Hello! My partner and I will be visiting Japan for the first time in October and would like to see what the pros here think of our itinerary.
Day 0
4:30 PM Arrive at Narita
5:30 PM Retrieve 7 Day JR Pass, navigate to Osaka
10:30 PM Check-in at Hotel in Shinsaibashi
Day 1
7:30 AM Half day trip to Nara
Nara Park, Todai-ji Temple & Museum
3:30 PM Osaka Castle
8:30 PM Walk through Shinsaibashi & Dotombori
Day 2
10:30 AM Osaka Aquarium, Tempozan Marketplace
5:00 PM Nakanoshima Rose Garden
6:30 PM Osaka Tenmagu Shrine
8:00 PM Umeda Sky Building
Day 3
8:00 AM Half day trip to Kyoto
Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, Okochi Sanso Garden, Monkey Park Iwatayama
12:30 PM Head to Kobe
Kobe Maritime Museum
Day 4
9:00 AM Day trip to Hiroshima & Itsukushima Shrine
Day 5
8:30 AM Half day trip to Ghibli Park (Grand Warehouse only)
4:30 PM Afternoon/evening stroll in Nagoya
Atsuta Shrine, Tokugawa Garden
Day 6
9:00 AM Move to Tokyo
1:30 PM Check in at Hotel in Kyobashi area
3:00 PM Monhan Sakaba late lunch
8:00 PM Guided Izakaya tour in Shinjuku
Day 7
10:00 AM Explore Akihabara
5:00 PM Nezu Shrine
7:00 PM Kurand Sake Market
9:30 PM Senso-ji Temple
Day 8
10:00 AM Yoyogi Park
11:30 AM Meiji Shrine
12:30 PM Stroll through Takeshita Dori (Harajuku)
Day 9
9:00 AM Teamlab Planets
11:00 AM Explore Odaiba
4:30 PM Tokyo Joypolis
9:00 PM Odaiba Seaside Park
Day 10
9:30 AM Explore Shibuya
8:00 PM Tokyo City View
Day 11
9:30 AM Imperial Palace
1:30 PM Tokyo Dome City
Day 12
Free day
Day 13
10:00 AM Mt. Fuji & lakes private tour
Day 14
10:00 AM Souvenir shopping day
Day 15
Fly back home
Please let me know if I need to further shave anything off this list. Thank you in advance!
4 comments
Day 3 half day trip to Kyoto (doing all that stuff) and heading to Kobe at 12:30 seems very ambitious. If you’re only doing a museum in Kobe you could leave Kyoto a few hours later perhaps?
Everything else seems nicely spaced out. Enjoy!
Woah!! Can I get info on guided tours?? I didn’t know there’s such a thing. Is it in English?
Mount Fiji in October? I wasn’t aware you can do that. I thought it was off season.
I think your Day 1 and Day 3 are going to be really difficult. Possible? Maybe, but not enjoyable IMO. The whole Kansai portion of your trip is pretty rushed, and you’re spending 3-5 hours on a train every day. I strongly recommend adding another day in Kansai before you head to Tokyo, and spending that extra day in Kyoto. Kyoto is a really big city with a lot to offer, and most itineraries recommend at least two days there for a reason. You have a lot of free time built into the Tokyo itinerary, so I think you could very easily give one of those days to Kansai.
If you don’t want to sacrifice one of your Tokyo days (although I’m seeing plenty of space in your itinerary to do so), I would cut Hiroshima from your itinerary and reorganize like this:
Day 1:
Nara (morning and afternoon)
Dotombori and Shinsaibashi (evening/night)
Day 2:
Stays the same
Day 3:
Himeji Castle (morning)
Kobe Maritime Museum (afternoon)
I recommend this change on Day 3 because Himeji Castle is much better than Osaka Castle (which is just a recreation), and it’s close to Kobe. Arashiyama in Kyoto and Kobe are two hours apart. I also recommend trying Kobe beef if you’re in the area anyway—would be kind of a shame to make that trip just for one museum.
Day 4:
Kyoto full day trip. I would personally prioritize southeastern Kyoto (Fushimi Inari, Higashiyama) above northwestern Kyoto (Arashiyama, Kinkakuji), but it’s up to your personal preferences. It’s pretty impossible to do both in one day.
I don’t think you have time to go to Hiroshima and Miyajima on this trip unless you subtract a day from Tokyo, unfortunately. It’s also really hard to see Hiroshima and Miyajima in one day without spending the night. 5-6 hours of your day will be taken up by riding the train.
Day 5
I haven’t been to Ghibli Park so I can’t speak to if this is worth it or not. It’s another day of 5-6 hours on the train though.