Hello good people! My partner and I are going away and have finalised our itinerary. We are both reasonably fit but used to being sedentary and our Japanese is v basic. Here is our itinerary, would you change anything?
Mar 21 – check into airport hotel in UK
Mar 22/23 – fly to Osaka via Tokyo, pick up Pasmo / suica in Tokyo airport (mostly to give us something to do, plus there’s a v cute Hello Kitty pasmo rn)
Mar 23 daytime – arrive Osaka 1040am. Go to Osaka castle, check in to hotel, collect pocket wifi, spend evening in Dotonbori.
Mar 24 – Universal Studios Japan, check in to 2nd Osaka hotel
Mar 25 – Himeji castle and Mt Shosha ropeway
Mar 26 – Collect 7 day JR pass. Cup noodle museum, Round One stadium
Mar 27 – Nara deer, possibly Byodo-in Temple, check in to Kyoto hotel
Mar 28 – Toei studio park, railway museum
Mar 29 – Fushimi inari, Daitoku-ji, bamboo grove / tenryu-ji, Kiyomizudera (may need to edit one, which would people advise?)
Mar 30 – travel to Takayama. Kusukube folk museum, check in to hotel.
Mar 31 – Hida Folk village
Apr 1 – Retro museum, Showa museum, travel to Tokyo (last day of JR pass)
Apr 2 – Ueno park, Team Labs
Apr 3/4 – Disneyland, Disneysea
Apr 5 – Ghibli museum
Apr 6 – Shopping, Akihabara. Check in to airport hotel
Apr 7 – fly home from Tokyo
If there’s anything anyone would add or change, please let me know! With regards to the JR pass, I think it works out that we save about £20 each which is why I’m considering it!
1 comment
Keep in mind that it’s like an 8 or 9 hour time difference between the United Kkingdom and Japan, so on the 23rd you may be pretty out of whack. Doing the castle, then hotel, then going out for the night will likely be a little difficult, so just be careful.
Also what’s the with 2 hotels over 2 different nights in Osaka? Is that just for fun/to visit different places?
March 29th is a ton, and some of those are in very different places in the city. The bamboo grove, Daitoku-ji, and Fushimi Inari are all in different directions. Kiyomizudera is at least kind of on the way to or from Fushimi Inari (depending on where you’re staying in the city, obviously). So with all the travel and walking and all of that….yeah, will likely have to drop something.
I suggest to drop the bamboo grove if only because it is incredibly small and crowded. It’s beautiful, don’t get me wrong. Just my thoughts.
Also we’ll both be in Tokyo at the same time, that’s fun. My trip is March 25 – April 7th.