Hi folks. My partner and I (early 30s) have been planning our 3 week trip to Japan in January for a while now, generally using Trip Reports from this subreddit and a few books that we bought.
The biggest takeaway I got from reading so many was to scale everything down and to not overburden every day as best as possible. This itinerary is simple, and we’ll tack on evening walking tours, drink tours and events like tea ceremonies once the structure is locked.
This is mostly a “city” oriented trip hitting the hotspots. We hope to use this first trip as a basis for when we return in a few years so that we can branch off to islands, the north or even more of rural Japan in future.
There are a few gaps towards the end I might plug with a day trip, but I wanted to get our theme park days on early weekdays to minimise crowding. We love Japanese food and walking, so as much of these days as possible is walking between sights and finding food, drinks, and shops along the way
Any advice or a link to a discussion on shifting luggage around would be greatly appreciated, we’re hoping to start booking hotels this week. Another concern is that we’re arriving at 6am, and we’re curious if anyone has booked the “previous night” in a hotel to ensure access so early in the morning
The * is for our own reference as we need to research how to book these events
Thanks
**Day 1: Arrival in Tokyo – Friday January 5th – STAYING IN SHINJUKU
– Explore Shinjuku, National Garden, Golden Gai
**Day 2: Tokyo – Central Area**
– Teamlabs Planets, Akihabara, Ginza
**Day 3: Tokyo – Asakusa and Ueno**
– Ueno Park, Senso-ji Temple , Asakusa, Skytree* Kirby Cafe*
**Day 4: Tokyo – Harajuku and Shibuya** MONDAY
– Meiji Jingu
– Harajuku, Cat street, Shibuya Crossing
– Explore Shibuya, Nintendo
**Day 5:Travel to Kyoto – STAY IN KAWARAMACHI
– Nishiki Market breakfast
– Explore Fushimi Inari Shrine
– Walk to Kiyomizu-dera Temple
– Sannenzaka/Ninenzaka shopping/walking
**Day 6: Kyoto
– Explore Kinkaku-ji
– Kyoto Imperial Palace
– Kimono rental*
– Gion nightlife
**Day 7: Kyoto – Arashiyama** – STAY IN RYOKAN??
– Explore Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
– Visit Tenryu-ji Temple
– Sagano Train*
**Day 8: Travel to Osaka – STAY IN NAMBA
– Travel to Osaka
– Explore Dotonbori
**Day 9: Day Trip to Nara**
– Day trip to Nara
– Mochi presentation
– Visit Nara Park
– Explore Todai-ji Temple
**Day 10: Osaka
– Visit Osaka Castle
– Shopping in Shinsaibashi and Amerikamura
**Day 11: Osaka – Universal Studios Japan** MONDAY 15th
– Visit Universal Studios Japan
– Take a sake tasting or nightlife tour*
**Day 12: Osaka
– Visit Sumiyoshi Taisha
– Visit Shitennoji Temple
– Walk to boulangerie parigot
**Day 13: Travel to Hiroshima – STAY IN NAKA
– Visit Peace Memorial and Park
– Explore city
**Day 14: Hiroshima – Miyajima Island**
– Take ferry to Miyajima Island
– Visit Itsukushima Shrine
**Day 15: Travel to Tokyo – Return** – STAY IN SHIBUYA
– Shinkansen to Tokyo
– Visit Meiji Jingu Shrine, Yoyogi Park
– Explore/Shop Harajuku
**Day 16: Tokyo
– Possible day trip
**Day 17: Tokyo
– Ghibli Park* in the morning
– Unplanned evening
**Day 18: Tokyo – Tokyo Disney – STAY IN DISNEY MONDAY 22nd
– Tokyo Disney
**Day 19: Tokyo – STAY AKIHABARA
– Disney SEA
– Train to central tokyo for last minute shopping
**Day 20: Tokyo
– Last minute scraps, packing, shopping
**Day 21: Departure from Tokyo** THURSDAY 25th
– Train to Haneda Airport
– Depart from Tokyo at 11am
6 comments
Ghibli park is in Nagoya, so that’ll be an alllll day event!
A few thoughts:
* Try and do Fushimi Inari first thing in the morning as less crowds. You can do it the morning of day 6 or 7.
* Day 4 and 15 look to be the same
* You have a fair bit of moving around in your second Tokyo stay – maybe consider staying at Disneyland on the night of day 15 and 16 and going to Disneyland on day 16? Day 17 you can find a hotel for the rest of the stay.
There must be a ghibli park and a ghibli museum. We went to the ghibli museum in Mitaka which is outside of Tokyo. If you buy early tickets you can do it in half day from central Tokyo. Make sure you know about how to get the tickets in advance etc.
My only advice is, don’t book three weeks of hotels, just book the first four or five nights and then book the rest along the way, you never know what can happen in three weeks that might change your plan, I have first hand experience of that
You’ll need to rest for a bit (stay off your feet) after the Fushimi Inari Temple!
Thank you for sharing this! We’re planning a trip for next Summer, and have been overwhelmed by options and how to lay things out. A lot of the things on your list are on ours as well, but we’re likely only going to have 14 days. This is super helpful for giving us planning ideas!