21 Days Itinenary Check – 1st Time – Need Help

4 comments

1. I just came back from a trip with similar plans and can only recommend to keep Takayama/Kanazawa in the itinerary.

   What I can also recommend is to pick out a rural town (perhaps close to Kanazawa at the sea but doesn’t matter where; we did Shimoda on Izu Peninsula) and go there for one day. Just make sure the route there isn’t horrible and there are at least 1-2 cool things to see and then just stroll around and eat at a place where nobody speaks a word of English 😀

   Definitely don’t do a fifth day in Osaka. But in the other 4 days, get tickets for the teamLab Botanical Garden, it’s a nice experience!

2. I think it looks fine as there are a lot of flexibility in terms of timing,

   Though I’d suggest spending an extra day in Kyoto instead of Osaka unless you’re planning on going to USJ or going around Osaka. But it’s a very manageable distance on train so not an issue and easier to decide on the day if need to.

   Personally don’t think there’s much to see in Nagoya and better off using the extra day back at Tokyo or do another day trip from Osaka to say Kobe/Hiroshima since you have the JR pass.

   Depending on what time you reach Tokyo on Day 20th, Enoshima can be slightly tiring since it’s another over hour on the train and by the time you reach might be after lunch hours. Might be better to do it during the first leg of your trip at Tokyo and just spend the last 2/3 days exploring Tokyo again or to revisit places.

3. If you’re a fan of Studio Ghibli – you can always do Ghibli Park in Nagoya! Tickets are out the 10th of every month reserved for 3 months booking in advance

4. Hey there, i went this May for 16days and it was pretty awesome, here are my suggestions:

   So first of all, general notes:
   – learn a few words in japanese, like thank you, excuse me, water, drink and so on, Japanese people really appreciate it and they’ll do anything to help you if you don’t act as “the classic tourist”
   – do your math and see if the jr pass is worth it for your itinerary.
   – careful they announced something regarding the suica that they were getting rid of it, check just to be sure
   – the bullet trains are way more frequent than you see on internet, like every 12min there is one, so don’t stress
   – the pocket wifi is an absolute must, good choice
   – wait for souvenirs and shopping, tokyo is about 10-20% more expensive than every other city, Osaka was the cheapest for us
   – literally every hotel as a laundromat, don’t pack your whole wardrobe
   – be sure to consider luggage shipping service Yamato if you have heavy luggage, very handy
   -I highly recommend to walk as much as you can because there are countless hidden gems that are worth visiting.
   We did somewhat like 20km each day
   – EAT EVERYTHING, seriously, don’t be afraid to try unknown stuff, maybe just skip Natto if you can.
   Also, wagyu is kinda overpriced/overrated, and pufferfish (fugu) is nice but not to die for (pun intended).
   – don’t ignore the conbini (convenience stores) they are extremely cheap, you can get away with a lunch for two with less than 10$ and quality is nice, especially for onigiri
   – don’t try only Sake, i recommend to ask also Umeshu and Shochu
   – if your budget allows it, get a ryokan for one night, it’s truly a beautiful experience.
   Also it will recharge you after all the walking

   One note regarding Tokyo, that city is absolutely something out of this world, to enjoy it to the fullest i recommend to split it, do like 50-70% when you arrive and the rest when you go back towards the end of the trip.
   Also because otherwise you’ll be totally rekt for all the other cities. We stayed in minato for 4 days and saw everything except Shinjuku and came for it later, it was nice.

   Tokyo
   – 1 day per major district such as Shibuya or Shinjuku is good, you can combine smaller areas, we did for instance fish market, akihabara, asakusa in one (full) day, 7am to 10pm
   – take 1 whole day to akihabara if you are into it
   – visit the fiah market in the morning quite early, it gets extremely busy
   – i highly recommend to go see teamlab planets digital museum
   – don’t miss on omoide yokocho and golden gai, don’t be afraid to eat there, doesn’t look great but it’s actually amazing
   – there alternatives to tokyo tower and skytree, even free ones
   – tokyo is a vertical city, if you don’t look up you miss 70% of the stuff (many business are maybe at 3,4,5 floors)

   Kyoto
   – Almost everything is on the outskirts, so you better batch together what’s near eachother
   – opposed to tokyo, kyoto runs on buses, they do take a little longer to get you around
   – if you want to visit Arashiyama, you gotta wake up early or go there very late, anything in between 8am and 6pm is unbearable
   – i highly recommend to rent a kimono/yukata and wander around Gion
   – i absolutely don’t recommend going to the Inari gates while wearing the kimonos
   – when you visit the gates be sure to wander around, there are often some smaller paths among the small shrines which are without tourists and offer some peaceful moments with the fox statues
   – Nijo castle is nice

   Osaka
   – prepare yourself to wait in line for dinner, it’s inevitable
   – osaka is the place to buy stuff for cooking and souvenirs in general
   – buy takoyaki, in osaka are amazing
   – the castle is nice, very history/documentary oriented

   Nara
   – the deers near the station are the most aggressive/pushy, go further into the park for the more gentle ones
   – in my opinion Nara deserves one full day, not daytrip, we stayed in the ryokan there, it was magnificent.
   – be sure to eat the unique style of nigiri they have in Nara, don’t eat the parsimmon leaves tho

   Have a wonderful trip, i can only say that we liked Japan so much that we are going again next winter to se the northern part, it’s truly a beautiful place.