Tokyo – Sapporo – Osaka – Kyoto in 2 weeks, too ambitious?

34 comments

1. I would days 7-9 and 10-11 and either stay in Osaka or Kyoto there’s no need to stay in both they are only 15 minutes apart by Shinkansen, also maybe include a trip to Nara to see the Golden Buddha and the deer at Todai-Ji and Kasuga Shrine again about an a hour from either Osaka or Kyoto

2. Having done a similar itinerary in the past, and noting your comment on staying in Osaka whilst visiting Kyoto, it seems fine to me.

3. I’m planning a similar trip for a month (post pandemic). IM me if you want to chat. I have a list with things I thought were worth seeing. I don’t know, but ‘I’ think it might be a little ambitious. I’ve always heard people say you could spend a week in a lot of those places and still miss so much. I’m doing 8 days in Tokyo and five in Osaka and Kyoto as it stands, but I might plan my trip a little longer.

4. [deleted]

5. Just so you know, there are no autumn color in Hokkaido in November.

   If you plan to return to Japan again, I’d cut Hokkaido to be honest. You are coming here on peak Autumn Color in Kyoto — you should spend more time in Kyoto, Nara, etc. Kyoto is #1 for autumn Color in Japan.

6. Yeah this is plenty good. Stopped through Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe in like 5 days and Was a nice time.

7. go to Hokkaido during the summer

8. Highly depends on whether or not those are enough times per destination. I usually need a lot more time than planned to do everything I needed to. Note that you WILL get tired.

   If you could delay for maybe a few more weeks, Hokkaido snow would be awesome.

9. Since you mentioned a Gundam in Yokohama, I thought I’d point one out in Tokyo.

   [https://www.unicorn-gundam-statue.jp/](https://www.unicorn-gundam-statue.jp/)

   Also, on the off-chance any of the anime fans in your group (you talked about Akihabara/Ikebukuro/Nakano) are Love Live fans, that statue is in an area related to the Nijigasaki group. (Odaiba)

10. Don’t miss out to Moerenuma park in Sapporo, it’s a little out of the way but completely gorgeous, designed by the famous architect Isamu Noguchi. Also try to get a reservation at Tempura Araki in susukino if you can, (michelin 2*) – it’ll be some of the best tempura you’ll ever try in your life.

11. To me, going to Sapporo for a few days and doing nothing else in Hokkaido is a bit like gong to Denver for a few days and doing nothing else in Colorado. Sapporo isn’t a bad place by any means, but it’s nowhere near as big or as interesting as the Kanto and Kansai megalopolises, and most of the stuff that’s actually interesting in Hokkaido is outside of Sapporo. Sapporo (and Hokkaido in general) also feels distinctly less Japanese and more western than a lot of the rest of the country since it was settled so recently and its settlement incorporated so many western influences. Ultimately I just see the Sapporo detour as a waste of time that could be better spent elsewhere. If you want to do Hokkaido, then I would extend your time there and spend more time outside of Sapporo itself, though I would personally choose a lot of other places over Hokkaido–especially in late November.

    For the rest of the trip, it’s kind of hard to get extremely specific without knowing exactly what you did on your last trip and whether or not you’ll actually be keeping Hokkaido on your itinerary. For Kyoto I generally consider 3 full days to be a starting point just for the highlights. You’re giving it 2, and you’re going during the height of fall foliage season (when the city is arguably at it’s most beautiful and busiest). And skipping things like Nara and Himeji while in Kansai is extremely questionable–I generally consider both unskippable if you’re going to the region. There area also some cool events around that time of year, like night illuminations/openings at many sights in Kyoto (e.g., Kiyomizu-dera, Kodai-ji, Shoren-in, Eikan-do, Kitanotenman-gu) and monthly markets like Kobo-san at Toji on the 21st and Tenjin-san at Kitanotenman-gu on the 25th.

12. So I have two questions.

    1. Hokkaido is a must for you but your husband doesn’t seem as thrilled as you about Hokkaido?
    2. What is the range of days you all are planning stay there? 17~21? What about the daily budget?

13. I’d pick one of Osaka / Kyoto to stay in and just transit between the two.

    I did approximately the same trip last year but over three weeks. I’d say it’s “doable” but you’ll definitely feel rushed.

    I liked being able to take my time and just walk around to explore.

    A shortened schedule in the same amount of places would lead to more of a focused trip where you constantly have to get to this or that sightseeing spot.

    So I guess it just depends on what kind of tourist you are.

    I enjoy taking my time and soaking in what I can of the cultural ambience of a city.

14. Depends. For a first trip, DEFINITELY too ambitious once you’re talking about more than the big 3 cities (but fine if you’re just talking about those 3). You can easily fill 2-3 weeks with just tokyo/kyoto/osaka, never mind adding more cities beyond that.

    Typically you’re going to want to gear things towards the lowest common denominator, and since there are first timers you’d probably want to treat it like a first time trip. They’re going to want to see some of the typical “first time in japan” sites that you already got out of your system.

    My first trip was 20 days, and did tokyo/osaka/kyoto (then one off train rides to places like nagoya for a concert, or nara to see nara park). It didn’t feel rushed, but definitely felt like there was more to see.

15. Sapporo beer museum is not worth the trip unless you speak Japanese. There was no English tours when i was there in 2018 anyway.

16. Hokkaido is wonderful, but like others, I’d say if you are going there, commit maybe another day to get out of the city. Your itinerary is chock full of cities and the gem of Sapporo is getting out of town!

    As an example, check out the port/fishing town of Otaru. You could visit the Nikka distillery there, which is a wonderful stop.

    The best ramen I’ve ever eaten in japan (within 6 years of living here) was at Ramen Tokaiya in Otaru, found by wandering around and sleepily wondering “why are all these Japanese people in a line at this tiny shop,” and actually for once standing in that line to find out.

17. ok, take everything under the context of reducing one’s carbon footprint by taking trains and buses over planes whenever possible.

    So that said: I’d skip Kansai for now, then do a slow loop with a JR pass (check the regional ones, they might actually be cheaper) from Tokyo to Sapporo and back. Go up via the east side of Honshu (Ibakaki, etc), go down via the west side (Akita, Niigata, Fukushima, etc.). It’s possibly too ambitious given how many things there are to see in the Tohoku area, so you can probably save Hokkaido for another time. From what I’ve read, Hokkaido is best experienced with a car given how sparse/infrequent public transport is.

    You want an aquarium? There’s a rather good one in Oarai. Beautiful sunrise spot too. Bamboo forest? There’s a grove in Kamakura. Red torii gates? Nezu shrine in Tokyo isn’t as grand as Fushimi Inari but they’re still beautiful.

    Not sure if this is a nice thing to say, but I’ll do it anyway: orient the trip such that the first part/week is in Tokyo so the first/second timers will get to dip their toes in the train system, cuisine, etc. then after maybe a week, leave them so they (and you!) can do their own thing. I’m a firm believer of solo travel, and the best experiences are those that you figure out yourself.

18. Totally doable. I did what you did plus Hiroshima and Fukuoka in 18 days with kids. DenDen Town in Osaka is a must for retro games. Better stocks than Akihabara when I was there a few years back. Put Nara on your itinerary for when you are in Kyoto/Osaka. 1hr away from both and great for a day. The Osaka aquarium is amazing!

19. As I could not see much comments on it, my biggest thing is JR Pass.

    I think that as it is, it would be a total waste. The only shinkansen in the itinerary is Osaka-Tokyo, that cost about half the price of a 7 days pass. Other than that, I do not see a single ride that would be over 1500 yen, maybe except Hakone, but that is better with the Odakyu Hakone Pass.

    I saw someone say that Kyoto-Osaka is 15 minutes shinkansen, but it’s more than often not the best way to move between the two as there is JR rapid train as well as other private railway that can do it even more efficiently and sometime cheaper depending on where you go. Also valid for other routes, for example using Kintetsu to go to Nara is a better choice as the station is much closer to the park.

    So the sensible option is to get an IC card to pay for your train fare to make it easier on payment and buy a single shinkansen ticket.

    For JR Pass to make sense, you would have to go to Sapporo and back by train, but that would completely waste two days, so obviously not best idea, or planning many more day trips that are further away.

    Depending on airplane schedule, you can even check to fly to Sapporo on the first day.

20. In terms of the time, I think 17 days is plenty. When my family and I went we were there for 11 days and saw just as much as people who go for 3-4 weeks easily. You just have to manage your time and be willing to sleep a little late and wake up a little early. We only stayed in Kyoto and Tokyo but we visited kamakura, gotemba, osaka, hiroshima, and Kagoshima within our 11 days. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see My. Fuji because of cloudy weather but that’s ok

21. There’s enough to do around Kyoto and Osaka to fill two weeks. Nara and Kobe are close by too.

    Seems like a lot of work to take a domestic flight off to Sapporo unless you are doing just a basic transfer flight. Why stop for one night in Tokyo then off to Sapporo? Just go to Sapporo directly if you really want to go there. The flight will still probably go through Tokyo and transfer from there to Sapporo, why add the extra step. Unless you really like airports and really want to go to Sapporo I’d just skip it and spend more time in other places.

    One other thing, unless you love theme parks or want to see Super Nintendo World I would avoid USJ. The lines are always super long(get a fast pass maybe), the food is overpriced. If you are from the US and been to Universal studios in Florida then USJ will feel somewhat underwhelming, and some attractions are seasonal or temporary, so you may want to check what’s up before going.

22. since there are some 4th and 3rd timers, this seems perfectly doable with the stuff you have planned for each city, maybe just Tokyo and Sapporo are a bit stuffed

23. I found my clone. Been to Japan twice before and was planning a 3 week trip for October (would’ve been there right now if not for corona :\) that would’ve included a Hokkaido trip as it’s the place I’d most like to see that I haven’t visited yet.

    My plan was going to be 7 in Tokyo -> 4 in Hokkaido -> 2 in Tokyo -> 5 in Kansai -> 2 in Tokyo and I’m planning on trying the same thing for next year.

24. Great plan you have! I already did almost the same with your itinerary. Me and my friends were took quite ambitious trip from Tokyo – Kamikochi – Shirakawa Go – Kyoto – Osaka – Sapporo – Asahikawa

    The biggest mistake we made was we don’t plan the rest day. That might be sounds obvious, but we did regret by not planning “rest day”. At Asahikawa, Hokkaido we were completely exhausted and ended up just enjoying snow and some ramen near the house. (Btw we’re lucky that that’s the first day of snow too, it’s around mid November)

    Oh one more thing, we were taking Shinkansen back then. If you’re going to take planes that will be much more convenient, too. Carrying luggage in the train is somehow makes me uneasy, especially in a quite crowded trains.

    Have fun for your trip!

25. Hey, this might get buried BUT. You could spend two whole weeks in Kyoto. Do not sleep on this and cut it close. Cut something else out if you have to. Kyoto is worth at least half your trip, maybe more. See everything that can possibly be seen. Osaka is best for food but Kyoto is second with any debatable third far behind.

26. Doable. You need to add Nara somehow even for half a day while in Osaka. It was so nice and had some local food specialties and really cool temples. Just go early to avoid the many tour buses. We caught an early train in and it was nearly empty until we were leaving then we saw the tones of people arrive by bus.

27. Yes! You could spend two weeks in Tokyo alone, but could do Kyoto and Tokyo in two weeks? And still see a ton of stuff.

28. Based on our 2 week trip taken in Feb of this year, I think you’ll want to spend more time in Kyoto. Especially since you’ve already been to Osaka, maybe take the time out of there? We weren’t huge fans of Osaka, and were very fond of Kyoto.
    Also, we went to Kanazawa which will probably be pretty cold (which I know you said you don’t like) BUT it’s very cute and has a beautiful castle and enormous garden (Kenrokuen), which were some of the best parts of our whole 2 weeks. At least look into Kanazawa if you want to go to a northern-ish city/town but Hokkaido is sort of out of reach (which it kind of is with the main island JR pass I think).

29. I have some advice for you if you’d like. You can feel free to PM me. I will give you as much info as I can.

30. I’d just connect on a flight direct to Sapporo rather than spend the first 2 days in Tokyo.

    I see no need for JR pass. Just fly back to HND from Osaka.

    3 flights and no hassles with luggage unless you’re the type that needs two large suitcases per person.

    Your 1st and 2nd timers likely will want to do different things than the 3rd-4th.

31. I agree with your husband that adding Sapporo is too much. Looking at your travel plan it’s mostly stuff that you can easily do in the other major cities and it’s out of the way.

    I would look to add an unique experience like spending a few days in an onsen town like Hakone or Kanazawa. I’d also suggest adding an extra day to when your in the Kansai region to see Nara.

32. Split this into 2-3 trips, I’ve had two 14 days trip to cover Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto and I just had enough time to not feel rushed.

33. We felt rushed for time with three weeks just doing Otaru/Sapporo/Tokyo/Yokohama day trip lol. I think it depends if you want to kind of just get a surface level overview of each place you’re in or you want to do deep dives. It sounds like you’ve already done the touristy stuff in Tokyo so it depends on what new things and new places you want. If you just wanted to do a food trip you could go to tokyo 100 times and still have plenty of new places to visit!!

    RE: flying domestic if you haven’t looked into the Experience Japan fares offered by JAL and ANA I would check them out. Pretty cheap for domestic travel within Japan.

34. Depends what kind of travelers you are. I like to get up at 7am and go out till almost midnight and see as much as I can. Two weeks would be tons of time for me, and i’d probably do way more than this plan. But your plan is probably just right for the average traveler. My last trip alone was like 5 day and I managed to enjoy Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo. But if you take things slow, it may feel rushed.