Itinerary Check from 23 May to 30 May from Tokyo -> Hakone -> Kyoto -> Fukui -> Nagoya -> Tochigi -> Tokyo

9 comments

1. Sorry but this seems insane to me. 7 cities in 7 days, you’ll visit the inside of trains and stations more than anything else. Have you looked at where the places you want to visit are? Nara is a whole different city than Kyoto. And why would you ever travel to a new city to only spend 2 hours there ?

   Honestly at this point I’m hoping it’s a parody of super packed itineraries

2. Hakone to Kawaguchiko is not easy at all. I just got back and it took me over half a day to get from one to another given bus connections. It was super frustrating and I wouldn’t recommend it. I would just stick to either the hakone loop or the Kawaguchiko area if you’re only there for one day.

   That being said, as others noted your itinerary rn is insane. I feel you won’t be able to enjoy each sight thoroughly. Why not skip Nagoya this trip if you don’t have anything planned and you can only spend two hours there? Seems to be a better use of time if you can spend an extra day in Kyoto or Tokyo. As it stands right now, over half your trip is gonna be spent on trains and busses. Hope this helps!

3. Did you look up the distances between any these spots? Even on the Shinkasen, Hakone to Kyoto is gonna be about two hours and then you somehow want to go to Nara on the same day and have time to see anything in either place?

   For a week trip I think it would be better if you either stayed in the Tokyo area, there are plenty of day trips you can take from there, or split your time between Tokyo and Kyoto only.

4. sorry, have you mapped out the places you want to go on Google maps and looked at the relative distance? Some of the places you’ve put in the same day would be better suited grouped together on other days.

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   maybe it’s worth it to take a loss on some cancellation fees have a better trip…

5. This sounds so stressful and not an enjoyable trip.
   Tokyo and Kyoto are such great cities to explore, it would be a waste to spend this little time in these cities

   My suggestion would be Tokyo -> Hakone -> Kyoto -> Tokyo

6. this is such a tight schedule I’m not sure if you could really enjoy your time there. getting around Tokyo can take like 30-45 minutes depending on where you’re going so you need to factor that in. honestly I would only pick like 2-3 cities at most

   edit: also avatar robot cafe is temporarily closed

7. I would see if you can eat the cost of your Nagoya hotel. I know it isn’t ideal but if you are traveling to Japan, might as well enjoy as much as possible and worry less. No point in wasting a day or two to save money. You either waste money or time and in this instance I would value time more. Everyone is different so give it some thought. I definitely did some dumb shit and wasted money but I still had a great time.

   As others mentioned, getting around is time consuming. Japan’s public transportation is great but expect to still spend time. Me and my wife would wake up around 6:30 and wouldn’t be at our first spot until 8:30 or so. Buses usually run late so they may cause delays. The subway and trains are a lot better.

8. Too tight of a plan to do on your first trip. Especially if you havent navigated the train stations before. You’ll burn half a day in each prefecture too. You might wanna add more days to your trip or cut some areas out.

   Personally, with 7 days, I would just chill at Tokyo or do just Osaka/Kyoto/Nara (with Osaka being my base and using a JR pass for bullet trains to get to Kyoto in under 25 min). Way more doable.

9. I guess my question is do you normally pack your vacation schedules wall to wall and if so, do you enjoy that? Even if you do I think this schedule is ambitious. If you normally don’t enjoy a hectic schedule, this vacation schedule will run you ragged and you won’t have time to enjoy anything. For multi-city vacations I recommend three to four nights in a city. Two nights is an absolute minimum. Even with bullet trains you will be spending half of each day traveling. I understand wanting to pack in as much of Japan as possible on a first trip but vacations should be a little relaxing too. I just did my first Japan trip and I ran myself a bit ragged doing two night stays in several cities. For this trip I would just do Tokyo and Kyoto. Get a hotel either in the area you want to explore or at a train station that will get you where you want quickly. Remember to check restaurants and events that require advance reservations. You can’t roll up to Kyoto and book a same day tea ceremony, I saw many other tourists begging for a time slot.

   Often many restaurants that receive notoriety will be packed and need reservations. That’s not a problem, there is plenty of great food everywhere. I think I had only one mediocre meal while in Japan.

   Things like the Torii gates at the Inari shrine and the temple at kymizudera are best enjoyed early in the morning (like 6 AM early) as other tourists will flood the place in short order.

   Good luck!