Hi
My wife and I are travelling to Japan later this month. We’re flying from Dublin to/from Tokyo and are just putting together an itinerary for the trip. Last minute! We’re both pretty active, outdoorsy people in our mid 30s and not interested in visiting any theme parks.
Does the itinerary below seem reasonable? I might need to work a couple of days near the end of the trip which is partly why we plan to spend a full week in Tokyo. Also we’re thinking that a 14 day JR pass will be long enough, or would a 21 day pass to include our time in Tokyo be more appropriate?
* Day 1 – Arrive Tokyo at 10am. Visit Team Labs, take an evening train to Kyoto.
* Day 2/3 – Kyoto
* Day 4 – Train to Hiroshima. Miyajima, Peace Museum.
* Day 5 – Peace Memorial Ceremony, then train to Osaka.
* Day 6 – Osaka
* Day 7/8 – Kanazawa
* Day 9/10 – Takayama (have booked a Ryokan)
* Day 11/18 – Tokyo (with a day trip to Hakone at some point)
* Day 19 – Depart Tokyo at 10am
Appreciate the above is pretty high level. Just want to get comfortable that this amount of travel is realistic before filling in the blanks of what to do, although Tokyo aside the rest of the trip should be relatively straightforward to plan.
Thanks!
4 comments
You’re taking your luggage on the train? Make sure the train is build to carry luggage on it (160cm on local is doable if it isn’t crowded, though I wouldn’t recommend it).
I’m currently in Japan and Luggage is a pain. When forwarding take in consideration that it takes a day.
You said you’re outdoorsy but you’re going during the summer where heat and humidity is at its worst in those areas. Just keep in mind that you can schedule some indoor stuff (i.e. museums) mid-day to avoid inconvenience on your part. Regardless, enjoy the trip!!
Currently on my trip. Highly recommend making anywhere around Osaka Station your homebase for the Kansai region, and just take day trips to Kyoto and Hiroshima. Makes logistics a lot easier to plan. Also, folks have mentioned it already but 1000% use Yamato Transport for luggage forwarding especially for your transit in between Osaka -> Kanazawa -> Takayama (just Google Maps ‘Yamato Transport’ and it’ll point you in the right direction).
Ah yeah, and the humidity. If you’re not used to it, the humidity will be more brutal during the weeks you’re going. Best of luck with your trip
If you are outdoorsy, I’d suggest leaving the visit to the Hiroshima museum and memorials for day 5 (since it sounds like you will be going back there anyway) so you can spend more time on Miyajima
Don’t get the 21 day JR pass if the 14 day covers all your Shinkansen travel. It won’t pay off for local travel in Tokyo. You will want a transit card (suica, pasmo or icoca) for non JR travel and to use the days your pass isn’t valid