Looking at late-May into June, no earlier than 2022. I’m a teacher so summer break is when it makes sense to do a longer trip; it’s also usually a slow work time for my husband. We would go as soon as school let out in the 3rd week of May in order to do the Kumano Kodo as early as possible.
We are fans of museums, contemporary art, architecture, eating good food, gardens (I especially love hydrangeas), nature, hiking, and whisky. He loves interactive art and technology in particular. I’d like to collect goshuin as we go along.
Sometimes, especially in Kyoto, I’m listing what seems to me like too many places, with the idea that there may be one or two must-dos and the rest can be based on how we are feeling. It’s pretty much a list of things to see right now, but eventually I’d want to add in a few activities here and there (for example a tea ceremony in Kyoto).
We’re decently experienced travelers but this would be our first time in Japan; I found it a bit overwhelming to start planning (in a fun way) so I’d love your thoughts!
**Itinerary is below; I’ve included some additional questions at the end.**
**Day 1**: Depart for Osaka
**Day 2**: Arrive Osaka, most flights when checked show an arrival 6-7 p.m.
* Get to city, check in to hotel (probably near Namba station)
* Walk around Dotonbori a tiny bit to force staying up til a reasonable bedtime
**Day 3: Osaka**
* Shinsekai area
* Osaka castle (probably just to see exterior)
* Osaka Museum of Housing
* Tenjinbashisuji
**Day 4: Osaka**
* Bike / food tour? On the fence but we do enjoy food tours.
* Osaka Aquarium
* Umeda Sky Building
* Arrange luggage transfer to Kyoto (will use small backpacking packs for next week or so)
**Day 5: Transfer to Koyasan**
* major sites
* night cemetery tour
* temple stay
**Day 6: Koyasan**
* \*\*\*this is a maybe night 2 because of the bus schedule to Kii-Tanabe\*\*\*
* if staying a second night, include day hike
**Day 7: Transfer to Kii-Tanabe via bus: 9:45 am from Koyasan, two transfers, arrives Kii-Tanabe at 1:11**
* visit pilgrim information center
* wander a bit – this is a long transit day, so we may just feel like walking, eating, resting up
**OR**: we could theoretically then ALSO take a bus to Takijiri-oji and do a short walk to make for an easier next day. Your thoughts? This seems like a lot of bus time to me.
**Day 8: Transfer to Takijiri-oji via bus; begin Kumano Kodo walk to Nonaka area (17 km)**
**Day 9: Walk or walk/bus/bike combo to Hongu (and Kumano Hongu Taisha) and Yunomine onsen (21.5 km)**
**Day 10**: **Rest day at Yunomine onsen:**
* If possible do traditional boat ride to Shingu on this day; take public transit or electric bikes back
**Day 11: Walk or walk/bus combo to Koguchi (13 km)**
**Day 12: Walk to Nachi, see falls and shrine, then bus to Kii-Katsuura (14 km)**
**Day 13: Train to Kyoto (4-5 hours; goes through either Nagoya or Osaka)**
* Fushimi Inari and maybe Tofukuji
* Check in to hotel, reunite with luggage
* Wander a little in the neighborhood
**Day 14: Kyoto**
* Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
* Possible stops: Okochi Sanso Garden, Giouji temple, Nonomiya shrine, Adashino Nenbutsuji Temple
* Kinkakuji, maybe Ryoan-ji
**Day 15: Kyoto**
* Start on Sannenzaka, Ninenzaka streets
* Kiyomizu-dera
* Yasaka, Chion-in, Shoren-in
**Day 16: Kyoto: Day trip to Nara**
**Day 17: Kyoto: Day / half day trip options**
* Uji (if hydrangeas in bloom) to see Mimuroto temple gardens OR
* Kurame-Kibune walk OR
* Or! Suntory Yamazaki Distillery tour?
**Day 18: Kyoto:**
* Unscheduled day: Could be to fit in things that we missed, day trips or half-day activities from the previous day
* Also considering the Kyoto Railway Museum
* Arrange to get luggage transferred to Tokyo
**Day 19: Kyoto to Tokyo (maybe via Nagoya)**
* Hoping to make a stop en route in Nagoya to see SCMAGLEV and Railway Park
* Arrive in Tokyo, check in to hotel (probably in Shinjuku), eat and wander
* Possibly go up Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
**Day 20: Tokyo**
* Start in Aoyama, visit Nezu Museum and gardens
* Shibuya / Shibuya scramble
* Meiji Jingu, walk through Harajuku
* Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden plus Shinjuku walking
**Day 21: Tokyo**
* Teamlab Borderless
* National Museum of Emerging Science
* Hamarikyu Garden
* Zojo-ji
**Day 22: Tokyo**
* Ueno Park, Tokyo National Museum
* Senso-ji and Asakusa-jinja
* Tokyo Skytree
**Day 23: Tokyo**
* Edo-Tokyo Museum
* Imperial Palace Area (is it worth trying to get a tour?)
* likely some unplanned time in here to return to something
**Day 24: Tokyo**
* Unplanned – or day trip to Hakone
**Day 25: Transfer to airport, return home**
**Questions**! Beyond just generally, “does this work?” I had a few specific ones!
***Transportation*** : Calculating point-to-point, it seems like the JR passes may not be useful for us, at least not the 21-day version since many days are either walking or local bus. Do you see any utility in buying a shorter-duration pass to start using later in the trip?
***Koyasan questions***: Would you vote for one or two nights here?
My guess is that one night WOULD be enough, but that it might feel rushed due to the early morning bus to Kii-Tanabe. Apparently there is sometimes an afternoon bus as well. If it were running that day, we’d be more likely to stay one night. It looks like we could also do one night in Koyasan, then use several trains in the afternoon to get to Kii-Tanabe. Three transfers, similar amount of time to the bus, more expensive (but cheaper than a second night of temple lodging).
***Kumano Kodo questions:*** Would it make more sense to skip the night in Kii-Tanabe and do a short walk that day? (This question becomes irrelevant if we only did one night in Koyasan since we’d get in much later in the day.)
***Kyoto questions:*** Things were falling apart for me with the day trips (Uji, Kurame-Kibune walk, distillery tour). Do you have ideas for how a couple of these could fit reasonably?
Thank you for reading and for any feedback you feel like offering; it’s been a nice pandemic escape to think about traveling again one day!
8 comments
>**Day 17: Kyoto: Day / half day trip options**
>
>Uji (if hydrangeas in bloom) to see Mimuroto temple gardens
>
>Kurame-Kibune walk
Uji, and mimurotoji are pretty far from central kyoto – transportation one way could easily take up to an 40minutes to an hour. Also, at least the times when I visited while living nearby, hydrangea season is extremely busy highly recommend going early in the morning to get there when it opens. Highly recommend still, very amazing.
Uji and Kurama-Kibune are on complete opposite sides of Kyoto, but if you are only going to Uji mimurotoji it would be possible. The Kurama-Kibune hike/walk took my family was a good half day trip, and this is coming from a family of not very active people. Is there a particular thing you are looking forward to from Kurama-Kibune? One possibility is that you could make Uji into more of a day trip and visit famous temples like Byoudoin, and visit Kurama/Kibune if you have time. If you don’t hike, there isn’t much to do but it’s still a cute fun trip out of town.
​
>***Koyasan questions***: Would you vote for one or two nights here?
I think two nights would make your experience not rushed, but I personally wouldn’t do a temple stay for 2 nights because I am a cheapo haha.
For sure Uji OR Kibune, doing both is not that realistic. If you end up at Uji, Mimuroto-ji was nice, I wend during azaleas blooming period and it was nice. Check out Byodo-in (the temple on the 10 yen coin) and check out matcha flavored food while there. I personally went to Fushimi sake district after, so that might be an option. I would personally check to find more area around the place that you are interested into, so it give more options if you see it goes quicker than expected.
If you are interested by train, the Kyoto Railway Museum is pretty nice.
I know you said that you listed more than you think is necessary, and I think it’s the right thing to do, you do not have to do everything and don’t even have to do what you listed at all. Just try to find more places of interest in the area that you find are light and it can make a light plan like mimuroto-ji only, into a more robust plan.
Also, if you like Azalea, I would have suggested to go to Hase-dera in Kamakura, that is an easy day trip from Tokyo. And if you actually have a hard time to make a solid itinerary for all the Kyoto days, why not just do one less ? My first reflex was to do it instead of Hakone, but for art, Hakone do have several museum and apparently the open art museum if pretty good.
***Transportation*** : Usually, you want to calculate JR Pass for the expensive portion. It is usually a waste for local transit in city such as Osaka and Tokyo. Just calculate for the part where it could be worth, for example only between day 13 and 19, that seems your most expensive part (but quickly, I think it is not worth the price). The only reason to take a JR Pass in my opinion is to save money, do not buy if you do not save money. You can also check to get a Icoca card (same idea as Suica in Tokyo) to make payment of transport easier, especially for local train (note that it might not work on all bus and in all train station, especially if you are in a more remote area).
***Koyasan questions***: One thing you could do is go as early as possible to Koyasan, so you have most of the day to visit, so next morning it’s not too bad if you have to take the bus early. Option 2 is to do the temple lodging for one night and stay somewhere cheaper for the second night. I’ve seen that there is a youth hostel (at least there was when I checked) if you want to do it budget, but there might be something in-between too.
Do note that in case of Kumano Kodo – hiking with a small backpacking pack is a tad unrealistic in June, considering the arrival of rainy season. You would need multiple change of clothes and at least basic, decent hiking equipment. Well and alternative plan since there are landslides during rainy season, practically every single year.
For a first timer I’m really impressed how you put this together. It’s very well paced.
The other posters have given some good pointers, so l’ll just recommend you to consider visiting Teamlab Planets (only 15 mins from Teamlab Borderless). I visited both on the same day and I loved it.
As a museum fan I’ve been to quite a few in Japan.
Definitely do the JR train museum in Kyoto, and to fill out the card the one in Saitama near Tokyo. They are different enough to be interesting.
The modern art museum in Ueno park is one of the best.
I’ve missed the Kyoto National museum on both my trips in the past and will definitely hit it on my upcoming trip.
Your mention of making a list and planning each day according to how you feel and the weather is the way I’ve done it.
JR Pass is unlikely to be worthwhile. If you are stopping in Nagoya on the way to Tokyo the train makes sense. Otherwise flying to Haneda is as cheap as the train.
***Koyasan questions***: Would you vote for one or two nights here?
I did 1 night and found it sufficient. We went up early so had a full day to explore. If you plan to stay a second night you will need to plan some hikes to take up the day.
***Kyoto questions:*** Things were falling apart for me with the day trips (Uji, Kurame-Kibune walk, distillery tour). Do you have ideas for how a couple of these could fit reasonably?
Uji is on the way to Nara, so you could squeeze it into day 16 but I would recommend a full day to Nara.
For planning sightseeing in Kyoto, try to arrange your sightseeing by [district/neighborhood](https://www.insidekyoto.com/kyoto-districts). Kyoto is quite spread out, so if you lump your sites together you’ll lose less time traveling across the city. Also, check out the [Kyoto day passes ](https://www.discoverkyoto.com/visitors-guide/day-pass-ticket/)and [Osaka day passes. ](https://osaka-info.jp/en/page/travel-passes) Or, you might find that one of the [JR West regional passes](https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/) will pay off for you as you plan to visit Nara and Koyasan too. The [Kansai Thru Pass ](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357_005.html) might be particularly useful.
In Kyoto, buses are more convenient than subways though it’s also a very flat city on most parts so you could also [rent bikes](https://www.insidekyoto.com/cycling-kyoto) to explore a bit too.
Congrats for coming up with a Kyoto itinerary that *isn’t* way too crowded! (at least if you’re relaxed about the possibility of ending up with too little time to do the “maybe” stops)
The one thing that sticks out to me is, don’t forget that Uji is between Kyoto and Nara, so it’s possible to do both Uji and Nara highlights in the same day trip.
As for Kurama and Kibune, honestly I feel like it’d depend on how you were feeling on the day itself. As a Kyoto resident I love our little mountain hideaways, but it might mean less to someone who’s just arrived from the Kumano Kodo and might want a change of either scenery or activity. So might be best to research plan B trips if you just don’t feel like another walk by then.
Re Koyasan, bear in mind what a temple stay/retreat *is*. Unfortunately, the answer to this leads to an argument for both sides here. On one hand, the point is to be calm and serene ie *not spending your time worrying about bus timetables*. On the other, if you’re staying in a temple you might well have to wake up very early for meditation, so a 9.45am bus might not be too bad. If I were you I might check morning schedules with the temple first, so you know you’ll be OK for time.
You’re right in your instincts about the rail passes. The closest one could get to it paying off would be buying a 7-day full JR pass, starting it on the return from Katsuura and using the expensive shinkansen option on that leg, and including the journey to Tokyo including a stopover at Nagoya. And yet, buying all that separately would be a couple of thousand cheaper even factoring in the Nara trip.