Hi, I (27F) will be traveling with my mom and aunt (both 60F) for 6 days from Sunday (5/28) to Friday (6/3). My mom and I have been to Japan twice but the last time we visited was back in 2016 so our memory is a bit foggy. This is also the first time planning a trip so would love some insights. One thing I would like to note is that my mom has some mild foot problems but is pretty aware and prepared to walk. She is slow but she’ll get there. My main question is: **is this itinerary too much on my older-aged mom with foot problems?**
With the exception of Day 0, I plan to start each day at roughly around 10:30/11AM and end my day by around 9PM.
**Day 0 (Sunday) \[Takayama\]:**
* Arrive at Kansai Airport in the morning at 9AM, pick up wifi/Hokuriku-Takayama tourist pass
* Travel from Kansai Airport to Takayama
* take the Haruka line to Shin-Osaka then use the Hokuriku pass to get us to Takayama, looks like a 6 hr trip?
* Check into hotel and crash for the night
**Day 1 (Monday) \[Takayama\]:**
* Take Nohi bus to Shirakawa-go
* this was a place that my mom and I visited back in Dec 2016 that we both loved, albeit it’s no longer snowing in May/June but we still wanted to visit
* Explore Shirakawa-go/Ogimachi
* Go back and explore/eat dinner in Takayama
**Day 2 (Tuesday) \[Kyoto\]:**
* Leave Takayama and go to Kyoto, using the Hokuriku pass; get there by afternoon and check into hotel
* Explore a bit near hotel area and eat dinner
**Day 3 (Wednesday) \[Kyoto\]:**
* Either go to Fushimi Inari or Kiyomizu-dera or both?
* I’m also open to other suggestions. Neither my mom nor I feel that strongly about these places since the last time we’ve visited both but are mostly considering this for my aunt who has never seen either before.
* Explore and eat dinner in Gion
* I would like to visit Shirakawa and hopefully a teahouse and grab some dinner around that area
**Day 4 (Thursday) \[Osaka\]:**
* Leave Kyoto and go to Namba/Osaka then check into hotel
* Explore and eat lunch at Kuromon Market
* Explore and eat dinner in the Dotonbori area
**Day 5 (Friday) \[Osaka\]:**
* Shop at Takashimaya in Namba
* For late afternoon/evening, explore and eat dinner in the Shinsaibashisuji/Amerikamura area or go back to Dotonbori again
* I would also reaaaalllly like to go the mipig cafe Osaka as well.
* Also open to any teppanyaki suggestions but not totally required.
**Day 6 (Saturday) \[Tokyo\]:**
* Fly first transfer from Osaka (KIX) to arrive in Tokyo (HND) at 3:30PM
* My final flight back home at HND is at 12:30AM, which leaves me roughly 6-7 hours to explore Tokyo
* My main priority is to eat omakase for dinner at Kyubey Ginza or some other nice restaurant (open to recs!) and maybe visit Shibuya Sky.
**Some other questions I had:**
* I got the Hokuriku-Takayama pass, instead of the JR pass and was planning on getting around locally with a Suica card and the occasional limited express ticket. Is this doable?
* Is it possible to visit Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizu-dera, and Gion in one day?
* How hot and humid does Japan get in May/June? Does it get cold at night?
Thanks in advance for reading!
3 comments
Your itinerary is unrealistic and you’ll be rushing everywhere. Do they love sitting on buses for multiple hours a day?
You can do Fushimi inari and kiyomizudera in one day if you start at 7 am. Budget at least 3 hours at each location if they’re fast walkers. Both involve inclines and after 10am, be prepared to move through crowds that will slow you down.
Kuramon market is fun to grab a snack but if you’re going after 10 am, it’s packed with tourists. Better to get food outside of the market in Nipponbashi or near namba station. You can probably combine shinsaibashi with dotonburi unless you’re heavy shoppers.
For your flight, your check in counter might not open until 3 hours before if you have to recheck. If you already checked in, then you got a better shot. Security lines took me 2 hours to get through but then again not sure if that was due to it being the Saturday before golden week.
Good luck. If I was you I would just stick to two cities.
Consider ending day 0 at Kanazawa. The Nohi bus your currently planning to use to get to and back from Takayama on day 1 runs from Kanazawa to Takayama and allows you to break the journey and explore. You could crash earlier and have pretty much the same time in Takayama on day 1 as Shirakawago is close to having the same travel time for Kanazawa – Shirakawago – Takayama as Takayama – Shirakawago – Takayama. The Shirakawago bus station has lockers and an overflow building for your luggage.
Do be aware, that the Hidas between Toyama and Takayama (while covered by your pass) do not run frequently. There are 4 per day. There are 4 locals per day that are not always well timed, and when those are done, they are done.
I agree with the previous poster about doing day 0 in Kanazawa and then going by bus to Shirakawa Go from Kanazawa and then continuing onwards to Takayama. You could also just go straight to Takayama from Kanazawa on day 1 and on day 2 go back via the Shirakawa Go stop off.
Honestly, unless you have gotten a very good deal on an airfare I would just pay out of pocket for the shinkansen from Osaka to Tokyo. They’re a lot more frequent than even flights and you can take the Nozomi which run several times an hour.
It is hot and humid in late May and early June and none of the places you are going cool off at night. I’ve gone to all of them in mid-late June and while it is a month later, it has been getting warmer earlier and staying warm longer relatively consistently.
Takayama was very hot when I was there.
It is possible to do Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizudera and Gion in one day but you will be exhausted if you want to do the full loop at Fushimi Inari and you will want to get there more like 8 am vs. 11 am.
Again, it gets quite hot and humid.