Hi! Since I was a little girl, watching Sailor Moon on TV in Germany, I’ve wanted to visit Japan. Finally I’ll go together with my boyfriend. I am super excited and also anxious that I haven’t planned it well. I traveled a lot in Europe, Latinamerica and a bit in South East Asia, but still Japan seems intimidating and I would be glad if you can give me feedback.
I love temples, nature, serene places, exploring cultural differences and nerd stuff and photography. My boyfriend loves video games, good food and places that look like straight out of an anime. He is a bit afraid he’ll be exhausted after the trip because I planned too much.
We are both vegetarians.
**20th & 21st October**
– Travel from Berlin to Osaka Airport (KIX)
– Arrive in Osaka around noon (21st October, 12:35)
– Travel to Osaka
– Check-In: Hotel Osaka-Shinsekai
*Walk around a bit, eat something, get drinks at Final Fantasy Eorzea Café*
*Forward luggage to Kyoto*
**22nd October: Osaka to Koya-san**
– After Breakfast, travel to Koya-san
*Explore the area, but need to check in to Saiten In temple before 5pm because of dinner at the temple*
– Overnight at temple
**23rd October: Koya-san to Kyoto**
– Morning ceremony and breakfast at the temple *Explore more of the area depending on how much time we have, Garant, Daimon Gate, Kongobuji Temple*
-Travel from Koyasan to Kyoto
– Check in to our hotel near Kyoto station, grab some food
*Optional if we have time: Kyoto Imperial Palace or something else nearby*
**24th October: Kyoto**
-Wake up early, breakfast at hotel, go to Kiyomizu-dera
-Then go to Ninenzaka & Sannenzaka
-Visit Gion Geisha District
-Visit Ghibli Store
-At 4pm Tea Ceremony with Geisha
– Eat Veggie Okonomiyaki at Gion Tanto
**25th October: Kyoto, Daytrip to Nara**
-Wake up very early, breakfast at hotel, visit Fushimi Inari, will not go all the way up though to save some energy
-Around 10 AM go to Nara
*Nara Park and temples, Mochi place*
Dinner in Kyoto or Nara?
**26th October: Kyoto**
Thinking about a daytrip to Hiroshima and Miyajima, unless we already feel tired of traveling around a lot
**27th October: Kyoto**
– Breakfast at hotel. Go to Arashiyama in the morning *I got a photoshoot in a kimono as a gift at Studio Kokoro*
– Walk to Bamboo grove
– Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street
– Tenryuji Temple, Golden Temple
– Eat traditional vegetarian food at Tenryuji Temple Shigetsu
*Forward luggage to Tokyo*
**28th October: Kyoto to Hakone**
– After breakfast, make our way to Hakone
*Our Ryokan is located a bit far from everything in Miyanoshita, so maybe we need to go to Lake Ashi or Hakone Ropeway first, then to our place*
-Check in Ryokan, relax in private Onsen
**29th October: Hakone to Tokyo**
– Convenience store breakfast
*If we haven’t been to already: Lake Ashi and Hakone Shrine*
Only goal in Hakone is to relax and see Fuji-san.
Any recommendations for vegetarian food is welcome.
*Maybe try to book romance car express train to Shinjuku.*
**30th October: Tokyo**
-Harajuku (Takeshita Doris, Cat Street), skip breakfast/eat crepes instead, shopping
-Togo shrine
-Meiji jingu and yoyogi Park relax and maybe do a Picknick with Convenience Store Food depending on weather
-See Tokyo tower in the evening on the way back to hotel
**31st October: Tokyo**
*Need to look up if something worthwhile is happening for Halloween*
– Akihabara
– look for merch for Final Fantasy and my favorite Anime/Manga
– Kanda shrine
– Eorzea Café
*Try to get tickets for Teamlab in Odaiba*
**1st November: Tokyo**
– Ikebukuro (Otome Road, Sunshine City) and Shinjuku (Golden Gai, Memory Lane, Shinjuku Park, Suga Shrine because of Your Name Anime location)
*Ghibli Museum if we get tickets, if not maybe Kawagoe*
**2nd November: Tokyo to Nikko**
*Get nikko heritage pass?*
– Explore temples of Okunikko, stay overnight in guesthouse
– Get some convenience store food for dinner and breakfast
**3rd November: Nikko to Tokyo**
– Senjōgahara, Kegon Falls, Chuzenji lake if possible
Back to Tokyo in the evening
**4th November: Tokyo**
– Asakusa, Senso-ji
– Ueno park
**5th November: Tokyo**
– Shibuya, visit Shibuya crossing
– Vegetarian Ramen cooking class
**6th November: Tokyo**
Pack and relax before flying out in the night at 11pm
*if we weren’t able to do everything we had planned, this day is our backup day*
6 comments
On the 26th instead of going to Hiroshima you could consider a shorter day trip to Himeji, maybe combined with Mt. Shosha/Engyoji temple.
Besides that I think your itinerary looks well balanced and organized, especially your usage of luggage forwarding and the combination of cities and country side stays. You will have a great time, no reason to be intimidated 😉
Add tea drinking at the Ōkōchi Sansō villa near the bamboo forest in Arashiyama to your schedule.
Are you flying Lufthansa from Munich because you start in Osaka?
Looks like a good itinerary. Personally I would not recommend Nikko for a first timer, do more Kyoto, Osaka or Tokyo, I think you will have more fun. I would seriously consider USJ if your boyfriend is into that!!
For meals, be sure to try the vegetarian curry at CocoIchiban, it is really good and a cheap fix for any vegetarian. Also try the fluffy pancakes at some famous stores, eat some vegetarian ramen (for example T‘s tan tan in tokyo, some soup an Tokyo soup stock) and some vegetarian sushi at Sushiro for example.
Tokyo banana are not vegetarian btw.
Edit: In Osaka I recommend http://www.rikuro.co.jp/en/
Go to the main shop in the middle of Osaka but do not wait outside, go inside and to the left there are some stairs. If you go up you can tell them your name and you get a number assigned. With your phone you can see when you can go in.
Sailor moon should be back at Universal studios japan. It wasn’t there this spring but I thought I read it’ll return in the summer.
I’m staying in Saizen-in too upcoming month. I’ve quite some similarities to your iterary. If I don’t forgot I’ll send some tips when I’m back. Have fun! 😀
On your Nara day, I would recommend eating dinner in Nara. The crowds in Nara thin out quite a bit in the evening as most people visit Nara as a day trip, so it will be less crowded in the restaurants than in Kyoto. It will be a more relaxing experience. Plus, if you are staying in Nara longer, you can check out the Naramachi area of Nara. It’s a quite neighborhood with older Japanese style houses and a lot of cafes. It has a chill vibe which might be a nice change of pace from the big cities.
I would recommend either going to Hiroshima OR miyajima.
For Hiroshima – personally for me, the peace museum took a few hours to take in.
For Miyajima – if you’re into nature walks, I found it quite enjoyable to walk to the top of mt misen rather than take the ropeway. The walk does take about 2hours though.