Hi guys,
My wife and I (both 29) are headed from Australia to Japan in April for the first time ever and it’s our honeymoon! We are super stoked and I have done up an itinerary for the 14 days but am open to some suggestions or optimizations as I have limited time to plan right now and would appreciate any input.
We are flying into Narita then going Tokyo>Kyoto>Osaka>Tokyo. Thinking we might not get the JR pass as we like the flexibility of just buying tickets as we need them but if someone has any input on this it’s appreciated.
Our interests: FOOD, art, drinking, shopping, some nature, amazing views, city walks, FOOD, theme parks, wild/wacky experiences, and FOOD.
**Would love some recommendations for where to eat or any unique experiences we might be missing out on.**
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**Day 1 – Monday 10th April**
* Arrive in Tokyo
* Get Suica card, cash, and wifi dongle organised
* Travel to hotel in Shinjuku to drop off luggage
* Explore around the hotel area. National garden/central park or cafes.
* Check in 3pm
* Rest then walk into Golden Gai for dinner
**Day 2 – Tuesday 11th April**
Explore West Tokyo
* Harajuku – Takeshita Street, Cat St
* Shibuya – Nonbei Yokocho,
* Roppongi for dinner and see cherry blossoms at Sakurazaka near Roppongi Midtown
**Day 3 – Wednesday 12th April**
* Disney Sea
* Eat/drink around hotel
**Day 4 – Thursday 13th April**
Explore East Tokyo
* Head to Asakusa culture and tourism centre
* Asakusa – dempoin st, hoppy st
* Ueno park/museums – natural history and science museum, Ameyayokocho?
* Ahkibarha as night falls
* Dinner maybe near hotel and have a relaxing evening
**Day 5 – Friday 14th of April**
Day trip from Tokyo (had considered doing Hakone or Nikko but only have one day and want to conserve energy for the rest of the trip, opening to changing this, also my Wife is not keen on too many big hikes so I thought this would be an easy day trip to do)
* Mt Takao
* Explore Shinjuku at night
**Day 6 – Saturday 15th of April**
Last day to explore Tokyo
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* Tsukiji outer market
* Shinagawa – Hamarikyu Gardens
* Tokyo tower?
* Teamlab planets
* Ghibli museum? (have set a notification for tickets)
* Explore at night
**Day 7 – Sunday 16th of April**
* Check out 10am
* Get some food and travel to Kyoto.
* Check in 3pm at Gion
* Philosopher’s Path?
* Check out downtown kyoto and walk along the river/canals
* Pontocho Alley?
* Eat/drink and explore downtown Kyoto at night
**Day 8 – Monday 17th April**
* Sunrise/early hike at Fushimi Inari
* nishiki market lunch
* After hire bikes? Explore kyoto. (Thought we might give Arashiyama a miss due to limited time and crowds and just spend time exploring Kyoto)
* Downtown kyoto at night
**Day 9 – Tuesday 18th April**
* Check out and travel to Osaka
* Drop bags at hotel in Chuo Ward
* Go explore and see Osaka castle and surrounding parks
* Dotombori at night
**Day 10 – Wednesday 19th April**
* Universal studios
* Bay area at night and Ferris wheel/aquarium in the evening
**Day 11 – Thursday 20th April**
* Explore Osaka around Minami eat, drink, go shopping
* Check out Shinsekai
* Back to Minami to eat and drink
**Day 12 – Friday 21st April**
* Nara
* Back to Namba area to eat/drink
**Day 13 – Saturday 22nd April**
* Check out and travel to back Tokyo
* Head out for a nice dinner (not sure where yet) and drinks afterward at new york bar at park hyatt
**Day 14 – Sunday 23rd April**
* Fly home
4 comments
A couple remarks
Day 1 : Golden Gai is not a place to eat. There are a couple joints that will serve snacks, some of them are actually decent, but those are to absorb the alcohol, not to fill your stomach. You need to eat before (if you’re in Shinjuku, there’ll be plenty of places to do so).
Most places in Golden Gai open after 9pm and get busy later in the evening, doubtful you’ll be able to stay awake and functionnal on your first day. Do that another day.
Day 2 : by mid-april, there won’t be a lot of sakuras left (probably none…). Nonbei Yokocho is still there, but the whole area has been partly redevelopped with Miyashita Park nearby. Just like Golden Gai, Nonbei Yokocho gets alive much later in the evening and is not a place to eat (though “a tiny bit more”, compared to GG).
Day 4 : Akihabara is not an evening place, most places close down in the evening (though night falls early).
Day 5 : Hakone is a bit much for a day trip imho. Maybe Kamakura or Yokohama ?
Hi! I’m going to Japan for the first time in late May! One super cool and unique restaurant that I’m going to go to is Dawn Robot Cafe in Chuo City, Tokyo! It’s a restaurant with robots as the servers! And the people that operate the robots are actually people with disabilities that would otherwise prevent them from being able to work in such a place normally (for example being in a wheelchair) the robots can have conversations with you, but it’s actually a real human speaking to you from their home.
You may be just missing the sakura according to the latest forecast. You may be able to catch some of the late blooming varieties.
Checking my Photo dates I can confirm Shinjuku
Goen had a group of late blooming sakura
on 11/4/2019. They were a taller variety that
weeped into a lake. Was still impressed after
seeing many sakura in the previous two weeks
Was able to avoid people in my photos as well
and looks like we had the place to ourselves.
Japan Mint in Osaka opens for late sakura
bloomers, last year April 13 to 19. Last year they required bookings because of covid. Have been to the sakura night illuminations there, it was crowded and there was a long entry queue but Impressive.
Kyoto Information centre based at Kyoto Station has english speakers and is a good source of what’s on including late blooming sakura.
As mentioned, Japan’s latest Sakura forecast is here: https://sakura.weathermap.jp/sp/en.php
Tokyo is projecting an early blossom, from 17-25 March. You may miss them completely by arriving in late April.