For 30s couple. Mid-November 2023.
Day 0 – Arrive at Haneda Airport; late evening – taxi to Shibuya
Day 1 – Tokyo
Morning – Asakusa Area: Sensoji Temple, Nakamise Dori
Lunch to Afternoon – Shibuya/Shinjuku: Meiji Jingu, Hachiko, Scramble, Shibuya Sky
Evening – Dinner at Manten Sushi then shopping around Shibuya
Day 2 – Tokyo/Kyoto
Morning – Tsukiji
Lunch Time – Imperial Palace and surrounding area
Afternoon before rush hour – Shinkansen to Kyoto
Evening – Stroll around Gion/Pontocho
Day 3 – Kyoto
Morning – Fushimi Inari, Kyoto Imperial Palace
Afternoon – Kiyomizu-dera/Ninenzaka/Sannenzaka
Evening – Free Time
(Will squeeze in tea ceremony in between)
Day 4 – Kyoto/Osaka
Morning – Train to Osaka
Lunch time onwards – Ichiba, Dotonbori, Namba, Kappabeshi, shopping
Day 5 – Osaka to KIX (leaving hotel mid-morning)
All hotels are short walk from Shibuya, Osaka, and Kyoto stations. We want to see most of the main spots but in a relaxed pace.
8 comments
Impossible itinerary to do in a rushed pace, let alone a “relaxed pace”
Im going to tokyo for 5 days and cant even imagine squeezing in kyoto and osaka. That sounds incredibly stressful
Yeah no. Maybe a few days in each but you’d have to extend your trip threefold.
I did Tokyo and Kyoto in 7 days once. 3/3 + 1 before the flight. Saw my important temples, had good food, had fun times riding the trains. Would do it again, if I have to.
In your case, I’d pick one city and stick with it. Otherwise you won’t see anything. 5 days and three cities is too much travel and too little time.
Day 3 is okay btw. Did more myself. Was just dead afterwards.
Looks like a massive waste of a trip (and money).
You are overestimating your ability to do stuff, especially at a relaxed pace.
You could do all of it, but you wont be able to stop for even a moment to just enjoy things really.
Have you been to Tokyo before? You could spend a week in Tokyo alone & not get close to seeing all the important things.
I’m going to go against and grain and say this is very possible! My bf and I (also in our 30s) did 2 days Osaka, 2 days Kyoto and 4 days Tokyo. We felt like we had too much time in Tokyo and ran out of things to do, we could’ve done it in 2 days too. Most of the shrines and stuff in japan take less than an hour (if you do it like us) so I think it’s realistic if you’re out on your feet/metro all day like us and don’t need downtime. You have 14+ hours each day to do all of these things and usually have a lot more energy on vacation than you would back home.
This is too much. Half the time will be packing and traveling. If first time, just stay in tokyo and do a day trip to kamakura.