
Remember to collect luggage in Himeji
Take train to Osaka (x~30min) and drop luggage at hotel
Keitakuen garden
Yasaka shrine
Osaka castle
Dotonburi?
Day 8 – Koyasan
Train to temple place in Koyasan
Buddhist temple experience for the day
Spend night in Buddhist temple and have kaiseki dinner
Day 9 – Koyasan/Kyoto
Morning buddhist temple experience
Morning train to Kyoto (~3h) and drop luggage off at hotel
Fushimi Inari Taisha
Kiyomizu dera temple
Tea ceremony in evening
Day 10 – Kyoto
Arashiyama in the morning
Kinkakuji gold temple
Go to Nara for the afternoon (~45min)
Day 11 – Kanazawa
Travel to Kanazawa for the dayÂ
Travel to Takayama Ryokan for the evening
Kaiseki dinner
Day 12 – Takayama
Morning in Ryokan in Takayama
Go to Hida folk village (in Gifu) and other sites
Take afternoon train to Hakone
Check into Hakone Ryokan
Onsen at Ryokan?
Reiki service?
Day 13 – Hakone
Purchase Hakone free pass
Hakone Kowakien Yunessun (Wine, coffee, green tea, etc. baths)
Open air museum
Lake Ashinoko (ferry trips across the lake to see Mt. Fuji)
Spend the night in HakoneÂ
Kaiseki dinner
Day 14 – Tokyo
Leave Hakone Ryokan and take train to Tokyo (1h)
Flight in Tokyo at late afternoon
Put stuff in a locker to explore Tokyo and get to the airport before 2pm
