My partner and I are planning to travel to Japan for three weeks in October – November later this year. I’m trying to put a well thought out itinerary together in which we can really take in the places we go and don’t have to sleep in different places too much, while of course experiencing a lot of the different sides that Japan has to offer. This is what we’re thinking of doing so far:
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||Date|What to do?|Sleeping where?|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|DAY 1|Thursday, October 20|7 PM – arrival at Narita Airport, Tokyo. Check in at hotel in Shibuya. Eat dinner somewhere and explore if we have the energy|TOKYO (Shibuya)|
|DAY 2|Friday, October 21|Shibuya and Harajuku|TOKYO (Shibuya)|
|DAY 3|Saturday, October 22|Senso-Ji and area around, Walk to SkyTree|TOKYO (Shibuya)|
|DAY 4|Sunday, October 23|Ghibli Museum, Inokashira Park and Nakano Broadway|TOKYO (Shibuya)|
|||Send luggage to hotel in Kyoto||
|DAY 5|Monday, October 24|Spend the day at Hakone area. Sleep in hotel with onsen and Mount Fuji view|HAKONE|
|DAY 6|Tuesday, October 25|Relaxed morning in Hakone. Then taking the Shinkansen from Odawara station to Kyoto. Spend the afternoon/evening sightseeing in Kyoto|KYOTO|
|||1st day of 14 day JR pass||
|DAY 7|Wednesday, October 26|Sightseeing in Kyoto|KYOTO|
|DAY 8|Thursday, October 27|Visit temple in Kyoto early in the morning. Then take Shinkansen to Himeji Castle. Possibly stop in Kobe on the way back|KYOTO|
|DAY 9|Friday, October 28|Day trip to Nara and possibly visit Uji on the way back|KYOTO|
|||Send luggage to hotel in Hiroshima||
|DAY 10|Saturday, October 29|Take early train from Kyoto to Onimichi. Pick up bikes, take ferry and bike to Setodacho Setoda. Sleep there.|SHIMANAMI KAIDO|
|DAY 11|Sunday, October 30|Bike to Imabari, drop off bikes and take train to Matsuyama. Check out Dogo Onsen in the evening|SHIMANAMI KAIDO|
|DAY 12|Monday, October 31|Take ferry to Hiroshima. First visit Miyajima Island and then the city of Hiroshima|HIROSHIMA|
|DAY 13|Tuesday, November 1|Explore Hiroshima a bit more in the morning. Then take Shinkansen to Osaka. Explore Osaka|OSAKA|
|DAY 14|Wednesday, November 2|Full day at Universal Studios japan. Eat at Dotombori or Tsutenkaku in the evening|OSAKA|
|DAY 15|Thursday, November 3|Rest day(?)|OSAKA|
|DAY 16|Friday, November 4|Travel from Osaka to Tokyo. Check in at hotel near Shimbashi Station. |TOKYO (Shimbashi)|
|DAY 17|Saturday, November 5|Spend the day in an area like Nakameguro / Daikanyama. Explore the Tokyo nightlife the evening.|TOKYO (Shimbashi)|
|DAY 18|Sunday, November 6|Gotokuji Temple & Shimo-Kitazawa, go to Shinjuku in the evening|TOKYO (Shimbashi)|
|DAY 19|Monday, November 7|Day trip out of Tokyo (Kamakura/Nikko/Yokohama)|TOKYO (Shimbashi)|
|DAY 20|Tuesday, November 8|Visit residential neighbourhood in the morning and then shopping in Shibuya, Shinjuku and/or Ginza|TOKYO (Shimbashi)|
|DAY 21|Wednesday, November 9|Flight back at 11:30 AM||
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To give you an example of what I like about this planning is the efficiency of spending a luggage free night in Hakone from our first leg in Tokyo while our suitcases are already on the way to Kyoto. I want to do everything to make this trip as easy and hassle free as possible. In the ideal world we would also visit an onsen town like Kusatsu, Beppu or Ginzan Onsen, but I’m afraid that will become a little bit too much to really enjoy it.
What do you think when seeing this schedule? Do you have any advice? Thanks in advance!!
14 comments
Generally good, I would consider Himeji as a stop on the way to Osaka from Hiroshima.
For onsen town, Kinosaki or Arima or somewhere in the Izu peninsula would make more sense for you than the one you listed.
If you can move your universal studio day to october, you can go to their halloween horror night for free. It is included with entrance ticket. And it is until 9 at night, so you can’t go to dotonbori. You can move that to your rest day. Dotonbori is a must at night, so you can have a rest full day then go there at night? But some popular place might be already sold out at that point.
And no disneysea? IMO disneysea is a must vs universal studio as you cannot find disneysea elsewhere in the world
I second what the other poster mentioned about Himeji, you can fold it into your trip to Hiroshima or Osaka.
I don’t think you’ve left yourself enough time in Kyoto. There is a lot to experience there; I recommend at least two-three full days in the city. I Love Uji and Nara but you’ll probably experience more with that full day in Kyoto. Also, with your stop in Miyajima you’ll have the deer experience you’d be missing in Nara.
I’ll caution you with my own experience, sometimes I let the JR Pass lead me around as I try to maximize its value. Be careful not to cram too much into your trip.
Daikanyama is a posh part of Tokyo. Besides select boutiques and expensive restaurants there’s not a lot to see there. If you’re going for the book store or something else specifically, then you may be ok. Otherwise I’d recommend choosing another neighbourhood.
I love Niko and Kamakura, I’d choose either over Yokohama unless you have a special reason to visit. Kamakura is a very bike friendly city, and you mentioned biking during another part of your itinerary. Niko is magical, but from Tokyo you won’t be able to see anything besides Toshogu.
If you have time in Tokyo see if any of the Team Labs exhibits are still open. I believe they’re closing in the fall, but if either are still operating they’re memorable.
Will the borders even be open for tourists by then?
I think you can enter Japan provided that you have booked a group tour. You cannot wander alone. Here’s the [link](https://www.insidekyoto.com/can-i-travel-to-japan-now)
That’s nice!
The days we were in Osaka we went to Koyasan and Nara. I enjoyed Koyasan the most. Also due to the fact that Nara was extremely busy as it was Golden Week.
Wouldn’t book anything until borders open. And so far no indicator that they will
That’s a lot of moving around for me and I think you’re packing in too much.
Previously I’ve gone to Osaka as a day trip from Kyoto which was easy. I’d also give Kobe a miss
It might be cheaper to get a different pass like 7day setouchi and pay for Tokyo to Kyoto, Osaka-Tokyo separate. Here are a bunch of different passes to consider
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html
You can ship luggage to the airport for pick up when you get there on the way back from Osaka. Pack a smaller bag for your last few days and pick up your large suitcase at the airport.
For the second day in Tokyo, Asakusa-Sensoji-Tokyo Skytree won’t take more than half a day, even if you decide to rent a kimono and spend as much time as possible to take photos. You can check if you want to visit Ueno or Nippori area (Yanaka Ginza) to maximize the time. Same with Shibuya and Harajuku, if you don’t have any specific list of places to go, you might get bored soon.
Like another poster said, you can try do teamLab on one of the day (ideally teamLab-Asakusa-Tokyo Skytree if you want to see Skytree at night). For Harajuku and Shibuya, better do Meiji Jingu-Harajuku-Shibuya and maybe stay there till night, then hop to Shinjuku before getting back to hotel. Try Shibuya Scamble Square (not Scamble Crossings but a newly opened building) and Miyashita Park (another building with built-in small park)
Tokyo has some fantastic locations, temples and parks that are best to visit in a specific season, so I can suggest more once we know your date. Kanda Myojin Shrine, Nezu Shrine, Tokyo Daijingu… etc are some of my favorite shrines in Tokyo.
Planing to stay 90 days on an acquaintance visa and really stuggling with what kind of information I need to put there. Literally everything? Everytime we go to the kombini or to the Supermarket? How am I supposed to plan 90 days in advance? …this is ridiculous.
Anyways: Best of luck with your plans! I really hope they will open up regularly again like everyone else did.
Edit: Can you at least try to answer my question instead of silently downvoting? Thank you.
Edit: Wow, you guys really aren’t helpful at all lol
Are you pretty fit? Cycling over the Shimanami Kaido in one day may leave you pretty tired and it may make you want to skip Matsuyama. If you are fit, it will be no problem. Hope you enjoy!