Hi. This will be my first solo travelling experience and the first time I’ve had to plan a trip myself. For context I am 18 male, loves anime and Japanese culture. More nerdy and interested in technology and more modern cities but I feel I still want to spend some time in rural areas and more traditional areas. Also want to see some shrines but not hundred so I feel. Went to Japan before but for the rugby world cup so didn’t see many places in Japan. have been fortunate enough due to circumstances to have enough money to visit Japan. Will be going in august. Have had trouble with itinerary and what to do as there is a lot in Japan I have found out. Here is my itinerary atm but is flexible as atm nothing is booked. My budget is £3500 max not including flights but flights in these days will be about £1000 so have £2500 for stuff when there.
Plan
1st august – arrive in Tokyo 12:50 pm
Get to accommodation and explore a bit around accommodation(find food and stuff)
2nd august – visit shinjuku first half of day and then shibuya in the second half of the day
3rd august – visit senso ji and the area around it. Then visit akhihabara for most of day
4th august – harajuku, ginza second half of day
5th august – ikebukuro first half and then in second half anything I missed and wanted to do
6th august- get to Kyoto visit fushimi inari shrine
7th august – visit Arashiyama and Sagano
8th august – Nara day trip return back to Kyoto evening
9th august – visit higanshiyama and then some free time
10th august – gion and then train to Osaka
11th august – visit dotombori and Shinsekai
12th august – njigen no mori day trip(Naruto) then take a train to Nachi kasura
13th august – bus to start of Daimonzaka trail do hike to nachi falls and surrounding area then take bus back and either trian to osaka and go to nagayo in morning or go straight to nagayo in morning from nachi kasura
14th august – train to nagayo, nagashika spa land. Evening train to nagano
15th august – visit snow monkey park and Nagano broadway, train back to tokyo
16th august – visit odaiba and then spare time
17th august – spare day in Tokyo to complete anything else
19th august – come back
Have a spare day to fit in anywhere if needed. Haven’t decided what to do with it yet. Have decided to keep it fairly loose as want to see what I like when I get there and explore more instead of booking a bunch of stuff in advance that I have to do.
If you have any advice or criticisms of my itinerary or recommendations for other stuff I should do in the time please let me know. Also if you have any advice on things like jr pass, how to find good cheap acommodation, where can I store luggage between places and luggage holds maybe, icoca card please as am quite confused atm with it all😂.
Thank you for your help.
4 comments
On Day 16 do you mean Nakano Broadway? The place with all the manga, anime and Otaku stuff?
If so this is in Tokyo. It’s fun to visit, consider pairing it with a visit Kichijoji.
If not, apologies, I have never heard of Nagano Broadway
This looks pretty solid for a schedule. For cheap accommodations, I generally just use booking.com to look for hostels and sort by cheapest option. As long as you book at least 2 or 3 days in advance you should be able to find places for around ¥2500/night in bigger cities.
Most bigger train stations and tourist destinations have coin lockers to store your stuff, but if you’re just going solo I’d recommend packing fairly light. Leave space in your suitcase to make it easy to travel, but also so you can do a shopping spree on your final days in Tokyo.
I’d almost recommend changing your schedule around and saving Tokyo for last if you like shopping. I’m not a huge fan, but I’ve occasionally picked up trinkets here and there that caught my eye and not having to carry them around for multiple weeks is pretty nice.
I like that you’ve got some flexibility in your schedule, sometimes it’s nice to unwind and just explore local parks rather than constantly being on the move.
If you get to Fushimi Inari a bit later, you will run into crowds. Why not move it to another day. You get to Fushimi Inari early, then take the train to Nara. This will give you more time in kyoto
You’ve got several free spots. YouTube search ‘things to do in <location>’ if you need inspiration. I found several things to add to my schedule this way.