ITINERARY ADVICE: We are very early in our planning and still working out the general itinerary before hitting the fine details, but feel free to make suggestions. The trip is 3 weeks in Japan end of summer/ early September. I know it will be hot and humid this time of year and also the highest risk month for very rainy times. This is the time we have off work and Japan is a lifelong dream. This is likely to be our only visit, so we hope to cover as much territory as possible to get a country overview, with the knowledge that our itinerary will seem full to many. We may need to make spontaneous deletions in activities etc. depending on the weather and our own exhaustion. We also don’t mind enjoying landscapes from a train and experiencing less in a single destination in order to get a taste of more regions. That said, we also are staying several days in 3 locations so we can do day trips with no luggage in tow and relax a bit or alter our agenda as needed. 3 ‘one nighters’ are in the itinerary …again to taste a few extra areas. I am wondering how reliable it is to send luggage ahead for the places where we only have one night. We are experienced travelers and can do a lot in a day beginning very early, but this is our first time to Asia. We are more likely spontaneous street food eaters as opposed to hanging out in restaurants or bars. Thank you for any helpful pointers. I have specific questions below labeled **Q-….**
**THE SITES LISTED AT EACH LOCATION ARE THOSE TO CHOOSE FROM. I KNOW WE CANNOT DO THEM ALL!!**
**Q Is it worthwhile to book business class for our JR Pass to have fewer summer crowds and do we need to make specific reservations ahead (we will purchase pass from US)?** **Will this also alleviate the luggage on trains issue?**
**JAPAN TRIP COMMENCES HERE!**
Arrive in TKO Haneda from SFO at 4:30 am business class (in hopes of a restful flight). Train to Shinjuku Hotel.
**Q1 Will things be open by the time we get through the airport process to get a Suica card, Wifi, and be able to train in to Shinjuku? Should we bring Japanese Yen or are ATMs abundant at the airport?**
**\*3 NIGHTS TOKYO**
Arrival **DAY 1**: after leaving bags at our hotel, TKO west side in no particular order (until we can check in to hotel and rest?
Shibuya-S. crossing, Meiji Jingu, Yoyogi Pk, Hachiko Square (morning)
Harajuko- Omotesando and/or Takshita St shops (late lunch?)
Shinjuku-Gyoen garden (picnic?), Metropolitan Govt Bldg for the view, Golden Gai, Omoide Yokocho (evening)
**DAY 2**: Central TKO
Chiyoda-Imperial Palace, TKO Station, Akihabara, Yasukuni Shrine (morning)
Chuo- Ginza, Hama Rikyu Gardens, Kabukiza Theater, Tsukiji Fish Market (late lunch)
Minato- Roppongi Hills, Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Tower, Sengakuji temple (evening)
**DAY 3****:** North/East TKO
Asakusa- Sensoji Temple, Nakamise Shopping Street, Asakusa shrine
Taito- Skytree, Ueno park, national museum
Early night so we can take a very early train.
**Q2 Would it be wise to send our luggage to our Osaka hotel and just carry a small backpack with essentials for the next 2 one night stops?**
**DAY 4**: 7am train to Kamakura
Kamakura am drop luggage at hotel upon arrival. Sites to see in Kamakura- Kotokuin temple, Hase-dera, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine, Engaku-ji temple and Hokokuji temple if time permits
**Q3 Given the full list of sites we hope to visit in Kamakura, is a stop in Yokohama to have breakfast in Chinatown over the top? Could this be an easy** **stop or a dumb plan?**
**\*1 NIGHT KAMAKURA**
**DAY 5:** Quiet morning around Kamakura or possibly Enoshima before taking the train to Hakone for our onsen experience. Hakone-shrine and open-air museum, onsen experience
Odakyu Hakone Free Pass
**\*1 NIGHT HAKONE**
**Q4 Can we spend the following morning seeing Enoshima and take the train to Hakone midday and still do justice to the Hakone experience?**
**DAY 6****:** am Hakone railway and observation platform for views after ryokan breakfast. Train to Osaka and enjoy views of Mt Fuji, coast etc
**Q5 Should we spend a half day in Hakone doing the Ropeway etc OR should we leave earlier for Osaka and consider a stopover in Nagoya or skip it in favor of that afternoon and eve in Okasa? I am leaning toward skipping Nagoya.**
**\*3 NIGHTS IN OSAKA**
**DAY 7:** **early day.** day trip to Himeji castle. 2-3 hours and return to Osaka for full afternoon and evening. Sites- Dotombori District to EAT!, Osaka Castle, Shinsaibashi-suji
**DAY 8:** Day trip Okayama and Kurashiki. Sites- Okayama Castle ruins and then Korakuen Garden-
spend about 2 hours in the garden, back to Okayama station, and have lunch
go to Kurashiki station by JR local train (in 20 min. )
walk from Kurashiki station to Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter.
**SEND LUGGAGE AHEAD TO KYOTO-can this be done at the hotels or arrange it ahead online?**
**DAY 9: early day.**Train Osaka to Koyasan. (Take the Midosuji Osaka Subway from Shin-Osaka to Namba station (¥280), then transfer to the Nankai Namba station (about 5-10min walk). There, board the Nankai Express to Gokurakubashi station (¥1650 From Gokuraku-bashi, you can use the Cable car up Mt. Koya (¥390). This route takes about 2 hours
**\*1 OVERNIGHT IN KOYASAN FOR A TEMPLE EXPERIENCE**
**DAY 10:** After breakfast and Buddhist temple ceremony, take train to Kyoto (via Hashimoto(Wakayama), Shinimamiya then Shin-Osaka and then to Kyoto. 3 hrs)
Enjoy first Kyoto in the evening.
**\*5 NIGHTS IN KYOTO**
**DAY 11:** full day Kyoto. Sites-TBD
**DAY 12: early day** NARA and Arashiyama bamboo forest.
**Q6 Can we do this on our own using trains or we can hire a local tour guide who offers this as a full day itinerary?**
Bamboo forest and Tenryu-ji temple garden, Hozu-gawa river and Togetsu bridge
Nara-deer park, Todaiji temple, Kasuga Shrine
Back to Kyoto
**DAY 13:** Second full day Kyoto. Sites-TBD
**DAY 14: early day** Day trip to Hiroshima via train 1hr40 and Miyajima 40 mins to ferry
Am and lunch-Hiroshima sites- Peace Memorial park, Museum and Atomic Dome
Pm and dinner-Miyajima sites-Itsukushima Shrine ,floating Torii, possibly the ropeway
Return later evening to Kyoto
**DAY 15:** Depart early Kyoto for Kanazawa (2hrs)drop luggage to hotel. Spend full day in Kanazawa
Sites-Castle, Old town, Kenrouken garden, ninjadera temple, omicho Market
**\*SLEEP KANAZAWA ??**
**Q7 I have 2 nights to spend around here and would love to see Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go and Takayama. Should we stay 1 night in Kanazawa and then one in Takayama as many recommend? And where would it make sense to fit Shirakawa-go or should we do Hida no Sato instead. Should we forward our luggage using takuhaibin? We are very sensible packers and will each have a carry on size suitcase for our 3 week trip.**
**DAY 16:** morning finish Kanazawa then Takayama
**\*SLEEP TAKAYAMA ??**
Sites-Open air market, Sakurayama Hachimangu shrine, Old town
**DAY 17**: morning in Takayama **–Hida no Sato?**
In the late afternoon, Travel back to Tokyo via Toyama (4.5 hrs). Get a hotel close to Haneda airport. Plan for late arrival, We depart 11 pm next day
**DAY 18:** day trip to Nikko or more time in TKO to see things we couldn’t fit in early on. Depart 11pm for USA
Tobu Nikko Pass if opt to go to Nikko
3 comments
Luggage deliveries are the best! We dropped off our big luggages at the airport arrival and had it delivered to our hotel in Kyoto, which was day 3 of our trip arriving from HND. The luggages arrived to our room safe and sound. I would say plan ahead and have a separate carry-on with you that can pack at least 2 days worth of things you need. I’m still at Japan now and learned the hotels/airport can’t do same day shipping and they suggested 1-2 days ahead just to be safe. Might be different though if you drop it off at the convenient store. Most hotels will take care of shipping/receiving if you are staying at an established hotel but should check with them ahead of time.
For the day trip to Nara and Bamboo forest, it’s best to split those two in different days. They are really far from each other. There are only two train lines to get to bamboo forest. Depending where you stay you may need to take a bus. It’s very scenic and best not to rush. I saw that they have boat tours but sadly didn’t go.
I actually find Bamboo forest more enjoyable than Nara since the deers were rather aggressive lol. I’m also petite so when they tried to climb on me they were a head taller. At Nara there’s famous mochi place where the workers put on a show on slapping mochi. Check it out when you get a chance!
i dont think summer crowds should typically be an issue unless you are travelling during obon. also fyi, japan isn’t realy a ‘street food’ kinda place and it’s quite different from the rest of asia in my experience in that regard. there’s a ton of tiny bars with a handful of tables, but street food isn’t really a thing in most cities. Even if you do get street food, outside of osaka, you will be expected to stand on the spot, and eat your treat there, including coffee from a convenience store. If you want a more casual, street food, hectic vibrant city vibe, you might want to spend more time in osaka. That aside, I think you need to buffer some more time for your inter-city travels, unless your hotels are beside the shinkansen station. Bullet train stations are usually seperate from the main city train station (eg shin-osaka vs osaka) and requires a transfer + 30 min buffer bc the train station is usually quite large. imo 5 days is a lot in kyoto unless you are really into temples, though ymmv. please dont visit yasukuni shrine and don’t book any apa hotels for the same reason. things tend to close relatively early in japan, so I think you wont have any issues arriving in places early, but if you are planning on long days and depending on things staying open very late, you may have issues (eg restaurants and bars often take last orders around 10pm in tokyo, mom and pop shops often close around 6, 7, etc).
If you’re going to Kanazawa, I highly recommend going to the Kurobe Gorge if you have the time to do so.