Hi there everyone! My friends and I are organising our trip to Japan for next May. We are in our late 20s and fit. We don’t mind waking up early and walking all day long. We present you our carefully planned itinerary, tell us what you think (is it too packed? Are we missing something? What should we change?)
We will buy the 14-day JR pass and try to make the most out of it using it in Tokyo as well.
We purposefully skip Hiroshima and Miyajima, we think they are too far away, we’ll visit them in another trip
22/5 arrive at Narita airport at 12.30, activate JR pass and travel to Kanazawa (arrive for dinner)
23/5 visit Kanazawa
⁃ Omicho market
⁃ Kenrokuen garden
⁃ Higashi chaya
⁃ Nagamachi
24/5 bus to Shirakawa-go (leave our baggage at the bus station, stay there 3-4 ours). After lunch bus to Takayama and stay there for the night
⁃ Shirakawa-go: Kanda house, maybe open air museum
⁃ Takayama: wander around
25/5 morning train to Nagoya (leave luggage at train station lockers) and walk around, maybe food tour, then head to Kyoto for the night
Should we skip Nagoya and opt for Osaka?
26-28/5 Kyoto, with a day trip to Nara
⁃ 26/5: Nijo castle, imperial palace
⁃ 27/5 Higashiyama, Kyomizudera, Gion, Ginkaku-ji
⁃ 28/5 Arashiyama Bamboo forest, Iwatayama monkey park, kinkakuji
⁃ 29/5: Fushimi Inari
⁃ Nara: naramachi, Todaiji, isuiee garden
29/5 Kyoto until lunch, then train to Hakone. Night in ryokan
30/5 visit Hakone with the Hakone free pass. When done train to Tokyo (arrive after dinner)
31/5-2/6 Tokyo
⁃ 31/5: asakusa (senso-ji and Tokyo skytree), Ueno park and Tokyo national museum
⁃ 1/6: Ginza (Tsukiji market, imperial palace) teamlab planets and Roppongi
⁃ 2/6: shibuya (Meiji jingu), shinjuku
3/6 afternoon flight back to Italy
What do you think?
Thank you very much, every suggestion is welcome!
2 comments
I’d skip Nagoya and spend more of that day in [Takayama](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/mg8ir9/autumn_weekend_in_takayama_gifu_prefecture/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf).
Itinerary choices are extremely personal and subjective, but I will give my opinion / suggestions. The first part of the trip seems extremely tiring, considering there is no room for recovery from long trip / jetlag and you will be moving nonstop between cities. It IS doable, and my first time in Japan I was in my early 20s and covered a lot of ground quickly, but the question for you is it worth it. A lot of people would find this exhausting and too rushed, but again, it’s personal.
If you’re set in going to Kanazawa upon arrival, I would reconsider Shirakawago, I truly think it’s more charming in winter and covered with snow. I would also skip Nagoya and go straight to Kyoto. I’d skip Osaka entirely for this trip (or replace Kanazawa + Takayama for Osaka). May is the time for the Fuji shibazakura festival, so you might want to check that out instead of Hakone.
The JR pass doesn’t make sense for your current itinerary. If you consider the longer trips, they add up to around ¥38k:
Tokyo – Kanazawa: ~¥14k
Takayama – Nagoya: ~¥6k
Nagoya – Kyoto: ~¥6k
Kyoto – Hakone: ~¥12k (considering the Shinkansen to Odawara, covered by JR pass)
Hakone – Tokyo: since you will buy the Hakone free pass, I assume you are taking the Odakyu line instead of JR
You’ll be in Tokyo in time for the sumo May tournament, I definitively recommend it.
Finally, as a last piece of advice, most stores and shops open at 10 am. If you’re trying to maximize the day and wake up early, check in advance what will be open and plan accordingly (ex: start by Meiji jingu and then Shibuya / Shinjuku / etc).