I am taking my first trip to Japan in late August and am looking for feedback on my itinerary. I have flights and hotels already booked and am planning to get the 7-Day Japan Rail Pass for the first leg of the trip (days 0-6).
My big questions are:
* What here do I need to book at least 30 days out?
* Did you experience anything unexpected that you wish someone had told you about before doing any of these activities?
* Any thoughts on line items below that have question marks?
* Any food recommendations? I <3 good food and generally eat two big meals a day
* Are there any must-see sights missing? Or is anything here overrated you would drop/substitute?
I know it looks like a lot for August given the weather, but I had a similarly aggressive schedule (roughly 7:30AM-10:30PM most days with lots of outdoor activities) when I went to SE Asia in July last year so I think I can handle it (though please let me know if any days looks unrealistically packed even taking this into account).
Also for context if certain things are better on certain days, Day 0 is a Thursday.
Thanks!
**Day 0 – Arrival**
• Land at Haneda around 4PM
• Grab dinner in airport
• Take Shinkansen to Hiroshima
• Stay in Hiroshima
**Day 1 – Hiroshima**
• Breakfast at Hotel
• Miyajima shrine (low tide)
• Peace Museum
• Memorial Park
• Miyajima shrine (high tide)
• Grab luggage and take Shinkansen to Osaka
• Stay in Osaka
**Day 2 – Osaka**
• Day activities? Looking for things “uniquely Osaka” different from what I’m doing elsewhere
• Pub crawl in Dotonbori
• Stay in Osaka
**Day 3 – Himeji/Kobe**
• Go to Himeji Castle in the morning
• Kobe beef lunch (preferably an all-you-can-eat)?
• Go to Osaka to grab luggage, then move to Kyoto
• Gion in the evening
• Stay in Kyoto
**Day 4 – Kyoto**
• Fushimi Inari shrine
• Bamboo forest
• Imperial Palace
• Evening activity?
• Stay in Kyoto
**Day 5 – Nara**
• Deer park
• Todai-ji Temple
• Maybe National Museum if there’s time?
• Return to/Stay in Kyoto
**Day 6 – Kyoto**
• Arashiyama Monkey Park
• Museum? Maybe 2?
• Take evening Shinkansen to Hakone
• Stay in Hakone
**Day 7 – Hakone**
• Hakone Loop
**Day 8 – Hakone/Tokyo**
• Yunessun onsen water park
• Take afternoon Romance Car to Tokyo
• Vampire café (or other fun themed restaurant for dinner?)
• Stay in Shinjuku
**Day 9 – Tokyo (Ueno/Akihabara/Roppongi)**
• Ueno Park
• Tokyo National Museum
• Sensoji Temple
• Wander around Akihabara (any specific recommendations besides shopping?)
• Roppongi Pub Crawl
• Stay in Shinjuku
**Day 10 – Tokyo (Shibuya/Shinjuku)**
• Imperial Palace
• National Garden
• Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
• Meiji Jingu
• Shinjuku Crossing
• Michelin restaurant for dinner?
• Stay in Shinjuku
**Day 11 – Tokyo (Odaiba)**
• Tokyo Joypolis
• Teamlabs Planets
• Stay in Shinjuku
**Day 12 – Fuji-Q Highland**
• Shinjuku bus to Fuji-Q Highland
• Fuji-Q Highland
• Bus back to Shinjuku
• Stay in Shinjuku
**Day 13 – Tokyo/Return**
• Ghibli Museum
• Any must-see sights I missed earlier?
• 5PM flight from Haneda
2 comments
I’m always a big fan of the Osaka homebase strat for Kansai. Stay at a place near Osaka station then day trip to Nara, Kyoto, Himeji and Kobe. The reason being that Kyoto’s public transportation isn’t as strong as Osaka. If you have the stomach for it, while in Dotonbori, go find yourself a Fugu restaurant. It’s one of the many delicacies of the city.
Staying at Hiroshima is fine if you wanna knock out all of your Hiroshima itinerary items in one day. Just take the first ferry out for the day and I think you should be able to hit everything. While you’re out there, definitely grab some Hiroshima okonomoyaki. I regret not getting any on my trip but it’s different from Osaka’s.
It isn’t AYCE but we ate at Yakiniku Mangetsu in Kobe and that was absolutely worth the cost. Rated really well on Tabelog and excellent customer service.
Have you done your Ghibli Museum ticket reservations already?
1) Instead of taking the train from Tokyo to Hiroshima on your first day, why don’t you take a flight? You are already at the airport and will save hours of travel time (activating JR pass, train/subway to Tokyo station, train to Hiroshima). In which case, I’m not sure the JR pass would be worth it, but you can do the calculation.
2) Are you planning on staying on Miyajima island overnight? The ferry stops running way earlier than you think. I don’t think it’s possible to get to the island in the morning, back to the city for the memorial museum, back to the island and get back out.
3) You have the bamboo forest on Kyoto day 4, but it’s in Arashiyama and would fit better on day 6.
4) Fushimi Inari (currently on day 4) early in the morning followed by most of the day in Nara (day 5) flows really well as they are on the same train line.