Hi! My partner and I are leaving for Japan from Australia on the 6th of July. I’ve been a few times but it’s my partners first so I’d like to make sure I’m not missing anything out! We will be in Japan for 3 weeks, doing Tokyo, Hakone, Nagoya, Kyoto (during Gion Matsuri) and Osaka (during Tenjin Matsuri).
I just want to check our itinerary for the Tokyo portion of our trip. Please let me know if there’s any reshuffling I could do to make travel times between places more efficient, or if any days look too crowded. Thanks so much!
Day 1:
Fly into Haneda at 5.05pm, check into hotel in Shinjuku, get dinner nearby and get settled.
Day 2:
Meiji-jingu, explore Harajuku, shopping in Shibuya, Omoide Yokocho for dinner.
Day 3:
Shinjuku Gyoen, explore Akihabara, shopping at Tokyo Skytree, walk to Senso-ji, dinner in Asakusa.
Day 4:
Ameyoko shopping district, walk through Ueno Koen to Yanaka cemetery, explore Yanaka Ginza.
Day 5:
Explore Shimokitazawa area, free space to relax or go shopping around Shinjuku. Golden Gai at night.
Day 6:
Tsukiji market, teamLAB Planets, explore and shopping in Ginza, Tokyo Tower for views.
5 comments
By day 5 and 6 you’re going to have done a lot of walking and will most likely be tired. Keep that in mind for those days. I would buy an early ticket for TeamLabs, because you can always go later in the day if needed. (I believe they allow you in at anytime after your assigned time as long as you have a ticket.)
I did Tokyo Tower during the day and loved being able to see all the details of the buildings and land around it. If you go later at night it will most be a more typical city lights view. Depending on which view you’d like to see, or if you want to stay long enough to see the sunset, arrange for that time in your schedule.
This is my first time posting on Reddit, I hope this makes sense/helps at all.
Omeide Yokocho is in Shinjuku. If you are going there, then you are basically spending the evening there and leaving Shibuya. This will be a duplicate to Day 5. Why not just chill in Shibuya Yokocho ans Miyashita Park?
Tokyo Tower is not really known for their observatory because there are better views/settings elsewhere. The one in Roponggi or Shibuya Sky is probably better.
Be sure to check out Tokyo Kabukicho Tower in Shinjuku.
I may be in the minority but I didn’t really enjoy Tsukiji. It’s very touristy, and what stalls that looked interesting had long lines. And while I’m sure they’re very fresh, they were expensive as well. I mean, it’s worth a visit but if you stay there for 2 hours, 1:30 of it would be spent in line. I actually had a better seafood eating experience at Minato Marche Pier Bandai at Niigata. Obviously, not worth a trip just for that, but I think it goes to show that Tsukiji isn’t all that.
If you go just a bit farther out towards the water from TeamLabs area, there are some interesting places you may consider visiting on the same day. My personal opinion is Golden Gai is kinda lame unless you’re just really interested in tiny bars. Most of them look similar, very few serve any food so it’s all just alcohol, and many of them either have a minimum spending or cover charge. It’s close enough to Kabukicho where you can just walk over to say you’ve been there, but I just found it underwhelming.
Also keep in mind tourists have been flooding Tokyo this year. Some accounts earlier in the year took as long as 5.5 hours to get through immigration and customs. When I arrived through HND in late April during an afternoon, took me 2.5 hours. Add travel time into the city, and you could possibly be arriving at your hotel quite late on the first night.
Go to the road side museum – it’s hard to find, it’s very unusual, but has a decent bar and the owners & staff are funny, great company, and the place is one to remember, if you’re not prudish.