Hi Reddit,
I’m going to Japan for the first time with a friend from May-June and wanted to share my itinerary. I was hoping to get some insights on the quality of this itinerary and would love some extra tips from you. Any tips will be appreciated!
Our trip will consist of Tokyo – Hakone – Fujikawaguchiko – Osaka – Nagoya – Kyoto
May 30th:
* **6:30pm:** Land at Narita airport
* Take Skyliner and check in at hotel (near Shin-Okubo station)
* Dinner at ichiran or anywhere that is open nearby (probably around **9:00pm**)
* Explore convenience stores near hotel
May 31st:
* **7:00am** arrive in Asakusa
* Sensoji temple and Kaminari gates
* 9:30am Nakamise Shopping street
* **10:00am** travel to Ginza station, lunch at Manten Sushi Marunouchi
* **1:00pm** Team Lab Planets
* **3:30pm** Shibuya 109 (shopping)
* **6:00pm** Shibuya Sky
* Dinner at Gyukatsu Motomura Shibuya
June 1st:
* **8:00am** travel to Tsukiji fish market
* **10:00am** travel to Tokyo Disneyland (spend the whole day there)
* **7:30pm** \- **8:00pm** dinner and Shin Udon (Shinjuku)
June 2nd:
* **9:00am** Studio Ghibli Museum (if we can get tickets) OR Shimokitazawa for thrift shopping
* **12:30pm** travel to Harajuku and explore Takeshita street
* Mipig cafe
* Meiji Jingu Shrine
* Lunch at Red Rock Harajuku
* 5:00pm travel to Akihabara station
* Explore gachapon capsule games and arcades
* Dinner at Tendon Tenya or Sushi train
June 3rd
* Activate JR pass and travel to Hakone
* We are debating on whether we should take the Hakone round trip, which would involve buying the Hakone free pass and is likely to take up the whole day or if we should explore Hakone on our own.
* Stay the night in Hakone
June 4th
* **9:00am** Travel to Kawaguchiko station
* Take free shuttle bus to ryokan
* 11:30am Explore Kawaguchiko (Chureito Pagoda)
* Hire bikes from Fujisan bike and bike along Kawaguchiko river
* Lunch ar Fuji Tempura Idaten
* **3:00pm** return back to ryokan and enjoy private onsen
* **5:15pm** Dinner at ryokan
June 5th
* **7:30am** Breakfast buffet at ryokan
* **9:00am** Travel to Osaka (this is a long journey and will take roughly 5 hours)
* **2:00pm** Check in at airbnb in Osaka (near Namba station) and have lunch at Daiki-suisan
* **3:30pm-4:00pm** Explore Osaka castle and park
* **5:00pm** Shinsaibashi Shopping district for shopping
* Walk to Dotonburi and eat street food
* Dinner at Matsusaka M Yakiniku
June 6th
* Universal Studios Japan
June 7th
* **8:30am** explore cafe (Lilo Coffee Roasters or Arabiya Coffee)
* Osaka Aquarium
* Visit 9 Borden Coffee cafe near the aquarium
* **1:00pm** Kuromon Ichiba market
* **3:00pm** Umeda Shopping district for shopping
* **6:00pm-6:30pm** Dotonburi for dinner
* After dinner, explore Shinseikai district
June 8th
* No plans yet on this day – need some more suggestions on things to do in Osaka!
June 9th
* **5:00am** Travel to Nagoya station hotel and drop off luggage
* **7:00am** Travel to Magome from Nagoya station
* **9:30am** Hike Magome-Tsumago trial
* **12:00pm** Head back to Nagoya station from Tsumago
* **2:30pm** Nagoya Castle and Tokugawa park (optional)
* 4:00pm Aeon Mall Atsuta or Osu shopping distict for shopping
* Dinner at Yamamotoya Honten or Fujiyama GoGo/55
June 10th
* Travel from Nagoya to Kyoto and check in at hotel
* **8:00am** Arishiyama Bamboo forest and Arishiyama shopping street
* 11:00am Tenryuji temple and Arishiyama monkey park
* Lunch at Orsuka or Kijurou
* **2:00pm** Kinkakuji temple
* Nijo castle
* **5:00pm** Pontoncho Alley
* Dinner at Potoncho Yakiniku Yamakawa
June 11th
* **8:00am** Kiyomizu-dera temple
* Explore Ninezaka/sannenzaka streets for local street food and traditional starbucks
* **11:00am** Nishiki market
* **1:00pm** walk to Shinkyogoku Shopping street or Teramachi shopping street for shopping
* **6:00pm** Dinner at Katsukura Tonkatsu
* After dinner, explore Gion district
June 12th
* **8:00am** Travel to Nara
* Explore Deer park
* Isui En Garden
* Todaiji temple
* Kasuga Tasha temple and botanical gardens
* Nakatanidou for famous mochi
* Lunch at Magurogoya
* **4:00pm** Back to Kyoto
* **Not sure what to do here! Suggestions please**
June 13th
* **7:00am** Fushini Inari Shrine
* Lunch at Daigin Shokudo
* **1:00pm** Kyoto Imperial Palace
* Hire bikes and bike to Philosopher’s walk (I read that the scenic route on this path is very short so not sure if it is worth biking here!)
* **4:00pm** Explore Gion district during the day and visit Tsujiri for matcha desserts
* Dinner (location to be decided)
June 14th – 16th
* Back to Tokyo – we decided to leave the last few days unplanned just in case we miss out on things we want to do during the first half of our trip in Tokyo or want to go back to certain areas.
If you got this far, thanks for reading!
5 comments
June 1st doesn’t look like nearly enough time for everything. Im a huge Disney fan, but I’d recommend Disney sea over Disney land. I’m also a huge foodie and could probably spend 2-3 hours wandering around Tsukiji, 2 hours including travel doesn’t sound great. Also, Tokyo Disney has some great food, so I’d separate that all into different days.
How will you travel the first days if you only activate JR on June 3rd?
Switch Shibuya and Akihabara. Shibuya is walking distance from Harajuku. Akihabara is much closer to Asakusa.
You are in a situation where 7 days pass is the most I would take, but you have for over 7 days. I think individual tickets will be cheaper.
I would do Kawaguchiko first, going to Kansai next will be much easier from Hakone.
Hakone the pass is a good value if you do the loop, so it depends on what you want to see around there, but the loop cover many interesting attractions.
Why track back to Nagoya? To I it before or after Kyoto/Osaka, not between.
Nagoya seems rushed, I feel that you try to fit 2 days in 1.
Generally speaking some days feel a bit full. I would try to be flexible, do what you can and enjoy it, do not try to rush to see everything at all cost or it won’t be fun.
Keep in mind June is rainy season. It will likely be raining/wet/muddy for your Magome hike. Bring wet weather hiking gear.
Your timings are very unrealistic.
> May 31st
Only 30 mins for Nakamise will be fine if you don’t plan on check out any shops. Also the whole area are Sensoji is quite large and filled with shops and restaurants. The whole afternoon also seemed a bit rushed for this day. Your Shibuya sky time also lines will be quite busy since it will be around sunset. You’ll need to book tickets for this time slot well in advance.
> June 1st
This is quite short amount of time to be in tsukiji. It’ll take about 35-45 mins to get there from Shin-Okubo so you’ll only have about an hour there.
> June 2nd
Again seems very packed. Also 9:00am for Shimokita shops might not even be open at this time. So you’d need to probably find a different alternative to Ghibli if you cant get tickets. Also the Harajuku/Ometesando/Aoyama area is quite large and if you just constrain yourself to Takeshita street you’ll be missing out on some of the best parts of the neighborhood.
Overall considering this is your first time I think you need to add more buffer time for transit. Assume you will get lost in stations. Also you should probably add more time in each area incase you see interesting sights and want to stop and check them out.