Hello! I will finally be able to go to Japan end of April 2023.
I took the time to check the most interesting activities & places for me but considering I’ve never been there, I’m not sure about the timeline of these activities: which ones to do the same day ? How long does it take to enjoy them ? Is there a better day to do this activity vs another ?
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I’m trying to fill my calendar for Tokyo and Kyoto and your help is greatly welcome.
My points of interest for now:
**TOKYO (8 days, hotel in Akasaka):**
\- DisneySea / Kasai Rinkai Park / Tokyo Sealife Aquarium
\- Asakusa-jinja / Senso-ji,
\- Nakamise Shopping Street
\- Tokyo Dome City (Koishikawa Kōrakuen, LaQua, Attractions)
\- Ueno: Park & Zoo, National Museum of Nature and Science, National Museum of Tokyo, Yanaka Ginza
\- Akihabara
\- Shinjuku: Shinjuku Gyoen Park, Koenji (shopping), Kabukicho – Nakano Broadway
\- Shibuya / Harajuku / Shimokitazawa
\- Ikebukuro: Pokemon Center, Sunshine City…
\- Inokashira Park / Ghibli Museum / Kichijoji
\- Day trips: Enoshima & Kamakura, Hakone
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**KYOTO (8 days, many day trips to consider)**
\- Arashiyama (bamboo grove)
\- Monkey Park
\- Nijō-jō, Kinkaku-ji
\- Fushimi Inari-taisha
\- Gion & Pontocho,
\- Ryoan-ji, Tenryū-ji
\- Kyoto Imperial Palace
\- Ginkaku-ji, Kamo-gawa
\- Philosopher’s Walk
\- Kiyomizu-dera
\- Ginkaku-ji
\- Kamo-gawa
\- Day trips from Kyoto: NARA, OSAKA, HIKONE, HIMEJI, HIROSHIMA, KOBE
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I’m open to suggestions on timeline and also activities.
Thanks in advance for your insights !
3 comments
Visit the places you can group closely in a day and take as much time as you feel you need when you’re actually there. Priority should go to things you think you’ll enjoy more and that only you can answer. Any places missed you can always visit next time since those temples and shrines aren’t going anywhere unless a tragic natural disaster says otherwise.
I’m traveling to Tokyo at the end of May, and most of the stuff on your places of interest overlap with mine, even down to the day trips to Kamakura and Hakone. What I did for my 7-day itinerary was map out the places on Google Maps and divided the city into four quadrants. Obviously I won’t be able to reach every destination, but by grouping certain locales together I’ll be able to minimize travel time and maximize the amount of time I spend in one area on a given day
I would have loved to see a little more initiative to look at itineraries, here or on websites, and start from there.
regarding kyoto, put those places in google maps and see where they are, and how they can be grouped together. you can get a good basic see the must haves in 5 days by deciding on a area (Arashiyama, North, upper east, east, south east and central) and staying there the whole day.
with what is left, you can do daytrips. Osaka and Nara are closest.