Check my Itinerary please 18 days (Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka/Okayama area)

Travelling alone to Japan for the first time early September On a low to medium budget.

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This is my first draft of the itinerary so any and all advice is appreciated. Particularly if I’m missing any cool places or things to do, (esp if they’re cheap or free), and important travel considerations I’m overlooking. Days are structured roughly by area but can be interchanged and activities rearranged as needed. Not planning on JR pass at this point as doesn’t seem to be cost effective.

Day 0:

* Arrive, get SIM card, Suica etc)
* Train from airport to hotel
* Explore surrounding area depending on time

Day 1: Shinjuku/Shibuya/Harajuku area

* Explore look at shops etc
* Check out Meiji temple
* Prolly chill at Yoyogi park, eat some konbini food
* Tokyo metropolitan government building
* Cat cafe if time allows(might change days)
* Miyashita park
* Shibuya parko

Day 2: Asakusa

* Sensoji temple
* Not action packed day just exploring

Day 3: Ghibli/central Tokyo Districts

* Ghibli museum
* Akihabara
* Imperial Gardens
* Art aquarium

Day 4:

* Teamlab Planets
* (also wanna go to TeamLab Borderless if its open by then)

Day 5: Fuji Five lakes area

* Travel to Five Lakes
* Kawaguchi-ko
* Chureito pagoda
* Panoramic ropeway
* Look at some lakes
* Back to Tokyo

Day 6: Travel day

* Shinkansen to Kyoto
* Check into hotel
* Maybe Maruyama Park

Day 7: south kyoto temple run

* Fushimi Inari shrine first thing in morning
* Tofukuji temple
* Toji temple
* Daigoji temple

Day 8: Arashiyama

* Hozugawa river cruise (Kameoka→Arashiyama)
* Bamboo grove
* Tenryuji temple

Day 9: Central/Eastern Kyoto

* Kyoto Imperial palace
* Kiyomizudera
* Ginkakuji temple
* Suirokaku aqueduct

Day 10: North Kyoto

* Kinkakuji temple
* Ninnaji temple
* Kimono forest
* Kamo shrines

Day 11: Travel day

* Shinkansen to Osaka
* Osaka aquarium
* Check into hotel

Day 12:

* Osaka castle
* Tenjinbashi-Suji
* Explore city
* Street food & shopping
* Train to Nara

Day 13: Nara

* Deer park
* Look at some shrines/temple
* Train back to Osaka

Day 14: Travel day

* Shinkansen to Kasaoka
* Check into hotel
* Explore a bit

Day 15: Manabeshima day trip

* Ferry to Manabe island
* Look at cats
* Ferry back to Kasaoka

Day 16: Travel day

* Shinkansen back to Tokyo

Day 17: Shopping

* Buy souvenirs

Day 18: Fly home

2 comments
  1. Hey,

    I just wanted to mention Kasaoka is not on a shinkansen line. You will need to go to Shin-Kurashiki and transfer to a local line to get there. I do not know how often the trains run.

    I have not been to Manabeshima, but some of the reviews of Manabe shima on Google are quite mixed. I might recommend you read through them, several Japanese users claim very bad things have happened to the cats on the island over the years. You might be better off visiting a different cat island. There are a lot.

  2. Day 6 is too light, Tokyo-Kyoto is ~3 hours so you have the full afternoon and evening (Maruyama Park doesn’t take much time).

    On Day 9 do Kiyomizudera first thing in the morning (it opens at 0630), the atmosphere then is vastly different from the chaos later in the day.

    Kimono forest (day 10) is in Arashiyama and is best seen after dark, maybe merge it with day 8?

    Daigoji has multiple sections each of which charges separately so might not be the best temple to visit on a budget

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