Hello!! I’m planning my first trip to Japan, as well as my first trip traveling out of America alone ever. It’s always been my dream country to visit, and I’m finally in a place financially where I can start fathoming it and planning. The exact days and year of my trip is undecided, especially considering Covid. But I know I would like to go in October!
I work in education so my breaks align with that of the kids; the best time for a longer trip would be summer, but I know summers suck in Japan, so I opted for a trip in October for the nice weather and slightly lesser crowds than in the Spring! (maybe a trip to Hokkaido and the Japanese alps someday in the summer!)
This is a very rough draft of my itinerary. I’ve tried to do a lot of research in putting it together. Looking at other itineraries, checking distances in google maps, checking average time spent at locations, but I know there’s only so much I can learn online without actually having experience there. So any advice to make it more efficient would be greatly appreciated! I also aim for the invisible tourist method to make as little impact on the local communities as possible, so any advice for that would be appreciated as well.
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**Day 0: Transit, overnight flight**
No plans for this day, just the process of getting there (13+ hour flight for me, depending on layover location and time; planning to go to Haneda airport).
**Day 1: Tokyo; Shibuya & Harajuku(Hotel #1; 3 nights)**
I know most flights arrive in the afternoon so this day isn’t very packed.
1. Shibuya: Crosswalk, Hachiko, Shopping, Shibuya Sky (at night)
2. Harajuku: Meiji Shrine, Cafe Ron Ron, Shopping
**Day 2: Tokyo; Ueno, Akihabara & Asakusa**
This day seems a bit packed, mainly because I’m not too sure of the time it’ll take to do the things I want to. I’ve been checking travel times on google maps, so please feel free to offer advice.
1. Ueno: Ueno Park & Tokyo National Museum
2. Asakusa: Senso-ji Shrine, Asakusa Shrine, Hikan-Inari
3. Akihabara: General nerd stuff, hopefully the Eorzea Cafe
**Day 3: Tokyo, Mt.Fuji Day Trip**
A day trip to the Mt.Fuji area;
1. Mt.Fuji panoramic ropeway and a bit of exploring around Kawaguchiko lake.
2. Then taking the bus to the Fugaku wind cave. Would like to take the small hike through Aokigahara to get to the Narusawa ice cave after.
3.Ending the day by visiting Oshino Hakkai.
**Day 4: Tokyo to Hakone (Hotel #2; 1 night)**
Traveling down to Hakone for a ryokan stay; I’m torn on the day of arrival between visiting the Hakone Jinja Shrine or the Hakone Open air Museum. Not sure if both are possible in one day together. Back at the hotel early for the ryokan dinner!
**Day 5: Hakone to Kyoto (Hotel #3; 3 nights)**
Packed day with a late arrival into Kyoto in the evening; let me know if it seems like too much or if I could move stuff into the first day in Hakone.
1. Owakudani
2. Ashi Lake Pirate tour
3. Old Tokaido Cobbles
4. Amakaze Teahouse
Then take the train from Hakone to Kyoto to arrive at my hotel in the evening (The check in for the hotel I would like to stay at ends at 8PM, though the desk is open till 9PM)
**Day 6: Kyoto**
I plan to stay in the Gion district and focus mainly on the older, historical sites of Kyoto
1. Kiyomizudera Temple
2. Fushimi Inari Shrine (full hike to the top of the mountain)
If I had time, I’d like to try and see the Hokanji temple pagoda, but less priority than the water temple and the Inari shrine.
**Day 7: Kyoto**
1. Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
2. Tenryuji Temple
3. Kinkakuji Temple
I know Kinkakuji is a bit more out of the way, but it’s something I’d love to see. If you think it’s unmanageable based on your experience, please let me know!
**Day 8: Kyoto to Osaka (Hotel #4; 3 nights)**
I plan on arriving in Osaka in the afternoon/evening so the morning/early afternoon of this day is a bit open for moving around Kyoto stuff! So any suggestions are appreciated
Arriving in Osaka, I’d mainly do a bit of exploring and street food tasting, maybe enjoy one of their evening river cruises
**Day 9: Osaka, Day trip to Nara**
Leaving Osaka in the morning to spend a full day in Nara;
1. Kofukuji Temple
2. Yoshikien Garden
3. Todaiji Temple
4. Nara Park & Mount Wakakusa (I’d like to hike to the mountain’s peak; from what I read, it takes about 40 minutes)
I followed a Nara day-trip itinerary for sorting out this day; not sure if it’s too packed!
**Day 10: Osaka, Day trip to Koyasan**
I really wanted to do a monk temple stay for Koyasan, but couldn’t fit it in with the other things I wanted to do so I changed it to a day trip.
1. Kongobuji Temple
2. Maybe a pilgrimage trail
3. And especially the Okunoin Cemetery (ideally in the evening)
**Day 11: Osaka to Himeji Castle/Okayama (Hotel #5;1 night)**
Leave Osaka EARLY and make a stop at Himeji Castle on the way to Okayama.
1. Explore the inside of the castle and then continue on to Okayama.
2. If there’s time upon arriving, I’d like to mainly explore Okayama Korakuen Garden and then make a small visit to Kurashiki.
**Day 12: Okayama to Hiroshima (Hotel #6; 1 night)**
Leave Okayama early to go to Hiroshima
1. Atomic Bomb dome
2. Peace Memorial Park
Those are the priorities, if there’s time I’d like to check out Hiroshima Castle, but my priority is learning more about the tragic history of the area.
**Day 13: Hiroshima; Day trip to Miyajima**
I followed an itinerary for planning out this day trip as well!
1. Itsukushima Shrine and the Floating Torii
2. Daisho-In Temple
3. Momiji-dani-koen Park
4. Miyajima ropeway to the top station, and then I would like to hike to the summit of Mount Misen for the views. If I have the time (and energy) I’d like to hike all the way back down, but I’m not against hiking back to the ropeway only.
**Day 14: Hiroshima to Tokyo (Hotel #7; 2 nights)**
I’d leave Hiroshima early to take the loooong (4 hour) trip back to Tokyo, to stay in the central Tokyo area.
If there’s time, I’d like to at least see the Imperial Palace from outside and visit the Pokemon Center.
**Day 15: Tokyo; Day Trip to Nikko**
Another day trip I followed an itinerary for! I would probably get the $15 pass for unlimited buss rides to go see the waterfalls easier.
1. Rinno-ji Treasure house & Temple; pass the sleeping cat to visit Tokugawa Ieyasu’s grave.
2. Futarasan Shrine
3. Nikko National Park for Kegon Falls & Ryuzu Falls
**Day 16: Tokyo, fly home :(**
Thank you for reading!! I’d really appreciate any advice or help that anyone has to offer! This is my absolute dream trip and I’d like to make it as amazing and low-stress for local people and
16 comments
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#1 item to get is mobile wifi. Reserve one online. Pick it up at the airport. You can drop it off by mail or return at the airport (depending on the provider).
Also look into getting a 14 day JR pass given your long stay and multiple day trips. Do the math and see if it is worth getting one.
Re: Fushimi Inari – don’t do a full hike unless you are really into hiking. There is not much on top to see (it was disappointing for me). Hike to the half way view point and come back down. It will save you time and energy to do other things.
Kinkaju-ji is totally worth a trip from Arashiyama. Also, go for a nice walk along Kamo river if you have time in the evening.
Overall I think you have 1 stop too many. You only have 4/5 days in Tokyo and 2 are day trips. I would consider saving Hakone or Hiroshima/Okayama for another trip. There is a lot to see in Tokyo and your days there are pretty rushed so I think you need a few more days there.
For the time in Kyoto & Osaka, you are only spending 1 day exploring Osaka so makes sense to just stay in Kyoto and do Osaka as a day trip. Also consider skipping Koyasan if you can’t stay overnight. I feel that the temple stay and the quietness late in the evening and early morning is what makes Koyasan an enjoyable trip, so I wouldn’t recommend it as a day trip.
I know you probably want to see as much as you can but Japan is just a great place to wander around so you don’t want to be too busy. Think of this trip as your first of many and just focus on 2 or 3 main areas.
Day 1 : Wait… what ? what do you mean by “I know most flights arrive in the afternoon so this day isn’t very packed.”… will you land on day 0 or day 1? If on day 1, then forget it, that is easily a full day if not two if you take time to do some shopping. If you land on that day, you won’t have time or energy for all that.
Day 2 : I would personally change the order to Asakusa, Ueno, Akihabara. Make more sense for transportation. Asakusa to Akihabara is a bit awkward, while Ueno is super easy to do by train/subway to/from the two other places, could even walk the distance if you want.
Day 3 : I have a feeling that you might want to make a priority between the forest/cave and lake Kawaguchiko/ropeway (note that it’s an easy hike too). If you decide the cave, then maybe check Saiko Iyashi-no-Sato Nenba that is close by.
Day 4/5 : Hakone-jinja is south of lake Ashi, so would likely work the same day as the old tokkaido (can also check the Tokkoido checkpoint and Onshi park). While I think that Owakudani could work well with the Open air museum. Actually, it kind of depend on where you select the ryokan.
Day 6 : It’s pretty hart to miss Yasaka pagoda (yep, official name is Hokan-ji). Can just walk in front of it after Kiyomizu-dera to go catch a train at Kiyomizu-gojo station.
Day 7 : Arashiyama and Kinkaku-ji is actually a match that work well.
Day 11 : seems a bit ambitious to do Himeji, Kurashiki and Korakuen on the same day. May make more sense to substitute Korakuen by Koko-en in Himeji as it’s next to the castle.
Day 12 : if you start early, you should have time for the castle.
Day 13 : ropeway was under maintenance when I went and I hiked all the way up and down during summer (the summer part was not cool), but if you are remotely in ok shape, it’s not too difficult, for sure you should have the time.
Day 14 : if you do not like the idea of the long trip back to Tokyo, then think about doing Kyoto-Hiroshima-Osaka, so you cut the long trip in two days.
Day 15 : For a day trip, it will be either the temple/shrine area or the lake/waterfall area. Doing both in a single day is not especially realistic. And the sleeping cat/Ieyasu grave (as well as the 3 monkey) are in Nikko Tosho-gu (note that Ueno Tosho-gu in Ueno park is also dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, deified as the kami Tosho-daigongen). Bit I would not miss Rinno-ji either.
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I would possibly switch one of the earlier day in Tokyo to the end if you plan to do some shopping so you do not have to lug stuff around.
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While it might look “light” as there is not a lot of points each day, they are sometime at quite a distance from each other, so you might try to lower your expectation on the possibility to do everything. Just take your time to enjoy where you are when you are there. Not sure what you mean by “low-stress for local people”, but if you push yourself to do everything on this list at all cost, then it will for sure not be low-stress for you.
I personally do not mind having much more options in my list, but I see them as options, I’m flexible and totally fine selecting just a few points in my list and not doing a bunch of things.
1. Day 1 and 2: it’s too packed in my opinion. Even if you start early, it might be too much. Shibuya and Harajuku can be done, but if you want to include Meiji Shrine, then I think you can start there in the morning and then do the shopping stuff after. Ueno, Asakusa and Akihabara on Day 2 sounds really tight as well…
2. Day 6 and 7: I recommend doing Fushimi Inari early in the morning. When you are done, head over to Kiyomizudera. After that, start walking north and explore the other temples/shrines, and end off with Ginkakuji. If you do Arashiyama early in the morning, you can end off the day at Kinkakuji.
3. Personally I prefer to stay in Kyoto and make it my base, but it’s just my preference. The train to Osaka is about 30 – 45 minutes.
4. Day 15: Nikko can be done as a day trip, but if you want to include the temple/shrine and falls, again it might be too tight. I highly recommend to spend 1 night in Nikko. I also prefer Nikko to Hakone.
I really think you overestimate how much time you have in a day and overestimating transport time. And are you fit, like athletic fit? That is so much walking and hiking in 15 days.
Mount fuji is not possible for a day trip unless you are ok having 8 hours for transport
Hakone is huge, they close early and their transport are pretty slow. Pick which one you want wisely
Osaka to koyasan is 5 hours of transport time. Are you sure you want to waste your time in a train?
And like people said, you can just stay in kyoto if you just wanna be in osaka for a day or two. Kyoto is cheaper anyway and not too far from other places you mention (kyoto to nara only like 30 mins)
Tokyo to nikko is 3 hours transport time + bus is slow, so that is more time on transport, plan it well
My last advice, get 14 days jr pass
Day 1: Meiji Jingu shuts down at dusk, so if you land in the afternoon, you will not get there in time. Also Harajuku’s shops (outside department stores) and most of the day time cafes shut down fairly early, so it’s also fairly unlikely that you will get an experience you are looking for.
Day 2: Skip Tokyo National Museum, unless you want to see specific collection. Major Japanese art museums are huge time sinks.
Day 3: Unless you are renting a car, this would be at least 2-day itinerary.
Days 4-5: This is actually a fairly bad plan. I would actually do day 5 itinerary on day 4 and visit Open Air Museum on day 5. Unless you are forwarding your luggage from Tokyo to Kyoto – the logistics are fairly cumbersome and it probably would be easier to get from Amakaze Teahouse (3:00 pm is probably cut off time) to either Atami or Odawara station, rather than backtrack to Gora.
Day 10: In October, if you do full pilgrimage trail hike, you will reach Koyasan around dusk. There is possibility to do a partial hike (from Kii-Hosokawa station rather than Kudoyama) that would probably better suit your plans.
Day 15: Ryuzu Falls on a day trip from Tokyo in October is virtually impossible.
I’ve been planning on going with my two siblings for a while. October is my birthday month and I heard there are some firework festivals around that time? Idk but I’ve really wanted to go around that time aswell. I’m gonna actually take note on your planned trip and maybe add some of those trips for my week and a half visit over there. 🙂
All I will say is that many people plan on doing way to much each day. Running around just ticking off places might be what you want but it’s not going anywhere so I would do less and see more knowing you will go back again.
Can I recommend you pop mochi pounding,the toy museum, the earthquake engineering museum and the sake brewery in Nara, they are all mega small but were my favorite parts.
Your day 1 sounds like a nightmare, not sure where in america you are or what your jetlag will be but be careful!
Been to Japan about 7 times and some things I would like to highlight (esp for first timers):
1. Outside of touristy areas, there’s not much English signage and Japanese don’t really speak English or any other language so google translate is going to be your bff
2. Trains/buses/any kind of transport you book is extremely on time. They may arrive early, but they will NOT wait for you past the planned departure time. So please make sure you arrive at least 5 mins ahead.
3. Refrain from talking on public transport
4. Avoid taking trains during morning rush hour (ard on weekdays 6am-730am)
5. Be courteous on escalators and stand to the side (left for Tokyo, Right for Kansai region)
(P.S. I do speak Japanese so point no. 1 is for people who aren’t well versed in their language.)
For what it is worth, if you don’t manage to get to the Eorzea Cafe in Tokyo, there is also one in Osaka that is much easier to get seated at. (When I went in 2019, we went on a weekday afternoon and didn’t even have to get reservations, but things may have changed since then.) Tokyo has better decorations and a slightly expanded menu, but the Osaka one is still quite nice, and has a much more relaxed atmosphere.
It is absolutely possible to do Hakone Jinja and the Open Air Museum on the same day. I did both *and* the whole loop on the same day and didn’t feel rushed at all, though we didn’t spend too long at Owakudani. We were staying two nights in Hakone, though, so we didn’t have to worry about the time spent getting in or out of town.
Your itinerary looks pretty solid. Too solid that you might not enjoy all of the sights because you’d be running to another place as soon as you get to one. You might want to list down your priorities on each day and strike out the rest if you ran out of time. Your trip should be enjoyable and not too tiring.
What are your plans for eating? One thing my wife (Japanese) and I loved to do when we traveled in Japan was to spend an hour or two just wandering around the food areas around the stations. I believe Japan had, and probably still has, the highest ratio of restaurants per person.
Around major stations in the cities, you will find literally hundreds of small restaurants and izakaya. We had great food far more often than not. I think we were disappointed with one or two places we tried, but the great thing is, you just finish your beer, pay, and go try another place.
Anyhow, just something to consider, and maybe keep some time for, if you are interested.
I admit, I am a bit of a broken record on this, but ….
if you do as others have suggested, and make Kyoto your base [which I agree with], maybe consider a day trip to Kanazawa in Ishikawa. The station is famous (though, wow, is it like 20 years old now?), as is the 21st Century Art Museum. Kanazawa castle is underwhelming, but Kenrokuen is one of the top three gardens in Japan.
There are a few other places – Omicho market, the samurai district, the tea district (been a long time, forget the name), the ninja temple, etc. But, all pretty close together and easily seen in a day or less.
If you decide to keep Ishikawa for a future trip, maybe include time for Wajima on that trip as well. Small town, but has national living treasures* teaching wajima laquerware (wajima nuri) to students from around Japan. Incredible seafood also. The matsuri in August is one of the best in Ishikawa, possibly in Japan.
* or did, a while back. not sure if they are all still living, to be honest.
Consider mobile wi-fi and/or check what your wireless carrier offers for international coverage. Though if you’re bringing more than one device you want to connect, definitely go for mobile wi-fi. Even if (and I don’t know this to be accurate about mobile wi-fi, I’ve always gone with a stupider option and I haven’t been to Japan in a while) you can’t make calls, how many people are you gonna call anyway?
Speaking from experience, you will get up early on your first full day in Japan, whether you want to or not. It’ll just happen. Try to take advantage of that by making that your Mt. Fuji day, if you’re up to it, or with a trek to [Toyosu Fish Market.](https://tokyocheapo.com/entertainment/sightseeing/toyosu-fish-market-what-to-know/) You miiiight be able to watch the auction but you need to apply and applications are currently suspended.
Your Day 2 is packed, that’s correct. What you have going for you is that Ueno, Asakusa and Akihabara are all kind of near each other.
When you’re in Hiroshima, please make time for the museum.