Hello /r/JapanTravel!
This group has been invaluable for planning our first trip to Japan. We have more our less our full itinerary that we’d love feedback on. Any suggestions of things to add or drop will be much appreciated!
**Day 1 – Tokyo – NRT + Tokyo Station**
* Arrive NRT at 4PM
* Narita Express to Tokyo Station
* Dinner at Tokyo Ramen Street – First Avenue Tokyo Station
**Day 2 – Tokyo – Jetlag + Akihabara**
* Planned late start morning
* Hotel or conbini breakfast
* If we get up early, Tokyo Imperial Palace parks/gardens with audio guide
* Akihabara
* Steins Gate walking tour
* Lunch: Cafe Mailish
* Anime shopping: Animate, Mandarake, Lashinbang, Mitsuba-Do
* Kanda Myokin Shrine
* Dinner: Sushiro (conveyor belt sushi)
* Drinks: Hitachino Brewing Tokyo Distillery
* Optional
* Akihabara Gachapon Hall
* 2k540 Aki-Oka Artisan
* Manseibashi Bridge shopping arcade
**Day 3 – Tokyo – Tsukiji + Teamlabs Planets + Ginza**
* Tsukiji Outer Market
* Wandering breakfast tour
* Optional:
* Higashi Indo Maguro Shokai
* Tsukiji Yaki Uo Ishikawa
* Shouro
* Kakigoya
* Kitsuneye
* Tsukiji Itadori Uogashi Senryo
* Hamarikyu Gardens stop
* Teamlab Planets
* 1:30PM tickets
* Optional:
* Toyosu Market (mostly closed by end of Teamlabs)
* Shimbashi
* Drinks: Shinshu Osake Mura or Craft Beer Bar IBREW Shinbashi
* Ginza
* Art Aquarium Ginza
* Wandering Ginza
* Dinner Options:
* Ginza Sushi Aoki Honten
* Tempura Shinjuku Tsunahachi Ginza
* Ginza Isomura
* Sato Yosuke Ginza Inaniwa Udon
**Day 4 – Tokyo – Day Trip to Enoshima/Kamakura**
* Train to Kamakura/Enoshima
* Enoshima
* Enoshima Shrine
* Late breakfast: Taishoken (open 10AM)
* Enoshima Sea Candle
* Dragon Love Bell
* Iwaya Cave
* Kamakura
* Kosoku-Ji Temple
* Kotoku-in Temple
* Late Lunch: Chayakado
* Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū
* Wandering Komachi Dori
**Day 5 – Tokyo – Asakasa + Ueno**
* Asakusa
* Tokyo Localized Free Tour: Asakusa Free Walking Tour Tokyo
* \* Kaminari-mon (Thunder Gate)
* \* Sky Tree Tower & Golden XXX
* \* Five Stories Pagoda
* \* Nakamise Shopping Arcade
* \* Denpoin Street
* \* Senso-ji Temple
* Wander back through anything we want
* Lunch + dessert: Asakusa Yokocho
* Kappabashi-Dori
* Festival
* Sumida Park Cherry Blossom Festival
* Ueno
* Ueno Park
* Wander Ameya-Yokocho
* Dinner:
* Menya Musashi Bukotsu Souden (tsukemen)
* Somewhere in Shin-Okubu
* Optional:
* Shin-Okubu Koreatown
**Day 6 – Tokyo to Osaka – Osaka Aquarium + Namba/Dotonburi**
* Shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Shin-Osaka Station
* Breakfast: Ekiben Matrusi bento
* Osaka
* Osaka Aquarium
* Wander Kuramon Market
* Wander Namba + Dotonburi
* Dinner: Dotonburi street food
* Tombori River Cruise
* Drinks: RBCB- Rock Bar Cherry Bomb
* Optional: Osaka Castle, Hep Five Ferris wheel
**Day 7 – Osaka – Day Trip to Kobe**
* Train Osaka to Kobe
* Kobe
* Ropeway to Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens
* Breakfast: HoneyDew Cafe
* Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens
* Walk down hill via Nunobiki waterfall
* Lunch: Kobe beef lunch
* Wander Kobe Chinatown Nankinmachi
* Kobe Port Tower
* Dinner in Chinatown
**Day 8 – Osaka – Day Trip to Kyoto**
* Osaka combini breakfast
* Train Osaka to Kyoto
* Kyoto
* Fushimi Inari
* Light lunch:
* 1:30PM – Magical Trip – Kyoto Sake Brewery & Tasting Tour
* Wander Nishiki Market
* Late Dinner: Pontocho Alley
**Day 9 – Osaka – Day Trip to Kyoto**
* Train Osaka to Kyoto
* Kyoto
* Kyoto Localized Free Tour – Kyoto Free Walking Tour
* Gion Shirakawa
* Maruyama Park
* Chionin Sanmon
* Yasaka Pagoda
* Ninen- Sannei Zaka(Hill)
* Kiyomizu Temple
* Wander Gion
* Gion performance with family
* Dinner: Tendan
**Day 10 – Osaka – Day Trip to Nara OR Himeji? Or Osaka exploration?**
* Need to decide – Nara or Himeji?
* Osaka
* Dinner: ?
* Teamlabs Botanical Garden
**Day 11 – Miyajima – Day Trip to Hiroshima, Night in Miyajima**
* Train from Osaka to Hiroshima
* Hiroshima
* Hiroshima Peace Park and Museum
* Atomic Bomb Dome
* Children’s Peace Monument
* Lunch at Okonomimura
* Hiroshima Castle
* Gokoku Shrine
* Optional: Shukkeien Garden
* JR Ferry to Miyajima
* Kaiseki dinner at ryokan
**Day 12 – Miyajima – Explore Miyajima**
* Miyajima
* Relaxing morning at ryokan
* Cable car up Mt. Misen
* Lunch: Ometesando Shopping Arcade
* Itsukushima Shrine
* Five Storied Pagoda
* Daishoin Temple
* Kaiseki dinner at ryokan
**Day 13 – Tokyo – Miyajima to Shinjuku Station + Shinjuku**
* Miyajima
* Breakfast before/on train
* Ferry/train Miyajima to Tokyo
* Shinjuku
* Lunch: ?
* Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
* Wandering Kabukicho
* Dinner/drinks: Golden Gai – Kenzo’s Bar
* Optional: Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
**Day 14 – Tokyo – Shibuya + Harajuku**
* Shibuya
* Shibuya Scramble Square
* Breakfast: ?
* Center-Gai
* Nonbei Yoko-Cho
* Hachi-ko Statue
* Spain Zaka
* Shibuya Sky
* Harajuku
* Lunch: street food + snacks
* Takeshita-Dori
* Meiji Jingu Shrine
* Tokyo Olympic Stadium
* Shinjuku
* 5PM: Magical Trip – Tokyo Bar Hopping Night Tour in Shinjuku
* Continue drinking in Shinjuku
**Day 15 – Tokyo – Kyu-Furukawa Gardens + Ikebukuro**
* Shinjuku combini breakfast
* Furukawa Gardens
* Umineko fan moment
* Ikebukuro
* Lunch:
* Mutekiya
* Katsu Midori
* Sunshine City
* Gachapon Department Store
* Pokemon Center
* Animate + My Dressup Darling Pop-Up
* Mandarake
* Michelin star omakase dinner – reservation pending
**Day 16 – Flight Home from HND**
* Shinjuku to HND
* Breakfast: Ekibenya Itadaki – Shinjuku Station
* 11:45AM flight from HND
2 comments
Since you’re going in the sakura season, Himeji castle is considered one of the best cherry blossom viewing spots.
The same can be said for Mount Yoshino in Nara.
If you want to fit in both in your itinerary, one option would be to do Tokyo – Himeji – Osaka on day 6. Be warned that it will be a packed day, a lot of time spent in the train and you will need to cut some of the planned activities for Osaka. Otherwise, maybe exchange the day trip to Kobe for either Himeji or Mount Yoshino? Just some food for thought.
I will tell you my favourites so you can consider adding them to the list:
Akihabara: the secret frozen steins gate vending machine on the highest floor of the akiba tower, pretty sure its called akiba tower? Its an expensive drink at 1000-3000 yen but OMFG it was heaven on a spoon.
Also in Akihabara, the Miyazaki speciality nanban chicken shop, its damn good with some special sauces they do.
Ueno: The tempura shop right in the station is pretty nice and cheap also in Ameyoko there are 2 izakayas called Daitoryo. I recommend going there on friday, saturday or sunday and getting in the queue just as it opens. Its a huge queue otherwise. You can meet really cool drunk Japanese people and have some amazing charcoal cooked chicken yakitori. Its the best yakitori I had in Japan and everything is so cheap. The bartender was making endless jokes and giving people a lot of alcohol if they requested. It was a really fun night if you like drinking.
Katsushika on the keisei line: Michelin star ramen place called Nonokura, you have to line up for a while so get there on opening. Its the best ramen I ever had period. Get the most expensive shoyu option for 1500 yen. In the same area is Shibamata Taishakuten, its an old street preserved from Edo period, it has an awesome temple and a street full of pure Japanese food, all types of old school sweets, unagi and motsuni which is a beef innard stew and its absolutely delicious. Ohanajaya station which is also in katsushika has a good takoyaki vendor as well as Unagi Ishikawa, its a plum eel place which was featured on Japanese TV and the guy has been working there most of his life. Many locals openly state its the best unagi in Tokyo.