Hello all, this is my itinerary thus far for my graduation trip to Japan in summer. I will be traveling in a group of 4 with my friends (We’ll all be 18 except one who will be 17). Please let me know how it looks and what changes should be made! Also if you have experience with imperative reservations (ive jeard shibuya sky gets booked fast) please let me know too so I can book ahead.
6/8:
Land in Narita at around 2pm
Once out of airport, take train to Tokyo Skytree
Explore the area, eat dinner, etc.
Once done go to Airbnb in Akihabara (booked)
6/9:
Spend the day in Akihabara (maid cafe, arcades, shopping etc.)
Later in the afternoon head to the Art Aquarium Museum (plan to spend about an hour)
After that, go to TeamLab Planets (plan to spend around 2 hours; 6-8 pm)
Go back to Akihabara Airbnb
6/10:
Check out of Akihabara Airbnb and head to the Minipig cafe in the morning
Explore Shibuya (Takeshita street, Miyashita park w/ Ghibli store) and go to Shibuya SKY at night
Go to Shibuya Airbnb (booked)
6/11:
Head to Shinjuku Gyoen garden in morning
Then spend a bit at the sunshine mall
Come back down to the Meiji Temple
Somewhere in there we plan to find a cat cafe to go to
Return to airbnb
6/12:
Spare/chill day. Relax and just explore Tokyo, find some cool restaurants
6/13:
Take a day trip from Shibuya to Mt. Fuji
Go to Arakurayama sengen park, Kawaguchiko Lake, and visit some of the many observation decks/viewing spots
This day is potential depending on the weather around Fuji.
6/14:
Check out of Shibuya airbnb and head down to Hakone
Stop at Nogeyama zoo on the way
Once in Hakone, visit lake Ashi and ride the pirate boats and see the shrine
Check in to the Mount View Hakone ryokan w/ onsens for the rest of the evening (booked)
6/15:
Check out of ryokan and go to Kyoto
Arashiyama Bamboo forest, walk to Tenryuji and Senkōji temples, then go to the Arashiyama Monkey Park
Finally, Kinkakuji then go to Kyoto Airbnb (booked)
6/16:
Fushimi Inari first (apparently it gets extremely crowded and its best to go earlier)
Find one of the Samurai experiences available
Kiyomizudera and Kiyomizuzaka
Return to airbnb
6/17:
Extra day to explore kyoto and a day trip to Amanohashidate for a bit
6/18:
Go to Nintendo World
Then the Kaiyukan Aquarium
Kuchu Teien observatory in the evening
Enjoy the nightlife of Dotonbori and Shinsaibashisuji
Go to Osaka airbnb (booked)
6/19:
Extra day to explore Osaka and relax
6/20:
Another extra day. No plans yet, potentially visit Nara as a day trip
6/21:
Flight back home from Kansai Airport (flight is at 7am, want to be at the airport around 4-5am, we haven’t booked a place to stay for the last night yet as we aren’t sure how the transportation will look so early in the morning, any advice?)
3 comments
> Enjoy the nightlife of Dotonbori and Shinsaibashisuji
I guess you know that none of you will be of drinking age in Japan.
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For transportation to the airport on the last day, it would likely be safer to get a hotel near the airport. After a quick search, I do not see how you could be there before 6am. Like get a hotel with early shuttle bus to the airport or get a taxi to the airport.
Any reason why you switch your airbnb while in Tokyo ? Shibuya and Akihabara are both central enough, actually there is only 25 mins on subway (via Suehirocho) between the two. Besides the hustle of carrying luggage and all, I don’t really see the point.
Amanohasidate is like 2 hours on an infrequent limited express and more than 2 hours with a transfer if you are not on one of those limited expresses, it’s not really a pop over sort of place, it’s a “This is where I want to go and it’s my top priority” sort of place.
I think you will have a hard time getting in everything on 6/18. It’s a weekend, and USJ is insanely popular and in particular Nintendo World is insanely popular. It’s very very likely to be timed entry. USJ did not offer park re-entry when I was last there in 2018 and I doubt they offer it now. I’m not sure how you will do that and the aquarium unless you have specifically pre-purchased express passes with a late entry to NintendoWorld and you go to the aquarium first.
I think you will also struggle on 6/15 to get everything in again because there are just a bunch of connections and not all shinkansen stop at Odawara. The bamboo forest is another super crowded and popular place because nearly every single person posting about Kyoto wants to go there.
Kiyomizudera also gets really crowded. It’s a great temple, but again, it’s on near every single person’s itinerary for Kyoto.