Hi! I made a post on here not too long ago where I realised I planned way too much stuff for a day in Osaka (lol whooooops.)
Anyway, here’s the itinerary I’ve edited and have proposed to my family – I wish we had another day in Tokyo to go explore Shibuya and Shinjuku, but it is what it is. Please let me know what you think!!! I’ve tried to cater the destinations to my parents interests as well as mine and my brother’s.
**Day 1 (Wed Nov 29)**
* Arrive at Kansai Intl Airport (8:35am), get the travel essentials sorted etc.
* Train to Shinsaibashi station. Lunch at Pokemon Cafe, browse the goods. (If we can’t get a reservation, we’ll go to Osaka Castle instead)
* Explore Shinsekai & Dotonbori (dinner) then train back to hotel
* We’ll stay right opposite USJ, so we might wander around UCW before winding down for the night.
**Day 2 (Thu Nov 30)**
* All day at USJ until close
* Dinner at UCW
**Day 3 (Fri Dec 1)**
* Train to Kyoto
* Nijo Castle
* Fushimi Inari Taisha
* Train back to hotel to rest for a bit, then dinner at UCW
**Day 4 (Sat Dec 2)**
* Train to Shin-Osaka, Shinkansen to Tokyo, train to hotel (Asakusa), check in & rest for a little bit.
* Tokyo Skytree, Skytree Town (walk there, train/walk back)
**Day 5 (Sun Dec 3)**
* Check out early & leave luggage at hotel
* Walk around Asakusa (Sensoji etc) in the morning
* Train to Akihabara, spend like 5 hours there just wandering. Lunch with my friend from Tokyo – very important to me!
* Train back to Asakusa. Eat dinner nearby, pick up luggage
* Train to next hotel (Shin-Urayasu station)
**Day 6 (Mon Dec 4)**
* All day at Disneysea
**Day 6 (Tue Dec 5)**
* All day at Disneyland
**Day 7 (Wed Dec 6)**
* Airport limo to Narita from hotel (arrive at 11:50am, flight at 2:40pm)
Also, does anyone know what the weather in these areas would be like during our visit? I imagine it’ll be chilly, but not freezing
6 comments
I’d probably cut Disneyland for Shinjuku/Harajuki/Shibuya, perhaps even TeamLab Planets.
If you can piece together an itinerary, you’re probably too old for Disneyland (LOL).
Cut Disney land for shinjuku/shibuya
Don’t worry OP, Tokyo Disney is super fun! Both parks are wonderful. If you really want to, you could cut out of the Disneyland day early to do the shinjuku/harajuku/shibuya stuff, but you’ll have fun!
You could also at least visit shinjuku and shibuya after your Akihabara stuff instead of going back to Asakusa.
I get that DisneySea/Land are non-negotiable (if you could convince your mother to keep Sea and drop Land at least that could be good), but I think on Day 4 you could do Senso-ji before SkyTree – honestly the shopping in SkyTree is quite similar to Dotonbori/Shinsekai unless there’s something specific like the Kirby Cafe you really want to go to so that won’t take ages.
Then for Day 5, you could go to Meiji-Jingu and then you can maybe get a nice 2 hours down Harajuku before going to meet with your friend (assuming that meeting point is Akiba).
I’ve visited Osaka in mid-Nov and Tokyo over Christmas and it’s not full-on “bring the biggest puffer ski jacket” weather but it can get rainy and do have a couple of layers available to you. It’s unlikely you’ll get snow.
I think another comment mentioned something similar, but I’d say completely cut out Skytree and instead go to Asakusa after arriving in Tokyo. If you’re early enough the shops will still be open and then once it’s dark you can walk to Sumida river (it’s just like 5 minutes from the shrine) and watch the Skytree from there. It’s illuminated at night, so it’s best seen from a distance. The shopping center around the Skytree is nice, but not worth putting on your itinerary if you just have one week total (or at all imho).
Then (as I think the other comment said too) you can go to Shibuya the next morning before heading to Akihabara. Shibuya actually isn’t that big, it’s main attraction is the crossing (and the nightscene), so I think you probably won’t even need that much there. So if you get done there fast enough you might even still have time to check out Yoyogi/Harajuku. It’s also all on the Yamanote line, so getting to all the places for that day would be pretty convenient!
Also, just as a note: Ofc this depends on how much you’re into anime (and into how many you are), but I think 5 hours is a very generous estimate for walking around Akihabara. I think on my first visit I spent like 3/4 hours there actively checking out shops? But you can also easily spend 5 hours there and it’s a nice opportunity to wind down!
I feel it’s kind of weird that everyone is telling OP to convince his mother not to go to Disney. She’s paying for everything! And the one thing she wants to see is Disney, so please please let her enjoy Disney the way she wants.