(Update: all the comments are currently being worked into our itinerary, we’ll write a second update with adjustments soon.)
Hiya /r/JapanTravel !
So, me and the missus recently got married, and we’re currently pondering over a three-ish week honeymoon trip to Japan. Our plan was to do a journey roughly spanning the area between Tokyo and Nagasaki. We currently plan to arrive in Tokyo on a Tuesday (likely the 23 of March), and leaving on a Wednesday (14th April) from the same airport. We’ve written down our day-to-day schedule below.
We have not yet definitively decided on specific hotels, as Japanican has not allowed us to browse ahead to March and April yet. We’re also not particularly sure if we ordered our destinations/day trips with any good efficiency.
Moreover, let’s cross our fingers that the Covid-19 epidemic will allow for all this by next year…
**LEG 1 – Tokyo (4 nights)**
**Tuesday 23rd of March (Central Tokyo):**
\- Arrival at Tokyo Narita. Likely to be around 8 AM in the morning. Pick up all the necessary rail passes, Data SIM cards…
\- Train ride to wherever our hotel will be located. Currently we’re considering staying in Central Tokyo, as we’re going to take daytrips with the Shinkansen during this first leg.
\- We want to take it slowly today, as we’ll have massive jetlag. We’d likely visit take a tour of the Imperial Palace and visit the East Gardens. After that, we’d head off to Akihabara to waste our last bits of energy on geeky stores :).
\- Dinner and early retreat to hotel.
**Wednesday 24th of March (Not-so-central Tokyo):**
\- After an early breakfast, head off to the Tokyo National Museum to spend until noon there.
\- Around lunch time (we’re not sure how much time we’re likely to spend in the museum), we have several things we’d like to see in the afternoon: Asakusa and the Sensou-ji temple.
\- We polish the day off with a visit to the Tokyo Edo Museum.
\- Finally, we take a long ride to downtown Shibuya for an evening out including dinner and drinks, before heading back to our hotel.
**Thursday 25th of March (Daytrip to Nikko)**
\- Early breakfast before using JR lines to Nikko (we are likely going for a JR pass anyway), transfering in Utsunomiyatsu.
\- Take a bus to the clustered shrines (incl. Toshogu etc.)
\- Visit the Tamozawa Villa.
\- Take a walk to the Kanmangafuchi Abyss.
\- Use whatever time remains to us to explore Nikko’s center.
\- Alternatively, we’ll go with the following [pre-made one-day itinerary](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3822_nikko_town_full.html) for the place.
\- Back to Tokyo for the evening. We’ll improvise depending on how much time is left.
**Friday 26th of March (Daytrip to Kamakura)**
\- Take the train early in the morning.
\- We’re going lazy in planning this day, we went for the [pre-made itinerary for a 5 hour walk including most of the cool stuff.](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3121_kamakura_full.html) We’ll also go for lunch somewhere.
\- Back to Tokyo for the evening. At this stage, if we haven’t yet, we definitely want a sushi pig-out somewhere.
**LEG 2 – A night in Hakone (1 night)**
**Saturday 27th of March (Trip to Hakone, stay at ryokan)**
\- Take train to Hakone. We plan to spend a day traveling around there followed by a splurge night in a traditional ryokan. (At this stage, I should mention my wife sports quite a bit of ink, so to speak. So we’d like to stay at a place that either tolerates this, or allows for private usage/has a private hot bath in the room. At time of writing, we’re still looking into options – but recommendations are welcome.)
\- We plan to arrive early enough to take the usual round trip though we’re not sure which route to take depending on where our stay is. This day is still very much up in the air.
**LEG 3 – Nagoya (4 nights)**
**Sunday 28th of March (Travel to Nagoya)**
\- After checking out, we’re traveling to Nagoya for the second multi-day stay of our journey, mostly as a central location from which to do some day trips that appeal to us.
\- After arriving, we’ll still have some of the afternoon to us which we’d like to use to visit Nagoya Castle and the Nagoya City Science Museum.
\- Out for dinner and into bed.
**Monday 29th of March (Daytrip to Takayama)**
\- Get up early to catch a limited express train to Takayama.
\- At this stage, we’d like to go by the [another japan-guide suggested one-day itinerary](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5912_takayama_full.html), although we are having doubts as it misses the Hida Folk village, which seems kinda cool to us. But time is an issue, so maybe this is better bang for our clock, so to speak.
\- Make our way back to Nagoya for a night out.
**Tuesday 30th of March (Daytrip to Kiso Valley)**
\- Get up early to get a JR limited express train to Nakatsugaway station, and get on the bus to Magome.
\- We’re going to spend this day walking the Magome-Tsumago trail and exploring the old post towns. Once we arrive in Tsumago, depending on the remaining time, we’d like to visit the Honjin.- Make our way back to Nagoya for a night out.
**Wednesday 31st of March (Daytrip to Kanazawa)**
\- Take a shinkansen to Maibara, transfer to the limited express Shirasagi to Kanazawa
\- For the day’s contents, we’re going by the [this subreddit’s unofficial bible again.](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4213_kanazawa_full.html)
\- Long train ride back to Nagoya for a night out.
**LEG 4 – Kyoto (4 nights)**
**Thursday, April Fools’ day (Journey to Kyoto, south Kyoto)**
\- Take a shinkansen to Kyoto in the morning.
\- Either check luggage into hotel or check luggage into a locker at the station.
\- We’ll spend some time exploring things that are more or less in the proximity of the station: buddhist temples (Higashi-Honganji, Ryukokuzan Hongan-ji – Nishi Hongan-ji Temple and Toji).
\- Have some lunch.
\- Visit the Kyoto Railway museum.
\- If time permits, visit Nijo castle.
\- Evening out. After dinner, we might catch an evening view of Kyoto in Kyoto Tower.
**Friday, 2nd of April (East Kyoto)**
\- After breakfast, go to south-east Kyoto, at the Fushimi-Inari shrine.
\- Take a walk to Tofukuji temple and enjoy the sights there.
\- Take a bit of a detour to Nishiki market for lunch.
(Everything we do in the next four points is highly time dependent, as we’re not sure how much we’ll be able to squeeze in the afternoon.)
\- After lunch, we’re taking a walk around some shrines, temples and the like, starting at Shoren-in garden, followed up by: Chion-in, Yasaka shrine, Kodaji temple (time spent at each dictated by how much of the day is left).
\- Go through the old streets of Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka
\- (Depending on time) go down to Kiyomizu-dera
\- Start going north again, by Yasui Konpiragu and Kenninji
(Finally, after all this:)
\- Evening out in Gion and Pontocho alley.
**Saturday, 3rd of April (All over the place, West to East)**
After the previous two days where things were more or less clustered, we want to spend this day crossing off some remaining must-see sites. Three specifically:
\- In the morning, head off to Arashiyama, and just free-form explore around there.
\- Around noon, head to Kinkakuji.
\- Around late noon, head to Ginkakuji and the Path of Philosophy, ending our walk at the Heian-Jingu shrine.
A lot of this day will be spent on transportation, so we’re keeping the rest of the day blank, as it is.
\- Depending on energy, go back to either Gion or Pontocho for our final evening in Kyoto.
**Sunday, 4th of April (Daytrip to Nara)**
\- Get up on time to catch a train to Nara.
\- Follow the trail of Japan-guide’s [one-day itinerary](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4119_nara_full.html), and add a visit to Naramachi Koshi no Ie, and the immediate neighbourhood.
\- Back to Kyoto for dinner and drinks.
**LEG 5 – Koyasan (1 night)**
**Monday, 5th of April (Koyasan – part 1)**
\- Get up and check out, sending our luggage forward to Osaka to be picked up at the start of the next leg, with one of those luggage delivery services. Hopefully our hotel supports that.
\- Make the long way to Koya, lightly packed.
\- We’re likely going to do (we can only come up with so much on our own) [the two-day itinerary from yours truly.](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4910_koyasan_2day.html)
\- Head to our temple lodging (exact one to be decided) on time for the customarily early dinner.
**Tuesday morning, 6th of April (Koyasan – part 2)**
\- Second part of itinerary in Koya before heading back down the mountain, and heading off to Osaka for the afternoon.
**LEG 6 – Osaka**
**Tuesday afternoon, 6th of April (Minami casual)**
\- After the mountain village visit, we want to contrast things a bit and just have a chill afternoon walking around Minami:
\- Visit Shinsaibashi.
\- Visit Amerika Mura.
\- If it’s still early enough, go to Kuromon Ichiba.
\- Go out for the evening in Dotombori. I honestly can’t wait for this 🙂
**Wednesday, 7th of April (historical Osaka)**
\- [Pre-made history-based itinerary](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4028_osaka_history.html)
\- Aaaaaaaaaand…back to Dotombori for evening and dinner as there’s likely still a lot of undiscovered fun to be had there, likely some [retro video game bars.](https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/the-top-video-game-bars-in-osaka/)
**LEG 7 – Okayama**
**Thursday, 8th of April (explore Okayama)**
\- Take a train or shinkansen to Okayama.
\- Visit Okayama-Jou.
\- Visit Korakuen garden.
\- Rent a bike and ride around Kibi plain for however long time permits.
\- Return the bike and go out for dinner before returning to the hotel.
**Friday, 9th of April (daytrip Bitchu-Takahashi)**
\- Get up on time to catch a train to our destination.
\- Make the hike up towards Matsuyama castle.
\- Make our way down for some lunch.
\- On our way back to the station, pass by the Orii and Haibara samurai residences.
\- Visit the Raikyuji temple.
\- Head back to Okayama for the rest of the evening.
**LEG 8 – Hiroshima & Nagasaki**
**Saturday, 10th of April (To Nagasaki, passing by Hiroshima)**
\- Catch a train or Shinkansen to Hiroshima.
\- Do an extended version of the [Japan-guide half day itinerary](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3409_hiroshima_half.html), mostly exploring the Peace Park. (Except Miyashima, which will likely still be being renovated).
\- Go out for what is likely to be a relatively late lunch.
\- Take the long journey to Nagasaki in the late afternoon.
\- If time permits, take the ropeway to Inasa-yama to get a nice view of the city.
\- Go out for dinner, and check into the hotel.
**Sunday, 11th of April (Explore Nagasaki)**
\- Take another [pre-made itinerary](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4421_full_day.html), although prefaced with an additional visit to the Suwa-jinja shrine, which is near the Nagasaki Museum of History & Culture.
\- Visit the north of the city to wander around the Peace park for however much time we have left for dinner.
\- Go to the hotel for the night.
**LEG 9 – There and back again**
**Monday, 12th of April (To Himeji)**
\- Take the loooooooong trip back east, and stopping in Himeji.
\- Have lunch.
\- Visit the castle and gardens.
\- Stay the night in Himeji.
**Tuesday, 13th of April (Back to Tokyo)**
\- Catch a shinkansen to Tokyo.
\- Final evening of shopping for souvenirs and the like.
**Wednesday, 14th of April (Goodbye, Japan)**
\- Trip to Narita airport for a tear-filled goodbye. :'(
At this point, just a quick list of questions:
\- Is there any part of the journey that strikes you as inefficient/short for time?
\- If you had to cut the journey down by one or two days, what would you throw out?
\- We picked Hakone for a night at a Ryokan, is this a good choice? (Reminder that my gal has some tattoos.)
\- …Any other quick tips you’d like to share 🙂
27 comments
This itinerary gave me goosebumps. I literally have nothing I’d add or change… you 100% killed it.
The only thing I would’ve said was “find something enriching to do in Hakone- the hotels can be pretty fake”… but you’re way ahead of me on that.
Have a blast. Great way to start a marriage!
Edit: my favourite thing in Hakone was taking a 2 hour hike through the hills. Stopped at the tea house for a snack, then continued to that small village that makes Yosegi. Great soba restaurant there too.
I went with my wife and we loved Japan, and seeing that it’s your honeymoon my recommendation is to build a day where you don’t have anything planned. The 12 hour time difference caught up with us, and having a day where we lied around in bed, got ramen and a beer and watched a Japanese baseball game on TV was a highlight of our trip.
I wish we had spent more than 1 night in Hakone – the rail was down so we had to take the bus in & out, which added a TON of travel time as there was a lot of traffic on the mountain roads. If it’s up again, you could probably more easily get away with doing it in less time, but ours felt very rushed.
For Takayama we had 2 nights – while there admittedly wasn’t a ton to do at night, it’s a very cute town during the day and we enjoyed all the wandering around. The wide-view train is a great trip, but it is also slow. So it’s harder to justify the day trip especially since it doesn’t run that often. We also went to Shirakawa-go, which was interesting but very much a tourist town. That said, I’m not sure which cities you would take away time from.
We tried to do fewer day trips (except for Nara & Hemeji) because you do end up spending so much time on the transit. For example, it may be a 1 hour train ride, but you have to get to the station, and then wait for and catch the bus to your destination, etc. It does add up, even though the trains are very comfortable and every transit we took (except for the buses in Hakone which did leave us stranded at one point) were very smooth.
I have nothing to add except that I just may copy this exact trip! Thanks for doing all my legwork. 🙂
> (we’re not sure how much time we’re likely to spend in the museum)
Half day is about right, for the core stuff. Special exhibitions would probably add a few hours if you choose to buy tickets to them.
WRT the rest of the itinerary, it looks good and fairly reasonably paced with respect to timing, though I’d note two things for you to consider:
– you’re flying in and out of Tokyo but not really spending much time there (roughly a day and a half, including your adjustment day).
– there’s a lot of moving around, so a big chunk of your time will be taken up by travel (aka, less time to see/do things)
Overall, it looks amazing, but I will repeat the refrain of several people here and suggest that you plan on a slower first full day (March 24). You likely will still want that day to help adjust, so keeping it so full may be tough.
This looks like a great trip with a lot of great highlights. When you are near Arashiyama in Kyoto you should definitely go to Okochi Sanso Garden, it is a wee oasis of calm after the madness that is ‘bamboo alley’.
>LEG 1 – Tokyo (4 nights)
You have very little time in Tokyo overall, which I think you may find very limiting. It is an absolutely massive city with tons to do and see. For such a short time I would skip any and all museums, skip the Imperial Palace entirely, and maybe focus one day on the east side (Ueno, Ameyayokocho, Asakusa, Akihabara) and the other on the west (Shinjuku, Shibuya, Meiji-jingu, Harajuku). This is a very limited, rushed version, but that’s about all you’ll get with roughly two days.
>LEG 2 – A night in Hakone (1 night)
Hakone and Kamakura are both in the same general direction from Tokyo, so I would just stay a night in Kamakura or make Hakone 2 nights so you don’t have to double back to Tokyo.
>LEG 3 – Nagoya (4 nights)
This entire portion makes no sense to me. I would skip Nagoya entirely and just stay in Takayama and Kanazawa. It makes no sense to keep doubling back. Doing Takayama –> Shirakawa-go –> Kanazawa is a solid 3-4 days (or potentially more) worth of stuff and doesn’t not require every going back to Nagoya.
Kiso Valley is a separate spur that makes more sense from Nagoya, but I think you’ll have a more rewarding time if you just focus on the Takayama –> Shirakawa-go –> Kanazawa loop. If you somehow end up having an extra day, I would give it to Kyoto or Tokyo.
>Thursday, April Fools’ day (Journey to Kyoto, south Kyoto)
I think this is a wasted day. The Honganji temples and Toji are large, but they’re fairly boring by Kyoto standards. If you rent bikes you could stop by one or two of them, but unless you’ve got weeks to spend exploring Kyoto, your time is better spent elsewhere.
For a general arrangement of sights in Kyoto, I suggest checking [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/5wgxa1/best_way_to_group_these_sites_in_kyoto/dea059y/?context=3) I made a while back on the subject. I strongly recommend picking an area each day and doing as much on foot or bicycle as possible, giving yourself time to explore in between the main sights.
Also note that you will be in the city around the height of cherry blossom season. This means that there will be special night openings and illuminations at many sights such as Nijo Castle, Kiyomizu-dera, Kodai-ji, and Shoren-in. In addition, hanami in the evening at Maruyama Park should not be missed–grab some food from the stalls or bring your own bento and enjoy a meal under the blossoms.
>Friday, 2nd of April (East Kyoto)
This is a very full day, but it’s still more reasonable than the the following day. I would suggest doing Fushimi Inari as early as humanely possible. I recommend going well before dawn if you can. This allows you to experience the shrine both illuminated in the predawn dark as well is in the beautiful early morning light–and you’ll have the place basically to yourselves. The main disadvantage of doing either of these things is that Tofuku-ji doesn’t open until 8:30 (I think–it varies slightly by season), but eve if you go around 6:00 AM you’ll be able to beat the crowds. Alternatively, you could go in the late afternoon, an hour or two before sunset (though again, Tofuku-ji closes around 4:30, so you might have to plan around that). The shrine is a completely different place at night compared to during the day.
>Saturday, 3rd of April (All over the place, West to East)
***Do not do this.*** This is literally the worst way to see Kyoto. Pick an area or maybe two each day and stick to it. There is easily enough on this day alone to fill at least two full days–break it up, and steal a day or two from elsewhere if you can.
>Sunday, 4th of April (Daytrip to Nara)
Note that Nara is just as doable from Osaka as it is from Kyoto. Consider doing Nara on your second Osaka day and giving an extra day to Kyoto. You could even go directly from Nara to Koya if you wanted.
>LEG 6 – Osaka
I would definitely add the Namba Arcades (just south of Dotonbori) and Shinsekai at the least. Umeda and Tenjinbashisuji are also very worth checking out if you can fit them in. America Mura isn’t really anything special and can be safely skipped if you’re short on time (although it is within walking distance of Shinsaibashi/Dotonbori).
Sumiyoshi Taisha, Shitennoji, and Osaka Castle are all less interesting than places you’ll be skipping in Kyoto and Nara for lack of time. If you want to see more temples and shrines, I would give this day to Kyoto. Osaka Castle is a concrete reconstruction and nothing compared to Himeji or Hikone. If you go, do it just for the cherry blossoms.
>LEG 7 – Okayama
I would basically skip Okayama (or do it as a very brief stop) and do Onomichi instead and then take the bus to Matsuyama. Whatever you do, don’t double back to Okayama. It’s a massive time sink and you could just take the ferry to Hiroshima or the bus back across to Onomichi.
>LEG 8 – Hiroshima & Nagasaki
I love Nagasaki, but it is nowhere near Hiroshima. You’ll spend more time just getting there than you will actually doing the city. Cut it and use the time for Miyajima or maybe a stop in Onomichi or Kurashiki or something.
Miyajima is not just the famous torii, so don’t be dissuaded by the fact that that one thing might be under renovation.
>Monday, 12th of April (To Himeji)
Himeji is boring at night and somewhat infamous for noisy traffic (bikers specifically). I would much sooner recommend staying in Kobe or doing another night in Osaka if you really want to break up the trip.
Looks like you’ve really done your research well there’s not much to add but I echo others in having a day to adjust to the time zones.
I’d have also potentially said try to get a night at Lake Kawaguchiko and stay at Kozantei Ubuya overnight, it’s somewhere that I’d go back to and take my SO with.
Is there a specific reason for Imperial palace garden ? I personally think that there is other better one such as koishikawa korakuen, hama rikyu or Shinjuku Gyoen.
Think about schedule of things, for example the 24, Edo museum near the end of the day, you’ll need to keep in mind it close at 5:30.
For Takayama, the itinerary you linked is the classic thing you can do in a day. If you do the Hida Fold Village, you will have to cut a part of the walk, for example not go around the castle ruin. You should check the local bus schedule to see how you can fit it it in your day and obviously, try to be there as close to opening hour as possible.
I think that doing both Kanazawa and Takayama as “day trips” is a mistake. You should do Magome as a day trip, next day bring the luggage to Takayama, let it in a coin locker, visit, and when you are done, train to Kanazawa to spend 2 nights (or one in each Takayama and Kanazawa). That will save you a lot of time on the train. You asked to point our inefficient parts, this is the obvious to me.
It’s only the torii gate in Miyajima that is being renovated, it is still an interesting place to visit.
It’s not “if time permit”, you have to make time one of the day for the night view at Mount Inasa, it’s really pretty.
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There is a difference between a ryokan and a ryokan with onsen. So to have the onsen, yes, Hakone is a good choice, you only have to check for place with private bath available. You coud decide to book ryokan almost anywhere, it’s just a Japanese style accommodation, I have booked one in the countryside (no meal include) that was cheaper that the local business hotel. So if you want, you can do ryokan everyday and only do it once with the onsen and meal at Hakone.
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While JR Pas cover a lot, check Hakone Freepass from Odawara for the Hakone part as well as the Koya-san World Heritage Ticket. You can cet somehow close to Koyasan by using JR but it might end up much easier or faster to use Nankai. At least it’s worth comparing that to JR.
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Honestly, not sure what I would cut if I had to. For sure if you are able to fit Hakone to Nagasaki in 14 days and return to Tokyo by plane, that could save some train time. It might be a bit more expensive, but you can save on not using the 21 days JR Pass. Nikko can be done with Tobu pass, going to Hakone with the romancecar (or on JR not using shinkansen) and Kamakura just buy the normal ticket, is inexpensive, so that part at the start would not justify the extra week.
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Final tip, bring comfy shoe, because this is a plan to walk a lot. If you are not walking much, you should start walking more daily, otherwise in less than a week you will dream of a day doing nothing.
I did 4 days Tokyo, overnight hakone, 3 days kyoto, three days Osaka with almost day trip to Nara and half day to Kobe. I wish I stayed in Kyoto at least one more day and get lost in the city for the day instead of doing touristy stuff. Tokyo is massive but some places have a similar feel as NYC. If this is not for you then you don’t need to stay in Tokyo longer but if you enjoy big cities, I recommend staying in Tokyo longer. Each district has its own charm and different vibe. I loved it but my wife said 4 day was more than enough.
Can I ask what you like specifically about Japan? Are there special reasons why you’ve chosen some of these activities? For instance, are you really into trains or transportation history, and that’s why you’ve chosen the Railway Museum?
Sounds like an awesome itinerary. As for tattoos, here’s a helpful link [https://japanobjects.com/features/tattoo-onsen](https://japanobjects.com/features/tattoo-onsen)
One piece of advice. I wouldn’t book any hotel or airline that won’t guarantee a 100% refund if the virus is still around. Japan is being really strict about entry. Even people with visas can’t re-enter unless they fulfill certain criteria. And Japan is liable to make sudden overnight decisions.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t come to Japan someday. It might be worth it to delay your honeymoon and come to Japan later in 2021 or 2022.
God that’s such a tough decision to make with the current state of the world! Congrats btw! My fiance and I love japan and really want to go someday. I just hope sooner than later given the chance. Best of luck!! 💜
Congrats!!
We loved our 2 nights in Hakone.
We left Tokyo in the morning, had the hotel ship our luggage to Kyoto and took a small roller bag on the Romance Car.
Had the 3-day Hakone free pass. Started the loop, getting off at Gora for lunch at the Gyoza Center and the afternoon at the open Air Museum. Continued on to our ryokan Gora Hanaougi Sounkaku. We loved the atmosphere and the food. But found out we are not “sleep on the tatami mat” kind of people.
Next day did the full loop with the Hakone free pass.
Final day backtracked to Hakone to catch the Shinkansen to Kyoto.
I would not recommend japanican. I know that they are probably under the same umbrella as [bookings.com](https://bookings.com) and agoda however ive had bad experience with their customer support.
Personally, I think many of your museum days are too busy. I would just recommend that you prioritize what you want to do most because I doubt you will have enough time to do it all.
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Impressed with the itinerary, but of it’s your first visit, I would remove some of it. What you are describing (other than Kyoto and Nara) involves lots of travel. For example, Hiroshima is a long way from Tokyo.
You will definitely need some time to enjoy where you are going. But dude, it sounds epic.
I’ve been 5 times and tried planning every moment, and regretted it.
Here are some recommendations
Kyoto
Find a bike tour (govoyagin.com has some) to see the city better.
Check out restaurant Ito https://gm.gnavi.co.jp/shop/0420004202/
Tokyo
Hike Mount Takao it’s a reasonable train ride from any Tokyo train station. Very pretty and at that time of the year is amazing.
Visit a few food hall
Takashimaya Shinjuku
Kamakura
Go to the beach Kamakura Zaimokuza Beach
Make sure to check schedules and purchase tickets from your travel agent before arrival. Japan runs on a schedule so plan accordingly.
Lastly spend some time wandering around the stations and enjoy the small shops.
Great itinerary. My main comment is that the southern region will be in peak spring season in late march to early april going up the region so i would suggest to switch the itinerary backwards. Just my 2 cents. 🙂
I’m a bit late to this, but overall I’d say you have a good itinerary. Though there are a couple of things that you might want to consider. A daytrip to Kanazawa from Nagoya is going to be tiring. You’ll likely be travelling for 3 hours one way including wait times. Your time in Kanazawa could end up quite rushed depending on what you want to see. If anything, I’d consider dropping Nagoya entirely and focusing on Takayama and Kanazawa instead. Nagoya is a pretty bland city, and you already have a lot of big cities on your itinerary so visiting some smaller ones will break things up a bit.
I’d also say that your Kyoto itinerary looks a bit optimistic at points. The temples by Kyoto station look close together on Google Maps but the walk time between them is longer than you might think. Visiting the railway museum and Nijo Castle on the same afternoon will be tough. Shoren-in has a nice but small garden, Chion-in is kind of unremarkable except for the big gate at the entrance, you’ll likely just pass through Yasaka Shrine, Kodaiji Temple is very nice, Kiyomizudera and the area leading up to it is worth it. Kenninji is a nice temple that isn’t talked about that often. It’s unique in that you are allowed to take pictures inside. You could do all of these shrines and temples in a day, but an afternoon is very optimistic.
I think overall you have a solid plan, but don’t feel like you have to follow it exactly and tick things off. From experience, it’s best to have places you want to visit in each city but not to stick to a rigid timetable of when you’ll visit each place. Places can be shut unexpectedly and randomly or the weather takes a turn for the worse. And remember that this is your honeymoon! Some days you will want to just chill in a cafe or just wander around. You might end up not liking an attraction that much and want to leave early (I’ve found that a fair few of Japan’s large tourist attractions are like this). Or vice versa, you might end up wanting to really thoroughly explore a place.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is that you will be visiting during cherry blossom season and the end of year school holidays (only two weeks though). It will be busy. And that will likely mean that attractions will take longer to visit. Keep that in mind, especially in places like Kyoto.
Great itinerary overall. I’ve been to Japan with my partner 3 times and the third time we travelled the length of Japan for 3 months, we’ve been to most of the places you plan to go. I have a couple of pointers:
– DEFINITELY go to Koya San and try to stay over – we just went for the day but fell in love with it. The cemetery is breathtaking!
– I wouldn’t recommend Nagoya city itself – pretty average compared to other places you’re going.
– I noticed you don’t have many rest days? Make sure you have one or two – especially when you first get there as you will be suffering with jet-lag
– I spent 6 weeks in Kamakura and it is such an incredible place with excellent hiking trails and so many places to see – you might want 2 days there
– you also might want 2 days in Nikko – plenty to see here and great hiking trails.
– Okayama is pretty average – I would recommend skipping this or passing through quickly and go straight to Himeji and or have a rest day… I know you have Himeji planned for the way back but I recommend having a couple of days in Tokyo at the end for any last minute shopping or sight-seeing
I’m not convinced for a second Japan is going to let tourists in before the middle of next year
But that’s an exciting itinerary and I hope they do! All the best!
I’d slowwwwww down. I think your question about trimming some things is probably because you suspect that too! You will be unpleasantly exhausted running around like that.
Hakone takes a long time to get around, especially on a weekend when people are taking short trips out of the city. I would assume you’ll get nothing done on that second day, if you actually want to take your time and see any of Hakone, and I do recommend taking your time with the circuit. People rush through it but I really enjoyed wandering slowly along the cedar alley and exploring the area around Lake Ashi, and I regretted not having more time in some of the other areas as well (my second day was a holiday and it was nightmarishly busy by the afternoon). It’s a beautiful area and the different touristy activities to choose from alone the way are really neat. I liked Ryuguden, on Lake Ashi, but I don’t recall if it had family onsen so you might want to check. Either way, the area was really pretty and it was AMAZING watching the mist roll across the lake in the morning and seeing Mount Fuji from my room (not guaranteed, and I only spotted it between rain showers, but it was still neat). None of the staff spoke fluent English so I’m only kind of clear on what I ate for dinner and breakfast, but it was all delicious and beautifully arranged so no complaints there.
I would recommend just one castle, unless you’re really into feudal Japan. They started to blur for me. Kyoto will also take much more time to get around/across than you think, and you’ll want to slow down and leave time to stop for snacks or look at little neighborhood shrines you didn’t have on your map. It’s a pretty place so don’t let it become a blur.
I also think Takayama is worth more time – I’d skip Nagoya and push straight through to Takayama and use that as a base to explore the area. If you give yourselve a couple of days there you can slow down and relax a little, and the cherry trees along the Hida River might be blooming and very pretty. That will also give you time to check out the folk village, which I felt was VERY worth the time and money and less of a zoo than Shirakawago, and also while the train trip there is neat, it’s a long way in and out.
I’d also consider cutting some of the day trips. They’re fun, but on my last trip I spent three weeks in Japan and I came to really appreciate those days when I wasn’t getting on a long train ride and could just putter around close to “home” and maybe take some time to do a little laundry, write a postcard to my friends, or just sit in a coffee shop and watch the world pass by.
…are you really dead-set on Nagasaki? Because it’s really far. I’d consider flying back to Tokyo to save a day on the train (no really, add it up). You can plot the whole trip out in Google Maps to see if it’s feasible; just use generic hotels or even train stations as start/end points at this point.
Notes in bullet points:
* Kuromon is best first thing in the morning so you’d get the freshest of fish (well, anything food actually).
* is it me or is Fushimi Inari not in your list?
* while we’re in Kyoto – double check if all the places for a day are in the same area. Kyoto’s train system isn’t as extensive as Osaka’s, so they depend on buses for public transport.
* Don’t underestimate the travel time for Koyasan – when I went there it was three hours one way.
* Himeji is doable as a daytrip from Osaka if you’re just after the highlights; one option is to head out to Himeji real early, have lunch there, then head to Kobe for more food, then Osaka to sleep
I feel you crammed in way too much that you won’t actually experience the place because of all the rushing. Assuming we can all travel at the dates you want, this is peak sakura season – lots of activities everywhere like illuminations, etc. If I had three weeks and I had a similar list of places to see, I’d probably split it evenly between central east Japan (Kanto) and central Japan (Kansai, Takayama, Shiga, Wakayama) and save Okayama onwards for another trip.
RE Kyoto:
If you’re going to do:
Ninenzen
Then kiyomizu
Then go back up to Yasui
And end in gion.
Youd be better of:
Starting at yasui- walking to Ninenzaka following down through to (theres some nice temples on the way) Gion and watching sunset / enjoying some time at Kiyomizu and then enjoying the streets of Gion at night. Its a more direct path though the points you’d like to see otherwise you’re jumping from left to right
Also: shinsaibashi is super close to dontonburi so Id do them in conjunction as well. You literally walk from one into the other. Again seems a waste to jump from place to place and waste money / time on trains.
Is there an express train from Nagoya to Takayama? When I looked I could only find a 4 hour bus ride…. this might change things