So, my partner and I are re-planning the trip we had booked for 2021 in the hope that 2023 is a better year. I am attempting to learn some conversational Japanese and this will be our first Japan trip (possibly only). This is our plan and I’d love some feedback!
22 Mar: stay night before flight
23-24 Mar: Fly to Osaka
24 Mar (10ish am): arrive Osaka, drop bags at Ryokan and see if we can freshen up. Dotonburi / Minoo park (if we have the energy)
25 March – Himeji castle
26 March – Universal Studios
27 March – Travel to Kyoto via Nara to see the deer
Arrive in Kyoto, check in to Ryokan
28 March – Temples temples temples
29 March – Museums
30 March – Go to Takayama. Check in to ryokan (sadly our first choice has no rooms) Kusube folk museum.
31 March – Hida Folk Village
1 April – Retro and Showa museums, travel to Tokyo. Check in.
2 April – Ueno Park
3 April – Disney Sea
4 April – Disney Land
5 April – Ghibli Museum
6 April – Shopping / Akihabara
7 April – Travel home
4 comments
Note that many ryokan only open booking 3 months in advance so your Takayama ryokan might have room available later. You can check if they have room inside of the 3 next months and if yes, then check again in early January to book for March.
All in all things looks fine as far as sightseeing. Though what museums are you thinking of in Kyoto? Personally I’ve never been so impressed with Kyoto museums.
My main thought is- thats a lot of ryokan. I find that for most people, a few nights in a ryokan in a trip is fine. Doing ryokan for seven nights in a row is going to be a lot of time spent sleeping on the floor and eating fish for breakfast.
If it was me or one of my clients- I’d recommend booking central, western hotels in Osaka and Kyoto and sticking to the ryokan in Takayama. There are tons of great options of all price points there, and its fun to have the traditional stay up in the mountains.
Regarding the Ghibli Museum, I don’t think you’ll end up spending all day there so you could fit in something else if you’re inclined. Probably nothing too big but you could probably fit in something casual like shopping.
The biggest flaw in my itinerary was lack of shopping time.
This is a pretty decent itinerary.
I’m not sure what temples and museums you have planned for Kyoto but I wouldn’t necessarily split your days like that. It takes time to go across the city so it makes more sense to group geographically rather than thematically.
2 April, what are you planning on doing in Ueno park? The cherry blossoms may be blooming which is nice, but unless you’re planning on a couple of museums and/ or the zoo (I don’t recommend the zoo- lots of concrete, small enclosures, bad for the animals and depressing to see imo) I don’t think you need the whole day there.
5 April, I agree you probably won’t want to spend the whole day at the ghibli museum, it’s not very big so try to think of something else you’d like to do as well