Okay, so I’ve done a LOT of research on visiting Japan over the last two years, owing to having two trips booked and then cancelled due to COVID. It’s both mine and my partner’s first time visiting, so naturally we want to fit a lot in… But I’m a little worried I may have added too many stops (we’ll be travelling with 2 suitcases and 2 backpacks), and that we’ll end up dedicating a bit too much time solely for travel.
Open to any/all advice – we’ve not yet booked accommodation, so anything is open to change. Have summarised our trip below – where a neighbourhood is mentioned, please assume we’re visiting most local sights in that area. We’ll also be travelling between cities using the JR Rail Pass.
Side note – we’re in our early 30s with moderate fitness and LOVE walking/hiking, so walking 20,000 steps around cities each day isn’t an issue for us. We’d also love to visit an onsen, but I have a tiny (about 1.5-2ins sized) tattoo on my wrist which makes a few of them off-limits to us).
## Tokyo (5 nights December 12-17)
First couple of days likely to be a bit lazier due to jetlag.
Explore Asakusa, Shinjuku/Shibuya, Roppongi Hills, Odaiba (or wherever TeamLab Borderless has moved to by then), Ikebukuro, Akihabara, Kusama Museum.
Morning trip to Ghibli Museum
Day trip to Kawaguchiko
# Nagano (3 nights December 17-20) (Arrive P.M. on the 17th)
Day trip to visit Snow Monkeys & Zenkoji Temple
Magome to Tsumago hike
Chosen to explore a little more of rural/”old” Japan – it would be nice to be outside the cities for just a little bit of our trip.
# Hiroshima (2 nights December 20-22) (Arrive P.M. on the 20th)
Visit Itsukushima (Miyajima) and Hiroshima memorials
# Osaka (4 nights December 22-26) (Arrive A.M. on the 22nd)
Includes day trip to Himeji/Kobe, Nara day trip, Universal Studios Japan
# Kyoto (2 nights December 26-28) (Arrive A.M. on the 26th)
Geisha/tea ceremony, Gion Corner performance, Kyoto temples, \*potentially\* the Manga Museum, Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
# Tokyo (4 nights December 28-Jan 1) (Arrive P.M. on the 28th)
Any excursions we didn’t manage to do at the start of the trip + shopping
# Fly home early morning on the 1st Jan
Many thanks in advance!
8 comments
That’s a fairly standard itinerary, and isn’t complicated at all. It looks like it will be a good trip.
That looks like a pretty chilled-out itinerary to me. You’ll probably even have some spare time to just explore randomly in some areas, which is part of the fun!
nah that looks pretty good. only thing I would look into is only 2 nights Kyoto, that is very little time, and not enough to see all big temples. As long as you dont try to do too much, you will be fine
Unless you don’t care about temples, I would add two nights to the Kyoto stay (and reduce your time in Tokyo, either at the beginning or end).
Otherwise looks great and not complicated at all.
Gonna stay up for New Years’ Eve? Maybe do a hatsumode before you leave? =)
Borderless will be in Toranomon Azabudai, shoul open in 2023, so good chances it will be open in December.
Nagano-Hiroshima will be really long, I would do Nagano Osaka Hiroshima Kyoto, that way you can break long distances over more days. Himeji could also be a stop on the way to Hiroshima.
this is probably one of the most normal and doable itineraries i’ve seen here.
First thing i want to mention is that Osaka and Kyoto are right next to each other. So close that from shin-osaka station to kyoto station which are the most center stations i could find, its a 13 minute trip. So you could combine the 4 and 2 day trips and just stay in one of the cities and quickly jump over on the days you have planned for the other by public transport.
And as you have mentioned that you have a tattoo, look into a patch that you can use to cover it up. While onsen’s don’t like tattoo’s you can cover them up and they wont mind.
This is a very similar itinerary to what I’ve planned for October and I think it is excellent. Only nitpicks:
Nagano-Hiroshima is quite the journey. I would look into doing Nagano -> Osaka or Kyoto -> Hiroshima -> Osaka or Kyoto instead.
I know Osaka and Kyoto are so close to each other you don’t really need to stay at both, but I’ve found that doing so helps tremendously when trying to fit Hiroshima into the trip.
As others have said, 2 nights on Kyoto seem too few, unless you plan on doing day trips from Osaka. I would personally switch and do 4 in Kyoto and 2 in Osaka instead. Or maybe take 1 or 2 nights off Tokyo and destine them to Kyoto.
For the 2 nights in Hiroshima, are you looking to staying in Miyajima for 1? I’m having trouble with this part of the trip myself.
Overall though, I’m probably going to do the exact same itinerary. It looks incredibly well paced.