17 Day Golden Week Rough Itinerary Check

I’m planning on traveling to Japan from 4/27 – 5/13. We are a group of 3 and It will be our first time in Japan. As I was planning this I completely forgot about Golden Week which ends up being smack dab in the middle of our trip. I drafted up a rough itinerary that I had planned up back in 2020 when our trip was canceled due to covid and now that we are finally getting a chance to go I was using the same setup.

Also we plan on getting the 14 Day JR Pass at the moment, but still debating if its worth it with the way I currently have it setup. According to the JR pass calculator it’s saying it will not be worth it, but I feel like the convenience of it is pushing me to get it.

This is what I have so far and open for suggestions, I also want to go to TeamLab borderless if it opens in time, otherwise I will add TeamLab Planets instead,

* **Day 1 – 4/27 – Leaving US**

* **Day 2 – 4/28 – Land in Tokyo**
– Land in HND
– Take Monorail into City
– Check into hotel
– Rest up a little
– Go explorer nearby hotel

* **Day 3 – 4/29 – Tokyo**

– Shibuya Crossing
– Tokyo Metro Gov Building
– Explorer Shibuya

* **Day 4 – 4/30 – Tokyo**
– Akihabara
– Gigo Akihabara 1
– Hey Taito
– Gigo Akihabara 3
– Super Potato Retro – kan
– Try a Capsule Hotel for 1 night
* **Day 5 – 5/01 – Tokyo**
– Harajuku
– Bunch of stores I want to hit here
– Takeshita Street

* **Day 6 – 5/02 – Tokyo**
– Disney Sea (not sure if this take all day but I dedicated a day to it)
* **Day 7 – 5/03 – Tokyo**
– Day Trip to Hakone to see Mount Fuji and Lake Ashi

* **Day 8 – 5/04 – Tokyo -> Osaka**
– Check into Hotel
– Explore Dotonbori
– Explore Minami Namba
* **Day 9 – 5/05 – Osaka**
– Osaka Castle

* **Day 10 – 5/06 – Osaka**
– Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan

* **Day 11 – 5/07 – Osaka (Possible Day Trip to Kobe)**
– Find a good place to try some Kobe Beef
– TBD
* **Day 12 – 5/08 – Osaka (Possible Day Trip to Nara)**
– Nara Park
– TBD
* **Day 13 – 5/09 – Osaka -> Kyoto**
– Check in To Ryokan for a night
– Kinkakuji Temple
* **Day 14 – 5/10 – Kyoto**
– Check into Hotel
– Arashiyama
– Gion
* **Day 15 – 5/11 – Kyoto**
– Fushimi Inari Taisha
– Monkey Park Iwatayama
* **Day 16 – 5/12 – Kyoto -> Tokyo**
– Check into Hotel
– Check out anything we missed earlier

* **Day 17 – 5/13 – Fly Home**

With this timing is golden week gonna cause us a lot of headaches?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

2 comments
  1. It seems like a waste of time to check out of your hotel in Tokyo, check into a capsule hotel, then check out of that hotel and into another hotel in Tokyo.

    You don’t need to go to Kobe to eat Kobe beef: it’s widely available

    You could visit Hakone en route to Osaka to avoid backtracking.

  2. Go to Hakone before Golden Week starts, Tokyo won’t really feel that much different but Hakone will be so much more crowded during Golden Week.

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