Hi everyone. I’ve so much appreciated the advice and information from this sub. I’ve read a ton of itineraries and ours is heavily influenced by everyone here. So first off – thank you to anyone who responds and to the previous posters.
Our trip begins Sep 23 and will be for 16 days ending Oct 8, 2023.
**Background info on us/style of travel/what we like:**
We do like to eat at nice restaurants more than shopping. We are generally very active people and don’t mind a lot of walking and moving around. We like museums and cool/historical places more than shopping. We are fortunate in that our budget is very flexible and we are willing to spend to have a good time/be more efficient.
**Questions about our plan:**
1. Thoughts on the number of days in Osaka vs. Tokyo at the end? We are thinking about cutting off a day from Oasaka and heading back to Tokyo since the Tokyo itinerary looks pretty packed and we might need more time there to fit this in.
Anything we should cut out that takes a lot of time/is far away that’s not worth it?
2. We only have dinner reservations for 1 night (nice Michelin place). I’m starting to get the sense that that may be a mistake. Should we make more reservations for dinner or will it be OK to “wing it”? I know this is a matter of preference to some extent but just trying to understand how busy nice/good restaurants will be. We do not like fast food (McDonalds type) and generally do not want to go to sub-par places. We are fine paying more for better meals and are planning on using Tabelog to guide us. **Will it be hard to get dinner at at 4/3.5-star+ place on Tabelog last minute?**
3. Any glaring holes or really cool stuff we are missing?
**Itinerary:**
*Sat 9/23:*
Arrive ~4:30pm from US
* Staying in Shinjuku
* Planning on grabbing dinner either around Golden Gai or Omoide Yokocho
* Do not have dinner reservations
*Sun 9/24:*
* Meiji Jingu shrine
* Nezu museum
* Shibuya Crossing
* Shibuya Sky
* Roppongi Hills/Mori tower
* Other stuff we would like to try:
* Ben Fiddich or another nice cocktail bar
* Shinjuku Copabowl?
*Mon 9/25:*
* Ship bag to Kyoto hotel
* TeamLabs Planet
* Tokyo Skytree
* Senso-ji temple and Asakusa shrine
* Ueno Park
* Akihabara
* KITTE Marunouchi
* Ginza for dinner
* We do not have dinner reservations this night. Should we try to get something in Ginza?
*Tue 9/26:*
* Tokyo National Museum in the morning
* Travel to Kyoyo – staying in the downtown area
* We were not planning on getting the JR pass but based on comments here we will look into the cost
* We do not have any dinner reservations in Kyoto – I’m thinking we need to start that process?
*Wed 9/27:*
* Kiyomizu-dera Temple
* Sanneizaka
* Maruyama-koen Park
* Nineizaka
* Chion-in Temple
* Shoren-in Temple
* Shiyakusho-mae Station
* Nishiki Market
* Daimaru Kyoto
* Fushimi-Inari Station
* Fushimi-Inari Senbon Torii
* Gion Shimbashi walk after dinner
*Thurs 9/28:*
* Arashiyama
* Tenryu-ji Template
– Arashiyama bamboo grove
– Okochi Sanso Garden
– Kinkaku-ji Template
– Daitoku-ji Temple
– Pontocho Park after dinner
*Fri 9/29:*
– Travel to Kurama and hike to Kibune
– Ginkaku-ji Temple/Path of Philosophy
– Nanzen-ji Temple
*Sat 9/30:*
– Ship bags to Kinosaki ryokan
– Nara park
*Sun 10/1:*
– Travel to Kinosaki
– Onsens during the day, chill out and rest
– Dinner at Ryoken
*Mon 10/2:*
– More rest, onsens, relax and quiet time
– Ship bags to Osaka hotel
*Tues 10/3:*
– Travel to Osaka
– Osaka aquarium
– Kita ward
– Osaka castle
– Possibly Bible Club or another “speakeasy” type bar in Osaka
– Do not have any dinner reservations in Osaka – is this a mistake?
*Wed 10/4:*
– Himeji Castle
– Mt. Shosha
– Koko-en garden
*Thurs 10/5:*
– Minami district
– Dotombori area
– Hozenji Yokocho
– Sennichimae Doguyasuji shopping
– Nipponbashi Denden
– Dinner in Minami – do we need reservations?
– Abeno Harukas to hopefully see sunset
*Friday 10/6:*
– Free day in Osaka. Thinking about leaving to head back to Tokyo this day instead
*Sat 10/7:*
– Travel to Tokyo, nothing specifically planned. Thinking we would hit up things we missed
*Sun 10/8:*
– Depart for US around 6:30 so we do have time in the AM to do something
3 comments
I would ship luggage to Osaka and only bring a change of clothes to Kinosaki.
Full JR pass, no, but look into the regional JR West pass and get one to cover Nara, Kinosaki, Himeji.
> Will it be hard to get dinner at at 4/3.5-star+ place on Tabelog last minute?
If it is a place that does not accept reservations (a highly rated ramen shop for example) then you will “only” need to go early and be prepared to queue. If the place accepts reservations then you will almost certainly need one, barring a lucky cancellation / no-show.
My husband and I will be there the same dates! (But leaving on the 5th.) Pretty sure our first full day in Tokyo also looks the exact same, lol. We’re doing Tokyo for 5 nights, Kawaguchiko for 2 nights, and Kyoto/Nara for the rest. We are not getting a JR pass after people here said it wasn’t worth it.
We have mapped out a few highly recommended/rated food options for each meal in each area every day (I like to have somewhat of an outline even if it doesn’t work out). We are making some reservations for just a few places and haven’t had any issues not getting a day or time we want. Except the three star Michelin place in Kyoto only had one night available during our stay there. I’d say we’re only booking about a few meals. Otherwise, we plan on queuing early.
We had Osaka in our original plans, but decided one day there wasn’t worth the travel time to us. We know we’ll do a lot of walking, so we’d rather save a day on the end for resting before heading back to Tokyo to fly home.
One thing on your Kyoto itinerary that several people recommended we change was to do Fushimi Inari before heading to Nara since it’s on the way.
Enjoy your trip!