Hey, so my friends and I (3 males, 21 Yrs) have just booked tickets for May of 2024! I’ve done a bit of research and came up with a rough itinerary. For a bit of background and context, this is our first big trip ever for all of us. Our main plan for this trip was not to have a really strict and full itinerary, because we all love exploring and just walking around and discovering things. However, we obviously still want to hit all of the big things and “musts”. We all love Japanese culture, manga/anime/, sights, nature, taking pictures, exploring, etc.
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We still need lots of suggestions reccomendations. Still not sure about all the trains and how to get around and what train passes we do and don’t need, this subreddit has helped a lot with that kind of stuff but we are still a little confused. Would love some more help with that and luggage transfers!! We are open to lots of criticism and advice as we know this itinerary is probably really rough, but again, it’s our first shot at one.
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**May 13**
\- Land NRT, May 13, afternoon
\- Check-in Hotel
\- Walk around/explore area/find food
**May 14**
\- Wake up early
\- Explore area near hotel/get breakfast
\- Head to Shinjuku area
\-Omoide Yokocho
\-Shinjuku Gyo-en garden
\-Meiji Jingu
\-Eat somewhere in between
\-Yoyogi Park
\-Pokemon Center Shibuya
\-Shibuya Scramble
\-Start heading back to hotel
**May 15 (Oshino Hakkai Day Trip)**
\- Take bus from Shibuya station to Kawaguchiko Station
\- Take a bus from Kawaguchiko Station that stops at Oshino Hakkai (confused on how to check this and if we should buy tickets in advance and how)
\- Explore area around and near Oshino Hakkai
\- Hannoki Bayashi Shiryokan (is it worth it?)
\- Head back (is this enough for one day? Im worried its too little to do in one day, but with travel time there and back, seems like this would take a whole day)
**May 16**
\- TeamLabs Planets and Borderless (try to get an early/early-ish slot) (should we do both or one? Are tickets separate for both?)
\- Rainbow Bridge
\- Nakano Broadway
\- Probably spend the rest of the day walking/exploring/shopping
**(would love recommendations on what else to fit in this day)**
**May 17**
\- Senso-ji
\- Radio Kaikan
\- Explore the nearby area/shop
\- Shibuya Sky
**May 18**
\- Check Out and get luggage transferred (No idea how this works, still figuring it out)
\- Leave to Kyoto
\- Check into Kyoto Hotel
\- Explore/walk around area near hotel
**May 19**
\- Head to Gion district
\- Nijo castle
\- Nishiki Market
\- Manga Museum (worth it?) (do we need tickets in advance?)
**May 20**
\- Ginkakuji
\- Philosphers Path
\- Junsei (hear all the food here is a must)
\- Kyoto zoo? (worth it?)
\- Maruyama Park
**- (what else can we do or fit into this day?)**
**May 21**
\- Arashiyama
\- (what else can we do while we’re around this area?)
\- Okachi Sanso Garden
\- Fushimi Inari
**May 22**
\- Nara day Trip
\- (Dont really know what to do other than the deer park, need suggestion!!)
\- (Should we go from nara to Osaka or go the next day? How would luggage transfer work?)
**May 23** (either travel to Osaka from Nara or leave in the morning from Kyoto)
\- Osaka Exploring
\- Osaka Aquarium (never been to any aquarium so hopefully its worth it?
\- Dotonburi
**May 24**
\- Shinsekai district exploring
\- Osaka Castle
**(Again, need recommendations, dont really know what else to do, a little overwhelmed from everything we can do.)**
**May 25**
We really wanted to do a hike/day trip to Kumano Kodo, but we can’t work out the logistics, and are having a hard time figuring out how to get there, if its too ambitious, etc.
**May 26**
\- Head back to tokyo
\- Explore a bit more of tokyo this day
\- Ghibili Museum??
**May 27**
\-Take suggestions given and look at them/visit places we’ve liked before/shopping
\-Ghibli Museum?? (if we cant fit in previous day or cant get tickets)
**May 28**
**-**Check out/head to airport
\-Flight is around 5pm
7 comments
May 14: that is a really packed day…
May 16: iirc, one of the TeamLabs closed, idk which (has been said in previous posts here)
May 20: imo, Philosopher’s Path is not eorth it, same goes for the zoo. Instead ehy not do Fushimi Inari + Kiyomizudera if you are in that part of the city anyway?
May 21: Kinkaku-ji is nearby, some other temples on the route too
May 22: Nara is famous for its temple/shrine park with dozens of places to see. It just so happens that there are deer everywhere in that park. I’d also krrp it as a day trip and travel to Osaka next day
Ghibli museum: afaik you need to reserve tickets from within Japan several weeks in advance, so probably not an option for you there. In general try to group stuff and research a tiny bit more, most people have a very similar plan to this (teamLabs, Ghibli, same cities, etc) and you’ll be able to find lots of advice on this sub
First off, planning a Japan trip can be a real daunting task. There is so much to see and do. My recommendation is make a reasonable list of “must sees” (max 2 a day) and then leave yourself plenty of time / opportunity to explore. You’re going for a good amount of time, so you’ll see plenty. But there will always be some stuff you can’t make…
My must sees:
**Tokyo** (top priority incredible city): Don’t overplan this. Just go and experience it. World class city with so much to offer.
My musts: Asakuza (Senso-ji) for history / crowds, Shibuya / Shinjuku for hustle and bustle (Golden Gai), Ginza for the brands, Imperial Palace for gardens, Shinjuku-Gyoen garden, Ueno park (National Museum).
**Kyoto:** Kinkaku-ji, Fushimi-Inari, Sanjūsangen-dō, Okachi Sanso, Nanzen-ji.
Kyoto is spread out. Get a bike if possible and pick a district to explore. Another case where you don’t need to worry too much. If you spend 3 days in Kyoto, you will see several incredible temples / shrines.
**Osaka:** Osaka-jo, Dontonbori.
My opinion, Osaka a great city to visit for a short period. Main draw is probably the wide variety of food options. I would actually go to a bunch of other places before Osaka.
You have time to hit some other places. I can recommend Hiroshima / Miyajima, Kanazawa and Koyosan.
If you want to hike, take a look at Koyosan. Wonderful place to visit, which can be arrived at by cable car or via a hike through the woods.
For luggage transfer just speak to the front desk and they will arrange to have your bags forwarded. Although I don’t know why it would be necessary. Every JR station has storage lockers. And you’re not going for long enough that you should be overburdened.
TeamLabs Planets is closing at the end of 2023. Not sure about Borderless.
Luggage: Given that you are three young people, unless you’re planning on lugging truly massive bags I wouldn’t bother with luggage transfer, I’ve made it all over Japan with a rudimentary rolling suitcase and backpack. Train stations will have lockers where you can stash bags for a while if you want to explore an area between checking out and checking in to your next spot, and trains will have little areas to put bags during journeys between cities.
I love that you’re planning your trip this far out, don’t fret about having an under-filled itinerary, take your time finding things to do and know that you have plenty of time to figure it all out. Even once you’re in Japan you can edit/adapt your itinerary since many great attractions (temples, shrines, parks, etc.) don’t require reservations in advance.
Consider just staying in Kyoto or Osaka (personal rec – Kyoto) and visiting the other city via day trip. Kyoto and Osaka are quite close together, and they are serviced by plenty of affordable local trains, that take about 45 minutes. Unlike most city-to-city transfer that require either a longer trek, or a more expensive bullet train, going from Kyoto to Osaka or vice versa is very easy.
I’ll echo /u/CommanderTouchdown, for a 16 day trip, I’d consider adding one additional location for a 1-2 night stay. Since it sounds like you’re into nature/hiking/outdoors, Koyasan is amazing. And (assuming the cost isn’t prohibitive) a night at a temple stay is a very unique and special experience (there’s lots of info on this online). Kanazawa and Hiroshima/Miyajima are also great options.
If you haven’t already found it, I think the best site for doing the large-scale planning is [japan-guide.com](https://japan-guide.com), I think that they have the easiest interface, and it’s a great way to get a sense of what the “must sees” are in different areas/cities in Japan.
>Would love some more help with that and luggage transfers!
I would highly recommend packing a single backpack and not worrying about luggage transfers if you can. If that is impossible for you, then there are services that will take your luggage to your hotels for you, like kuroneko, or a lot of train stations have luggage lockers.
May 14 is too much, cut half of it. Meiji Jinju took us 2 hours without doing the museum, Shinjuku gyoen garden was more like 3-4. And don’t forget to factor in time to get everywhere including a little.extra to navigate the stations, especially if you aren’t used to taking subways
Also depending on what early means for you, might be tough to get breakfast. Very few places are open before 9 am
Suggestion – since you are into anime/manga you might like a maid cafe. There are different ones with different levels of cute vs sexy. I went to one of the maid dreamin ones and it was all just very cute and the food was actually pretty good too.
my 2 cents:
Buying tickets in advance is always a good choice. You can be sure to get a ticket for the day and time you want and sometimes also can get a discount.
Depending on how much you’re into anime Nakano Broadway can fill out the entire day already.
Otherwise Nakano in general is also an interesting district to explore.
For luggage transport you could ask your hotel if they you already booked. They may not offer the best price but I’m sure they have a cooperation partner at hand and so you would have less trouble.
In nare you could rent a (e)bike (1000¥/2000¥) and drive around. Luggage transfer would a nice idea here. So you can spend your day in nara while your luggage is being transported. Otherwise a trip from Kyoto to Osaka is unter a hour.
in general your days are very full, I would set priorities for everything and just start the days and see how much you get done. Such full days quicky become a “working off”