A few friends and I (American) are planning a trip to Japan in June/July 2021 to celebrate finishing college. We wish to keep the total cost, including flight, under 3.5-4K per person. I tried to plan the trip to have a few nights in a city and enjoy the nightlife, and then next going to a location with a rich history and nature.
This itinerary is not very specific but outlines our ideas well. We are all avid fans of anime and sociable people, so if you have any recommendations for either two please let me know! We plan on traveling using the JR rail pass and local transportation.
I would love advice about cheap lodging that also provides a unique experience in Japan (not too touristy). Our initial itinerary is as follows:
**Tokyo: 4 Nights**
\-Explore Shinjuku
\-Cool night clubs/bars (recommendations?)
\-Shibuya and Akihabara
\- Guided tour/sake tour
\-Any locations/activities for a group of 22-year-old males should definitely check out?
\-Great cheap hotel options to consider?
**Mount Kita-dake: 2 Nights**
\-Hike Mt. Kita and spend the night on the peak
\-Take pictures of the sunrise
\-Explore the surrounding area
**Kyoto: 3-4 Nights**
\-Travel to remote shrines
\-Tour historical shrines and try a tea ceremony
\-Stay in a traditional style Japanese in
\-Explore unique bars
\-Recommendations for non-touristy aspects of the city to visit?
**Kumano Kodo Imperial Trail: 3 Nights**
\-Plan to hike the Kumano Kodo trail and spend nights in the towns along the trail.
\-Traditional onsen experience
\-See the historical locations and learn the history of the trail
\-Stay in a traditional Japanese inn (again)
**Osaka: 2 Nights**
\-Travel to historical castles in Osaka
\-Explore the shopping district
\- Try regional dishes (recommendations?)
\-Go to a night club/ cool bars.
\-Kobe/Wagyu Beef
\-Recommendations?
**Hiroshima: 3 Nights**
\-Go to a baseball game
\-Go to a museum about the nuclear fallout and recovery
\-Go to the shrine on the island (name?)
\-Hike to local shrines
\-Stay in nicer hotel
**Kagoshima: 1 Night**
\-Rest stop before going to Yakushima
\-Summer festival?
\-Any great places to experience in Kagoshima for one night?
\-Take Boat to Yakushima
**Yakushima: 3 Nights**
\-Location we are most excited about.
\-Stay in a very humble inn with a view of sunrise.
\-Explore the forest and learn about the island’s history
\-Local bars or restaurants where we can meet friendly people!
**Depart from Fukuoka.**
Any cities you think we should consider, please let me know!!!!
Thank you for reaching it this far! any recommendations for places to stay, activities to do, or things to consider would be hugely appreciated. We want this to be a trip to remember for a lifetime. Let’s hope that COVID is gone by then!
23 comments
Keep an eye on Olympics news. The games are supposed to be starting late July, so prices and crowds are likely to be bananas even before they officially kick off.
I am also a college student who is graduating and planning to go to Japan in June/July. I already bought my tickets because they were cheap and I don’t want them to go up in price closer to the trip date. The tickets I bought are eligible to be turned into a travel voucher so that I could go somewhere else if Japan is not open. If you and your friends are planning on travelling no matter what, then I would possibly recommend buying tickets now that are eligible for some sort of refund/travel voucher. Just my opinion. Hope we can both make it!
For accommodation to have something cheap, check hostel, that is the cheapest.
Tokyo : For a full 3 days, I would recommend to plan a bit more than that, it seems pretty light. Of course it depend what you plan to do in the location you listed. I would for sure recommend do stay around Shinjuku, Shibuya or Roppongi, that are the best known for nightlife. After it depend on what you want. I do not really have recommendation as I am not that much into clubbing (by that I mean not at all).
Mount Kita, that is a minimum of 2 days, but you have to account for time to reach it. It will take at least 3h30 from Tokyo and close to 6 hours from there to Kyoto. I also hope your group is really used to do serious hiking, especially as you will have to keep walking to do around Kyoto and the Kumano Kodo right after, so not much rest time.
In Kyoto, it’s fairly easy to see a lot of temple and shrines, even if they are not remote. The thing is that the top 10 most popular are on almost everybody’s itinerary, and everything around can be more or less busy, but it is fairly easy to find places that have less or even no tourist. Sometime, you only have to go a bit further than where most people go. It always depend on what you are interested in. Famous places usually have an element they are famous for (ans sometime unique), such as a building, garden or statue. So I guess recommendation could be different depending on what you are attracted to see.
For traditional style inn, or ryokan, you can find them anywhere, even in Tokyo (I know there is some around Asakusa). If you want to do it on a budget, check for places that do not have meal included (or check to go without the meal). From experience, cheap place can start at 4000 yen a night by person. If you go with meals, that can start around 7000 a night, and if you want to go for a place with good kaiseki meal, that is more 12000+ a night. That being said, cheap places might be easier to find in less touristy city.
Komano Kodo, not sur how much you researched it, but I found nice info here [https://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/](https://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/)
Osaka, well the castle is not that historic, it’s a concrete reconstruction. So you might want to add a stop in Himeji on the way to Hiroshima to see an historic castle. But, yes, Osaka castle did play a role in the history of Japan.
For the night, for sure around Dotonbori, so check for a place to stay close to Namba station. For food in Osaka, kushikatsu, okonomiyaki (you have to try both Osaka and Hiroshima style) and takoyaki. Check Kuromon ichiba if you are into food.
Kobe/wagyu beef can be eaten anywhere in Japan, so you do not have to focus on doing it in Osaka.
Hiroshima, the island is Itsukushima, more know under the name of Miyajima.
I have not been to Kagoshima, but unless you perfectly plan the date, aiming for a summer festival there specifically is optimistic. Unfortunately, the bid festival in Kagoshima, Ohara Matsuri, is held in November. There is festivals all around Japan, so it might be easier to find one elsewhere, just keep that in mind.
Why depart from Fukuoka ? Unless you are from Hawaii, just fly from Kagoshima to KIX, HND or NRT then back to the US.
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There is obviously a lot of area just between the places you plan to go that are left out. Including anything more could add much more time to your itinerary, unless you decide to remove a portion of the trip. From Kita Kita, you could stop by Matsumoto (original castle there too), then Magome (historic post town and hike trail) before going toward Kyoto. Then I would say from Nagoya, go to Ise (one of the two most important shrine in Japan, also next to Matsuzaka that is known for it’s beef) and then the Kumano kodo, but that seems to be backward compared to what people usually do for the Kumano Kodo (from Kii Tanabe to Kii Katsuura), so that could be a complete flip of the itinerary instead and to move from Kyoto/Osaka back to Tokyo doing that.
Between Kansai and Hiroshima, there is many possible stops such as Himeji, Okayama, Kurashiki, Onomichi, that is among other things fairly popular for the shimanami kaido, so realistically, you could continue to Matsuyama and take a ferry to Hiroshima.
There is also a lot of places in Kyushu that you would ship to rush to Yakushima. I personally want to plan 2 weeks for Kyushu (and I have already been for over a week) and I was wondering if including Yakushima in this trip would even work as there is still much more place I want to see in Kyushu.
Since you are hitting Kyushu for a bit, check out Kurokawa Onsen town, our trip we went east towards Beppu and Oita but renting a car and enjoying the Onsen town is a unique and fun experience. (Staying at a Ryokan with a private onsen is also highly suggested in the city).
go to teamlab in tokyo
I did 3 nights on the Kumano Kodo. Just a heads up, it will be hot. If you have any questions about it, check out my itinerary and feel free to message me.
General notes, will put specific itinerary stuff below in a comment
* AirBnB is your best friend. Saved me tons when I traveled solo, and will only save you more if you’re with a small group.
* Be prepared for it to be very hot and very humid. Plan early morning and dusk activities, with breaks during mid day.
* Start tracking flights now, I always have a tracker running on flights to Tokyo and I got tickets for $614 from Boston with only one stop over.
* 3.5-4k is totally reasonable. My last trip was 20 days and I spent under $100 a day…and that includes a few $300+ meals and a couple nice ryokan nights.
* Food/Drink can be your biggest expenses, and I really recommend treating yourself to a special meal or two. Happy to provide some recommendations. I *highly* recommend avoiding drinking too much. It can be expensive, and when I drink I tend to justify drinking more. I saved all my drinking for the end of my last trip when I knew I had extra money kicking around
Personally I don’t think you need 3 nights in Hiroshima and if you’re going down to Kagoshima by train I would consider stopping by Fukuoka if you want another fun city or explore some of kyushus smaller towns (maybe the sand baths?)
I grew up in Kyoto and lived in Kagoshima for a bit so I’ll try to come back and leave some suggestions (or send me a PM if I don’t). Kamogawa in Kyoto is a great place to just chill tho, there’s a lot going on along the river, grab some drinks from the corner store and just hang out and walk along the river. I guarantee it will be a good time with great memories and is basically free and it will be nice to have a day to just hangout together I think.
I have some super-specific suggestions your group might enjoy!
In Tokyo, head to Ikebukuro and Sunshine City, or even Nakano Broadway and Koenji – these areas have some awesome stores/malls for anime goods and I found they were a lot more chill to explore then Akihabara. Also perhaps look at the company Magical Trip for drinking/food tours of Tokyo.
In Osaka, Den Den Town is very cool for anime/electronic goods. There’s also a bar called Space Station that has some retro gaming too 🙂
Also another note, I think 3 nights in Hiroshima would be great to give you some time to take a slower pace and relax a bit towards the end! I stayed at Candeo Hotels and felt like it was in a really accessible location for some main areas in the city. Definitely hit up Shukkei-en Garden.
I usually am a “see less” poster, but I like your itinerary. Personally, I’d take and extra day in Osaka and Tokyo, but your trip is exactly what you set out to do: get a whirlwind cross country journey sampling some of the bolder and prominent flavors of Japan.
(I have friends that would say “spend more time in Fukoyoka, less in Hiroshima” but that comes down to personal preference, I think.)
If you want to party in Tokyo might be smart to do it at the end of the trip.
Kinda touristy but do the Mario cart city tour that takes you to Odaiba, Tokyo Tower and Shibuya at night. You get to see plenty of the city and it is FUN!
Highly recommend A-Life for clubbing! Mainly young people and lots of internationals.
It’s a shame you’re only in kagoshima for a day. Depending on where and when you get there you could go see the island sakurajima to see the volcano but you would need most of the day.
While in Yakushima, take the hike up to see Jomon Sugi (oldest tree in Japan), Daemon Sugi (the king sugi) and Wilson’s Stump. It is a full day hike up and down and make sure you have your rain gear. Fabulous scenery along with the chance to see the dwarf deer that live in the forest. Stay away from the monkeys…they can get aggressive.
Flight will be supposed to cost a lot on July.
i was supposed to go on a trip very similar to this starting next month. my expectations were low that it was going to happen and so i planned accordingly (made bookings with free cancelation). i just got word from the airlines that the flights have been cancelled. so i now have to wait until next fall (2021) to go. it will be my first time in japan. but as mentioned my itinerary is pretty much the same, with emphasis on YAKUSHIMA ISLAND and KUMANO KODO legs. would love to hear how you guys make out. good luck.
On Kyoto: I get you don’t want to be tourist-y, but remote shrines are usually small which means there isn’t much to see. I feel like you’ll spend so much of your time traveling by bus/train, get there, and look around for 30 minutes, so don’t go just for a shrine. If you go before the Olympics, there’s a chance it’ll still be relatively less packed than usual, and the famous spots in Kyoto when there are no people are really, really amazing.
Hiroshima:
You’re thinking of Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima. Currently, the famous torii gate is under construction so you’ll want to check that. However, I will say it was still really nice when I went recently. The shrine also has the low/high tide effect. We did a hike up to the tallest point on the mountain and ate a lot of oyster. I think a lot of people also choose to stay overnight on the island, but it seemed as if a lot of stuff was closed down by 6. I’m not sure if it’s usually like that.
Cheap accommodation: hostels, airbnb as a group, camping.
Just a heads up, book, and research everything early on for Kumono Kodo. Some parts might be closed depending on the weather so make sure to ask the place you’re staying in or other travelers in the inn if you need to change your route around. Go prepared and get bug repellent, it won’t be easy but very rewarding. We were there during wasps mating season and that was kind of harsh.
Also, there’s a service for shipping luggage from hotels or family marts to other spots. If you are staying in airbnbs you can ship to their actual warehouses because most airbnbs won’t accept luggage.
My partner and I did some airbnbs for our last stay but felt like it was cheaper/similar in price and significantly more convenient staying in hotels.
There’s also a cool [onsen](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g1066449-d532056-Reviews-Odaiba_Tokyo_Oedo_Onsen_Monogatari-Koto_Tokyo_Tokyo_Prefecture_Kanto.html) in Odaiba but they don’t allow tattoos. You can also check around that area if you decide to check out the onsen.
Good luck and have a great trip 🙂
I actually booked hotel supposedly for 2020. My trip was 22 days 21 nights with a friend celebrating graduation of his high school. And I planned to go almost the exact route as you guys planned. The hotel was around $4000, which is $2000 per person. And the air fare was over $1000 each person due to olympics, which will also occur next year. I highly doubt that 3.5k-4K per person is enough for a 3 week trip, hopefully u guys can raise that budget to around 5-6k(better be safe than sorry), cuz my lowest budget is calculated to be more than 7k for that 22 days(mine is more of a fast pace exploring japan kinda thing). If you want, I have the google docs written out detailed plan (with each booked hotel costs) and I can share it with you so you can see what we got!
I’m also planning a trip to Yakushima so I can share some of what I found both from my own searching and from questions I asked here.
Especially if someone in your group is already planning on getting an international driver’s license then I was told it was a very good idea to rent a car on the island. It will save you time and you wont have to worry about missing the last bus since they dont run as frequently as in cities.
Also check out YES Yakushima. Its a tour company that assists with organizing things like renting cars and buying ferry tickets for the island. I contacted them with some questions about accommodation and was told that they do not take a commission when booking places to stay through them as part of a community support program they have on the island. So Thats nice since booking sites do take large chunks from what you pay which can hurt smaller businesses. If nothing else there is some good information on the site.
when i went a couple months ago, i stayed at an airbnb in Asakusa. The location was great, near the tokyo skytree and fairly cheap (we were a group of 4). the room we stayed at was fairly small (ti202) but the owner does have different rooms available.
here is her profile [https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/279007121](https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/279007121) i personally loved the place and she provides pocket wifi
Late addition, I know, but I should warn you that Hiroshima Toyo Carp tickets are the hardest in NPB to get. I would consider more accessible teams as alternatives if you whiff on them – Tokyo proper has two teams, both with English ticket websites, there’s 3 more near Tokyo, and the Kansai area has two teams.
[See here for more](https://www.reddit.com/r/NPB/wiki/tickets).