Hi all,
Wondering if I might please be able to get some feedback on our proposed itinerary for 8 days in Osaka/Kyoto. We are travelling as a group of 6 – my husband and I, our kids aged 8 and 11 (who are mad Nintendo, Pokémon and Harry Potter fans), and my parents who are in their late 60s and are fit, avid travellers. I likely won’t plan the specifics of meal locations etc, as all are easy to please in terms of eating.
We are flying into and out of HND, with a 6 day stay in Tokyo following this itinerary, but I haven’t planned the details of that leg of the trip as yet.
Would love some feedback on this itinerary please, mostly whether I’ve grouped areas appropriately in Osaka, but also if there are any glaring omissions that we should consider.
Day 1 – Tokyo to Osaka
Morning
– Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka, drop bags at hotel, near Namba Station (but using luggage forwarding for our larger suitcases)
Afternoon
– Osaka Castle
– Osaka Museum of History
Evening/Night
– Dotonbori
– Tombori River Cruise
Day 2
Morning
– Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukuan
– Tempozan Giant Ferris Wheel
Early afternoon
– Umeda Sky Building
– Nintendo Osaka
Late afternoon
– Pokémon cafe (booking at 3:55pm)
Evening/night
– Shinsaibashi
Day 3
Day trip to Nara
Evening/night
– Around Namba
Day 4
Morning/early afternoon
– Shinsekai
– Nipponbashi (Animate, DenDen Town)
Late afternoon
– Universal Studios (3pm entry with 1.5 day pass)
Day 5
Universal Studios (with express pass)
Day 6 – Osaka to Kyoto
Morning
– Cup Noodle Museum (with chicken ramen factory)
Early afternoon
– around either Namba or Dotonbori, depending on where we want to spend time more
Late afternoon
– train to Kyoto
Evening/night
– Gion
Day 7
Morning/afternoon
– Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
– Fushimi Inari
Evening/night
– Nishiki Market
Day 8
Morning
– Samurai and Ninja Museum (with ninja experience)
I’d also like to visit some tea shops
Afternoon
– Shinkansen to Tokyo
7 comments
if you like tea shops maybe consider trying to make a stop in Uji – if you start early, and do the typical nara park circle, its possible you will be starting to head back in early afternoon – enough time to go to Uji before heading back to Osaka
day 6 – be aware that the trains dont run so late, so if you head to gion but stay in osaka, keep the clock in mind
day 7 – nishiki market is not an evening thing, between 5 and 6 pm almost everything is closed or closing. (pontocho next to it would be an evening thing). I would also advise you to NOT go to the bamboo grove is that all that you want to do in arashiyama. its not worth the travel time, especially from osaka and especially when the next stop is fushimi inari. from fushimi inari a trip to uji would also be feasable
day 8. fyi nishiki market is right around the corner from the samurai and ninja museum
Not sure where you are flying from and what time you are landing but day 1 seems way too busy, especially when factoring in jet lag/exhaustion from travelling. Especially for kids and older people.
you *NEED* to go to nara park. feeding the deer was one of my favorite experiences of my life.
You might want to consider just landing at Kansai airport instead if you’re going to Osaka directly.
Especially if you’re with kids and older folks, you’d have to factor in mobility and it’ll be quite tiring (I assume you’re landing in the morning?) to change trains twice just to get to Osaka.
For day 6, the Cup Noodle Museum is a bit farther, in a different direction from Kyoto. So you’d take the train to Ikeda (where the museum is), then to Osaka to look around, and then Kyoto would be pretty packed.
The bamboo grove would probably take 30 minutes top. There are other places to see in Arashiyama, like Tenryu-ji, or Sagano sightseeing line. Alternatively, you can instead go to another place in Kyoto, like Kiyomizu-dera, then work your way down to Gion for dinner.
Thanks for all of the very helpful comments so far. To clarify:
– we arrive into Haneda the day before this itinerary starts. We are flying from Australia, so just one hour time difference, and we get in at 8pm and have booked a hotel near the airport. Our plan is to send my parents and the kids ahead to the hotel to check in and get settled while my husband and I do things like pick up pocket wifi, organise luggage forwarding of our suitcases. So we should start Day 1 hopefully well rested and refreshed
– once we leave Osaka to go to Kyoto, we are then staying for those next two nights in Kyoto
That’s really great feedback about the bamboo grove – I will look into what else is around there. While it’s a bit out of the way, it made it onto the itinerary, as my parents didn’t make it there last time they went to Kyoto, so would like to see it.
Thanks again!
Hi!
On day 2, I might skip the Umeda Sky Building, since you specifically said your kids like Pokemon and Nintendo and you want to have more time to look at things before going to your reservation at 3:55. The Nintendo store can be crowded depending on time of day and day of the week and the same goes for the Pokemon Center attached to the cafe. We waited 1 hour to buy the merch my daughter wanted there in June.
My daughter is 12 and had mixed feelings about DenDen Town. She liked all the used games and bought some used Pokemon cards there, but she was a little uncomfortable with the advertisements for adult only top floors in buildings and there were a few smaller shops closer to the Mandarake selling 18+ stuff at street level involving actual people and not anime characters.
I always go to the Lupicia in the Teramachi area. I love their tea. They have limited flavors for different areas and that branch has a special box set I love and has 4 special seasonal teas.
Left Kyoto yesterday, the bamboo forest was a massive let down compared to the other sites around Kyoto. If you’re dead set on seeing a bamboo forest “Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple” is a temple which has its own bamboo forest connected. Much less crowded and much more Beautiful. On the other side of town “Eikan-dō (Zenrin-ji) Temple” has been a highlight of Kyoto. A beautiful temple complex, you take your shoes off and adventure around the temple.
Fushimi Inari Taisha is spectacular but expect it to be heaving unless you go early morning or higher up the mountain.