Hey All! Hope you are all well.
Will be heading out to Japan next week with my Husband for the first time and I can’t wait. Spent sometime planning planning the itinerary and wanted the wisdom and wise words of the community to see if this is ok, any suggestions or changes? I am all ears for feedback and want to make this the best experience possible.
We will be staying in Tokyo as our base. I am also interested in any interesting restaurant recommendations if you have any. We are into themed restaurants/cafe’s but seems a lot of them have closed down.
Also need you advise on what we can do on days 11,12 & 13 or if we need to space things out?? Any other city suggestions or any other attractions in Tokyo?
​
Day 1 – Arrive at Narita in the evening, collect JR Pass, Sim card, Cash and other bits. Travel to Hotel, get something to eat and relax.
Day 2 (Tokyo) – Disneyland
Day 3 (Tokyo) – Disneysea
Day 4 (Tokyo: Shibuya) Yoyogi park, Shibuya crossing, Shibuya Sky, shopping – Ometesando, Takeshita
& Harajuku
Day 5 (Tokyo) Tokyo Tower, Roppongi museum, Imperial Palace, TeamLabs, Joypolis (arcade), Madame
Tussaud’s
Day 6 (Osaka) Umeda Sky, Namba Yasaka shrine, Shinsaibashisuji shopping, Pokémon cafe, Kuromon Ichiba Market
Day 7 (Osaka) Aquarium, Universal studios, Tempozan ferris wheel, Dotonbori incl. Takoyaki Wanaka
Day 8 (Tokyo) Skytree, Asakusa kimono rental, Senso-ji temple, Ryogoku Sumo arena, Street-kart, shopping/arcade – Ameyoko, Akihabara & Handa
Day 9 (Tokyo: Shinjuku) Shinjuku, Night street eats
Day 10 (Kyoto) Kinkaku-ji (Temple), Imperial Palace, Nijo Castle, Nishiki market (F), Philosopher’s path, Bamboo Forest, Gion geisha district, Maruyama Park, Nineizaka (Historical Alley), Sanneizaka (pedestrian street), Kiyomizu-dera (Buddhist temple)
Day 11 – Suggestions?
Day 12 – Suggestions?
Day 13 – Suggestions?
Day 14 (Mount Fuji) Mount Fuji
Day 15 (Narita) – Travel to Narita to check into hotel as our flight is late in the evening
​
Thanks for reading this and your help and advise, can’t wait!
5 comments
If you don’t have anything locked/pre paid for Tokyo on days 8 & 9, I can’t understand why you would travel back to Tokyo from Osaka and then travel to Kyoto. Kyoto is only 15 minutes from Osaka on the bullet train. You will be waisting 6+ hours with the return journey.
Given that it’s your first visit, I would highly recommend at least 3 nights in Kyoto. It’s too nice a city to rush through in 1 day.
Whatever you end up doing, have a great time! 23 days till I head off!
Day 10 looks massive and doesn’t really allow you to experience each spot in any detail.
As the other commenter mentioned, is there a specific reason you are going back to Tokyo on Day 8 and 9?
I would move those Tokyo days to days 11 and 12 and add Kyoto into days 8 and 9. It gives you time to break up Day 10 and enjoy each area more. Arashiyama for example we ended up spending 2-3hrs at just trying all the food and enjoying the river views etc.
You might be fitter than me but we only did Gion, Nishiki, arashiyama and kinkaku-ji on one day and we hit 35,000 steps by the end of the day and my feet were wrecked haha. So just one thing to keep in mind.
I saw quite a few animal cafes around. I recall seeing a mini pig one in (I think) Teramachi in Kyoto and I’m certain I saw one on Takeshita Street.
The rest of your itinerary looks good to me. You’re going to love it! I only just got back two days ago and I miss it already.
>Street-kart
As a Tokyoite commuter, please no 🙁
>street kart
People in tokyo are generally very annoyed by the go-karting foreigners. I don’t recommend it if you don’t want to be seen as a massive arse
No judgment but it shocks me that people travel all the way to Japan just to go to Disneyland.