Itinerary Review for April 21st to May 3rd – Tokyo/Hakone/Osaka/Kyoto/Nara (1st time)

My boyfriend and I will be headed to Japan for the first time this April. We have the general outline of our trip, but need help fleshing out the details, as well as getting restaurant suggestions, and any advice on if our activity grouping makes sense.

We both love anime, video games, technology, nature, shrines, and animals. However, we don’t like overly touristy or kitschy activities. We also don’t like shopping for the sake of shopping.

However, I love deer and am very excited to visit Nara and would love any and all suggestions for deer focused shops, events, cafes, etc (inside and outside Nara).

I have done some calculations on train trips, and I believe the JR Rail Pass would not provide much of an advantage, but please call me out if I am wrong.

We have already booked our airbnbs, ryokan in Hakone, and Studio Ghibli museum tickets.

We have $400 budgeted for transportation, $800 budgeted for food, and $200 budgeted for activities (USD). We are flexible on the amounts, however.

Here’s what we have so far:

April 21st:
-Arrive in Narita Airport around 4pm
-Pick up pocket wifi
-Head from Narita to Kameido station
-Get settled at our airbnb, grab dinner, relax

April 22nd:
-Visit kiyosumi gardens
-Visit teamLAB planets
-Visit Tokyo Skytree

April 23rd:
-Tea ceremony at Takizme
-Visit Yoyogi Park

April 24th:
-Studio Ghibli museum

April 25th:
-Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo

April 26th:
-Depart for Hakone
-Arrive at Hakone Suimeisou
-Get settled and explore Hakone area
-Hakone area free pass?

April 27th:
-Depart Hakone for Kyoto (our airbnb will be in Osaka though)
-Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
-Fushimi Inari Taisha
-Go to Osaka airbnb

April 28th:
-Back to Kyoto from Osaka
-Kiyomizu-dera
-Kinkaku-ji

April 29th:
-Head to Nara from Osaka
-Nara Park
-Today Temple

April 30th:
-Osaka Castle
-Cup of Noodles Musuem

May 1st:
-Dotombbori District
-Universal Studio Japan? Not sure of this one.

May 2nd:
-Depart Osaka for Narita Aiport Hotel
-Relax before flight the next day

May 3rd:
-Depart around 4:50pm back to home

3 comments
  1. I’ve already mentioned this several times in this community, but it’s one of the busiest times nationwide in Japan from April 29 and May 7. Have extra time when you leave for Narita, and book your transportation tickets asap if you haven’t. And do NOT get too relaxed on May 3 just because you are already nearby the airport. Narita will be packed with tourists, and everything will likely have a long line up. Keep that in mind, and get to the airport earlier than you usually do.

  2. You’re not going to enjoy rushing to Kyoto from hakone. Those are the two biggest attractions and the recommendation is to get there before 8 am. The hike up the monkey park is going to be at least an hour or two and that’s without it being busy.

  3. You should probably do kinkakuji and arashiyama on one day, and kiyomizudera and fushimi inari on the other day, so you don’t have to travel all the way across Kyoto two days in a row

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