My wife and I are both early 30s, very keen to see as much as we can while we’re there. Mainly looking to see if anyone can spot days that are too full, or if we’ve picked a bad day, or have missed any MUST SEE items near where we’re visiting, or have travel tips. Critiques very welcome!
Day 1: Arrivate at Narita airport in the afternoon. Pick up Suica card. We’re staying near Fuji-Q (it was cheap and very near Kawaguchiko), but due to the time the best way to travel seems to be train to Otsuki station via Shinjuku. Then pick up the Fujisan Fujigoko passport and travel to Fuji-Q. Check in and try to beat the jet lag
Day 2: Chureita shrine/Arakurayama Sengen Park early. Then onto the Fuji panoramic ropeway. A little flexible for what we want to see in the afternoon as we can bus around, but planning on visiting Oishi Park and possibly tackling Tokai Nature Trail.
Day 3: Head to Kawaguchiko station and get the Shibazakura Liner shuttle bus to Fuji Shibazakura Festival. If we have extra time, pick a stop around the lakes that looks fun.
Day 4: Travel by bus from Fuji-Q to Mishima train station. ACTIVATE JR PASS. Shinkansen to Kyoto. Explore the Gion district. Visit the Fushimi Inari shrine and walk the 1000 torii gate path. See the lit up Kodai-ji temple and adjacent bamboo grove in the evening.
Day 5: Head to Arashiyama early. See the Otagi-Nenbutsu temple, then Tenryu-ji & the bamboo grove. Head up to Iwatayama Monkey park, and Jojakko-ji temple if time. Explore Kyoto more in the evening
Day 6: Osaka day, but first get up early to see Kiyomizu-dere temple. Then head to Osaka. First stop is the aquarium at 10 am, then an early lunch and over to Minami, Dotombori, Hozenji, Doguyashi, and a little bit of Minami nightlife. Heading back to Kyoto late.
Day 7: Day trip to Nara! Must sees are Kasuga Taishi, Wakakusa mountain, Nigatsudo, Todaiji, Nara park, Kofukuji, Naramachi, and Isuien garden.
Day 8: Leaving Kyoto, spending a day and night in Hiroshima. Seeing the atomic bomb dome, the peace memorial park, shukkei-en garden and Horishima castle. Possibly seeing a Kagura theater performance in the evening.
Day 9: Leaving Hiroshima, spending a day and night in Miyajima. Seeing the floating torii gate, maybe the aquarium, Daisho-in, and hiking mount Misen.
Day 10: A big travel day to stay the night in Aomori. Ferry then train to hiroshima, then shinkansen to shin-osaka, then tokyo, then shin-aomori. Then a train to Aomori proper
Day 11: Depending on the state of cherry blossoms, we’re either going to Hirosaki castle (preferred as long as the blossoms aren’t completely dropped/green) or Hakodate (for cherry blossoms at Goryokaku and the view from Mt Hakodate). Staying back in Aomori
Day: 12: Travel into Tokyo. We’re staying the rest of the trip in Shinjuku, so will probably just spend the afternoon there/the imperial palace gardens
Day 13: Shibuya scramble, then onto Harajuku for a kawaii overload. Then Meiji Jingu & Yoyogi park. Spending the evening in Shimokitazawa. There’s an artist playing at 440 we’d love to see
Day 14: Teamlabs Planets in the morning, and then exploring nearvy Odaiba. Not quite decided where to spend the evening, hoping we’ll have more of an idea when we’re there
Day 15: Akihabara in the morning – this is a Sunday so no cars? Then onto Asakusa. Visiting Jameido Tenjin Wisteria festival in the evening
Day 16: Day trip out to Nokogiriyama for some hiking and views!
Day 17: Our flight back is very late on this day, so we’re considering another day trip out. Maybe a smaller one to Miura peninsula/Magura island. But we don’t want to be stressed about missing trains or anything before heading back into tokyo and then getting the Narita Express to the airport. If anyone has suggestions for cool excursions to do that have amazing airport connections I’m all ears.
This is by far the biggest trip we’ve ever planned. Let me know if there’s any must sees somewhere along our main route that I’ve missed! Thank you in advance for any advice.
P.S I *think* we’ve done our research on where Golden Week falls and how it will affect our Tokyo stay.