Hey everyone! Finally bought our tickets and am trying to finalize my family’s itinerary. There are 3 of us traveling. 2 adults and 1 6 year old. We’ve been to Japan 2 times previously, just not with the kiddo.
Last time we spent time in Tokyo, Kyoto, Atami and a few places in Hokkaido, so this time we figured we’d go a bit more west, but not a ton.
I’d love advice, suggestions, or even “this part of the itinerary looks good” as any and all advice on this will help make it a great trip!
Here are the current plans:
Fly out July 4th.
Land in Osaka July 5th. Get situated at hotel, get some food, figure out how the 6 year old is doing and see if he wants to do an early evening adventure of some kind. If not, just relax the first day.
July 6th: Osaka Castle – then relax and recover from flight of need be. If not, find something interesting to go do that is unstructured.
July 7th: In the morning, go to Legoland. Spend half the day there. Go get lunch and relax for a bit. For the afternoon, Osaka Aquarium. Dinner then hotel to unwind.
July 8th: Free day. Having a 6 year old, we build in “Misc” days. If he wants to go do something, we will find something to do. If he doesn’t, we will use it as a more relaxed day of doing things around the hotel and nearby area.
July 9th: Universal Studios. This is a full day event from what we can tell. (We are still debating on this one. Our son wants to go to Super Mario World there.)
July 10th: Figuring Universal will be exhausting to the kiddo, we planned another “Misc” day.
July 11th: Send our luggage to the Kyoto hotel. Check out of Osaka, travel to Nara. Spend the day in Nara. When the kiddo gets tired, take the train to Kyoto. Check in, get food and relax.
July 12th: We were planning on Arashiyama and the Monkey Park, but after reading things here, I am afraid the bamboo grove will be disappointing and the kiddo won’t be able to make the hike to the monkey park. Also, not supposed to look the monkey’s in the eyes? How do you stop a kid from doing that?? So maybe this day isn’t well planned. Would love some thoughts and suggestions for this.
July 13th: Kyoto Railway Museum in the morning. Kinkaku-ji in the afternoon. Dinner, relax.
July 14th: “Misc” day. Maybe Fushimi Inari as we think our son would love the Torii. Maybe a small portion of the Philosophers Path. Not really sure. Maybe just a giant shopping mall with an Arcade! Introduce him to some claw machines…
July 15th: Ship luggage to Tokyo hotel. Take train to Tokyo. Check in. Get situated. Find something to do for the afternoon that the kiddo would like.
July 16th: Sunshine City and the Pokemon Center. There is an aquarium there too, so maybe do that and compare to Osaka?
July 17th: Day trip to Yokohama. Cup Noodle museum. Gundam factory. Discover Yokohama (wander around for a bit to see what we find).
July 18th: Sky Tree. Trying to get reservations for the Kirby Cafe too if possible. That will be flexible based on when/if I get reservations. They open the reservations on June 10th…so wish me luck!
July 19th: Shibuya. My wife and I make a point of walking the scramble every trip. Just a tradition that is silly and fun. We will do some shopping here. Buy our tickets to Disney Sea for the end of the trip. Maybe Nintendo store? Misc for second half of the day.
July 20th: Akihabara. Board game stores, comic book shops, claw machines, gatchapon like crazy. Give the kid a budget and watch him go wild. Relax for the late afternoon and evening as the next day is a big day.
July 21st: Disney Sea. All day event (or until everyone is exhausted.) We did Disney Tokyo last trip and our son has gone to Disneyland here in the states. Sea is a more unique experience we all want to do.
July 22nd: “Misc” day. Last chance for anything we want to do again. Maybe go to a teamLab exhibit. (I think my family would love Planets.)
July 23rd: Go home.
That’s….a lot. But I think we have some good breaks built in. Any advice or thoughts? Any ideas for smaller things that can be done on the various Misc days?
1 comment
> luggage shipment
As of a few weeks ago the main services were only guaranteeing two day delivery (Ship on Day X, receive on Day X+2) to hotels, although IME they were able to deliver on Day X+1. Please plan accordingly as the writeup seems to assume that same-day delivery is possible.