This is a prospective itinerary for me and my boyfriend. Hopefully for either this November or next Spring. It’ll be our first time so I’ve done the research and put a lot of thought into this. Thinking of doing a round trip style in 14 days from Tokyo-Osaka-Kanazawa-Tokyo.
1-Fly in to Tokyo Haneda, probably want to stay in Shibuya/Shinjuku area. Time permitting go to Gov building obvs deck and explore Shinjuku & kabukicho
2- Explore Shibuya, Oyogi park, Harajuku, Meiji shrine and maybe do kareoke (Will kareoke work for 2 people or will this be too expensive? And is kareoke always accessable in English?)
3- Asakusa sensoji temple and markets, Pokémon centre skytree, akihabara arcades if time.
4- kichijoji Ghibli museum, enjoy the park, then head to shimokitazawa or koenji for bars/live music (any opinions of which has the best vibe?)
5-Shinkansen to Osaka(thinking of basing in dotonbori for nightlife.What area is best placed near a station for day trips?). Time permitting explore Osaka castle, dotonbori/americamura.
6- Day trip to Kyoto east side- Fushimi Inari Taisha shrines hike, nishiki food market, gion geisha neighborhood, kiyomizu Dera temple
7- Day trip to Kyoto west side- monkey park and explore temples
8- Day in Universal studios
9- Day trip to Nara
10- Shinkansen to Kanazawa, ryokan stay, explore castle and landscape gardens.
11-Morning in Kanazawa then Shinkansen back to Tokyo. Probably stay in Ueno/Akihabara area. Time permitting check out ameyokocho and akihabara arcades.
12- Pokémon cafe and ginza for shopping (which department store has the best food court?)
13- Last day in Tokyo. Odaiba- teamlab borderless, onsen park & Ferris wheel
14- fly home from Haneda
Any suggestions on a good place to try Wagyu beef at a reasonable price?
Any feedback on the itinerary or recommendations would be great! 😊
10 comments
In general seems quite ok. Just to note that Osaka-Kanazawa, there is no shinkansen, only a limited express train.
What I might suggest is to go to Osaka 1 or 2 day earlier. I think it is better to have more time in Tokyo at the end of the trip, because if you are buying souvenir in Tokyo in the first days, you will have to carry everything all the ways to Osaka and Kanazawa. If you have the bulk of your Tokyo days at the end, you do not have to worry too much as you will only have to bring your luggage to the airport.
Kanazawa seems a bit short. If you can allow a full day there it will give you a bit more time to explore the town as it’s not a place you want to rush.
Is there anything in particular that you want to do in Kanazawa? It just seems a bit out of the way if you are not visiting nearby places such as Takayama or Shirakawago.
As for Wagyu beef, go to a restaurant that specializes in Wagyu beef, don’t get them from the market stalls, they’re not worth it.
I don’t know what you consider a reasonable price, but if you’re near the Gion district of Kyoto, I recommend Steak House Yoshida. They serve Ohmi beef (the oldest of the big 3 names for wagyu, the other two being Kobe and Ozaki).
A couple other comments:
* Karaoke is not expensive, you pay by the hour and most places will have a 1 drink minimum (per person)
* Check out the philosopher’s walk in Kyoto
* Nara was cool for the first 90 minutes, but once you’re over the deer there’s not much else.
1. Note that for this particular triangular route, a reverse order might be better-suited in November considering autumn foliage timing in each region.
2. Note that if you are flying in from US/Canada, your first day would consist of catching dinner, period. Even if you are flying in from Europe/Asia, most likely you will have just an afternoon to plan and you will likely be too tired to have an evening out.
3. Most major karaoke chains have a fair selection of songs in English, especially international hits.
4. Osaka castle is skippable (concrete monstrosity it is) and Kanazawa castle is also a reconstruction – Himeji or Hikone with surrounding gardens usually make more sense.
5. Osaka: staying anywhere between Umeda and Namba is essentially fine.
6, As people have said before: Osaka to Kanazawa is on-board limited express Thunderbird, not shinkansen.
Between Kanazawa and Tokyo you could consider doing the Alpine Route? Not actually done it ourselves yet – It was a feature of our cancelled trip last year. I’ll link you to the Japan Guide page because it explains all the many options better than I ever could.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7552.html
I give this advice pretty often here, but have you thought about swapping staying in Osaka for Kyoto? I have no inherent issue with Osaka, but I will say that (a) it has a pretty similar feel to Tokyo (both are sprawling mega-metropolises) and (b) Osaka is not as nice a place to just wander and soak in the environment (imo). For a 14 day trip Kyoto offers a really nice change of pace from Tokyo, it’s quieter, more walkable and laid back. Fundamentally, Kyoto and Osaka are very close together and so going back and forth is not difficult (served by frequent local express trains). I will also note that your day 6 is *pretty* packed and staying in Kyoto might allow that to be easier (and you seem to have two full days planned for Kyoto also). I *always* recommend people budget an absolute minimum of 2 hours for Fushimi Inari (but preferably more like 4), it’s worth hiking to the top of Mt. Inari, but also just leaving time to explore the numerous paths and little side trails dotted around the mountain. Similarly, Kiyomizaderu is really more of a sprawling temple complex than a single attraction and can easily be worth devoting 3 hours to exploring.
I’ll also say that, while I have nothing against Universal/Disney (I have enjoyed both in the US), is that a day that you are dead-set on? (Some people are just big amusement park fans and I get that). I think that for a 14 day first-time trip in a new country it can be worth focusing on experiences/sights that you just can not get back home.
That all said, overall I think you have a pretty well-paced trip. I will agree with another commenter here that if you can get a full day in Kanazawa that would be ideal. I *love* Kanazawa and think it’s well worth a visit, but having that full day gives you the time to really relax and enjoy the city. Especially because for your Ryokan stay, I would recommend checking in right when your room is available, then really just soaking in and enjoying everything the Ryokan has to offer. But overall I don’t think the trip or the days are particularly overpacked.
As I hope you have heard, make sure to do your research and get your Ghibli tickets well in advance, tickets are limited and can NOT be purchased at the museum. I think the Ghibli museum is great IF (and only if) you are pretty big Ghibli fans going in. Very little of the museum is signed in English so I found it to be more of a visual wonder than informative. I feel like I was just enough of a fan to enjoy it, but could have just as easily have skipped it.
Last specific advice, I think your day one in Tokyo is very aspirational, so if some of those sights are key for you, don’t set them on your day one. Jet lag is real, doubly so if you don’t have much experience with international travel. In addition to throwing your sleep schedule off, you have to deal with it right on the heels of what can be an exhausting *full* day of travel (depending of course on where you fly from/how many connections). And frankly, that advice spills over to day two, try to avoid a big day of walking on day two, and front-load your top desires in case you run out of steam.
General Advice:
-For busy city days, pick your top attraction and do that while you’re fresh, then if you get tired you can always cut things as you go.
-Make sure you have good foot wear and are prepared for *lots* of walking. I’ve a moderately active person and on both of my Japan trips ended up with quite a few big blisters, and Japan just tends to involve a *lot* of walking.
-Learning just a little bit of Japanese will go a long way. I made flashcards of sort of a “top 50” words and phrases list and studied a bit every day in the weeks leading up to the trip. It can help out in a pinch with communicating, but also, it’s just a fun way to interact. I found that people were usually happily surprised to hear a tourist trying out Japanese, and at times it allowed my partner and I to hop in to some fun “google translate” assisted conversations. Just being able to tell a cook at a ramen joint or izakaya that there food was delicious (“oishii”) can be really nice.
-I’ll echo another comment to not sleep on AirBNB, I’ve stayed at around a dozen places (note that they span the gambit from literally a guest room in someone’s home, to basically a hotel or full apartment) and have never had any problems. I’ve also found full apartment (small of course, it is Japan) rentals for my partner and I that were cheaper than smaller/worse hotel rooms.
(For the record, there is no shinkansen between NARA and KANAZAWA. There are some express trains from Kyoto though!)
If you want information about Kanazawa, I know an awesome local guide there.
She truly loves her city and she will tailor a tour to your preferences. I’ve joined her online tours, and they are awesome! Very knowledgeable and full of fun facts.
PM me if you want more information.
For Kanazawa, you may want to also check out the Higashi Chaya district, Nagamachi samurai district (check out Nomura Samurai house for a beautiful preserved house and garden with artifacts), and the Myouruji ninja temple as well. For the temple you’ll need advance reservations which your hostel or hotel should be able to arrange for you. Its not associated with ninjas but its nicknamed as such because it has “deceptive defenses” to deter enemies such as trap doors, fake entrances, slots where weapons can be stabbed through while going up stairs, etc. Was a cool highlight of our trip!
A local specialty of Kanazawa is gold leaf so be sure to try desserts with gold flakes! I bought a box of delicious mini sweet toast cookies that had gold flakes on it and wish I had stocked up on them before I went back home, they were so good!
Just a suggestion : maybe instead of going back to Tokyo at the end of your trip, you could take a flight in Osaka international airport ?
My itinerary would be :
1- Tokyo
2- Kanazawa
Two possibilities :
3- Kyoto
4- Osaka
5- daytrip to Nara
6- leaving by Osaka KIX airport
-> I tried this one, there’s no problem to reach Nara from Osaka
Or
3- Kyoto
4- daytrip to Nara
5- Osaka
6- leaving by Osaka KIX airport