Title says it all basically. My friend and I are wanting to explore Japan throughout July (5-30), and we just completed filling out most of our itinerary. I thought it’d be a good time to post the itinerary here and hear any and all suggestions/feedbacks/advice y’all may have! Thank you for taking the time to read in advance!
For clarification, the order of events isn’t locked. For example, on July 10, we’re planning on going to Goryokaku first thing, but it’s listed last in the order before departing for Aomori.
We originally planned on starting in Tsushima and ending in Hokkaido, but we learned that early July is rain season for western Japan, and that flight tickets to Hokkaido is much cheaper, so this is how we decided to start in Hokkaido instead.
July 5 – fly to Sapporo
July 6 – land and rest in Sapporo
July 7 – Sapporo: Hill of Buddha; Otaru Dream Beach
July 8 – Sapporo: Maruyama Zoo; Odori park; Ishiya Chocolate Factory
July 9 – Shikotsu-Toya National Park; activate 21-day JR rail pass and go to Hakodate
July 10 – Hakodate: Yunokawa onsen (does this one allow tattoos? I have 3 big tattoos on my upper body); Tropical Botanical Garden; Cape Tachimachi; Goryokaku; go to Aomori
July 11 – Aomori: Wa-Rasse museum; Hakkoda ropeway; Hirosaki Castle
July 12 – Aomori: Shirakami Sanchi; go to Sendai
July 13 – Sendai: AER; Yamadera
July 14 – Sendai: Zuihoden; Zao Fox Village; Kirin brewery; go to Nagano
July 15 – Nagano: Jigokudani; Chibikko; Olympic facilities; go to Nagoya
July 16 – Nagoya: Science Museum; Nagoya Castle; (this day isn’t completed yet)
July 17 – Nagashima Spaland
July 18 – Nagoya: Osu Kannon Temple; sumo tournament; go to Kyoto
July 19 – Kyoto: Kiyomizu Temple; Kenninji Temple; go to Osaka
July 20 – Osaka: Abeno Harukas; Mozu tombs; Asahi Brewery; go to Hiroshima
July 21 – Hiroshima: Peace Park; Itsukushima Shrine; Mount Haigamine; go to Nagasaki
July 22 – Nagasaki: Peace Park; Mount Inasayama; (one or two more events); go to Fukuoka
July 23 – Fukuoka: Atago shrine; Robosquare; ACROS building; ferry to Tsushima
July 24 – Tsushima: Emperor Antoku mausoleum; Kaneda castle; mine hot spring; Saozaki park; Mogi beach; Eboshidake Observatory; fly to Osaka for Tenjin festival, then train to Tokyo OR fly to Tokyo
July 25 – Fuji Q highland amusement park
July 26- Tokyo: Skytree; Sea Paradise
July 27- Tokyo: Imperial Palace; Meiji shrine; (not complete yet)
July 28- Tokyo Olympics and Takao beer garden
July 29- Tokyo Olympics; beach (which one do you recommend?); go to Fukuoka
July 30- Fly back home from Fukuoka (cheapest ticket we found was in this city, but this may change)
Of course, we plan on changing the Tokyo days if we go in 2022 because Olympics won’t be taking the city over. For now, Tokyo’s events are iffy because it seems that most events are cancelled due to Olympics.
My friend and I are determined to go to Fuji Q because it looks like the best amusement park Japan has to offer, but we’re not sure if there are better options for aquariums/water parks than Sea Paradise?
Also, does any day(s) seem too short or too full or whatever? I tried to keep it a full day, but not so full that we can’t have the time to enjoy walking through the city and exploring or whatever.
We’re aware of the humidity and will be bringing cool clothes and sweat towels and huge water bottles to keep ourselves hydrated, but is there anything specific you recommend us to get? A specific type of clothing or whatever? I’d appreciate all the help I can get on this subject since it’s going to play a pivotal role in our enjoyment of Japan.
Please do comment or DM any questions you have, and I promise I’ll try to answer as many as I can! Again, thank you so much for taking the time to read and commenting!
12 comments
Some thoughts:
A single day is short for Kyoto. If you are fine with just sticking to the Higashiyama area and nothing else, it’s doable. But Kyoto really has a lot to offer aside from that. It’s also not a very convenient city when it comes to public transport, so getting from one end to the other takes some time.
July 24 seems like an insanely packed day. Exploring Tsushima, flying to Osaka, visiting the festival there and then taking a train to Tokyo just doesn’t seem doable to me in a day. Are there even direct flights to Osaka from Tsushima? Can’t find any. Even if there are, considering the amount of attractions you want to visit on Tsushima, the time the flight will take, the time traveling to the airport and from Itami or Kansai airport to the city, I really don’t see how that’s even possible.
In general, I’d suggest maybe adding a “breather” day somewhere in the middle of the trip. Going to a new place every day will be exhausting after a while for most people.
Your rough itinerary looks very good to me. I think the first half is close to perfect because you seem to take your time for nearly all cities (but consider more time for Hakodate to visit the morning market, etc.). The second half apart from Tokyo sounds a bit rushed for my taste.
Especially Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Fukuoka. If you want to visit Miyajima from Hiroshima you will need more time or you won’t see anything else. Miyajima is a bit outside of the city and you need to take the ferry there and back. There’s a beautiful ropeway up Mount Misen from close to Itsukushima shrine you shouldn’t miss. On clear days you have a breathtaking view of the city from the top. I’d also think about much more time for Kyoto if I were you.
The humidity during summer can be a bit high but you will find konbini markets and drink vending machines everywhere. In my opinion there’s no need to carry a lot of water if you’re not going for a hike or off the beaten paths. No clothing will save you from the heat, just drink enough and if you feel too hot pay short visit to a store or restaurant/café. Most of them have AC.
Will this be your first trip to Japan? I’d be happy to share more ideas if you’re interested! Maybe something about the basics (where do I get money? how do I get online? what to remember when using the rail pass).
Good itinerary. Want to visit Hokkaido this summer too. Praying that my vaccination I’m getting next month will allow me to come visit.
Oh boy, Fukuoka to Tokyo and back to Fukuoka is quite a lot. Personally, I would narrow it down to only a couple of bases and not do Fukuoka.
The first time my husband and I went to Japan we did Tokyo-Kyoto-Fukuoka-kii katsura-Tokyo and it was a lot. It was much more pleasant the second time when we pretty much only had hotels in Tokyo and Kyoto.
Osaka Aquarium is pretty nice!! I enjoyed it.
We visited Japan for 14 days in July 2018. Temps reached 100 degrees so be prepared for hot weather. We based a few days in Kyoto and made a day trip to Hiroshima by booking a day tour. Also day tripped to Osaka on our own.
Antoku mausoleum isn’t on Tsushima.
While your logic is to try to avoid the end of rainy season in the western part of Japan, the fact is that you are moving south while the temperature is going up during the month. So you might avoid some rain, but the two last week will be hotter than if you were to move from south to north.
I personally do not like the idea to go all the way to Fukuoka just to go back to Tokyo and again to Fukuoka. I have no idea of how cheaper it if to fly out of Fukuoka, but if it was me, I would look at the cost of a multi-city ticket (or open jaw ticket) to get in Sapporo and out of Fukuoka. With this, you would not have to buy an extra ticket to go to Sapporo, it would most likely just be a layover. Then, would stop by Tokyo between Nagano and Sendai. For sure this would save you a bunch of time and maybe even money if you do not have to buy tickets for several flights inside Japan.
Other than than, there is several days that can be quite packed, especially when you have to consider a couple of hours in the train. I think you will have to make priorities and be ready to drop things when you see you will not have time to do everything.
Just as a note, Nagasaki and Hakodate have 2 of the top 3 best night view in Japan, I personally made sure to go to the two mountains for the night view.
Finally, if you plan water parks or similar, those places can also have tattoo restrictions, so just make sure to check before going.
Hot springs don’t allow tattoos. If you can find a way to cover them up and avoid them from being scene then you can get in
Since tattoos are usually associated with the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) it usually gets people scared. I think people are warming up to it though and more aware that foreigners have tattoos
If you are still going to Tokyo there is Tokyo Disneyland which comes as a double park. I enjoyed Tokyo Disneyland a lot. I didn’t have enough time to go to the second park Tokyo Disneysea but maybe one of these days I will have another chance.
There is plenty to do. I do also recommend have days just to walk through the streets of Japan because it is just super fun and you can discover more things to do and places to see that way
I would recommend having like small towels to use for like a sweat rag cause it is super humid which makes it super hot. If you get lucky you might be able to experience rain and then you can enjoy a day without sweating xD
Just be mindful to fill up your waterbottles when leaving the hotel. I would say sport drinks might be a good option as well to keep yourself hydrated.
I don’t really have any specific types of clothes to recommend but short sleeved shirts are always nice to have and shorts if you need. You might feel a bit out of place since the Japanese tend to dress really fashionably
Kyoto has a really fun place in Uzuma called Toei Kyoto Studio Park. They flim old Japanese movies there it is like a whole set that you can visit. I thought it was really great 👍
Kyoto has a lot of tradition sweets shops if you like that type of thing. They also have Nintendo’s headquarters (i don’t think you can go inside though unfortunately xD) but you can see the building
Although I think you could reduce some of the places you visit by a few since it seems like you will be on the run for most of the trip
I would say if you can to mainly visit areas a couple hours or so away by train so then you don’t have to do so much back and forth stuff. Unless you are dead set on visiting all these places. I think for the 1st trip you could limit the running around a bit. Just so you can relax.
When I 1st went we pretty much did a lot of jumping around which wasn’t bad per say but our feet were sure dead for a couple days xD since most of the transportation was trains and walking we didn’t take too many cabs