Hello! We are first time travelers to Japan, in our 30’s, keen to experience the culture, history, and walk about different cities. Backpacks only.
**14th May – TOKYO** \- Day1
\- Arrive 8am Narita Intl. airport. Pick up a sim/JR passes/reserve seat for N’EX. Catch N’EX to Tokyo. Drop bags at hotel(near Tokyo station).
\- Imperial Palace, rest.
**15th May – TOKYO** \- Day2
\- Sensō-ji Temple/Kaminarimon Temple
\- Asakusa Neighborhood
\- Akihabara
**16th May – TOKYO** \- Day3
\- Kabukicho
\- Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
\- Meiji Jingu Shrine
\- Shibuya crossing
**17th May – TOKYO > KYOTO** \- Day4
\- Hop of at Fuji station on the train trip south to view Mt Fuji. (Or simply view from the bullet train)
\- Check into hotel
\- Walk around downtown Kyoto/Gion area/Pontocho Park
**18th May – KYOTO** \- Day5
\- Fushimi Inari Shrine
\- Kinkakuji Temple
\- Arashiyama
**19th May – KYOTO > HIROSHIMA** \- Day6
\- Train to Humeji Castle (half day)
\- Train to Hiroshima, walk to and check into Ryokan near Peace memorial park.
\- Explore Peace memorial area
**20th May – HIROSHIMA** \- Day7
\- Miyakima Island (Full day. Catch JR ferry)
**21st May – HIROSHIMA > OSAKA** \- Day8
\- Explore Hiroshoma more (or if no time on Day6, go to peace memorial)
\- Train to Osaka, walk to and check into hotel near Dontombori.
\- Dontombori explore
**22nd May – OSAKA** \- Day9
\- Universal Studios – main event Super Nintendo world (day trip)
**23rd May – OSAKA** \- Day10
\- Nara deer park (day trip)
**24th May – OSAKA > TBD Location** \- Day11
\- Train back to Tokyo way – 1 final afternoon/evening somewhere new with easy access to fly out from Narita Intl. early the next morning – Narita town?(Naritasan park/temple look nice for a final afternoon) Return to Tokyo Station? Uedo Park? (advice please)
**25th May** \- Day12 – Fly home 10am
***Questions:***
1. Does the 14 Day JR pass make the most sense for our 11 day trip? And will this cover enough options to get us around the main cities, OR will we need to buy IC cards on top of the JR pass? (We like to walk and would ideally walk to places, outside of the big city to city train rides.)
2. Day11 – What city/location would be a good place to stay for our final night? Important to have an easy trip to the airport for 10am departure.
3. Have we got any overly packed/rushed days, or plenty of room to fit in more things? Reading other itineraries here makes me feel like we could fit more in, but we’re not familiar with how long transferring between cities/train stations so have left space on those city/accommodation transfer days.
4. What are our chances of seeing Mt Fuji from the Shinkansen? Or if it’s cloudy what would be a good way to see it?
5. Is day5 too much to fit in and enjoy all 3 Kyoto places? (we could move one to Day4 afternoon or day6 morning)
Any other feedback/first time traveler advice based on our trip is appreciated. Thank you!
2 comments
In my opinion your days are rushed.
For 11 days this is very rushed. I would even consider a Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima trip to be rushed on a 14 day trip. Usually a 14 day trips is like Tokyo & Osaka with a few day trips or a short overnight sprinkled in.
You grouped your neighborhoods in Tokyo pretty well but once you leave Tokyo it gets really rushed with a lot of heavy transit with no real time to fully appreciate anything imho.
I just feel like you’ll experience some heavy transit fatigue towards the end.
Personally I would cut out Nara to give yourself more time in Kyoto or Hiroshima or cut out Hiroshima and allocate those days to stuff around Osaka or an extra Tokyo day.
Day 1 imperial palace *might* be do-able but if you’re flying from the west you might severely underestimate how exhausted you’ll be your first day in and maybe even the next few days after.
Seeing Mt Fuji is less likely in warmer months, I think it’s around 50/50 from the train in May.
The pace seems good. Suggest to shift Fushimi Inari from Day 5 to Day 10 because it’s on the opposite side of Kyoto from Arashiyama but along the train route to Nara (if the main interest is playing with deer and seeing Todaiji/Kasuga shrine then it won’t take the whole day).
For the night of Day 11, if you’re flying out of NRT and planning to use Narita Express, then anywhere near a NEx stop would work as would a hotel in Narita city (latter allows for an extra 40 minutes of sleeping in).