24 Days in October Rookie Itinerary-Where can I be more efficient? What of these ideas are foolish? Tokyo-Nagoya-Kyoto-Osaka-Tokyo

6 comments

1. * 24 days is quite a *lot* for what’s essentially just Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto. You’re giving Tokyo 12 days, Kyoto 4 days, and Osaka 7 days, and your itinerary is equally sparse. It’s fine if you’re the type that likes to take things slow, and would rather not pack every single day full, but at the same time you’re also asking to be more efficient, so IDK.
   * There are still some oddities though. The Disneyland/sea experience extends into the night, with parades and fireworks and whatnot, so you’re usually going to be there till quite late. It’s also on pretty much opposite sides of Tokyo to Shinjuku (Kabukicho), so you’re unlikely to go there afterwards. Kabukicho should probably go together with Tokyo Metropolitan building, though that’s a bit of walk.
   * People pick hotels based on all sorts of criteria. Some for the cost, some for the views, some for the comfort and amenities, all valid reasons. Personally I’d pick one that would minimize my time dragging along luggage, so usually a location with direct and easy access to airport or Shinkansen stations.
   * I’d say you should be able to comfortably add an entire new section into your itinerary with minor impacts to your existing locations. The usual option would be Hokuriku, which means you’d expand around the Nagoya section to make it either Tokyo -> Matsumoto / Nagano -> Kanazawa -> Takayama -> Nagoya -> Kyoto; or Tokyo -> Nagoya -> Takayama -> Kanazawa -> Kyoto. You can also shuffle this section around so it’s on the return from Osaka. Lots of possible flexibility here.

2. You have Nagoya for only 1 night which is fine, because honestly there’s not that much to do there, but you have a lot of days in the other cities.

   Like the other poster suggested you could add another leg to your trip. Instead of Matsumoto/Nagano/Takayama/Kanazawa you could also go to Hiroshima/Fukuoka and Kyuushu in general.

   I did a 3 week trip a few years ago where I went to Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Kanazawa and Takayama. I had already visited both Osaka/Kyoto and Tokyo before though so I only spent a few days there.

   On my most recent trip to Japan I went to Tokyo, Kyoto, Matsumoto, Nagano and Nagoya (we ended there because our flight left from Nagoya, but honestly Nagoya wouldn’t be on my list of places to visit again). Matsumoto and Nagano also weren’t that big, so there wasn’t that much to do in either place. I preferred Matsumoto to Nagano.

   I could probably visit Tokyo/Kyoto forever.

   You could also add a day-trip (or better yet, overnight stay) to Nikko from Tokyo. That place is beautiful.

3. So, from the ghibli park all the way down to the train museum is super, super far. Two hours by Public transit.

   I would choose one and then hang out in Osu/Sakae instead. Or you could see the castle I suppose, but Osu and Sakae are more fun imo.

4. I would recommend adding Nara to your itinerary, we did it as a day trip from Kyoto. I just spent 28 days in Japan and honestly Osaka was my least favourite destination. If you’re looking for a different recommendation and have the means I would honestly go to Fukuoka for a few days (the food was great and I enjoyed it) and make a stop in Hiroshima – worth it to see the history and the museum.

5. Definitely want a second night in Nagoya because the Ghibli Park and MAGLEV museum are both about an hour out of the city center, and not in the same direction. The Kyoto itinerary seems well balanced, and you could easily add in 1-2 day trips from Osaka (possibly once to Kobe and once to Nara). In Osaka, Dotonbori/Namba/Shinsaibashi all kind of bleed in together so I’d really plan to do all those together on one day, and then to hit up select stores on a second day in case there’s any “come back to it later” purchases you want to make.

   I’m generally supportive of slow itineraries but there’s a lot more you could be adding and still taking it very chill. And yet, you’ve got some strange combinations for Tokyo in there – I’m not sure why Mister Donut is listed as an item (I picked up misdo in the train station today) for Day 22 (I think Day 21/22 could be combined comfortably) and yet you’ve got DisneySea paired with…. literally anything else. Broadly speaking though it isn’t bad. For a hotel, you’re not really in a rush anywhere, so just pick somewhere within your budget and make sure it’s near a train station.

6. Highly recommend not planning anything on certain days besides those that require advanced tickets.

   Just have a bucket of activities for each city and choose based on the day and vibe you’re feeling, but definitely sub-bucket it with areas of the city.

   I also strongly disagree with that other user saying your days are sparse. They’re more than plenty and there is always amazing stuff you can do just walking around and exploring that you’ll never see on this subreddit.

   Buy baseball tickets from that Japan baseball website. They’ll hand deliver it to your hotel.