Hi there
My husband and I (32M/31F) are flying to Japan on 22 October morning and leaving late evening on 30 October.
We are finding the planning fairly overwhelming, particularly as we will be in South Korea for 10 days beforehand for a large conference. We have never been to japan before and there is so much to do! We are hoping someone can help us with packing as much in as possible within our short time frame. We would like to focus our trip on cultural and historical places but are also keen on doing some shopping and exploring food markets between Tokyo and Kyoto. We are very keen to go to Mount Fuji, Hiroshima, nara park, fushimi shrine and arashiyama. It’s not a ‘must do’ but we also would like to go to universal studios. It may be far too ambitious to get to all of these places, but I would be very grateful for any itinerary suggestions.
Thank you
4 comments
You are well aware that visiting all the places you have mentioned above is far too ambitious. Not it may be, but it IS unrealistic and too ambitious.
Realistically Tokyo and Kyoto, or Osaka, Kyoto, Nara for a week visit.
pretty ambitious imo as I prefer a slower more laxed style of travel now at my age of 36 :P. If it were me I would:
1. Stick to Osaka/Kyoto/Nara/Hiroshima and maybe just a short two or three nights in Tokyo to end it off. OR
2. Split the trip between Osaka/Kyoto and Tokyo/Mt Fuji
idk.. this is a toughie. all those places are awesome/beautiful and to not be able to savor the moments and be constantly on a tight schedule to go to the next place may take away from your experience. can you take extra time off work? hehe 😛
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just my 2 cents. good luck and have fun no matter what!
I would encourage you to change your mindset away from “packing as much in as possible.”
You’d be better off spending more time in fewer places instead of racing around to a lot of locations to snap a photo and say “we were there.”
My first trip I spent the the entire week in Kyoto and it was amazing. On other trips we spent a few days in Tokyo followed by the five Fuji lakes.
An option:
Fly in Tokyo/stay in Shinjuku
Day 1 – Shinjuku sight see
Day 2 – Harajuku/Shibuya (sunset Sky observatory Shibuya – beautiful view, vibe and romantic)
Day 3 – Tokyo Tower, Zozo-ji, Takeshiba pier/Ginza/Odaiba OR Taito City area (skytree, Senso-ji etc)
Day 4 – Mt fuji day trip (5th station only)
Day 5 – Shinkansen to Kyoto, maybe Gion Corner that night
Day 6 – Kyoto sight see (fushima shrine, nijo castle etc – hire bikes to get around it’s a blast!
Day 7 – Kyoto sight see (whatever else you want to see, it’s an endless rabbit hole
Day 8 – head to Osaka – Dotonbori afternoon/evening
Day 9 – Universal Studios
Fly out of Osaka
Be OK with not seeing everything. Get a taste and come back again another time for more. I’m currently in Tokyo just doing 8 days here and still won’t see everything there is. Plan simple and enjoy it rather than stress yourself out over trying to cram it in and end up disappointed you didn’t have time for everything.
If you do the above make sure you get JR Rail pass and/or Suica pass.
Edited to add more.