16 Day Itinerary

24 comments

1. On day 9 or 12 you could visit Himeji. It has one of, if not the best castle in Japan. Also has a very nice garden just a few mins away from the castle.

2. Where are you flying into? Haneda or Narita?

3. One recommendation I have for Kyoto…

   Go to Fushimi Inari Taisha later in the day/evening. It’s open 24/7. If you go during the prime-time hours during the day, there will be many more people there. We had a couple fellow travellers advise us to visit around 7PM through sunset, when the amount of bodies just cluttering up the steps will be way less noticeable. We were so glad we went in the evening because it felt like we had parts of the trail to ourselves.

   If you go all the way to the top, it’s an amazing sight to see the sunset and then walk around at night between the gates. A little creepy, too, since there’s wildlife and the only lights are on the paths. Highly recommend it over daylight viewing. Just make sure you bring good walking shoes and have eaten before.

   Also, if you need a place to drink some good alcohol in Kyoto for a fair price, and you’re into craft beers, look for Beer Bar Miyama 162 right next to Gion, in a place called Pontocho alley. It’s tucked away, but the bartender Yuya was awesome, made great recommendations, and everything was super friendly.

4. Just for the record, buying tickets for the ghibli museum last minute is virtually impossible. I would deffo buy well in advance of heading to Japan. I recommend a trip to Yokohama to the ramen museum and shinjuku gyoenmae (the park from makoto shinkai’s movie garden of words).

5. I think your day 7 might be a bit too ambitious, since it includes travel from Tokyo to Kyoto. Where in Kyoto are you staying? You could easily spend hours at both Arashiyama and Fushimi Inari (especially if you want to climb to the top) and it takes 1.5+ hours to get from one to the other. You can climb it at night though, and we really enjoyed that last time we were there.

6. For your 6th day, I do recommend the Hakone day trip. Really worth it, just make sure you start early. It takes a little over an hour and a half to Hakone-Yumoto Station via Romance Car from Shinjuku Station; an hour (maybe even less) if you take the Shinkansen from Tokyo Station, alight at Odawara Station and board a local train to Hakone-Yumoto, and then a bus to wherever in Hakone.

   The only issue I have is your 7th day. Since you’re coming from Tokyo, it’s either you pick Arashiyama or Fushimi Inari on that day and transfer the other one on your other free day. Both places are located in either sides of Kyoto. Depending on the season both locations get crowded fast, too. And by the time you do both, you won’t have time for Gion. If you do plan on doing both, and you don’t want to be caught in the crowd, go to either one as early as possible. Like 5-6AM early.

   Love your Tokyo itinerary, it’s very relaxed and not over-planned, just how everything should be. 🙂 Osaka is a hit and miss for a lot of people, 2 – 3 days should be fine imho. Also consider a daytrip to Nara or Kobe, they’re quite nearby!

7. What sort of thing might you be looking for in Kyoto? Hard to recommend things when it’s completely open-ended but I might be able to give a few pointers if you know what sorta thing you’re after.

   As it stands, I’d move Gion to day 8 (it’s in the same general area as Kiyomizu and I’d recommend walking between the two), or even decide to only go there in the evening instead of in the day with all the tourists. It’d be impossible on day 7 with Arashiyama and Fushimi Inari.

8. Day 11: make a day trip to Nara

9. Get a pocket WiFi at the airport for sure. This was a life saver and is very inexpensive (think we paid like $10 per day). You’ll have access to the internet and all your apps while in airplane mode. Make sure you put the return date to the day after you leave so that you have internet on the last day of your trip.

   For Day 7 – If you’re into tofu and delicious food in general, make sure you visit https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g298564-d1173256-Reviews-Yudofu_Sagano-Kyoto_Kyoto_Prefecture_Kinki.html to eat! Order the most popular course (about $60 per person). Yudofu Sagano is by one of the tastiest places I’ve ever eaten in my life including Michelin Star restaurants. It’s kind of hidden but there are signs that point you in the right direction. IMHO, it’s definitely worth the trip just to eat at this place.

   Tomita ramen in Chiba and Shin Udon in Tokyo were also super delicious and not expensive.

10. Be careful, it almost looks like you forgot to explore Tokyo.

11. Some adaptations I would make so you aren’t going back and forth on yourself. Do Harajuku and Shibuya on one day with Meiji Jingu as well as all easy walk within each other.

    Shinjuku is where the red light district is (Kabukicho) so makes sense to do those two on the same day and could also fit in with Ikebekuro.

    Ueno and Akihabara are also within walking distance of one another so I would recommend them on the same day.

    Odaiba depending on what you are doing there could be a whole day (Teamlab, Miraikan, Gundam statue, Venus fort) and you can then also go and view the Tokyo Tower back on the mainland if you get the Yurikamome line (which I absolutely recommend as its a great view).

    The Philosophers walk is great in Kyoto but as others have said switch something away from Day 7 to the free Kyoto day. Possibly check out Nara on your free day instead of Osaka or Kyoto.

12. There is a place near kyoto called monkey mountain. They have a bunch of monkeys running around. You can feed them, take pictures and hang out as long you are respectfull. I had fun doing it and there is a nice view from the top. Since you mentioned a zoo.

13. Hakone can be a nice overnight stop on the way to Kyoto, so you can enjoy a ryokan and onsen. It would not be more expensive on tranport than doing it as a day trip.

    Day 7, you plan to take the train to Kyoto and go to 3 completely different area of Kyoto ? Arashiyama and Fushimi are quite far appart and Gion is next to Higashiyama, where you plan to go on day 8. You might want to make a custom map and pin the places you want to see and really look at what transport look like between the different area.

    Also depend where you take your hotel. For example is you are around Gion, you could easily got to Arashiyama first day and finish the day around Gion, next morning easy train to Fushimi inari and return to Higashiyama. Downside is that you would be a bit further from Kyoto station when you want to take your day trips using JR trains.

    If you are around Kyoto station, it will be easier for the day trips, but really focus on Arashiyama the first day, second go for Fushimi, Higashiyama, Gion. It always depend on what you want to see too, for example Fushimi Inari can be done in 30 minutes if you only want to see the dense torii gate tunnel, but over an hour to hike all the way up.

    Unless you are really really into zoo, I would take day 11 to go to Nara.

    Day 12 would consider Himeji (instead of Osaka castle) it should not take all day so you can stop by Osaka for the afternoon and a dring in Dotonbori for example.

    Doing two big neighborhood in Tokyo in a day can be hard, so be ready to tone down a bit, just make priority of places you want to see and places are ok to drop. As your last days are a bit more open, you should be able to shuffle things and fit area you could not see.

    Also, in clockwise order on the Yamanote, it’s Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, so technically, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro are next or each other and Shibuya and Harajuku are next to each other (actually, Harajuku is in Shibuya ward). That’s actyally not a big deal, maybe an extra 5 minutes on the train.

    The first days are to area that I consider sopping area, so if you plan on doing some shopping, maybe more more Tokyo days to the end of the trip (or move the shopping spots at the end) so you do not have to haul all your purchase up to Kyoto and back.

14. I love Ikebukuro. You should check out Sunshine City. It’s in a really beautiful area and there’s a fuck ton of restaurants inside!

15. No kinkakuji?

16. This is a *great* first trip. Couple notes:

    * Day 6: Consider Kamakura as a side trip

    * Day 11a: The Aquarium is world class, I’d highly recommend that. You could do it in the morning and still manage a lot of the other stuff.

    * Day 11b: If you do Fushimi Inari / Nara on the same day (Fushimi is on the way to Nara from Kyoto) it would free up some time in Kyoto and tack another city on.

    * Day 12: Everyone saying visit Himeji is spot on. It’s also a half day, so you could have an evening available in either Osaka or Kyoto.

    Enjoy your trip!

17. I would actually argue that there is more to do in Kansai than in Kanto–if at all possible I would extend your time there. The JR Pass is completely necessary for this itinerary. Don’t try to cram everything outside of Tokyo into just 7 days to save a few bucks at most.

    For Kansai I typically recommend (as a ***minimum*** starting point) 3 full days for Kyoto, 1 full day for Osaka, 1 full day in Nara, and 1 day for Himeji+Kobe (or Himeji+more Osaka).

    I suggest looking at [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/5wgxa1/best_way_to_group_these_sites_in_kyoto/dea059y/?context=3) for my general advice about arranging sights in Kyoto. I am strongly of the of the opinion that each successive day you spend in Kyoto is better than the last. It’s a city that really benefits from time spent exploring on foot and/or bicycle.

    For Osaka, I would at least add Shinsekai and Kuromon Market. If you’re into anime/manga/electronics/etc. the walk from Kuromon to Shinsekai takes you right through DenDen Town.

    Osaka Castle is a concrete reconstruction and nothing compared to Himeji. I recommend making time for a day trip there instead if at all possible. Himeji Castle + Koko-en (its amazing gardens) should only take roughly half a day, so I usually suggest people do some things in Kobe on the way back (e.g. China Town, the Ijinkan, Mt. Maya/Rokko). Hikone is another excellent castle (smaller, but very quiet and with great views) that you could consider doing as well, since it’s between Tokyo and Kyoto.

    Nara is conspicuously missing from your itinerary, which is a massive mistake. If you’re going to Kansai DO NOT SKIP NARA. The Nara Park area (including Todai-ji, Nigatsu-do, and Kasuga-Taisha) could pretty easily fill most or all of a full day, and there are plenty of other great sights elsewhere in the city (e.g., Horyu-ji, Yakushi-ji, Toshodai-ji) if you have extra time.

    Other than that–**what specific dates are you going?** Seasonal events can really make a trip and can influence how much time you’ll need to allocate for certain things. Without knowing when you’re planning to go, I can’t give you any advice in regards to them though.

18. Garden near the castle is fantastic too.

    Uji is great too!

19. seems too vanila, if you have the railpass you should take advantage of it and check out more cities than the main touristy ones. You have no Idea how lucky you are that you can get that pass. dont waste it on just going from kanto to kansai!

20. I’m jealous. Hope you enjoy all the great sushi!

21. I just saw your eddit, and now day 8 and 9 is literally the same. Higashiyama is the neighborhood where Kiyomizu-dera and Sannenzaka are.

    You might want to be a bit flexible, for example, I would start day 8 by Kinkaku-ji, try to be there when it open at 9, so you can hopefully enjoy it with less crowd, then go to Higashiyama and you might even end up being able to see Gion too, depending on what you want to see and how long it takes. I would do it in that order as it would be much easier to to find things to do around Higashiyama. It could be going for dinner in Ponto-cho area or check the stores that are still open after 5/6, like Takashimaya department store next to Kyoto-Kawaramachi station.

    Next day you can go to Fushimi and if you feel that you saw what you wanted in Higashiyama/Gion, you can easily take the train direct to Nara insted, or if you are not too much into Nara, there is also Uji that is half the distance in the same direction. Or you could decide to do something completely different in Kyoto like check more central area like Nijo castle.

22. I would spend a bit less time in Tokyo and more time in Kyoto. That way you can see more temples and also take a trip to Nara.

23. Kyoto: Kiyomizu-dera and Sanneizaka are part of Southern Higashiyama/Gion area. Doing Arashiyama on arrival makes some sense, but I would pair up all Southern Higashiyama/Gion activities on one day (since Kinkaku-ji and temples in northern Kyoto are about 45 minutes away).

    Osaka: Kaiyukan is generally much more fun than Tennoji Zoo. I would probably not visit Osaka-jo area, unless coming during Hanami period (unless you have vested interest in life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi). Umeda Sky Building would make more sense to be combined with your trip to Himeji.

    Tokyo: I would add Asakusa (Senso-ji, Nakamiche-dori) to your Ueno/Akihabara day.

24. Don’t you have too many days i tokyo? You coukd do some fun day trips. Definitely take Hakone, and maybe another day ro Kamakura