Hello everyone,
I’ll be going to Japan from April 24th to May 6th. I’ll be celebrating my 32 birthday there on the 27 of April. My itinerary for this trip is:
-Tokyo = April 24-26
/Asakusa (senso-ji) temple free
/Yokohama (Kanagawa) 18 mins by train
-Kawaguchiko (Yamanashi) = April 26-27
/Fuji mountain may watch it from far away if the weather conditions are not permitted.
/Aokigahara suicide forest (best hike) definitely!
/Fuji lake (lava caves) by bus
/Nagano (jigokudani) hot springs *if no mount Fuji
-Kyoto = April 27 – April 30th (start early in the day)
/Temples and beautiful streets
/Kiyomizu-dera (water temple) best temple (sit down for a cup of tea)
/Yasaka Jinja (largest festivals)
/Pontocho (back streets) too expensive to eat here
/Kaege Incline (sakara trees) beautiful
/Suirokaku (nearby ancient aqueduct)
/Arashiyama (bamboo forest) 20 mins by train best in the morning — then walk to Togetsukyo (moon crossing bridge) try street food. Then try the sweet rice snack (Warabimochi). There are also monkies.
/Kinkaku-ji (golden pavilion) architecture.
-Nara (Japan’s first capital) = April 30th – May 1st
/Nara Koen (deer park) 200 yen per bag of cookies
/Todai-Ji temple (largest temple in japan) also has the best sakara trees.
-Osaka May 1st – 3rd
/Food
/Dotonbori (heart of Osaka)
/Nankin-machi duck dumplings are the best
/Luminare (Kobe illuminations)
/Universal japan (not free)
-Hiroshima May 4th (just a quick visit/might skip it if I found Tokyo or any other city more interesting)
/First atomic bom
Then back to Tokyo on the 4th.
I would really love to meet people during my trip and enjoy hikes and helping eachother taking pictures!
4 comments
Hi there! You’re very close to Golden Week, make sure you secure your accommodations, reservations, transportations asap!!!
If possible, I would do the traveling around Kansai and Hiroshima earlier and then shift to focus my stay more in Tokyo towards the back part of the trip, your USJ may be in for a fierce competition for 1st May.
I am going to USJ may 1. I can tell you now its gonna be hard to get a good express pass ticket with good times if you are going for mario land if you havent gotten tickets already. I suggest maybe you stick in USJ for a day trip in your kyoto plans on the weekdays before golden week.
Jigokudani is not that close from Kawaguchiko and seems to be a bit much in your itinerary.
Nara is far from being the first capital of Japan, if by that we mean Heijo-kyo at the start of Nara period in 710, but it have been in Nara prefecture in Sakurai first in 457, then in Asuka. The capital used to move a lot.
While mochi is usually made from rice, warabimochi is made from bracken starch.
Sakura, not sakara (auto correct I guess), and it might be late in early May, depending on the place and type of sakura, it already started blooming or will soon.
Hiroshima is really an emotional experience that I would recommend anybody to at least do once if they can make it happen. To miss it to go one day more shopping would be a shame…
If you keep your eyes peeled, its not impossible to find good and decently priced food in Pontocho alley. Think more udon and less Kaiseki