Hi everyone,
I’m going on a trip to Japan in November and would like to have some input on our itinerary.
Introduction:
We are a couple, 29M and 30F by the time we visit. We walk a lot when we’re on holiday to visit differents sites and venues in big cities. We would like to experience Japan in a way that shows its rich history and culture.
We’re not that into shopping, but we are fan of Japanese food (and food in general). We like buzzing streets at night to have dinner and a few drinks but going out is not our main goal in Japan.
It’s our first time in Japan. We don’t have any experience with the land or travelling there. I’ve tried to keep days which contains traveling a bit more open so we don’t have to hurry too much. I’ve tried to fit things together that are in each others vicinity or which are on a route from point a to b.
We also don’t mind getting up early so I think we’ll try to travel by train(/shinkansen) mostly between 06:00 and 11:00 so not much of our days get wasted.
My most important question would be:
1. Are there things on my list that are not that impressive and could be scratched?
1.B: In Osaka, I’ve planned the Aquarium, the ferriswheel, and the science museum. Are those really worth my time?
2. Are there things not on my list that definitely should be on there for a couple that wants to see true Japan? (at least from Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka)
3. With this itenary, would a JR Hokuriku Arch Pass for 7 days, combined with a Suica card be sufficient for most if not all of these travels? I’ve seen that a 72h subway pass in Tokyo would be great as well?
Any advice or recommendation is welcome. Thanks in advance.
Itinerary:
Tokyo:
Day 1 – 4-Nov: Arrive in Tokyo, arrange all business, visit Akihabara.
Day 2 – 5-Nov: Visit Senso-ji Temple and Tokyo Skytree.
Day 3 – 6-Nov: Visit Kabukicho, Shibuya Crossing and Meiji Jingu Shrine.
Day 4 – 7-Nov: Visit Shinjuku, Omoide Yokocho and climb the Tokyo Tower.
Nagano Prefecture:
Day 5 – 8-Nov: 2:20 hours travel, Trip to Zenko-Ji temple, 1:20 hours travel to hotel (ryokan), visit Snow Monkey Park
Kanazawa & Shirakawa:
Day 6 – 9-Nov: 3 hours travel, Visit Higashi Chaya and eat gold leaf ice cream (geisha district), kazue-machi (geisha district), visit Kanazawa Castle, Omicho Market and Kenroku-en.
Day 7 – 10-Nov: 2 hours travel, Visit historic Shirakawa-go and learn about its history, 2 hours travel back to Kanazawa
Kyoto:
Day 8 – 11-Nov: 2:30 hours travel, visit Kinkaku-ji (golden temple), Philosopher’s Path, Nanzen-ji, Suirokaku, yasaka jinja, Gion District, Pontocho.
Day 9 – 12-Nov: Visits Fushimi Inari-taisha (early), Kyomizu-dera & kyomizu-zaka.
Day 10 – 13-Nov: Visit Arashiyama (Bamboo Forest), Tenryu-ji, Kimono Forest, Togetsukyo.
Day 11 – 14-Nov: Visit Nijo Castle and the Kinkaku-ji temple.
Nara:
Day 12 – 15-Nov: Visit Nara Park and Todai-ji temple.
Osaka (& Hiroshima):
Day 13 – 16-Nov: Travel to Osaka and visit umeda sky building, the Osaka Castle (park) and Dotonbori.
Day 14 – 17-Nov: Visit Shitenno-ji temple, Shinsekai market, Sumiyoshi-taisha temple.
Day 15 – 18-Nov: Day trip to Hiroshima, Genbaku Dome World Heritage Monument.
Day 16 – 19-Nov: Visit Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan and the Tempozan Ferris Wheel(?).
Day 17 – 20-Nov: Visit the Osaka Science Museum(?).
Optional: Pokemon Center
Tokyo & Mt. Fuji:
Day 18 – 21-Nov: 4:30 hours travel to Mt. Fuji, visit Mt. Fuji.
Day 19 – 22-Nov: 3:00 hours travel to Tokyo, visit Tsukiji fish market (tsukiji sushicho sushi) and Tokyo National Museum.
Day 20 – 23-Nov: Visit TeamLab Planets.
Day 21 – 24-Nov: Depart from Tokyo.
6 comments
I can comment on a couple of things here. I also did Tokyo>Nagano>Yudanaka for the monkey park and onsen. Was a great experience, but make sure you are prepared for the walk to the monkey park, as conditions could be wet and muddy, or snowy. I had ramen at a place right outside Nagano station called Misoya that was good.
From there I also went on to Kanazawa, and I liked it so much that I’m going back for another day there on my upcoming trip. Your day will be pretty busy in order to hit everything you have listed. You can spend a good amount of time at Omicho Market + Kenrokuen + Higashi Chaya District as I did. There are some really great shops in that district, especially for specialty foods and goods. Some of your other days seem pretty open but that day seems really busy and I liked Kanazawa a lot.
Good luck with your trip!
My only recommendation here is to look into visiting Koyosan. I really enjoyed my visit there. And I think it’s one of the more unique but also fairly accessible experiences that first timers should look into.
I would also recommend a stop at Himeji. And while I loved Osaka, I was there for 4 days and it was too long. You can kinda capture a lot of it in one day by just walking from Dontonbori to Shinsekai.
72h subway pass is useful but bear in mind that it doesn’t work on JR-lines. You will have to have an understanding of how the subway system in Tokyo works to use it. I did it on my first visit and it’s very intuitive so I’m sure you’d be able to figure it out. I remember I got the pass through a deal with the Keisei Skyliner.
Day 2 – I like having plenty of free time to explore but I think you’ll like want to do more on this day. A visit to Ueno Park and Ameyoko would make sense to me.
Day 3 – If you visit Meiji Jingu, you’re right by Harajuku and Takeshita-dori which is a fun visit imo.
Day 4 – Don’t forget to go to Zojoji Temple right by Tokyo Tower for imo the best view of the actual tower itself. I myself am not a big fan of going up the tower and have never done it myself. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Tower (free) and Shibuya Sky are better options imo.
Day 8 – This seems pretty busy but you have mentioned Kinkaku-ji twice (again on day 11) so without that, it might be viable. I’d still shift things around a bit probably and spread some things to day 11.
Day 12 – imo Nara Park can be easily done in a half day. Especially if you are early risers as mentioned. Always good to have a rest day though and just explore around.
Day 15 – I visited Hiroshima on my 2nd trip this year. I stayed the night in a ryokan on Miyajima, the island next to Hiroshima famous for its floating torii gate. I thought this was the highlight of my trip and would wholeheartedly recommend to not miss this. You’ll also pass by Himeji and Himeji Castle is easily the best castle I’ve ever visited.
Don’t forget to go to Kuromon Market in Osaka and Nishiki Market in Kyoto for tons of stalls with great food.
Day 18 – I haven’t visited Mt Fuji yet on my travels but one day doesn’t seem enough time to visit it. Perhaps cutting a day from your Osaka schedule and visiting Hakone would be a good idea.
Day 19 – Make sure you’re up early to visit Tsukiji as things die down quite fast (I’d say by noon).
I would recommend checking out the pre-made itineraries on Japan-guide.com. They helped me a lot to get a basic idea of a way to plan the day that you can then easily adjust.
If you have time in Osaka, I really recommend a day trip to Kobe! It’s really close and the museums were really nice when I went last November. I wouldn’t spend too much time in the injinkan foreign residences in Kitano (they were pretty gimmicky) but if you’re in the area, it’s worth dropping by. The highlight for me was dinner at Wakkoqu – delicious Kobe beef but everything else from the garlic rice to the vegetables tasted amazing. One of my favorite meals I had in Japan.
Otherwise, I also strongly recommend Hakone if you get the chance. That was one of the most prominent highlights during my visit last November (route was Tokyo-Hakone-Kyoto-Osaka). If you can spare two days and one night, you’ll be able to soak in hot springs and maybe catch a view of mount fuji if the weather’s good. Even if its foggy, Hakone looks gorgeous in the fall! There’s the famous onsen eggs, charcoal ice cream, etc.
Also worth trying a tea ceremony in Kyoto! One of the temples I stumbled upon happened to have a tea ceremony on that day (pretty lucky) and it was really nice. I think it was Shoren-in temple but I might be misremembering. Hope this is useful and enjoy!
You may want to map your Kyoto sightseeing, because the way it’s laid out right now you’re bouncing around to places that are not near each other on separate days instead of grouping them by area – Yasaka, Gion, and Kiyomizudera are all in one area, you can walk from Maruyama Park (beside Yasaka) to Kiyomizudera in half an hour even on a crowded day. Ginkakuji is at the upper end of the Philosopher’s Path but Kinkakuji is a distance away by bus or subway. Day 8 is pretty jam-packed but as long as you shift things around based on location, you should be able to spread it out nicely so you don’t get burnt out. Higashiyama/Gion is very walkable and there are a lot of good sights to see there, so don’t exhaust yourselves trying to grab a taxi or public transport to get downtown or south or west if you don’t have to.
I can’t vouch for the science museum in Osaka since we didn’t make it there, but there’s a whole museum complex near the castle park so again, you can maybe group that. Umeda Sky was honestly a surprise highlight, I didn’t expect it to be cool and it was. Dotonbori can also be grouped with any shopping you might want to do along Shinsaibashi-suji, like the Pokemon center, since they’re near one anohter.
Enjoy Nagano! Zenkouji was about the only thing to see there (well, we grouped it with the castle ruins at Ueda instead of the Kawanakajima battleground) but it was a lovely little city with good food. Do not pass up every apple-related item you see, every single one is amazing.
As far as aquariums and ferris wheels go, they are very good, but don’t feel obliged to go there just because you’re in Osaka. I personally think you’d be better off allocating the time somewhere else – another day in Hiroshima would be good, IMO.