Howdy y’all! I’m taking my teen with me to Japan for the first time (she’s into anime, Japanese culture, theme parks, etc.), and I was hoping to get some feedback on what I’m beginning to think is a sprawling mess of an adventure through the main tourist destinations of Honshu. I’m a little concerned I’m pushing it with my timeline, but without being there myself it’s hard to judge distances, so a lot of the days only have 1-3 activities planned to allow for travel/food. We won’t be traveling with luggage in the first half of the journey (going to buy some halfway through to stuff with goodies to take home) so we’ll be getting most of our long travel days out of the way with just backpacks. The beginning is going to look a little hectic….but, the basic outline is:
Tokyo -> Kanazawa -> Shirakawago/Takayama -> (maybe) Nagoya -> Okunoshima -> Miyajima -> Hiroshima -> Osaka (Base here, day trips to Himeji/Kobe, Kyoto) -> Nara -> Tokyo
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Tokyo
Day 1: Arrival at Haneda in the evening, pick up JR Pass and pocket wifi, tram to hotel and veg out.
Day 2: Spend the day getting our land legs back and making sure we can work out the train system. Putt around the city, relax, giggle about how we’re actually in Japan.
Kanazawa
Day 3: Depart from Tokyo in the morning and shinkansen up to Kanazawa. Check into hotel and head over to the Kenroku-en garden area.
Shirakawago/Takayama
Day 4: Early morning bus from Kanazawa to Shirakawago to sightsee for a few hours and find some of that Hida sushi I keep reading about. In the afternoon we catch another bus to Takayama, where we’ll spend the night.
Nagoya (Maybe)
Day 5: Here is where I hit a snag. As it stands, it takes about 6-7 hours to get from Takayama to our next destination, Okunoshima. I was thinking of spending the morning in Takayama and cutting down on our travel time the next day by going ahead to Nagoya to spend the night. There isn’t particularly anything there we’re sure about seeing, but 2-3 hour trips are easier to handle than 6-7 all in one go.
I’m just not sure if the check-in/check-out of hotels would make that a waste of time and maybe we should just stay in Takayama another night and suck it up the next day with a long train ride?
Okunoshima
Day 6: Head out in the morning to Bunny (and germ warfare) Island! I have a feeling there isn’t much to do there, but the kiddo is a bunny fanatic so…we’ll be spending the night there. I’m pretty interested in the history of the island so we’ll swing by the ruins and see what we can see. Plus, ferry rides!
Miyajima
Day 7: Another morning departure and more ferry rides! From 1 island to the next, we hope to arrive by afternoon on Miyajima where we’ll check into the hotel and scope out the Itsukushima Shrine and, if time permits, we’ll take the ropeway up Mt. Misen for the view of Miyajima. Maybe see some friendly deer?
Hiroshima/Osaka (Base and luggage!)
Day 8: In the morning we’ll take the ferry back over to Hiroshima where we’ll visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. This one is pretty important, I feel, but I’ve read it only takes an hour or two. Following that, we’ll depart for Osaka where we’ll head on over to the Osaka Castle. If we have time, I’m all about the Cup Noodle Museum and after that an evening in Dotonbori. Probably will have ordered some luggage from amazon and sent it to our hotel so we can start packing in the souvenirs.
Day 9: Day trip from Osaka to Himeji Castle/Kobe. Kobe is pretty optional, I’d say, but people seem to like taking half a day at Himeji and half at Kobe, so that’s our plan.
Day 10/11: Day trips to Kyoto. In no particular order we’re wanting to see Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizu-dera, Gion, Kinkaku-ji, Tenryu-ji Temple, and Arashiyama over the course of 2 days (If possible?)
Day 12: Universal Studios Japan. We’ve got this one planned for a Tuesday, so hopefully the crowds won’t be awful.
Nara/Tokyo
Day 13: Trip to Nara. We’ll send our luggage forward to our hotel in Tokyo and spend the day in Nara to see Todai-ji and Kasuga-taisha, as well as feed the deer in the park. Kiddo knows the risks of nippy deer, but she’s all about it. In the evening we’ll head on to Tokyo.
Day 14: Disney Sea. Planned on a Thursday for crowd control.
Day 15/16/17: Tokyo shopping spree! In no real order, we’ll be hitting the tourist spots and wards. Akihabara for the anime, Asakusa for Sensou-ji, Sumida for the Tokyo Skytree, Shibuya for the giant crossing/Harajuku, and the Pokemon Center Tokyo DX. These are just the main things we want to see, but any suggestions around here are certainly welcome!
Day 18: Sanrio Puroland. Kids into Sanrio stuff. I hear this place has a lot of it. Away we go.
Day 19: Tokyo Disneyland. Now, personally, I will be sick of the theme parks well before this point, but this trip is more for the kiddo than for me (I’m going for the temples!). Planned for a Tuesday to avoid crowds.
Day 20: Pack up our stuff and head for the airport, it’s time to go home.
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I appreciate any comments or suggestions! It’s hard to know things like how easy it is to get around locations or if there are better alternatives nearby. I’ve tried to do my research, but that doesn’t beat first-hand experience. Thanks again!
1 comment
In Kanazawa you are missing out on the sumarai district and higashi Chaya district.
Overall, you are moving around way too much and will miss out on things. You know your travel style best, but transit and travels takes up a lot of time.