Tokyo/Osaka/Nara/Kyoto Itinerary Help

22 comments

1. Dotonbori at 5-6pm: yes, good time

2. If the Mario Kart thing is the go-karting in the street, please don’t do it. Super gimmicky, disruptive and dangerous tbh.

3. The itinerary looks great. I would change though:

   Wednesday Aug 30th: instead of daytrip to Kobe (which I’d say is more of the same as Osaka), do a daytrip to Himeji to see one of the most beautiful castles in Japan.

4. I don’t see any huge issues with the itinerary, it’s not trying to cram too much into a single day.

   Would say that depending on how you are with crowds, might want to move Fushimi Inari to the early morning of Sept 2nd if you’re early risers or the jet lag is still upon you. If you’re just there to hike and see the place, you can go there almost any time of day. Better to have more daylight still coming than fading out if you should happen to get lost, and there are wild boars etc on the mountain.

   Also for the plan to put bags in the station lockers, you may want to research beforehand if there are non-locker [luggage storage](https://tokyocheapo.com/living/luggage-storage-in-tokyo/) services available like Ecbo Cloak to store at the station you’ll be at, or if they have an office nearby. It can be very difficult to find available lockers for the larger sizes of bags depending on the time of day.

5. If you are flying ITM-NRT, no train pass will work for you. Just buy shinkansen tickets individually and use Suica/Pasmo for everything else.

6. >(Can we explore Golden Gai without tour guide?)

   Yes. It’s a bunch of bars and alleys all crammed into a small area. You’re just going to wander around and maybe visit a couple of bars. No need for a guide at all.

   >(Would we need reservations for kareoke?)

   There are Big Echos all over Tokyo. You shouldn’t need to book this in advance.

   >(Should we split these activities into two days?)

   Would recommend grouping Kyoto activities by proximity. For example, Fushimi Inari and Arashiyama are basically as far apart as you can get. And Nanzen-ji / Ginkaku-ji are closer to Arashiyama.

   Nara is basically the same distance from Kyoto / Osaka. So I would drop going to Kobe and go to Nara from Osaka as a day trip.

7. Yay, have fun and good luck with your trip!

   ​

   To answer some of your questions the best I can:

   1. You can def explore Golden Gai without a guide! It’s not all that big or complex, just some narrow streets and a whole lot of bars.
   2. Your first Friday seems a liiiittle packed but is probably doable, especially if you don’t count on having much time between Shinjuku Gyoen and Shibuya Sky. It just seems like a lot of travelling back and forth between the same two districts, and all that travel adds up (the subway or walk from Meiji shrine to Shinjuku gyoen is like half an hour one way). If there was a way for you to do half the day in Shibuya and half the day in Shinjuku, I think you should consider it!
   3. Saturday the 26th also seems a biiiit packed. Again, def depends on how much time you plan on spending at each place and I’m sure with waking up early for Tsukiji it’s technically doable, it just might be a LOT for one day, especially if you’re still a bit tired/jetlagged from the trip. Going to a fish market, then a shrine, then shopping, then a theatre performance, then an immersive art exhibit, then dinner and then karaoke (with a whole bunch of walking in between) would personally put me out of commission for the following day haha. If you’re active and confident in your energy levels and stamina then go for it! I’d just recommend being ready to push some things to other days if you find yourself a bit too tired in the moment 🙂
   4. Not sure about karaoke reservations but I would assume they have to have walk-in ones like I went to in Kyoto.
   5. Sunday the 27th looks great timing-wise! My personal take on Akihabara, as an anime lover and overall huge nerd, was that it was just okay :/ unless you plan on doing some deep merchandise diving, I would honestly skip it to save yourselves time. Maybe someone else here will say I’m wrong and there are x, y, z reasons to go check out Akihabara anyway, and it could very well be true, but just giving you my personal take.
   6. Dotonbori street is fun during the day, the evening, and at night, no worries there!
   7. Tuesday the 29th seems very chill and relaxed! While you’re in that area you should check out Kurumon indoor food market! Right in the center of that neighborhood, you might honestly accidentally wander in like I did. Awesome food stalls everywhere! Also might wanna check out the Tsutenkaku tower and surrounding neighborhood while in Shinsekai, cool history and vibe there.
   8. If you go to Kobe and are into panoramic cable car rides, herb gardens, mountain tops, and great views – go to Nunobiki Herb Garden! You take a cable car right from the train station area up the mountain and at the top is a European style herb garden and greenhouse, with walking paths and a viewing terrace (that sells alcohol!). Pretty sure it only costs a few bucks for the cable car ticket and thats it.
   9. Thursday the 31st, love it! Glad you’re checking out Todaiji, it was seriously the most impressive temple I’ve seen.
   10. For Friday the 1st, this definitely depends on how active you are. For me, there’s no way I would want to do Fushimi Inari Taisha in the evening after spending the day walking around the monkey park, bamboo forest, etc. I walked through a pair of shoes the last time I was there, and I didn’t do any serious physical activity or hiking or anything, it was all just from basic travel. I’m also a chubby guy and my fitness level is highly lacking lol so this is all my personal take of course. If you’ve got the stamina then I’ve heard traversing the shrine in the evening/at night is beautiful. I think I would just recommend being ready to push it to the following day if necessary like you already mentioned!

   ​

   I hope you both have an amazing time!! And I’m sure you will, no matter how the plan turns out in the end 🙂 Enjoy!

8. Makes total sense, Kyoto is the most foreign to me in terms of recommendations so that is great advice – we will split the Fushimi and Arishiyama up to avoid being totally wiped at end of day!

9. From our experience this past March, I encourage you to split the Arashiyama / Monkey Park / Inari itinerary. Cramming all that in one day can get really tiring.

   We did Monkey Park in the morning, then Inari in the afternoon. That hike up to the Monkey Park was not easy for my wife and pre-teen kid. We had to take lots of breaks in between, took too much time getting there and had to skip bamboo forest. When we got to Inari in the afternoon, we couldn’t even make it halfway up. I didn’t have a good memory of it, aside from this store that sells these amazing strawberry daifuku across the street from the main gate.

   If we’re to redo it, I’d do Arashiyama one day and then Inari on a day on its own. I know it might seem doable in one day when you’re planning your routes but by the time you actually start to walk at those sites, you don’t want to rush things. Arashiyama itself, I really wish we explored it more. The only “exploring” we did was taking the back streets to go to Saga-Arashiyama station to catch the train to Inari station.

   Edit: one more thing to add, Akihabara on a Sunday is a good time to visit. They close the main street to cars from like 1 PM to 6 PM, so it’s pedestrian only, so you’ll have an easier time going from one side of the street to the other side to check things out.

10. stay hydrated!! Personally I find it difficult to plan a lot in a day with the heat and humidity. I know im not contributing much but yeah, stay safe! Have a fun trip

    Romantic train is outstanding during autumn though not sure it’s worth it outside of fall foliage? Hopefully simeine else can chime in

11. Visiting for the first time as well with a pretty similar timeline and city destinations. We took the skyliner to the Ueno station and it worked out great. Super easy to purchase, super easy to find, faster than the other options, clean, comfortable, space for luggage, and there were some pretty cool views (although every mode of transportation to Tokyo probably does as well).

    We haven’t taken the bullet trains yet but will be tomorrow, I’ll try to remember to come back and let you know how it goes.

    And for the weather, it’s fucking brutal right now. I’m a relatively outdoorsy person from Florida, but it’s so much worse. I think the main difference is the elevation changes, it’s completely draining to walk up steep hills in this kind of weather. Sweat towels and little fans help a lot.

12. If you’ve never been to Japan and don’t have much time, spend more of it in Kyoto and just do a day trip to Osaka.

13. Your Aug 31st and Sept 1st is almost identical to what I have just completed in the past two days.

    2 days ago, I visited Nara Deer Park and saw the Giant Buddha statues and the other shrines in that park from 10am to 1pm. Then off to Osaka until 11pm.

    Yesterday, I visited the Fushimi Inari Shrine but only made it halfway, then off to the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, then took a dive into an onsen, wrapped it up with a quick stop at Kyoto Animation Studio (which was closed) right outside the JR Kohata Station. Before heading back. There were other areas, sites, and activities that I did but I don’t remember lol.

    All in all, just these two days of walking was brutal for someone who hasn’t worked out in like 10 years. My legs are currently aching and feet is blistered up lol. Just make sure you have good walking shoes and a 2nd pair in case you step on deer droppings like I did.

14. I would book Shibuya Sky tickets ASAP if you want to get a sunset ticket as they seem to get booked very quickly and there are plenty of times when I check the website to see that they’re sold out completely for the day. I haven’t been there yet myself so I could be wrong.

    Also, you can check the japan-guide.com Japan rail pass calculator to see if it’s worth getting it. It’s too late to order one to be delivered to you so you’ll have to order it to pick up in Japan. Again, haven’t done this before, so just double check the Japan guide website to be safe.

    Enjoy!

15. I rented bikes in Nara as well, and just a heads up that many of the areas don’t have proper bike paths so you’re likely weaving through tourists or biking along the main road by cars. That being said, it was completely worth it for me because it was cherry blossom season and I could visit little known places to see the sakura. Depending on the pass you buy, bike rental is free! So do check if it’s included.

    I personally enjoy Ikebukuro more than Akihabara, because there’s more to see in the area. If you want the anime experience and you’re not a fan, you could pop into any Animate store and it’ll be enough. There’s also Mutekiya ramen in Ikebukuro, which is my personal favourite. (And more character themed cafes, like the Moomin cafe or the Pokemon Sweets cafe)

    Another fun ramen is Kipposhi in Shibuya – blue, pink or green chicken based ramen! Shibuya can be PACKED around meal times, so this could be a nice out of the way option.

    For Osaka, try not to eat in Dotonbori itself. Walk a little bit further and you’ll find less touristy, less expensive options.

    You don’t need to hike the whole of Fushimi Inari, just to the first stop. The gates start decreasing after that and you don’t want to risk being up there in the dark. I would spend half a day on 2 Sept exploring the gion district on foot, from Nishiki Market to Kiyomizudera. Find walking guides online, and there’s much to see along the way with plenty of tiny shrines to pop into. Gion is pretty at night too!

16. I agree with the other posters saying to switch arashiyama to the afternoon and do fushimi inari in the morning. There are fewer people at fushimi inari the earlier you go, and by the time you’re done, the shops will start opening up. Arashiyama is verrrry quiet in the mornings, and I find it more appealing to go in the middle of the day.

17. Kobe: earthquake museum

    Nara: watching fresh mochi

18. I’m finishing my trip as we speak. It is very hot and very humid. Pack clothing you dont mind sweating in, have an extra pair of socks with you, and have a nice bag to carry round a giant water tou grab from the conbini. A lot of ppl used umbrellas for shade so there’s that too.

19. About the train oass you should consider the JR pass. Extrenely convenient for travelling in Japan as it gives you all JR trains for free, including Shinkansen

20. Some hotels will ship your luggage to your next hotel. Message your Tokyo hotel to see if they will do that. If not, they often will store your bags for you after check-out. If they will ship them, keep in mind that you might not see your bags for 24 hours. Keep your essentials with you.

    The heat is brutal right now. I recommend a hat, an umbrella, and also a little rechargeable personal fan.

21. Get jr pass!!!

    Osaka Kyoto nara are literally 30 min away by shinkansen! I recommend getting hotel at just Kyoto OR Osaka ! Moving luggage can be tiring

    Btw recommend you stay a few days at hakone for hot spring

22. A couple of thoughts..

    (check in then head to Shibuya Crossing -wander Harajuku and have dinner in the area)

    You’re going to Harajuku the next day – you’ll have plenty to see in Shibuya that evening.

    (Can we explore Golden Gai without tour guide?)

    Absolutely.

    (TeamLabs -dinner reservation Sushi Kiraku omakase @ 8:30pm -find somewhere to do Kareoke?)

    TeamLabs is farther away than you think – take a taxi or an Uber. Ubers are SO comfortable. And a lot less than people claim they are.

    (-Mario kart tour)

    These are much too dangerous for me.

    You will love Kyoto.