I have been to Japan 3 times now, but this will be my wife’s first time. We are huge foodies, so that will always be a major angle of the trip. Other than that, she’s fairly open to what we might find. I’m trying to setup a trip that doesn’t have too much crossover with things I’ve done previously so that we might get to experience the wonder together. That being said, even “touristy” things like Fushimi Inari are worth the trip and that happens to be at the top of her list.
As always insights and suggestions are welcome (especially around Tokyo).
My wife said she does want to check out a maid cafe as well, so any suggestions are welcome.
|Day|Schedule|
|:-|:-|
|Mar 25th|Fly to KIX|
|Mar 26th|Land in Osaka @ 6:15pm|
||Get Rail Pass and Wifi|
||Accommodations in Shinsekai where we will roam and eat the first night if we can’t sleep.|
|Mar 27th|Unsure about morning, but Osaka Castle or Open-Air Museum of Old Japanese farm Houses is on the list|
||Dotonbori for lunch|
||This is the second to last day of the Osaka Sumo Tournament, we plan to pre-purchase tickets and be there by 2pm or so to watch the last part of the day with the larger crowds and best wrestlers.|
||Dotonbori for dinner probably since there is so much food to try|
|Mar 28th|Morning in Osaka (nothing decided yet)|
||Noon Shinkansen to Hakata|
||Check in Lunch / Ramen at Canal City, window shopping probably|
||Yatai food stalls that night for dinner|
|Mar 29th|Shofukuji and Kushida Shrines in the morning|
||Subway to Maizuru and Ohori Park \*\*(Bike rentals instead maybe?)\*\*|
||Lunch|
||Momichi Beach|
||Ferry to Uminonakamichi|
||Trains back to Canal City for 2nd night of Yatai |
|Mar 30th|Leave Hakata in the morning and arrive in Kobe|
||Hakutsuru Sake Brewery / Museum|
||Kobe near Sannomiya for lunch|
||Then on to Kyoto (staying walking distance from Gion)|
||Kyoto Evening undecided (possibly side trip to Omihachiman for canals and dinner) |
|Mar 31st|Nishiki Market|
||Higashiyama|
||Philosopher’s Path|
|April 1st|Fushimi Inari very early, probably stay several hours, possibly hiking the entire loop, this is at the top of my wife’s list so we will spend extra time here|
||Open mid afternoon|
||Dinner with Maiko that night in Gion|
|April 2nd|Leave in morning to Tokyo|
||Stop in Yokohama for Ramen Museum for lunch|
||Continue on to Fuji 5 Lakes (yeah, it’s a bit of a trek for the day,but we will have a good 2 hour Ramen break in between the trains)|
||Relax in our private onsen in our room that night (Staying near Kawaguchiko Station)|
|April 3rd|Rent bikes and bike around the lake and across the bridge|
||Probably will do the ropeway|
||Visit the wind cave and ice cave (there is a bus, and it’s schedule will determine what order the day goes in)|
||Evening of rest and relaxation in hotspring|
|April 4th|Stop at the Chureito Pagoda in the morning when we leave|
||Head to Tokyo! (Staying in Shinagawa the entire time)|
||Evening will probably consist of Shibuya (WhoopiGoldburger)|
||First night is really open for anything|
|April 5th|This will focus on the western side of Tokyo|
||Only thing fully decided on is Harajuku and Omoide Yokocho, everything else is open|
|April 6th|Disney|
|April 7th|Eastern Side of Tokyo|
||Ueno, Asakusa, Akiba (we have food places picked out, but specifics are still being worked on)|
|April 8th|The day we leave, probably do things close to Shinagawa until it’s time to head to Haneda airport|
​
Some other notes and tidbits.
* A side trip to Nikko has been discussed, but since it would likely take an entire day, we feel that any Tokyo exploration might get crunched
* We really wanted to go to Shirakawago and Takayama, but it takes so much time in travel, that we felt the entire trip would suffer and be rushed to accommodate it. Unless there is some other way to organize this
Thank you all for your insights and suggestions.
21 comments
Sound like a nice trip overall. Not too much crammed in, so you’ll be able to improvise and relax/enjoy.
Personally I’d scrap disney for a daytrip to Nikko, Kamakura, Hakone or more exploring of Tokyo.
You didn’t mention which airport but if it’s Haneda I would recommend stopping by Odaiba on your last day since it’s on the way to the airport, there’s so much to do on that island make sure you check out the science museum with the live performance by ASIMO the robot.
I’m following this because I’ve been to Japan many times, lived there for a year, and your plans are just like mine!!! Gotta get some sleep and then get back to you. 🇯🇵
The Hakata detour is extremely far out of your way and necessitates rushing and skipping a lot in Kansai and Kanto. I would cut it entirely use that time to give yourself breathing room elsewhere. Cutting it would save you hours upon hours of time in transit, not to mention that if you cut it you could save a fair chunk of cash by not getting JR Passes.
>Accommodations in Shinsekai where we will roam and eat the first night if we can’t sleep.
I love Shinsekai, but if you’re looking for a romantic getaway I probably wouldn’t stay there (unless you’re really on a budget or maybe planning to spend a lot of time at SpaWorld, but even then I think you can find cheap accommodations elsewhere). I feel like Namba is just a better area to stay overall–a wider range of accommodation options, more shopping, more food, better transit.
>Unsure about morning, but Osaka Castle or Open-Air Museum of Old Japanese farm Houses is on the list
I would probably skip Osaka Castle entirely and do Himeji Castle (or possibly Hikone) instead. The park is pretty nice for cherry blossoms, but the castle itself is a concrete reconstruction and not necessarily worth going in.
I would definitely fit a day in Nara in somewhere–even if you have to cut most of a day from Osaka. I consider it absolutely unskippable for any first visit to Kansai (at least the Nara Park area, including Todai-ji, Nigatsu-do, and Kasuga Taisha).
>Leave Hakata in the morning and arrive in Kobe
If you’re tight on time, you might just skip Kobe.
>Then on to Kyoto (staying walking distance from Gion)
I would really budget at least 3 full days for Kyoto–especially given that you’ll be there at the height of cherry blossom season. For the evenings, hanami in Maruyama Park is kind of a must, and there a bunch of sights around the city (e.g., Kodai-ji, Kiyomizu-dera, Shoren-in, Nijo Castle) that do night openings/illuminations, which are very worth going to.
>Kyoto Evening undecided (possibly side trip to Omihachiman for canals and dinner)
Coming all the way from Hakata, stopping Kobe, going to your accommodation, and then running off to Omihachiman? All in one day? I really don’t see this happening. Even if you rush, I feel like most things will be closing in Omihachiman by the time you get there, and the canal area is not exactly close to the station either.
Since there’s really no other place to put this, I’ll put it here: If you really are only giving Kyoto 2 days, I think I would do what you’re doing and stick only to the east side of the city. However, there is really so much more to see there (e.g., Arashiyama, the temples in northwest, Kamishichiken, Ohara, Kurama/Kibune) and I feel like Kyoto especially (but also Japan in general) benefits from having time to take things slower and explore on foot or bicycle.
>Mar 31st
The area covered here would be much more comfortably split into 2 days. I highly recommend renting bikes and for northern Higashiyama (e.g., something like the Imperial Palace–>Demachi Masugata Shotengai–>Shimogamo–>Ginkaku-ji–>Philosopher’s Path–Nanzen-ji–>Heian Jingu can be a really pleasant day).
>April 1st
For Fushimi Inari, if you can go an hour or so before sunrise–do it. It’s a completely different experience in the dark, and you’ll have the place basically to yourselves in the gorgeous early morning light. Also consider stopping at Tofuku-ji and Sennyu-ji while in the area (especially the former)–two massive temples that get virtually no visitors.
Will you even be able to go with Covid still a thing?
The Inokashira park at Kichijoji, Tokyo is a famous spot for sakura viewing! There’s also a lot of good food at the shopping arcades in Kichijoji too. Kichijoji is a nice place if you want to get away from the very busy parts of Tokyo and it feels a bit more local. The studio ghibli museum is also located at Kichijoji if you like their films 🙂
Sometimes I still feel like I have impostor syndrome posting anything here (esp to someone who’s been there 3x), but I can definitely recommend a foodie-approved place for Mar 31 near Higashiyama. It’s called Katsukura Tonkatsu (Nakagyo), should pull up on Google with ~890 reviews. Actually found it by chance, but ended up being my second favorite meal during my trip last year.
Would also want to highlight a cafe open early for breakfast called Ogawa Coffee. Really enjoyed the sandwiches, matcha, and lemon pound cake. If you get bored, I have a [trip report](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/eui6y1/super_delayed_report_from_oct_2019_10_days_tokyo/) with a pretty big album too.
I feel like every comment I leave on this sub is just a recommendation to go to teamLabs Borderless in Tokyo. You have to do it, it was the highlight of our trip.
This is right in the middle of our spring vacation here. Assuming corona has subsided to the point where a trip like this is a possibility, this is the (I guess second or third) worst time of the year to do it, since everyone in Japan will be traveling at the same time. Even more since corona has already destroyed summer vacation.
Nara park (and the Daibutsu, of course) is a half day trip that beats most of those places and is extremely convenient to visit while in Osaka/Kyoto. Specially nice as you may catch the cherry blossoms around that time of the year.
It was the favourite place of most friends and family who visited Japan.
Shirakawa-go and Takayama are nice but too far from everything else and rather boring in March/April, you are right in not going there.
I don’t think the Fukuoka detour is too wild, it’s 2.5 hours from Osaka and you’ve got two nights there so you should be able to see a fair bit. I’d skip Kobe and give yourself another half day in Kyoto though. Folks are saying you haven’t given yourself enough time in Kyoto but if you’ve already been you know what is and isn’t a priority to see.
Maybe it will be different during cherry blossom season but one thing to point out is that we were staying near Gion and everything closed up at like 6pm. There was nothing to do in the evenings and we weren’t prepared for that so you might want to have a few ideas in your back pocket for March 30/31st so you don’t end up sampling all the kombini drinks in your room while watching japanese late night TV. Not that I regret that night it was probably a much needed break by that point in our trip but we could have done better…
Higashiyama-Ku and the philosophers path in one day! I spent hours at both so just allot enough time for it all.
Strongly encourage you to walk the entire philosophers path. At the end are some cute shops and a really cool old aqueduct!
For being “huge foodies” I don’t see much here in terms of planning. Are you staying at the Hyatt in Fukuoka? If so the concierge can organize reservations at one of the excellent sushiya in town. The yatai experience is fine for one meal, but you can’t say it’s haute cuisine.
Have fun!
If I drastically change my itinerary, should I make a new post (and possibly remove this one) or edit this one?
😢
Often heard the @ home café to be foreigner friendly and reputable maid café (from comments I saw, some other café can be sketchy). One of my Japanese friend did bring me there years ago. I have mix feeling between being un-comfortable about saying the magic spell and about some of the other patrons, but the maid outfit is kind of cute if you are into it.
It’s Dotonbori not Dotonburi. It’s also much more famous for nightlife and the neon signs in the later hour of the day than for lunch.
Doing Kyoto-Kawaguchiko is indeed not the most direct. From Yokohama it will be a good 3 hours train ride and a total of 3 train. At least you do not have to go all the way to Tokyo or Shinagawa. Also note that from Otsuki to Kawaguchiko, the JR Pass does not work so you will have to pay for that part. Actually the other option is to stop at Mishima and take a bus to Kawaguchiko, would probably be faster.
The ropeway in Kawaguchiko is not essential, the hike is quite easy and the path well maintained. Feel more like a walk in a park than hiking a mountain.
Omoide Yokocho, not Omoide Yokoso. Yokoso mean “welcome”, while yokocho mean “side street”
​
Yes, Nikko will take a full day. Appart from dinner in Tokyo if you are the kind of people who eat later or want to have a drink, you would not have much time for Tokyo on that day.
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Shirakawa-go and Takayama that is easily a 2-3 days in your itinerary. Yes stopping to Takayama on the way to/from Kyoto and Tokyo is a detour. So the option you have is wake up early, get in the train to Takayama, spend the day visiting around, next day in the morning go to shirakawa-go, back to Takayama early pm then out to Tokyo. Second option would be to add one day in Kanazawa, so on second day, do shirakawa-go as a stop on the way to kanazawa. Then Kanazawa-Tokyo can be done by Shinkansen.
If you can spend more time, I would personally check to do something like Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go, Takayama, Oku-Hida (Hirayu onsen/Kamikochi), Matsumoto, Tokyo, but that would be a good 4-6 days total.
So unless you remove Fukuoka and spend less or no time in Kawaguchiko, that is indeed hard to do everything.
Ok, off the top of my head tonight, teamlab Borderless is AMAZING in Tokyo. To mee this is an absolute must. We spent at least 3 hours there and it was worth every yen. If you can see a pro baseball game, they are great fun. The Peace Museum in Hiroshima is great. If you’re from the US, I’d skip Disney – you can see the real deal back home. The (touristy but cool) night show in Gion, Kyoto is a good way to see a bunch of performing arts in a compact way. In fact, in Kyoto I prefer doing a city bus tour since there is SO much to see and you don’t have to worry about jumping on and off JR all day long to get to all the hot spots. Miyajima is lovely and relaxing. I’ll add more if I have other thought… Enjoy your trip!
Hi OP I hope you don’t mind me taking inspiration from your itinerary, it looks good!
Wow, I’m doing the same trip as you same dates and everything! Lots of good info here, thanks for asking this!!