This is my “finalised” itinerary… I’ve added everything that’s currently a must, but don’t want to pack too much in on all days so that there is time to just get lost and explore, but would like to see if anyone has any critiques! Open to dropping some things.
Going with my vego partner, but I love seafood and we both generally love food so that’s important here. We like a mix of everything, but don’t want to shop heaps as we don’t want to carry too much while travelling. Some of the top attractions seem like must-dos, but we’re not a huge fan of lines and crowds (hence why I’ve left off teamlabs).
April 9th – arrive 6:30pm, get a one way Narita express ticket to go to hotel in Shinjuku, look for some late night food options (maybe check Golden Gai or heard Zen is good for okonomiyaki)
April 10th – explore Shibuya – maybe get tickets to the observation deck (or a free building nearby), Nagi Shokudo for lunch, Shibuya Parco and Izakaya Masaka for dinner, get back to Shinjuku for a live show at 7:30pm
April 11th – explore Shinjuku – cat cafe in the morning, get some vegetarian bentos and enjoy in the National Garden, find a tea house with wagashi, dinner at Saido and then head to Nakameguro to try to see cherry blossoms at night (not sure if this is too late to see them here, heard they are peaking earlier this year)
April 12th – free day OR spend the day at Fuji Q (would book through Klook, which provides transportation), Omoide Yokocho at night. Hoping Fuji Q might be less busy as it’s a Wednesday?
April 13th – activate 7 day JR pass and travel to Yudanaka. Drop luggage off at ryokan (aim to arrive around noon) and go out to explore the town. Come back to ryokan around 3pm and enjoy the onsen and have dinner.
April 14th – breakfast at ryokan, then go to see the snow monkeys and start making the trip back to Tokyo. Depending on time, grab some food in Tokyo then take the shinkasen to Sendai. We have a friend here so mostly leaving time in Sendai free, however Nishi Park is on the list as this should be peak cherry blossom time!!
April 15th – free, as above
April 16th – return to Tokyo in the morning, T’s Tantan for vegan ramen on arrival and drop luggage at hotel near Tokyo station, head to Yanaka Ginza (we love cat things!), hoping to get a booking at Udatsu Sushi for dinner. Check out Akihabara after dinner for arcades and maybe Ueno park at night (is this worth it if well past cherry blossom peak date now?)
April 17th – Tsukji Outer market in the morning, walk around Imperial Palace area, maybe Bon for lunch. Then Gotokuji temple late afternoon (I know this is out of the way but we are going to a show in the same area on this day at night so it works well)
April 18th – day trip to Hakone! Try to do the full loop if time, but will start by heading to the open ajr museum. Will use the shinkasen with JR pass and the Hakone pass for the inner area only. Definitely want to end the day at Tenzan onsen (tattoo friendly) before heading back to Tokyo. I think this should work if we make it to the onsen by around 5pm. Seems we can walk about 30 mins to the train station in Hakone from there and then the trains run fairly late to Odawara and then to Tokyo.
April 19th – visit a museum or do last minute shopping / food, have a booking for the owl cafe at 2pm, then walk back to the hotel to grab luggage and make our way back to Narita. Thinking we should catch the Narita express by 5pm for an 8:50pm flight home.
