Hello,
We are planning our first trip to Japan in October and we are a bit overwhelmed by the amount of stuff to see/things to do/choices to make :-). We are mostly used to travel to Africa so planning is a bit different.
We are in our 30s, interested in the culture, food, temples, nature but we are not anime fans, and we are not planning any amusement parks.
So far, our first draft of itinerary is the following:
\- 02 Oct (Mon): arrival in Haneda at 4pm. Customs, pick up Suica cards (JR if it is interesting for us to get one), go to hotel and walk around a bit/get food/relax
\- 03 Oct (Tue): I assume we will be still a bit broken by long flights/jet lag… so “easy” day. We might reshuffle stuff on a later day if we are too tired. Asakusa, Senso-ji, Skytree (?), Ueno Park, Yanesen
\- 04 Oct (Wed): Harajuku (Meiji Shrine, walks around, Papier Labo, Marion Crepes, Toga) + Shibuya (Crossing, Hachiko) + Shinjuku (Gyoen National Garden + Donki + night life)
\- 05 Oct (Thu): travel to Hakone Yumoto from Shinjuku, Hakone Jinja Shrine on Lake Ashi, night in a ryokan
\- 06 Oct (Fri): Enjoy the morning in Hakone, hopefully we can see Mt Fuji, and travel to Kyoto in the afternoon, tea ceremony, Gion and Pontocho food alley
\- 07 Oct (Sat): Arashiyama bamboo grove early morning, Kinkaku-ji temple
\- 08 Oct (Sun): Day trip to Nara, Todai-ji temple
\- 09 Oct (Mon): Fushimi Inari Shrine, then move North to Kiyomizu-Dera, Path of Philosophy, Gingaku-ji
\- 10 Oct (Tue): Day trip to Osaka, Osaka-jo, mostly try interesting and new food there, Dotombori
\- 11 Oct (Wed): Here we get a bit lot. We’d like to escape a little bit the big cities and explore the Japanese Alps. I’d love to go to Kamikochi and just relax but I am not sure if it is feasible/worth it. From Kyoto, we could go to Matsumoto for one night.
\- 12 Oct (Thu): Then travel to Kamikochi? And spend one night in Kamikochi. Nice walks in the valley. Other plan would be to travel from Kyoto to Tokyo and do a day trip to Nikko instead to still get a bit of escape from cities. What can be advisable here?
\- 13 Oct (Fri): Return to Tokyo
\- 14 Oct (Sat): Tsukiji fish market, Teams Lab Planet, Imperial Palace, Ginza
\- 15 Oct (Sun): Free day? I think it depends on what we will do after Kyoto. Or maybe we could spend 2 nights in Hakone and move everything by one day?
\- 16 Oct (Mon): Last bit of shopping. Flight at 5pm from Haneda.
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1) does it make sense? What can we improve? We don’t want to overpack the itinerary with activities as we would like to still be spontaneous and see how the day goes and where it takes us 🙂 Same for restaurants, we might book 1/2 for a particular experience but the rest will depend on the mood of the day.
2) we would like to do some kind of whisky tasting… is there such things? Any address you can recommend?
3) Any recommendation on ONE restaurant not to miss? Particular experience that is worth spending extra $?
Thank you!! 🙂
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4 comments
If you haven’t bought your plane tickets yet, it’s worth considering pushing your trip back a week as the first week of October is a huge national holiday period for China (Chinese Golden Week). Japan is a popular destination during that time!
You can try Kanazawa-Tateyama Kurobe-Matsumoto 2-3 days trip on your way back to Tokyo from Osaka. Spend 1 night at Kanazawa and 1 night at Matsumoto.
Seconding the comment to avoid the first week of October if possible.
Aside from this:
* Move Fushimi Inari from 9 Oct to 8 Oct. Firstly, it’s on the way to Nara; secondly, Kiyomizudera opens at 6:30am and really rewards an early start – arriving before 7:30am is so peaceful.
* 11 Oct: Matsumoto is lovely, there is an original construction castle (if you go here, skip Osaka castle) + the art museum has lots of Kusamas. If you enjoy hiking, you could move the 15 Oct day here to have an extra day around this area for a combination of Matsumoto city / surroundings, Nakasendo (Magome / Tsumago post towns), and Kamikochi. If you can swing it I think Kamikochi is vastly more worth it than Nikko especially considering foliage peaking.
* Whisky tasting: Suntory has a distillery near Osaka, it’s closed until the fall for renovations (unclear if it will open in time for your trip).
Would take a slower pace. Full days will be exhausting. Accept you can’t see everything. There is simply too much to see.
Better book ahead the tea ceremony to avoid disappointment. Skytree too, can be huge lines.
Spend more time in Osaka, day trip alone gives you just a glimps of the nice city. Tokyo has the name, but the Japanese go to Osaka for holidays.
Nara can be done in one day. (Don’t forget the nice Nara Park). There are some nice nature spots around Nara. Like the Three Mountains of Yamato, Mt. Yoshino, and the Mitarai Valley. This would not need you to ‘leave’ the big cities and go elsewhere.