Hi everyone, would like some insights to my Japan itinerary (credit to comments from r/JapanTravel), and would like some input on how it is/ if doing all this is possible. I will be traveling with my fiancé (28F). This would be my first time traveling to Japan.
Appreciate any help! Please be free to also correct any of the travel trains if they are incorrect or if it is not viable. We have not booked any accommodation yet as the itinerary is not yet solidified.
We are going on the 8th Dec to 24th Dec
**Plane**: Taking ZIPAIR, landing at 9am (8th Dec) Narita Airport from Singapore (6.5hrs flight)
**Phone**: eSim? Portable Wifi?
**JR Pass**: intending to take the 14 days JR pass (through Klook) and activate on the 2nd day (9th Dec) by exchanging the order at an official JR exchange office.
**Suica**: buying a physical card.
**Itinerary**:
• **Day 1, Friday** Tokyo (2 Nights)
Head to Shinjuku, drop our luggage in locker if possible and explore Shinjuku
\-National Garden-> Matsumoto Kiyoshi-> Hanazone Shrine
\-Ginza shopping Street in the evening
OR
\-Odaiba (teamLab, Takoyaki Museum, Seaside Park)
• **Day 2, Saturday** Tokyo -> Kamakura -> Enoshima -> Tokyo
Activate JR Pass
Day trip to Kamakura
\-Hokokuji temple/ Hasedera / Tsurugaoka
\-Enoden to Enoshima
\-Walk around the island and go back Tokyo accomodation
• **Day 3, Sunday** Tokyo -> Nagano (1 Night)
Head to Nagano in the morning, hoping to reach at around 8.30am. Drop our luggage to accommodation (ideally would like to book a ryokan, Yudanaka onsen or Shibu onsen)
\- Zenkoji temple
\- Jigokudani snow monkey park
\- Back to accommodation Onsen
• **Day 4, Monday** Nagano -> Kanazawa (2 Nights)
Head to Kanazawa from Tokyo in the morning, hoping to reach at around 9am.
Drop our luggage to accommodation (is ryokan good in Kanazawa?)
\-Kenrokuen
\-Kanazawa Castle Park
\-Oyama Jinja Shrine
\-Nagamachi samurai district
• **Day 5, Tuesday** Kanazawa
\-Omicho Market
\-Ninja Temp
\-Ishiura Shrine
\-Kazue-machi Chaya District
\-Higashi Chaya District
• **Day 6, Wednesday** Kanazawa -> Kyoto (3 Nights)
Head to Kyoto in the morning (reach around 9am-ish), drop our luggage to accommodation
\-Nishiki market
\-Kiyamachi Dori
\-Yasaka Shrine (evening)
• **Day 7, Thursday** Kyoto -> Nara -> Kyoto
Morning Fushimi Inari
Day trip to Nara
\-Kasuga Shrine
\-Wakakusa Mount
\-Nigatsudo and Sangatsudo
\-Todaiji Temple
\-Nara Park
\-Kofukuji Temple
• **Day 8, Friday** Kyoto
Kiyomizudera
Higashiyama District (Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka)
Kodaiji Temple
Kenninji Temple
Gion
• **Day 9, Saturday** Kyoto -> Osaka (4 Nights)
Head to Osaka in the afternoon (reach around 2pm-ish), drop our luggage in accommodation (looking for hotel in Namba Area)
\- Shinsekai -> Dotonbori explore Namba area (Den Den Town, Kuromon Market)
\- Shinsaibashi and Amerikamura
• **Day 10, Sunday** Osaka -> Himeji -> Kobe -> Osaka
Day trip to Himeji -> Kobe
\-Himeji Castle
\-Kobe (Kitano-cho)
\-Kobe Ropeway to Nunobiki Herb Garden
\-Ikuta Shrine (Optional if time permit)
\-Kobe Harborland (Kobe Beef)
• **Day 11, Monday** Osaka -> Hiroshima -> Miyajima -> Osaka
Day trip to Hiroshima -> Miyajima
\-Morning ferry to Miyajima from Miyajimaguchi Station
\-Ropeway to Mount Misen
OR
\-Goju Pagoda, Pavillion, Itsukushima Shrine and Toyokuni Shrine
\-Back to Hiroshima
\- Dome -> Peace park -> Castle (Optional)
\-must try Hiroshima style okonomiyaki
• **Day 12, Tuesday** Osaka
\- Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street
\- Osaka Castle
\- Maybe Namba area again for food exploration?
\- Or I could change the whole day to a day trip to places like Mount Kyosan
• **Day 13, Wednesday** Osaka -> Tokyo (4 Nights)
Train from Osaka to Tokyo (hope to reach around 9am), drop our luggage in a locker/accommodation. Looking to staying in Akihabara area or Ueno or even Asakusa
\- Ikebukuro
\- Meiji Shrine
\- Harajuku Takeshita Street
\- Shibuya (Disney Store and etc)
• **Day 14, Thursday** Tokyo
DisneySea or DisneyLand (my fiancé is a Disney fan and it is a must-do for her)
This will probably be a whole day activity
Should we stay in the resort? Tokyo Bay Maihama Hotel First Resort seems to be the cheapest for the date I am looking at. about 200SGD
• **Day 15, Friday** Tokyo (North-East)
Asakusa in the morning, Senosji Temple, Nakamise Street
Ueno Park, Ameyoko Street
Explore Akihabara for the remaining day
• **Day 16, Saturday** Tokyo
Last day for relax,
\-Tsukiji Market in the morning
\-most probably go Akihabara again in the afternoon as I am a big anime and manga fan
\-Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo/Pokemon Center Shibuya/Pokémon Center TOKYO DX
\-Nintendo Store
• **Day 17, Sunday** Tokyo
Last day before flying home: shopping for souvenirs, snacks.
2pm OTW to Narita from Tokyo
5pm flight back to Singapore
​
​
**Concerns**:
• Do stores or transport close early in winter especially in places like Kanazawa? Had an experience in Korea where store close early in places like Boseong, SunCheon
• Any place good to shop for souvenir/snacks like Mega Mart such as Lotte Mart in Seoul Station
• Any other place I can fit into my itinerary? Such as Takayama on the day after Kanazawa. or any place I should extend the stay longer?
Our main goal of this vacation is to experience culture, eat good food and explore new places.
Thank you for your time and reading up to this point!!
4 comments
> Day 3
I think there is a serious underestimation of the travel time from Tokyo -> Nagano -> snow monkey park -> Nagano -> Togakushi/Matsumoto -> back to Nagano here. This is before counting the time spent at each attraction.
> Hiroshima castle
Skip this, firstly you won’t have time and secondly you need to get to Miyajima ASAP (it gets dark very early in winter and the Mt Misen cable car stops operating early too)
> Hiroshima style okonomiyaki
Have this for dinner, lunch should be scarfed down bento/konbini snacks. For a tightly packed day trip there’s no time to waste on waiting for freshly cooked (and hence scalding hot / slow to eat) okonomiyaki in the middle of the day during prime touristing hours.
> do stores close early
Not sure what counts as ‘early’ for you…By my standards department stores do (e.g. Namba Takashiyama closes at 8pm).
> any other place I can fit
The itinerary is packed and you’ll have to delete stuff to add stuff. PERSONALLY I don’t really care for Kobe (it’s a fairly generic city for business, gardens will be meh in December, don’t care for Kitanocho, the night view is nice but it will be very cold) and don’t care for the Day 12 activities in Osaka, so one could combine the freed up time to do Kanazawa -> Takayama -> Kyoto within a day for instance. But you’ll have to pick and choose depending on your own interests.
Singaporean here. For a first timer trip, this trip is way over-packed sia. Even though we are only one hour time difference from Tokyo, please take note the luggages and the commuting to the hotel on the first day will be exhausting. I would advise you to keep day 1 to a minimum.
For side trips out of Tokyo during weekends, please take note you’re competing with tourists and locals. I would suggest day 1 to catch a good night’s rest and head out early for day 2 and try to beat the main crowd to the enoden.
Overall. This trip is really exhausting. I would suggest maybe only doing the golden trail of Osaka, Tokyo and Kyoto and focusing more on the activities within the cities itself and only putting 1 or 2 optional side trips. For example like 4 days in Tokyo with 1 day side trip to Enoshima/Kamkura, in in Kyoto and Osaka there’s Nara, Himeji as you mentioned.
Also, for the onsen it be best to consider a ryokan stay with onsen at the end of the trip because it really will make you feel refreshed after all the traveling and you won’t be that exhausted coming home to singapore.
Regarding souvenirs, i recommend just getting to the airport earlier and visiting the duty free snacks section. There’s a lot of tokyo banana, shiroi koibito, yoku moku you can buy back.
I strongly suggest you consider to factor in traveling times and meal and snack times. For example Osaka to Hiroshima about 1 hour 20mins, from Hiroshima Station to the tram to Miyajima-guchi station, Jr ferry to Miyajima island (small chance you have to wait for a second ferry, like I did even at 9am in the morning), eating, buying sovenirs in Miyajima, seeing the chance for low tide and walking up to the torii to take a picture of it etc etc.
Last ferry is around 4pm so you need to rush etc etc.
Overall, your current itinerary is really insane and i strongly advise you slow down more. Especially since you are traveling with a lady, we need to wake up slightly earlier to get dress, wear makeup etc lol. If you pack too much and don’t factor time for shopping and cafe desserts and stuff (desserts in japan are amazeballs), it will be not be fun for her de.
You’re jumping around too much for a first timer. It’s actually quite tiring to change accommodation every 1 or 2 days. Suggest you exclude Nagano and Kanazawa (day 3 – 5) and visit them on another trip.
Maybe swap them for a day trip from Tokyo to Kawaguchiko or even Hakone, your chance of seeing Mount Fuji is the highest during the winter. Not sure whether you’re a Ghibli studio fan as well, you can also visit Ghibli museum at Kichijoji area which is quite a popular neighbourhood in Tokyo nowadays. There are also many attractions in Tokyo that are great as well such as Tokyo Tower and TeamLabs planets.
Regarding day 13, I would say it’s quite unrealistic to reach Tokyo by 9am. Depending on where you stay, the Shinkansen stop is at Shin-Osaka station which is 1 stop from Osaka station. If you take the Shinkansen with the JR pass, it would be a 3 hours train ride unless you take the Nozomi Shinkansen but that would costs each of you SG$160 and only saves you 30 minutes of travelling time.