February/March/April 2024 Tokyo—>Kamakura—>Hakone—>Kyoto—>Osaka Itinerary

20 comments

1. Why Kamakura? I’m planning Tokyo > Hakone > Osaka myself for next year so I wondered what the draw is.

   Why am I getting downvotes? I’m literally asking a question about a place I have no idea about.

2. My advice-You certainly do not need to rent a car in Tokyo. Perhaps for the middle bit around Hakone, but really not even then. Japanese cars are very small so 4-6 of you with luggage would be extremely tight and uncomfortable, if not impossible.

   I’d recommend packing light and using the trains. Take advantage of airbnbs or hotels/hostels with self-serve laundry. Business hotels have compact rooms but often include a very good, hearty breakfast and noodles at night, which will help a student traveler budgets.

   My last piece of advice – get lost! Don’t plan too much. Maybe 1-2 things per day, but wandering and exploring is really the best part about Japan.

3. It’s really pointless to plan in this much detail this far in advance. Sorry.

4. Jesus Christmas 3 years in advance

5. Lol what are the chances you and your friends will still commit to this plan 3 years down the road?

6. I actually think I went to that cat cafe. I would say it’s worth it if it’s your first time but ultimately a lot of the cats are sad and tired of interaction so I would spend limited time or skip.

7. Nara shrine is quite far from Kyoto…..

8. For day 12 I think it would hard to go to nara for a small portion of the day, I would either do a day trip or just stick to kyoto. Fushimi inari is massive and will take at least an hour to explore, also there are many cat cafes nearby (also a lot of cats that live at the shrine lol). If it’s an option I could not recommend more to go to the gion district in Kyoto, it is a contender for my favorite place in Japan, just absolutely breathtaking around every corner (especially chion-in and the nearby park of cherry blossoms).

9. As someone already mentioned, trains are the way to go in Japan. Get a Japan rail pass and you’ll save plenty of money over renting a car as well as tons of time, the rail pass is really one of the best values for travelers in the world. Gas is expensive and if you’re driving between cities, the freeway tolls will add up as well. The only reason you’d need a car is if you want to really get into the middle of nowhere and even then, there’s probably a train station a short cab ride away.

10. Rent a car for Tokyo, Osaka an Nara? I would not do it at all, will cost a lot, will be a pain with parking. Just use train and subway anytime you can. Why do you want to drive that much?

    I would personally not rent a car at all and cut the place you cannot do without it. Or if you really want to, only for one day from Hakone when you want to see things that are not in Hakone. Keep in mind that you have to drive on the left side and need an international license.

    ​

    Kamakura, for what I know would be much easier to go by train. It’s a single train on the Yokosuka line from Tokyo station. Don’t take a bus to Yokohama. If you get to Kamakura a bit early, you should have time do to more than that.

    For Enoshima day, you might want to bring your bag and put it in a locker, so you can take the train from there to avoid going back to Kamakura.

    I do not really understand why you especially want to stay in that place in Izu, but I feel that you give you a lot of trouble to select a place not super easy to access then to structure travel plan that is hard for me to follow.

    Day 9, It’s a bit confusing on why you want to use a car. Ok, Mishima Skywalk might be easier to access by car, but where do you plan to leave the car when you do the cruise on Lake Ashi. In the order you have, you will cross from south to North the take the ropeway to Owakudani, but the car would be back at the other side of the lake. For me you should remove the skywalk and do a classic Hakone loop using the Hakone free pass. And it would just work better if you do if from an accommodation somewhere in Hakone and not in Izu peninsula.

    Then why would you to to Odawara to see reconstructed castle… Kyoto is in the other direction on the train track, you could take the train from Mishima station to Kyoto. I would just remove the castle ruins and Odawara castle and exchange it for something better, like why not stop by Hikone on the way to Kyoto, at least it would be a real castle, like an original one made of wood and not a concrete reconstruction like Odawara or Osaka, that is if you do not want to give mote time to Kyoto.

    For just one day spend in Kyoto, you could actually just sleep in Osaka and do Kyoto and Nara as day trip (by train) from Osaka. (Well, you can do both too, this way you can do Fushimi Inari and Nara the same day).

    I somehow feel you have too much time between Tokyo and Kansai and just a single day in Kyoto is not much. I would really cut one day there and the obvious thing to remove is anything that require a car.

    Day 13 NO do not take the shinkansen to Osaka, this is a bad idea. It is not faster than using the rapid train. Just use Google map to show fastest and cheapest route between the hotel and the place you want to see.

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    I do not know what you use to make the transportation plan, but I do not like it at all.

11. As the others said, you do not need to rent a car especially in Tokyo.

    The only times I had to rent one was because I went deep inside shikoku and Nagano area.

    Although I see that you’re planning a trip in Kyoto (hell on earth). It could be conceivable to rent car for Kyoto. Gingakuji and Nijo castle are not close to each other and the transportation in Kyoto was not so great.

12. 3 years? My friends would break the plan 3 days prior loool.

    Especially college friends.

13. OP, it’s fine to make lists and ideas of immutable things you may want to see on a trip — ie: temples, natural landmarks, neighborhoods — but the situation with COVID is so volatile in Japan right now. Hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions and shutting down and going bankrupt. Hell, even the train schedules are changing due to lower volumes of riders — especially on tourist-heavy routes.

    I would NOT advise you plan something this detailed this far in advance. How will you know the hotels you’re listing will still be around? (They might not be!)

    Additionally, had you done the bare minimum of basic research on, say, getting around Japan, you’d find that not only is renting a car in major cities completely unnecessary, it’s an expensively foolish choice that will cost you more headaches than it’s worth. Where were you planning on parking in Tokyo? There’s no street parking here. You’re gonna fork out parking fees for every place you go? And then overnight? Yikes. Major yikes.

    Unless you’re going somewhere remote that is poorly serviced by public transit OR is so large that a car is necessary to leave the nearest major city — think: Okinawa, Hokkaido, the Noto peninsula — you DO NOT need to rent a car. Nothing in your itinerary justifies such an expense. Everything here is accessible by train — and almost all of it by the JT Pass for tourists, no less.

    Read the FAQ. Read Japan Guide. Read old itineraries here. Look at some maps. Make a list of fun or cool things…but don’t start planning now.

14. I agree with previous comments, skip the car rentals. Public transportation in Japan is great, especially in the Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto areas.

15. ***I really cannot put into words how strongly I advise against renting a car.*** It’s an unnecessary expense and in most of Kanto and Kansai having a car will actually be far more of a nuisance than a convenience. I mean you could waste more time and money just parking the thing than your entire trip would take on public transit. I’m not going to mention it for each individual day on your itinerary, but in all seriously you should basically never be driving in Tokyo, Kyoto, or Osaka. ***AT ALL.*** Moreover, none of you will have any experience driving in the country before and if you don’t have a lot of experience driving on the left in dense urban and mountain environments with loads of tight corners, narrow alleys, low visibility, tons of pedestrians and cyclists, and open gutters, it could really be a nightmare for you. The only part of the trip where I could see it making sense is maybe around Izu/Hakone, but then you should just rent a car for a day or two at most.

    For accommodations I would seriously look at things like vacation rentals and AirBnBs. A larger, more expensive place split between 4-6 people might actually end up being cheaper than hotels, and having a larger shared living area can really make things feel less cramped. Another option would be to consider hostels. You could conceivably rent out an entire shared room or two with multiple bunks all to yourselves, which would cut down on costs substantially, and the common space would give you more opportunities for social interaction if you want them.

    >TOKYO (@ PEARL HOTEL) Day 3

    The only advantage of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is that it’s free, and even then, other options like Bunkyo Civic Center are better. It’s also on the relatively boring, west side (business side) of Shinjuku. You seem to be skipping the east side (AKA, the fun side) of Shinjuku entirely (though you’d probably want to save that for later in the day), which I don’t particularly recommend.

    Shinjuku–>Meiji Jingu–>Harajuku/Yoyogi–>Shibuya (or the reverse) is completely viable on foot and I actually think it’s a fairly solid way to spend your first day, but I also don’t think there’s any strong reason to do more than pass through Yoyogi Park unless you can find some special event going on there.

    >Day 4

    You were just here the previous day. Cat Street is in Harajuku, and Harajuku is in Shibuya. Now, between Shibuya and Shinjuku you could definitely fill more than 1 day if you wanted to, but what you have listed could probably be done in less then two full days (possibly even just one day if your energy holds out and you’re not stopping to shop and eat everywhere).

    >Day 5

    Even if you absolutely adore anime/manga, a full day for Akihabara is probably a bit much. Unless you have some specific activities planned, I would split this with Ueno or Asakusa or something.

    Tokyo Tower itself is not worth going to. If you want a great view of the city, Roppongi Hills’ Mori Tower is the far better choice–and as a bonus you can get a great view of Tokyo Tower from Roppongi Hills.

    >Day 6

    Skip Ueno Zoo and do Ameyayokocho instead.

    Honestly I think you could probably combine most of these 4 days into 3 days unless you have more specific activities in mind that you haven’t listed or plan to do a lot of extra shopping/exploring.

    >KAMAKURA Day 7

    In addition to Kotoku-in, I would consider Hase-dera to be a must. Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu and that area is also really pleasant to walk around, although given how ludicrously much you’re rushing Kyoto I get the impression that historical sights are perhaps not thee biggest priority.

    >ODAWARA Day 10(cont.)

    Given the time you have, skip Odawara Castle. If you had another week, I’d say do it, but Kansai is rushed enough as it is.

    >KYOTO Hotel (https://uh-urban.com/shijo/room/index.html ~$???/night = ???/person)

    Not that this location is necessarily bad, but if it were me I would try to stay as close to Kawaramachi/Gion-Shijo as possible, both for transportation, and for walking access to nightlife, major sights, and shopping.

    >Day 11

    I generally recommend at least ***3 full days*** as a starting point for Kyoto just for a quick run through of the highlights. You’re giving it maybe a day and a half, and you’re pretty much skipping most of the city, including all of Gion, Hgashiyama, and downtown (easily enough to fill 2 days right there). For reference, I lay out some ideas for how to break the city down over 5 days in [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/5wgxa1/best_way_to_group_these_sites_in_kyoto/dea059y/?context=3).

    As for what you have: It’s possible, but it’s kind of a lot for one day and ends up skipping tons of really cool things that you’ll be literally right next. Arashiyama is not just a bamboo forest and could really take up most of a full day by itself.

    My general advice for Kyoto is to take your time and to not focus only on the most famous sights. By all means, do go to the famous sights, but don’t make the mistake of rushing from one to the next ignoring everything in between. To that end, I strongly recommend focusing on areas of the city rather than individual sights and spending as much time on foot or bicycle in Kyoto as possible.

    >Day 12

    Fushimi Inari is open 24 hours and can be done at literally any time. I used to live right next to it and my absolute favorite time to go is about an hour before daybreak. This gives you some time to experience it illuminated at night and in the beautiful early morning light.

    Nara again has easily enough for a full day even if you stick just to the Nara Park area. In addition to Todai-ji, I strongly recommend Kasuga-taisha and Nigatsu-do at the least. TBH I have no idea what “Naramonocho Strip” is and I’ve lived in Kansai for years.

    >Day 13

    There is zero reason to go through Shin-Osaka unless you’re arriving via Shinkansen, and there is zero reason to ever take the Shinkansen between Kyoto and Osaka. If you’re going straight to Osaka after Nara there’s also zero reason to go back to Kyoto–just take your stuff and drop it at the luggage storage or coin locker, then take Kintetsu directly to Namba when you leave.
    Also, take Kintetsu from Kyoto to Nara–it’s faster and Kintetsu-Nara is closer to Nara Park, not to mention that if you’re coming from anywhere on the Subway Karasuma line you don’t even need to leave the platform to change trains.

    >OSAKA

    Tempozan isn’t worth a special trip. If you’re going for the Kaiyukan or something it works as an add on, but otherwise I’d skip it.

    Osaka Castle is a concrete reconstruction. I would skip it entirely unless you’re there during the height of cherry blossom season or maybe if you were going to give Kansai more like 10+ days (though even then there are other things I would prioritize more highly). If you want to see a real castle, Himeji (the country’s largest and most well-preserved original castle) is a short day trip away, and Hikone (gorgeous smaller castle on the banks of Lake Biwa) is right between Nagoya and Kyoto as you come from Tokyo.

    If you only have one day for Osaka (keeping in mind that it’s a city the size of New York and assuming that you only have one day), I would recommend something like this: I would pick Umeda, Tenjinbashisuji, or the Kaiyukan to start with. After that, I’d head over to Kurmon Market, walk from there down to Shinsekai through DenDen Town, eating at either Kuromon or Shinsekai, then walking over to Abenoharukas (Japan’s tallest building) if you’re interested, and then heading back to Namba/Dotonbori/Shinsaibashi when it’s starting to get dark, perhaps doing Namba Parks while you’re in the area. This is an absolutely packed day, but it’s a decent single-day Osaka experience. Dotonbori is at its best during the evening, but the Namba Shopping arcades and Shinsaibashi are good for shopping whenever.

    >Day 14

    Cut this day entirely and give it to Kyoto. A lot of these things things are either in places you probably went the previous day (Tsutenkaku is in Shinsekai, Sennichimae is so close to Dotonbori that in my head I don’t even separate them), and those that aren’t are less impressive than things in Kyoto you’re skipping (Tenno-ji Park, Shitenno-ji, Isshin-ji, Namba Yasaka).

    ***OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:***

    I think this trip would benefit massively from more time. Kansai in particular is extremely rushed–Kyoto to the point that I would honestly consider just skipping it if you’re going to do it so perfunctorily. Having another week would give you a lot of breathing room and extra time to explore and not just skip massive parts of each place you’re visiting for lack of time.

    Also keep in mind that there are big differences between February, March, and April–not only in terms of weather, but also in terms of foliage and special events.

16. Very well planned list. I’ve been wanting to go back since 2017! Be sure to make time for Osaka!

17. Transport in Japan is great. Trains are ALWAYS on time which helps with planning.

    Don’t crowd your days.

    Do not get tattoos. They are frowned on in Japan and can get you excluded from Onsen etc.

18. Hakone open air museum and an onsen

19. Your itinerary looks amazing! I don’t see Nishiki Market on there and that’s one of the best markets IMO. It won’t take much time, and make sure to try the fluffy pancakes from gram (:

20. While I know planning can be the most fun part of a trip, you’re probably going to want to return to this in mid-late 2023 and completely redo everything from the broad strokes. Everyone’s mentioning (reaonably!) that things you’re looking at now might not exist in 2024, but there’s also going to be all sorts of new things popping up between now and then, especially with new attractions popping up to fill the void left by businesses killed by a lack of tourism during Covid.

    Six months out really is a better time to be filling in the granular details, especially if you’re planning something as volatile as staying in an AirBnB. (And I’m not saying don’t! I’ve had nothing but great experiences staying at AirBnBs in Japan. But I’m willing to bet another event just as major 2018’s Minpaku law that decimated the AirBnB market is likely to occur at some point in the next 5 years.)