I’ll be travelling to Japan for the first time for my honeymoon this June and was hoping to get some feedback on my itinerary, as well as some recommendations for certain things. I’ve put my itinerary below:
**Wed, 5/31 – Arrival**
* Arrive at Narita around 3pm
* Get pocket Wifi & JR Rail Pass
* Head to Hotel Mets Shibuya to check-in
* Explore Tokyo a little bit
**Thurs, 6/1 – Travel to Oita**
* Spend a couple of hours in Tokyo in the morning
* Travel to Beppu Bay Royal Hotel
* Explore Hiji a little bit at night
**Fri, 6/2 – Sanrio Harmonyland**
* Spend morning & early afternoon in Harmonyland
* Find a hot spring in the evening *(Recommendation needed)*
**Sat, 6/3 – Nara Park & Travel to Kyoto**
* Head to Nara Park in the morning
* Spend a few hours at Nara in the early afternoon
* Head to Kyoto (Dhawa Yura Kyoto hotel)
**Sun, 6/4 – Kyoto Day**
* Explore Kyoto attractions
* *Recommendations needed*
**Mon, 6/5 – Kyoto Morning & Travel to Disney**
* Toei Kyoto Studios Park (Evangelion base) in the morning
* Head to Tokyo Disney Resort
* Evening passport for Tokyo DisneySea
**Tues, 6/6 – Tokyo Disneyland**
* Full day at the park
**Wed, 6/7 – Tokyo DisneySea**
* Full day at the park
**Thurs, 6/8 – Tokyo & Ghibli Museum**
* Check in to Hotel Century South Tower early
* Spend morning and afternoon at Ghibli Museum
**Fri, 6/9 – Fuji Area**
* Head out early
* Hike around Mt. Fuji *(Trail recommendations needed)*
* Hot spring in Fuji area *(Hot spring recommendations needed)*
**Sat, 6/10 – Ghibli Park**
* Spend most of day in Ghibli Park
* Arcades / VR at night *(Recommendations needed)*
**Sun, 6/11 – Sanrio Purloand**
* Spend most of day in Sanrio Puroland
* Tokyo Skytree at night
**Mon, 6/12 – Tokyo morning & Head Home**
* Spend morning wrapping up things we may have missed
* Flight home at 2pm
We know this won’t be the most relaxing honeymoon, but it is a once in a lifetime trip for us and we want to make sure we do as much as possible!
As far hot springs go, I’m specifically looking for private baths I could share with my fiance, if possible.
As far as arcades / VR, we are really looking for Mario Kart, Evangelion, or Pokemon VR experiences – but have been having difficulty finding current information online.
3 comments
Just cause Im curious, how fast did you have to go to get a ghibli park ticket.
Congratulations on your wedding!
You don’t mention the specific travel between Tokoya and Beppu in your plan but I assume you are flying out of Tokyo and then back into Osaka 6/3?
* You should make sure your flight out of Tokyo on the second day is out of Haneda rather than Narita since its a lot closer and easier to get to.
* When you land in Osaka, it is 100% worth it to at least check the city out rather than leave right away and go into Nara. I would at least take a stroll down Dotonbori.
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For Fuji:
* Since you seem to be really into amusement parks, there is one near fuji you might like: [https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6918.html](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6918.html)
* For hikes and stuff in the area, there are a lot of cool ones near Fuji and Hakone. There are a lot of onsens in Hakone and you can take something like the romance car train to get to that area ([https://www.odakyu.jp/english/romancecar/](https://www.odakyu.jp/english/romancecar/))
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Some other general thoughts:
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* Since you are traveling around a lot, I would highly suggest you pack very light. It looks like on some of your travel days you might have your bags with you (e.g when you go directly to Nara) – and it will be hard to lug around big bags if that is the case. You do really need to consider *where* your bags are going to be at all times
* Just my personal opnion, but if its the first time in Japan for you then you will probably want to spend some time in Tokyo right at the start. It may be a bit deflating to land in Tokyo, see all the cool stuff and then have to head right back into the airport. It would be a pretty big deviation from your current, but you could work your way west from Tokyo (Tokyo -> Fiji -> Kyoto – > Osaka/Nara) when you land and then fly from Osaka – > Beppu – > Tokyo to return back.
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I hope you have a good trip!
Hi!
This is not meant to be rude, but I feel like your plans are ignoring travel times.
How in the heck do you think you are going to be in Nara from the morning if you are starting in Hiji or Beppu? Or are you planning to try to get to Kansai at night on the Friday 6/2??
First, I would highly recommend flying from Tokyo to Beppu. I think trying to get there via train is going to take a lot longer than you think if you are using a rail pass. Most Hikari shinkansen from Tokyo only go so far as Shin-Osaka or Okayama and then you would need to change for another shinkansen to get to Kokura to change for the limited express to Beppu. You are easily looking at 7 hours by train, possibly more.
I don’t know Kyushu well but I am unsure why you are going to Hiji. I do know that according to the website for HarmonyLand, that you will want to catch a bus from JR Kitsuki Station. I do not know how often the buses run.
To get to Nara, you need to get from Harmonyland to Kitsuki Station to Kokura to Shin-Osaka to somewhere where you can transfer to a train to Nara (like Tennoji, or Namba. Most of these routes are going to take you an hour from Shin-Osaka, so I am unsure what you mean by morning in Nara.
I think you are not going to have a lot of time in Sea, even with just an evening passport if you are spending the first part of the day at Toei. You have to get to Tokyo Station, then take the train to Tokyo Disney, drop off your bags whereever you are staying and then head to the park. I have only once used a Twilight Pass. The lines were all terribly long and all fast passes were gone. I expect Premier Passes (the successor to Fast passes) will also all be gone.
I guess You could spend all day at the Ghibli Museum?? It’s very small and very crowded and very loud. There is very limited food to eat there as well.