Hi All,
Looking at going to Japan with the wife. We want to enjoy the food, the sights with both traditional culture and more modern culture as well as some animenand manga.
Does anyone have any advise regarding the following provisional itinarary? We are looking at May 2024 just after the golden week.
Day 1- Arrive Narita 1900, sort out JR Pass ( if financially appropriate), Welcome Siucas and Portable wifi. Stay in Narita overnight, possibly visit to Narita Park depending if we are not too tired
Day 2- Early train to Tokyo, Visit Gaeajuku, Meiji shrine, get toiletries in a Don Qi, Hotel probably in the Shibuya area today and tomorrow
Day 3- Team Labs Azabudai (Should be open by then?) Tokyo Skytree and shopping ( Jump shop etc)
Day 4- Tsujiki Outer Market, 1 Act Kabuki Theatre, Shopping in Ginza. Stay in Capsule hotel near shinjuku
Day 5 Travel to Hakone early morning, Hakone Open Air Museum, Ryokan overnight stay with dinner and private onsen
Day 6 Travel to Kyoto, Fushi Inarai shrine Tea Ceremony, (recommendations for where would be great) Temple Stay (again recommendations appreciated)
Day 7 Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, then Monkey Park. Afternoon do Samurai experience, Shopping (Lashingbang)
Day 8 Kimono hire, Ninrizaka street, Nishi Market, Gion (Looking at buying a second hand kimono at Vintage Kimono an Gion)
Day 9 Travel to Nara (Park, Nakatanidou Mochi shop) Travel to Osaka
Day 10 Osaka Castle, Dontonburi, Shinsekai
Day 11 Namba Yasaka Shrine, Ota Road, Maid Cafe
Day 12 Travel to Hiroshima, Peace Memorial museum.
Day 13 Itsukushima Shrine, Atomic Bomb Dome Travel back to osaka
Day 14 Universal Studios (A Wednesday so hopefully slightly quieter)
Day 15 Shinsabashi, Wagyu Omakasi (Recomendations appreciated)
Day 16 Travel to Tokyo, Shibuya scramble, Memory lane for dinner and drinka
Day 17 Sensoji, Asukusa and Kappabasi. Yakiniku dinner (Recommendations appreciated)
Day 18 Akihabara, Golden Gai.
Day 19 Ghibli Museum
Day 20 Tokyo Mop up ( anything we have missed)
Day 21 Onsen, Lunch head to Narita for dinner before evening flight.
The days 17-20 we’ve tried to leave pretty chill to accomodate if we struggle to get tickets for Ghibli and TeamLabs.
Anything obvious we’re maybe missing out, or is there any particular timing difficulties that we should be aware of?
2 comments
I love it! You have so much great stuff covered.
I’ll say it every time, but I’d make a day going to Nikko. It’s just about an hour North of Tokyo and a really interesting historical area. You can get the Nikko World Heritage Area Pass that includes train fare, and busses in the area:
[https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_002.html](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_002.html)
Just want to add @ Fushimi Inari Shrine – if you can, hike all the way to the top. The bottom was massively packed full of people when I was there, but after walking for less than 10 minutes there was almost no one. Even less at the top. Eventually on the path you will reach a 3 way split. The path on the right is a shortcut to the top (and the way back down) if you prefer. The path on the left leads to a dead end in a graveyard area. The path in the middle is the long (and typical) way up.
I personally didn’t see the appeal of the bamboo grove, and reality definitely didn’t match Instagram Tons of people, very little to actually see, and hoards of folks posing for pictures in one small stretch of bamboo trees.
Looks pretty good – not sure why you’re not doing all of the Osaka stuff at once though (and I personally would cut at least one of those days for something else).