Hello!
So I’m planning to go to Japan for 3 weeks in October, and I may need some feedback / advices on my itinerary. I’m traveling alone, and I intend to enjoy the atmosphere, take a fairly relaxed pace to visit, and enjoy my vacation. My days are so, not very packed!
Here’s the itinerary:
Day 1:
\- Morning: Arrival at Haneda in the morning, pick up JR pass, yen, SIM card, PASMO etc.
\- Afternoon: Express bus to Kawaguchiko, arrival at accommodation, etc.
Kawaguchiko:
Day 2: (First light day to get used to the time difference, and recover from the flight!)
\- Morning: Oishi park
\- Afternoon: Itchuku Kobota museum + onsen
Day 3:
\- Morning: Chureito pagoda / Arakura trail
\- Afternoon: Kawaguchi lake walk + onsen
Kyoto:
Day 4: Bus to Mishima station. Shinkansen to Kyoto
Day 5:
\- Morning: Walking in Gion / Hanamikoji street / Shirakawa
\- Afternoon: Kennin-ji temple, Minami-za theater
Day 6: Higashiyama
\- Morning: Bus to Nanzenji, walk to Ginkaku-ji
\- Afternoon: Daimon-Ji trail. Walk to Heian-jingū, park
Day 7:
\- Morning: Sanjusangen-do
\- Afternoon: Guided tour of Uji and the Gion district at night
Day 8: Nara
\- Morning: Nara park & Todai-ji temple
\- Afternoon: Nara museum & walk
Day 9:
\- Morning: Bus to Goyo-Zaka – Kiyomizu dera
\- Afternoon: Kodai-ji Temple, Ishibe-koji lane
Day 10: Hiroshima
\- Morning: Hiroshima castle
\- Afternoon: Hiroshima memorial & park
Day 11: Arashiyama
\- Morning: Bamboo grove, Adashino Nenbutsu-ji temple
\- Afternoon: Iwatayama monkey park
Day 12:
\- Morning: Kifune shrine
\- Afternoon: Fushimi-Inari. Probably going in late afternoon, so it’s less crowded.
Day 13 : Tokyo / TODO
The rest of the time in Tokyo is not yet planned, but I have roughly 7 days left in Tokyo, not including the departure day.
Not sure about maybe adding one more day to Kyoto, to go Kinkaku-ji and maybe to do something i may have missed due to meteo or anything
I know that my days, as I said, may seem quite light, and that’s also why I’m open to suggestions, to complete days in certain areas where I could forget important things.
I am also open to suggestions of other cities, for a day or two (Osaka, Miyajima, Kobe?) !
Thank you in advance for your advices and your time ! 🙂
2 comments
FWIW I structured my trip a lot like you with a handful of items per day I wanted to see that are all near each other. I think its a good way to approach it because it lets you also discover things.
Case in point, your day in Arashiyama. We had the same things on our list, went to the bamboo grove as early as we could arrive just to see it with the fewest people around. The Monkey park didn’t open for a couple hours and most cafes are closed too so we wandered in the nearby park and wound up sitting on the banks of the river drinking vending machine coffee and watching the boat businesses open up. After the Monkey park it wasn’t even lunch so we hit a cafe, checked out the Kimono forest art exhibit, and did a few other things not on my list. Those kinds of days and moments are the ones I remember way more fondly than making sure I got my check marks.
I’d personally swap around like doing Fushimi Inari Taisha at dawn, but that’s because I think the light is beautiful at dawn there. Slightly chillier temps in October for hiking too, which I personally like.
No Mt. Fuji? Have you been there before?
Kawaguchi is the closest town to Subaru 5th Station and has a bus that goes there several times a day (although much less during the off season).