People on this subreddit are extremely helpful for as long as I visit, so I decided to double-check my itinerary with you. It’s highly influenced by this subreddit, so I hope I’ve done everything at least proper, but if not – feel free to suggest changes.
About travelers – first time visitors in Japan, I wanted to go there for almost 15 years now, so it’s the dream come true for me. I’m going with my wife. So 32M and 29F from Europe, both not very used to travel, but able to push some limits during travels and, for example, stay 16h on foot and do long walks (20km+) through the day. We will be relying on train lines in Tokyo with Suica and JR Pass, but sometimes we definitely want to walk through a city to experience it more.
Our hotels is placed just by Asakusabashi Station.
* **Day 1 – 22.02** \- arrival at Narita Airport around 5:30PM, travel via Skyliner; eat some konbini food and roam around if we are able to after 16h flight.
* **Day 2 – 23.02** \- Tokyo
* Emperor’s birthday – Imperial Palace
* Hie Shrine
* Tokyo Tower (is it worth it to go up?)
* Mori building – side view for Tokyo Tower during evening
* activating JR Pass for the next day, since we’re starting the travel at early morning
* **Day 3 – 24.02** \- Kyoto (I know that the points are far away of themselves, but bear with me here):
* going in by shinkansen from Tokyo, around 8-9AM
* Fushimi Inari (first thing to avoid the crowds)
* Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
* Kinkaku-ji
* check-in at a hotel beside the Kamo River, near Gion
* tea ceremony (any recommended spots?)
* kimono date (as it will be near our 12th anniversary)
* Nishiki market
* evening walk in Gion
* **Day 4 – 25.02** \- Kyoto/Nara:
* Plum Blossom Festival and flea market (thanks u/GrisTooki for this)
* ride from Kyoto to Nara, arrival at Nara around 1PM
* Nara Park
* Todai-ji
* ride from Nara to Osaka, arrival at Osaka around 7PM
* check-in at a hotel near Juso station
* okonomiyaki in Dotonbori
* **Day 5 – 26.02** \- Osaka
* breakfast
* Osaka Castle
* Kuromon Market
* Shinsekai
* shinkansen to Tokyo
* **Day 6 – 27.02** \-Tokyo Skytree, Senso-ji, Akihabara
* Sumida Hokusai Museum (building, not exhibitions I think)
* Tokyo Skytree (worth the ride up?)
* Senso-ji
* tonkatsu at Yamabe Okachimachi
* Owl Cafe – 4PM
* Akihabara
* maid cafe maybe (any recommended ones?)
* **Day 7 – 28.02** \- Harajuku, Shibuya
* Takeshita Street
* Pompompurin Cafe
* Sailor Moon store
* Tokyu Plaza Omotesando
* gyoza at Harajuku Gyozaro
* Tokyu Hands Shibuya
* Hachiko Statue
* Shibuya Crossing
* Mag’s Park Rooftop Shibuya Crossing
* Shibuya Tokyu Food Show – food hall
* Trench bar (yeap, from Netflix, plz don’t judge)
* Meguro River
* **Day 7 – 01.03** \- teamlab, Shinjuku
* teamlab planets at 10AM
* Suga jinja (stairs from Kimi no na Wa)
* Tokyo Mode Gakuen
* Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
* Godzilla head Kabuchiko
* Godzilla store
* Soba House Konjiki-Hototogisu
* Omoide Yokochō
* **Day 8 – 02.03** \- temples mostly – Gotokuji, Meiji
* Gotokuji Temple
* Tokyo Saryo – wagashi
* Meiji Shrine
* Nakano Broadway
* Sunshine City
* Nakiryu
* **Day 9 – 03.03** \- basically free, so we could move around some experiences on here if must
* departure from NRT at 10:30PM
I’m not bothered by 1h train rides through Tokyo, especially on the last days as I find the connections between spots kinda rough to manage.
The only day I’m kinda concerned about is 28.02, where we put Harajuku and Shibuya. Is it too packed or manageable? The Shibuya scramble would be visited during the day and in the evening, as I want to experience this place all over the day. It’s the only rock-solid piece of that itinerary, apart from reservations at owl cafe and teamlab, obviously.
If you read through all of it – thanks a lot!
