Hi Everyone,
My wife and I originally planned a 10 year anniversary trip that ultimately got cancelled due to covid (March 2020). We’re trying to book a trip this year and I am trying to replan the trip based on the new schedule. Any insights into the hotels I’ve selected would be much appreciated. I know some of the days are pretty full, but I have no bearing on how much energy we’ll have and how long we’ll stay at each attraction so I figured I’d rather have more items listed and not make it than to finish early and not have a plan. For hotels, we’re looking for ones with laundry service as I don’t really want to have to worry about coin-ops. Also, are Ryokans worth visiting even though the weather is going to be fairly warm? My wife has tattoos so I had to look for ones that had private in room Onsens since she cannot use the public ones.
**What we’re into**: Food, Coffee, Anime, Cultural sites, Parks
**Advice wanted**: restaurants, hotel/accommodations insights and/or alternatives, travel route insights
Day|Activities (bolded cities are where we are staying) |Notes|
:–|:–|:–
5/31|LAX to HND, land @ 5pm in **Tokyo**, Buy Pasmo / Suica card. Head to Hotel and get settled. Visit Roppongi area/Tokyo tower area possibly. Grab dinner at a local shop or convenience store.| **Super Hotel Tokyo Hamamatsucho Hotel**. Should we taxi from Haneda to the hotel or is public transit a better idea?
6/1|Grab 14 day JR pass, Shinjuku Gyoen, Sankeien Park, Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, Senzokuike Park|Probably too ambitious, we’d probably skip the Sea Paradise if need be
6/2|**Osaka**, Tennoji Park/Shinsekai, Dotonbori|**The Royal Park Hotel Iconic Osaka Midosuji Hotel**
6/3|*Nara*. Osaka Castle, Mint Museum, Kema Sakuranomiya Park| Will probably stay in Nara for 6-7 hours, is that enough time?
6/4|*Kyoto*. Arashiyama Monkey Park, Pug Cafe, Aritsugu Nishiki Market or Shigeharu, Shōgunzuka|Wanted to buy a chef’s knife during this trip, any recommended blacksmiths?. Also going to take an evening hike for the sights at Shōgunzuka
6/5|Cup Noodle Museum, Nankinmachi Square, Sorakuen Garden, Himeji Castle, Hiokayama Park| Any Dinner suggestions for Kobe area?
6/6|**Matsue**, Arrive at Saginoyusuo Ryokan, Adachi Museum|Staying overnight at the Ryokan
6/7|**Fukuoka**, Shukkeien Garden, Hiroshima Castle, Peace Memorial Park, Iwakuni | **Hotel Oriental Express Fukuoka-TENJIN**. Obviously a lot of sites to visit on the way to Fukuoka, so looking for insights for which to prioritize.
6/8|Fukuoka Castle, Canal City, Nakasu|
6/9|Depart for Ryokan Yufuin Yasuha|Staying overnight at the Ryokan
6/10|Head back to **Osaka**, Pokemon Center, Square Enix Cafe, Shopping| **Hotel Noum Osaka**
6/11|Osaka Central Fish Market, Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, Uji Shrine, Taihoan, Fukujuen Uji|I keep reading mixed reviews about Osaka Fish Market – Anyone go there recently?
6/12|Depart for **Tokyo**, Shinjuku or Nakano for shopping|**Sotetsu Fresa Inn Higashi Shinjuku**
6/13|Ghibli Museum, One Piece Tower, Harajuku, Shibuya|
6/14|Store/Send Luggage to HND, Teamlab Borderless, Gundam Square, Shopping, Depart for LAX at 9pm|Saving most of our shopping for the last few days
Thank you!!!
1 comment
It is a wee bit full, I have to say. For example your first day, when you will be jetlagged and tired, plus with the humidity possibly being up to 70% in May/June it can be quite tiring just to walk around. In the first day you have listed a park which is not near your hotel, then going to Yokohama (an hour away) for a park and the Sea Paradise, which are not near each other either, then back to Tokyo for another park which is also not near your hotel. It’s a big day with a lot of travelling around! If I were you I’d look at something close to home for your first day, like perhaps Hamarikyu Gardens? Right near your hotel, and exceedingly pretty. TeamLab Planets is also not far away (TeamLab Borderless is closed – Planets is the new one). Just a thought.
I will say though that if the choices are a) planning too much and possibly missing out, or b) not planning enough and possibly being at a loose end, the better option depends on how you prefer to discover a new place, and your priorities.
If you decide to go with option A, then possibly make a priority list for each area, and then if you’re falling behind on your schedule you can drop the lower priority sites as you go. However this would mean creating a more detailed daily schedule so that you know what site goes where in the itinerary. Otherwise you might end up missing out on something you later regret not seeing. It’s not pleasant to think back to your trip and think, “I wish we’d seen X. If we hadn’t gone to Y, we could have seen X. Y wasn’t even that great.” etc etc
If you go with option B, you leave time to really appreciate the places you’re seeing. Sometimes you might wish you could spend longer somewhere, but with a full schedule you would have to hustle off to the next item. Plus you can have time to wander. A place that feels exotic is great to wander in – and by exotic I just mean “different to home”, which Japan almost always is (and that’s the point). If you wander some back streets and allow yourself to get lost for an hour, you can discover some fun things, adding some fun memories to your trip (one of mine and my husband’s favourite memories of our last trip is the day we couldn’t decide what to do or eat in Kanazawa. We just walked around, “pointing our eyes” at everything and eventually found the best little gyoza restaurant in a side street. Then we couldn’t figure out which bus to get back to the hotel, so we walked the 2km back in the cold night. Finding a vending machine in a residential back street and buying hot chocolate to warm our hands, and just seeing all the tiny houses and cute gardens in the beautiful night air was an experience we bring up regularly as a great memory). With Google Maps these days it’s easy to find your way back to where you need to be.
This is just my 2 cents, of course. For example in Arashiyama, there’s a lot to see and do, but if you’re just going to the Monkey Park (which is worth the hike up the mountain), you’ll be walking past all the cute cool shops and restaurants, possibly wishing you had time to stop and browse. Arashiyama can be a whole day in itself, so it’d be a shame to miss almost everything in favour of just one attraction.
Oh, one last thought – if you want to see TeamLab, don’t forget they also have a nighttime installation in Osaka Botanical Gardens!