Hello, me and my friend plan trip to Japan for two weeks. We have early plan and we’re not sure about the exact date of the trip, but we think about late July/early August and we would be really thankfull for your opinion.
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3- Osaka
Osaka Castle
Mosu Tombs
Tenmagu Shrine
Abeno Hazukas(?)
Minoo Park
Shinsekai
Osaka History Museum
Osaka Aquarium
Dotonobari
Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8- Himeji Castle+Kyoto+Nara
Himeji Castle
Kifune Shrine
Nishiku
Kinkaku-ji
Ryōan-ji
**Fushimi Inari Shrine**
Gion
Bamboo Forest
Ine no Funaya
Big Buddha in Nara
Kasuga Shrine
Deers
Naramachi
Kofuku-ji
Day 9- Hikone (?)
Small city, we had an idea It would be interesting to check something less popular, they have castle.
Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14- Tokyo
For Tokyo we read that it doesn’t have that many monuments or temples so we want to check famous landmarks, monuments that are to see and just chill before going back.
Bonus thing- climbing Fuji
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So, that’s It, what do you think? We have also second plan, It’s basically stay in Tokyo and going to different places from It (we heard that trains in Japan are super fast), but we are not sure if it’s good idea. If It’s not a problem I also wanted to ask about money exchange. Can you exchange euro on airports or only dollars. Also we heard about railway pass for foreigners to travel- is it a good idea?
Sorry for english and lenght of the post. We are from Europe and we are super nervous. I would be really grateful for your opinion. Tahnks in advance!
4 comments
Do you two like music and music festivals? Fuji Rock is at the end of July and I try to get a group together to go every year /r/fujirock if you’re interested
You can easily exchange euros for yen at the airport.
For Jr pass, a 7 day pass is typically about the same price as a round trip from Tokyo to Osaka/Kyoto. I think it’s usually worth it if you do that because it will give you flexibility. But if you go with your second plan then it’s almost definitely not worth it. You need to check train ticket prices to places you would want to go (long distance) to see if it’s worth buying a pass.
Expect the weather to be warm (maybe 30+) with high humidity and the possibility of heavy rain
Check the calendar.Early August is when Japan celebrates a big holiday. Kyoto will be super crowded.
Have a good hat and a LOT of sunscreen or plan your bus transit carefully for the Himeji day-trip. The walk from the train station to the castle is fairly straightforward, but it’s also a lot *longer* than it looks on google maps and we found it had almost no shade unless you go earlier in the morning or wait until later in the afternoon (at which point, the buildings on one side of the street start to do the job, but we went around noon, so we roasted). It was rough.
You can easily stay in Kyoto OR Osaka and take trips from one to the other easily. So you can pick one city to stay in and travel around with the JR pass if you want. We were able to get to Himeji from Kyoto in 85 mins or so. Left around 0830AM, arrived around 10, explored from 10-1600, took the train back to our airbnb in Kyoto, with a stop off for dinner in the Ramen Alley at Kyoto station.