**Working on travel details for our first timers 18 day August/Sept Japan trip and hoping for a bit of input from you all. Planning on JR pass to get around with supplemental local trains. We are in our 60s and don’t need to do/see everything. Just want to cover as much as possible. DOES THIS SEEM REASONABLE? We are of the mindset to see less each place we visit, but see as many areas as possible.**
**Day 1,2,3 TOKYO**\>>>We arrive at Haneda at 4:30AM and plan 3 nights in Tokyo…1st day light sightseeing in Shinjuku-golden gai,gyoen NP, Shibuya-crossing,Meiji shrine and Harajuko-Takeshita St. Sleep in Shinjuku.
2nd day Minato-(Tko tower,Obaiba) Chiyoda-(Akihabara,Imperial palace,Yasukuni shrine) and Chuo-Fish market…maybe Kabuki-za theater).
Day 3 day trip to **Nikko** and evening around Asakusa(Senso-ji temple and Asakusa shrine if accessible evenings) and Ueno(skytree tower). Don’t LOVE huge cities so this should be enough Tokyo. Also have a day at the end for additional TKO sightseing.
Day 4 train **Tokyo to Yokohama**…spend a few hours leaving bags at station…then on to **Kamakura**. Yokohama sights we are considering-Chinatown,Sankein garden,which is better….Ramen museum or Cup O Noodles? Kamakura sights-Great Buddha, Hase-dera, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, Kenchoji temple
Hotel Kamakura
Day 5 am more time in Kamakura then on to **Hakone**. Overnight Hakone in an onsen. Hoping to chill and soak here…I know August is HOT!
Day 6 am Hakone then train to **Osaka** with an optional stop in Nagoya(is it worthwhile?) We may try to see the castle and Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya if lockers are available at the train station. If it isn’t worth a stop, we will go straight to Osaka and wander around that first eve. If we stop in Nagoya, I feel like our time just to see Osaka might be too short.
Day 6,7,8 **Osaka with day trips**. day trip #1 to Hiroshima and Miyajima-Peace memorial, Atomic Bomb dome,museum and castle AND if it is possible to do both in a day trip we will do Miyajima-deer park, Itsukushima shrine and the great views.
day trip#2 to Kurashiki-Bikan,Okayama-Korakwen garden for a picnic lunch, and Himeji in the evening to see the castle and maybe the Kokoen gardens….sleep in Osaka and do eve sights there. Is it possible to make these 3 stops in one day trip? Really hoping to see Geisha in the evenings.
Day 9 **Osaka to Koyasan**….overnight Koya temple
Day 10 am **Koya, train to Kyoto**. evening wandering Kyoto with no specific agenda. I expect that Kyoto will be our favorite place, as so many other tourists have said, so I planned 5 nights here
Day 10-14 sleep Kyoto with day trips. 1. Nara-deer park, Kofuji temple, Todaiji temple
2. Arashiyama bamboo forest and Arashiyama district and lots of time in Kyoto that evening.
3. possible day trip Shirakawago if it isn’t too far. I saw the Hida folk village as an alternative. Is it as remarkable?
We have 5 nights in Kyoto and plan to have adequate time to see the sights. Does anyone have a particular experience they loved and recommend? Like a cooking class, tea ceremony??? Something special to remember. My husband would love that.
**THE LAST 3 DAYS IS WHERE I AM STRUGGLING…I have seen many recommendations to do 1 night in Kanazawa and 1 in Takayama**
Day 15 **Kyoto to Kanazawa- top sights include castle, old townand the Omicho market**, possible half day to Shirakawago if didn’t do trip from Kyoto..also saw Hida no sato is closer and may be as good? .Sleep Kanazawa
Day 16 finish **Kanazawa, train to Takayama.** sightsee choices include the open air market and Sanmachi historical houses. Love the idea of seeing old town. overnight Takayama
Day 17 finish Takayama and train via Toyama back to Tokyo. Can we take JR direct from Takyama to Tokyo or do we have to go through Toyama? Planning to get a hotel closer to the Haneda airport but have all the final day to see more of TKO
Day 18 Tko final sights. fly home at 11pm so we have the entire day
6 comments
TLDR: **I consider your plans extremely exhausting, almost physically impossible.** I sincerely recommend getting intimately acquainted with [Jorudan](https://world.jorudan.co.jp/mln/en/) and Google Maps. Really, really acquainted.
Day 3: while day tripping Nikko, seeing Skytree in the evening and Senso-ji either at dawn or at night is technically doable – it is a very, very exhausting plan.
Day 4 is physically undoable. Generally I would consider doing either Kamakura or Yokohama (and doing Cup Noodles Museum, Chinatown and Sankeien on a single day would be exhausting), or doing Kamakura and Chinatown only in the evening, though Kamakura is usually better combined with Enoshima.
Hiroshima day-trip: it’s impossible to climb Mt. Misen, do Itsukushima-jinja and do Peace Park and Hiroshima-jo on a single day. Especially not as a day trip. Also there is no deer park in Miyajima (just deers).
Okayama/Himeji day trip: it’s physically impossible to do Kurashiki, Okayama and Himeji in that order. Himeji-jo with Koko-en in the morning, Korakuen in the early afternoon and Kurashiki’s canal district in the evening might be doable, however, again, this is a legbreaker itinerary.
Shirakawa-go or Hida Folk Village would be absurd day trips from Kyoto (especially since the former is between Kanazawa and Takayama, and the latter in Takayama).
Also, keep in mind the heat and humidity at that time of year….
I haven’t been to Japan yet but I saw recommendations from others on this sub to use the ‘my maps’ feature from Google. It allows you to make your own custom maps with your own places of interest.
I’ve found this to be helpful while doing my own planning because it’s easier to see the location of all the places you are interested in and gives you a better idea of the proximity of them. This may be helpful if your itinerary seems full.
I imagine it’ll also be helpful to refer back to when you are actually in Japan too.
If I were your bff and you asked me to come all expenses, I would say no. About 1/3 of your time seems like you’re in trains , checking in/out, packing up, or trying to figure out how to get to the next place. Please remember english is still not a secondary language in Japan. I give myself at least 45-60 min before purchasing a train ticket and finding the right platform.
I’m not sure what the appeal is in doing day trips from major city destinations when you have only spent one day there (for example Kyoto). You have 5 nights in the former capital, there are many distinct differences between different regions in Japan and that can only be taken in by spending time there and relaxing a bit. Remember – it’s also vacation! You’re supposed to have fun and let the mind/body wander sometimes.
…. I stopped by day 4. You have an unrealistic amount of stuff every day, like easily 2 days worth every day. If you want to do everything you listed, add 1 week to your trip.
like other comments said, its going to be scorching hot and unlike earlier summer months, September is typhoon season so have that in mind