17-day itinerary check & recommendations

Hi! Itinerary check for newly married couple in late 30s from late March to early April 2024.

This will be our first time travelling to Japan so looking to visit the main tourist cities (Tokyo, Kyoto, & Osaka) and attractions and getting the most out of our time in Japan (without overwhelming ourselves). Like many of you this trip has been a dream of ours for a very long time.

We are fairly fit and prepared to do a lot of walking most days, but we have spread most things out as we would prefer to take our time doing things at a more relaxed pace and not rush anything or overwhelm ourselves. We are early risers so plan to do the most touristy attractions very early and if we are starting to feel burnt out go relax at our hotel and go explore again in the afternoon/evenings if we want.

We also want to see Mt Fuji, so have planned to stay 2 nights in Kawaguchiko. We considered Hakone as it is easier to get to, however we would ideally like to see Mt Fuji from closer so have opted to stay in Kawaguchiko instead even if it will be more difficult to get to/from.

I enjoy photography/videography so generally looking to get those good shots during golden hour so will try and get to key locations before sunrise and sunset whenever possible. My husband loves theme parks so planning to visit Disney and Universal, we might visit Fuji-Q Highland if there is time, but since we already have 3 full days at theme parks this might be overkill. We specifically planned to do Disney and Universal on weekdays Tue to Thu so ideally need to keep these days as is.

We enjoy interesting and quirky shops and restaurants and experiencing the unique culture. We enjoy just walking around and observing places. We are looking to bring back a few interesting souvenirs, my husband likes printed T-shirts with the names of the cities. We are very easy going when it comes to food and don’t have any dietary preferences.

Ideally, we would like to keep the schedule loose and flexible so don’t want to make a ton of reservations but understand there will be some instances this cannot be avoided. We have made a list of restaurants based off various recommendations including some from this sub we would considering eating at, but as a principle we just want to discover places for ourselves and don’t want to wait longer than 30min otherwise we will just find something else. We may only refer to the list if we cannot find something by just wandering around. We will try and time our meals 11am for lunch and 5pm for dinners to help avoid long wait times.

I am still considering adding a night’s stay at Shima Onsen as I am a somewhat of a Ghibli fan, but not sure if its worth it yet and don’t really want to overwhelm ourselves.

I have tried mapping all points of interest out on Google Maps and grouping things together that are closer to each other to save mileage, we will probably just figure some of this out organically as we travel, but if anyone spots something please let me know.

I know we can probably fit more cities from other itineraries I’ve seen on here but I think most of the things we really want to see and experience are in these cities, so we probably have quite a bit of wiggle room most days and we welcome any suggestions or critique if something doesn’t make sense.

Flights are already booked and we have reserved all hotels but can still make changes to hotels if necessary.

We plan to make another trip to Japan in the future as we also want to experience Autumn in Japan so will save some things for the next trip.

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**Day 0 – Transit**

Thursday, 21 March

• 17:30 Arrive NRT

• Collect Welcome Suica cards

• Collect Travel Passes (if getting, JR pass not worth it, still looking whether regional passes are worth it)

• Getting E-Sims so don’t need to pick up any sims or Wi-Fi pockets

• Take Narita Express to Shinjuku Station approx. 90min to hotel

• Check in hotel Century Southern Tower in Shinjuku

• Grab dinner somewhere near hotel in Shinjuku

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**Day 1 – Tokyo**

Friday, 22 March

• Book/print any remaining train tickets & reserve seats (if required)

• Find bearings, find out where to get Limited Express Fuji Excursion from Shinjuku tomorrow

• Visit Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building at sunset

• Visit Shibuya, best to visit the crossing between 18:00 to 21:00

• Explore Harajuku, Omoide Yokocho

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**Day 2 – Travel to Mt Fuji/Kawaguchiko**

Saturday, 23 March

• Send large luggage to Osaka hotel to arrive there in 2 days’ time• 11:00 Checkout hotel

• 11:30 Take Limited Express Fuji Excursion from Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko

• 13:30 Arrive Kawaguchiko

• Considered renting a car for two days, but our hotel rents e-bikes and if the weather is looking good we will just rent the e-bikes, we will check the forecast a week before and if weather is looking poor we will rent a car, if no car rental available we will just use busses/trains. Seen comments saying the roads are pretty narrow, but we have some experience cycling so think we will manage

• Drop bags at Mizno Hotel

• Wander around Kawaguchiko

• Arrange for e-bike rental from the hotel for the next morning at sunrise

• Dinner at hotel

• Onsen at hotel

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**Day 3 – Mt Fuji/Kawaguchiko**

Sunday, 24 March

• Ride e-bikes to Chureito Pagoda (Arakurayama Sengen Park) for sunrise approx. 20min

• Ride e-bikes back to hotel for breakfast

• Ride e-bikes to Oishi Park approx. 10min

• Ride e-bikes back to Kawaguchiko and visit Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway

• Wander around Kawaguchiko, grab a light lunch somewhere

• Dinner at hotel

• Onsen at hotel

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**Day 4 – Mt Fuji > Osaka**

Monday, 25 March

• Checkout hotel

• Travel from Kawaguchiko to Osaka approx. 4-5 hours

• Take the Fujikyuko Express Bus to Mishima Station

• Take the Shinkansen to Osaka

• Check-in Kamon Hotel Namba

• Wander around Dotonbori area near hotel and grab something to eat

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**Day 5 – Osaka**

Tuesday, 26 March

• Visit Osaka Castle first thing in the morning

• Visit Namba Yasaka Jinja Shrine, Harukas 300, Kita (Umeda), Kuromon Market

• Shinsekai Walking Food Tour

• Explore Dotonbori some more

• Perhaps visit some animal cafes/Ghibli store in Osaka on this day

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**Day 6 – Osaka**

Wednesday, 27 March

• Universal Studios all day

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**Day 7 – Osaka – Nara Day Trip**

Thursday, 28 March

• 9:15 Take Kintetsu Sightseeing Limited Express Train to Nara

• Visit Nara Deer Park, Todaiji Temple and just wander around Nara for the rest of the day

• When we feel like we’ve seen enough at Nara, head back to Osaka

• Could probably fit more into this day, perhaps visit Osaka Aquarium or just wander around Dotonbori area some more

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**Day 8 – Osaka > Kyoto**

Friday, 29 March

• 11:00 Checkout hotel

• Travel to Kyoto

• Drop bags off at Kyoto Tower Hotel Annex

• Wander local area near hotel / Kyoto Station and grab something to eat somewhere

• 15:00 Check-in hotel

• 18:00 Dinner at AWOMB Kyoto

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**Day 9 – Kyoto**

Saturday, 30 March

• Visit Yasaka Pagoda first thing in the morning

• Visit Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Sannenzaka Street, Ninenzaka Street, Kodai-ji Temple, Yasaka Jinja, Chionin Temple, Shore-in Temple and Gardens

Day 10 – Kyoto

Sunday, 31 March

• Visit Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine first thing in the morning

• Visit Nanzen-ji, Nijo Castle, Nishiki Market

• Wander around Gion neighbourhood in the afternoon

• 18:00 Dinner and drinks at K36 Bar & Rooftop

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**Day 11 – Kyoto**

Monday, 1 April

• Visit Arashiyama Bamboo Grove first thing in the morning

• Visit Tenryu-ji Temple, Arashiyama Monkey Park, Zen Garden at Ryoan-ji Temple, Kinkaku-ji Temple

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**Day 12 – Kyoto > Tokyo**

Tuesday, 2 April

• 11:00 Checkout hotel

• Take Shinkansen to Tokyo Station

• 15:00 Check-in Hotel Ryumeikan Tokyo

• Wander around local area near hote / Tokyo Station

• Visit Ghibli store at Tokyo station

• 20:00 Have cocktails at Tir Na Nog Bar Ginza

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**Day 13 – Tokyo**

Wednesday, 3 April

• Tokyo DisneyLand all day

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**Day 14 – Tokyo**

Thursday, 4 April

• Tokyo DisneySea all day

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**Day 15 – Tokyo**

Friday, 5 April

• Visit Senso-ji Temple Asakusa first thing in the morning

• Visit Ueno Park

• Visit Akihabara, possibly have lunch at Pokemon Café (need to book)

• Optional: Visit Ghibili Museum

• Go Karting in Tokyo at sunset or night time

• Wander around Monzen Nakacho

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**Day 16 – Tokyo**

Saturday, 6 April

• Visit Tsukiji Fish Market first thing in the morning

• Wander around Nakameguro

• Visit Yoyogi Park, Meiji Jingu Shrine

• Visit Tokyo Skytree at sunset

• Visit Golden Gai, look at doing a guided bar hopping tour

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**Day 17 – Tokyo**

Sunday, 7 April

• Visit Shinjuku Gyoen Japanese Garden first thing in the morning

• Visit Tokyo Tower Observation Deck at sunset

• Last afternoon and evening free. Either visit Akihabara again in the evening as it would be good to see at day and night or revisit any place we really liked from earlier in the trip

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**Day 18 – Tokyo**

Monday, 8 April

• 07:00AM Depart from HND