Planning a trip Mid June to Early July. Family of 4 with 2 teens. Looking at hotels it’s seem I need to book 2 rooms. Is AirBnB or VRBO a better option? We have never been to Japan, but have traveled to Italy, France, England and Scotland. Im all for ideas and options for changing our itinerary. Im wondering if we should skip Osaka and extend our stay Kyoto or keep what we have to see a change of scenery. How is Universal Studios compared to Universal Hollywood? We were just at Universal Hollywood and I wondering if we should skip it in Osaka, to me it looks the same. From those that have been there in June how is the heat and humidity? Better then July and August? I know it’s the start of the rain season. Is it typical rainy in June? Thanks for all the suggestions!
Day 1- Fly to Tokyo
Day 2- Tokyo:
Arrive and go to hotel in Shinjuku and explore the area
Day 3- Tokyo:
Imperial Palace
Akihabara: Shopping/ Gaming and Electronics, Kanda Shrine
Asakusa: Sensoji Temple Kaminarion/ HozomonGate, Asakusa Shrine
Day 4- Tokyo:
Tokyo Tower/ Shiba Park (Zojoji Temple, Mausoleum of Tokugawa Shoguns, Gate of Daitokuin Mausoleum and Sangadetsumon Gate)
Harajuku and Shinjuku (Meiji Shrine)
Shibuya Crossing for dinner
Day 5- Morning Train to Kyoto, Check into Hotel in Gion, and explore area. Kennin-ji Temple,, Hanamikoji Street, Yasaka Shrine, Ichiriki Chaya, Shibashi Street/ Tatsumi Bridge, Gion Corner
Day 6- Arashiyama
Bamboo Grove, Tenryu-ji, Nonomiya-jinja Shrine, Jojakko-ji Temple, Adashino Nenbutsuji Temple, Togetsukyo Bridge to Arashiyama Monkey Park
Day 7- Kyoto
Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji to Philosopher Path, Eikan-do Zenrin-ji Temple, Nanzen-ji Temple, Kiyomizu-dera Temple
Day 8- Nara Day trip/ Train to Kintetsu-Nara station, Kofuku-ji Temple, Isuien Garden, Todai-ji Temple, Nara Deer Park, Kasuga-Taisha, (Higashimuki Shopping Street and Mochiidone Shopping Arcade if time allows)
Day 9- Kyoto
Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, Samurai & Ninja Museum, Nijo Castle
Day 10- Train to Osaka, visit aquarium afternoon
Day 11- Universal Studios or Day trip to Himeji
Day 12- Day trip to Hiroshima
Morning: Miyajima floating tori gate, old town Afternoon: Atomic Bomb Dome, Peace Memorial Park/ Museum Train Back to Osaka
Day 13- Osaka
Jamba Yasak Shrine, Osaka Riverside walk, Shitennoji Temple, dusk walk thru Minami
Day 14- Bullet Train to Tokyo/ Rest
Day 15- Disneyland
Day 16- Disney Sea
Day 17- Disneyland
Day 18- Disney Sea
Day 19- Home
4 comments
one thing to consider. instead of going to hiroshima on day 12, send your big bags to tokyo and go to hiroshima on day 13, stay the night there and fly back to tokyo on day 14
It doe snot always rain in June and July. I think for our 2023 trip we had rain for maybe 2 days out of 21 and both days the rain was light and cleared up within 1 hour.
However, this trip was positively sweltering and I thought I was going to melt. We went to Japan in June-July 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, and this year was just so much worse. Every day it felt like it was over 100 with humidity and I kept sweating through my clothes. It was gross.
There are going to be more limited hotels right now, because many hotels don’t open up booking until 6 months out. Mimaru tends to be a good chain for apartment hotels. I prefer hotels, but I also like to shop a lot and use takQbin and it is easier with hotels and I like to not have to worry that things will be materially different than what I had hoped, which often has happened to me when I have done vacation rentals in the US.
Every June outside of Covid there is a Yukata Festival in Himeji. I always plan to go but then something comes up (the heat this trip.)
I think unless you are paying for a cabs or you do well in heat and humidity, your Kyoto days are going to be exhausting. It’s just really really hot. Day 7 is the most egregious.
I like Disney, I’m not a huge fan, but I do like it, and I really enjoyed both Sea and Land. I’m not sure I would give it 4 full days though. If you really want to do that, I would do in Land and 2 in Sea and consider staying in one of the hotels.
We paid for Premier Pass for a few rides, but the others we had no problem getting on because we used our 15 minutes early entry to get in line for those. I was actually really surprised with how much we accomplished. We did 1 day in Sea and 1 in Land. We’d been just going to Sea in the past (December 2022, February 2020, and I want to say July 2019.) but I am glad we did Land too this past trip.
Rail prices are going up on 10/1 so flying as suggested might be the cheaper option.
Good luck!
This is in regards to hotel, have you tried apartment hotels like Mimaru? They can probably accomodate your group.
If you can, maybe you can try a machiya in Kyoto or other cities, they are more traditional style dwellings and you usually get the whole house to yourself
Our family of 4 did 7 nights at an AirBnB in Kyoto end of May 2019 and then 5 nights in Osaka beginning of June at a [Booking.com](https://Booking.com) place. Both were great options for us (for the price anyway) except you may not have air conditioning in every room that people sleep in if you are not gong the hotel route and, yes, you need to think about a/c even at the end of May (unless perhaps you have lived for years in a relative hot humid climate).
I was in Japan again this summer, end of July, in Nagoya and I found myself avoiding outdoor activities because of the heat. I was surprised at what a relief Hawaii was weather-wise, flying straight from Japan to Honolulu, despite Hawaii being further south. Early June is probably better than early August as I don’t recall it being quite so oppressive during the day but I still remember wishing we could have gone a month earlier, in late April, had that worked out.