My fiancé 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. We plan to arrive around the peak of the sakura season.
In general, I am worried about some redundancies with Takayama and Hakone both being onsen areas. Also, our travel schedule seems a little rushed in my opinion. The order of days 7-12 (after Hiroshima and before Hakone) are also very open for feedback.
We are also unsure about what days to use a Japan rail pass. It does not seem to work for the trip to Koyasan, for instance.
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
**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. Any suggestions?
**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 day
* 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 Hakone
* Kaiseki dinner
**Day 14 – Tokyo**
* Leave Hakone Ryokan and take train to Tokyo (1h)
* Flight in Tokyo at late afternoon
* Put luggage in a locker to explore Tokyo for a few hours
1 comment
Yea same here. Our overnight Koyasan trip is smack in the middle of our JR pass validity. It’s not worth it on those two days but it may pay for itself since you’re going to Hiroshima. Check the JR calculator.