Hi! I’m planning a 14 days vacation in Japan for the next September. This post is to ask advice for the 2nd half of the vacation, in which I’ll leave Tokyo.
We’re two, and well fit. Wake up time is 7.00 but we’re a bit slow in the morning. 😂
**Day 1**: leaving Tokyo, reaching Kyoto at \~12.00, going to the hotel and having lunch, then 1.5 hours for Nijo Castle, 1.5 hours for Yasaka Shrine. In the evening, Gion district & Pontocho
**Day 2**: 1.5 hours for Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and Okochi Sanso Garden, 1.5 hours for Tenryū-ji Temple, then lunch and city center tour: Kennin-ji, Yasaka Koshindo, Hokan-ji Temple, shopping and random walking, and lastly 2.5 hours for Kiyomizu-dera at sunset time.
**Day 3**: 2.5 hours for Fushimi Inari Taisha, 2 hours for Nishiki Market with lunch as well, 2.5 hours for Kinkaku-ji. In the evening, train to Osaka.
**Day 4**: full day at Osaka, still don’t have the detailed itinerary. We’re interested in seeing the city and the surroundings, for sure no Universal Studios, and likely no acquarium either.
**Day 5**: half day Osaka, half day Nara for the deer park
**Day 6**: in the morning, Himeji Castle, then in the afternoon Hiroshima
**Day 7**: Miyajima island and big travel time going back to Tokyo
How do you rate it? Are the first three days in Kyoto feasible? And is half a day each for Nara, Himeji and Hiroshima enough?
Another post will follow for the first half very soon. 👀
1 comment
day 2: if you do bamboo forest before tenryu-ji, know that you can enter tenryu-ji from the bamboo forest as well, you dont have to go to the front entrance again. although I would suggest doing tenryu-ji first (and exiting into bamboo grove) so the build up that is inherent in the temples design is not lost by going at it backwards….
be aware when stuff closes. Kiyomizudera will be around 5-6pm, and you dont want to get in just to have to leave again, although, they usually solve that with last entry 30min before closing. my point is, arashiyama, lunch, traveling, city tour, shopping, walking, if you dont keep an eye on the clock you might run out of time. and if you plan on entering at sunset, it might be closed. sunset in september is after 6pm
day 3 is perfect. if you are sooner done than expected head over to Ryoanji
day 4 dont go to the castle if you will be going to Himeji. Do something else
half a day nara can be done. dont expect to be able to do everything though
day 6: dont overlook kokoen (garden close to himeji castle)
half a day for the castle and garden is fine. half a day for hiroshima if you stick with the atomic dome/park and is also fine, if you dont expect to be able to do much more like hiroshima castle…