So my wife and I have told our 3 children that if they keep a 3.5 GPA throughout high school, we will take them anywhere they want to go. We took our oldest to Egypt a year and a half ago, now we are taking are next to Japan the end of March. I would like to see what you think of our itinerary. Is it to much? Can I do more, etc.
Day1….Montana to LAX
Day2…LAX to Tokyo(Narita airport)….we arrive at 4:30pm local.
Train to hotel (Monterey Hanzomon)
Can we get the Imperial palace in that night…it’s across the street pretty much.
Day 3…full day Tokyo
Skytree
Ueno park
Akihabara
Senso ji
Day 4…Tokyo
Meiji shrine
Yoyogi park
Shinjuku gyoen
Shibuya
Omioide yokocho
Day 5
Teamlab planets
Anamori Inari shrine
Day 6…Hakone
Train to Odawara station
Car, train, bus???? to hotel (Yumoto Fuiya)
Would like to do Odawara castle but can you do that plus take the boat tour on lake Ashi.
Rodeway ride
Day 7…Kyoto
Train to Karasuma Oike Statio Kyoto
hotel (Gimmond Kyoto)
Bamboo garden
Kinkaku ji
Day 8…Kyoto
Kyoto imperial palace
Nijo castle
Higashiyama Jisho ji
Day 9 Kyoto
Kodai ji
Hakan ji
Kiyomizu dera
Fushimi Inari Taisha
Day 10 Osaka
Train to Namba station
Hotel (II Cuore Hotel Namba)
Osaka castle
Dotonbori
Day 11 Osaka
Sumiyoshi shrine
Nara Park
Day 12
Transfer to Osaka airport
Fly to Tokyo…then Tokyo to LAX
Day 13
LAX to Montana
Also any tips for first timers in Japan would be greatly appreciated. As in do you think a JR rail pass is worth it for us or anything else we need to know?
Thank you in advance.
2 comments
I think thats a pretty packed itinerary for 10 days. you’re going to be spending a lot of time just traveling and settling in to new hotels.
you really only have 9 full days of sightseeing. Personally i’d cut out either kyoto or Osaka this trip, but if you don’t it’s not neccessary to switch hotels between those cities as it’s only an hour train ride between them.
you could spend the whole 9 days just in tokyo and have a great trip. I think alot of people try to pack to many cities into there itinerary and end up seeing a lot less than they want.
You definitely don’t want a rail pass. You are only taking the shinkansen one direction Odawara to Kansai.
If you’re staying at the Yumoto Fujiya Hotel it is literally right across from Hakone-Yumoto Station. You just exit the station and cross the bridge and then walk around the grounds to the side and you are there. I did it at 9:00 pm with an exhausted 5 year old in tow and it is just super easy. You would presumably visit Odawara Castle first, then take the train from Odawara to Hakone-Yumoto Station. All Odakyu trains from Odawara go to Hakone-Yumoto since it is the last station. You get off there, drop your stuff in the hotel a 5 minute walk away and then you can figure out what you want to do in Hakone.
Part of the whole Hakone experience is taking different forms of public transit so renting a car seems sort of odd unless you are specifically trying to get somewhere hard to reach.
I agree with PP why are you changing to a hotel in Osaka. You can easily go between Osaka and Kyoto. I do it all the time when I am in Japan because I like to stay in Kyoto but my friend lives in Osaka.
I would stay in Kyoto. It’s easier to navigate. You can make a large triangle and go Kyoto to Nara to Osaka (to see Sumiyoshi Taisha) and then back to Kyoto.
Arashiyama, with the bamboo forest every single person posting to this subreddit wants to visit, is in Arashiyama while Kinkakuji is sort of off by itself. You can visit both, but it might take you more time then you would think unless you plan to take a cab between the two.
You can go direct from Kyoto to KIX, when you leave.