hello!! I (20F) am planning my first big solo trip! I’ve never been to japan before and I’d appreciate some insight on my itinerary – have I spent the appropriate amount of time in places, do you think it’s too intensive, any must-dos I’ve missed etc? I’ve never spent xmas or new years alone before so any particular tips/things to do are appreciated😸 I love my own company and doing what I want but I still wanna meet people so I’m staying in mostly hostels. Some other details:
* For background, I would say the main things I want to do is seeing historical/cultural sites, visiting museums, and walking around neighbourhoods, but I also enjoy thrifting, live music, and an ocassional night out!
* I am on a tight-ish budget since I’m a student, but willing to spend on cool experiences and miffy merch 🙂
* I bought a 21 day JR pass before the price hike
* I’ll be bringing a 20kg suitcase and a carry on backpack
**Itinerary**
* Dec 14th: arrive by ferry to Fukuoka at 8am
* Dec 14-16th: Fukuoka
* aoshima cat island
* nokonoshima island park – anyone know if it’ll still be pretty in the winter?
* itoshima
* dazaifu
* possible day trip to kamishikimi kumanoimasu shrine but looks hard to get to?
* Dec 17th-18th: Hiroshima
* day trip to Miyajima
* Dec 19th: Kurashiki and/or Himeji on the way to Osaka
* Dec 20-22nd: Osaka
* day trip to Mt Koya
* dotonbori, shinsekai, and americamura
* osaka castle
* ukiyoe museum, ethnology museum, museum of art
* shittennoji temple, sumiyoshi shrine
* Dec 23-26th: Kyoto
* day trip to Nara
* potential day trip to Lake Biwa and Chikubushima?
* Uji?
* Arashiyama
* Nijo castle and Kyoto imperial castle
* gion
* endless temples and shrines
* Dec 27th: Takayama
* hida folk village
* morning markets
* Dec 28th: Matsumoto
* castle
* nakamachi and nawata-dori
* hida-furukawa
* potential trip to narai-juku
* Dec 29th: Yamanochi
* stay in ryokan w/ onsen and kaiseki
* Dec 30th: snow monkeys in the morning, then Nagano
* stop off in obuse
* zenkoji temple
* any other things to do in nagano?
* Dec 31st-Jan 1st: Tokyo
* I’m staying in Shibuya and planning to do whatever other people in the hostel are doing! any suggestions tho? how’s the countdown in shibuya?
* Jan 2nd-3rd: Nikko
* toshogu shrine
* other shrines and temples
* kamangafuchi abyss
* kegon falls
* lake chuzenji
* Jan 4-5th: Kamakura
* various temples and walks
* enoden electric railway
* Enoshima
* Jan 6-12th: back to Tokyo
* day trip to kawaguchiko
* evening in yokohama
* lots of thrifting🤗
* so many temples and shrines
* so many neighbourhoods to explore: shimokitazawa, jinbocho, koenji, kichioji, harajuku, shibuya, shinjuku, udagawacho, kamiyamacho, yanaka, asakusa, ginza, akihabara, setagaya , daikanyama
* various parks
* museums in ueno park
* various jazz bars, dj bars, and live music venues
* so much more but can’t fit it here 🤭
* Jan 13th: flight out
**Further Questions**
1. I love indie music, jazz, and shoegaze and would love to experience the local music scene while I’m there, particularly in Tokyo, Fukuoka, Osaka, and Kyoto. Any suggestions of specific places to go? And are these types of environments typically foreigner friendly? some places i’ve been looking at are ruby room, shimokitazawa three, shibuya 7th floor, etc
2. About how much can I expect to spend on public transport each day, excluding shinkansens?
3. I’ve seen conflicting info on whether to get a suica card or buy 3-day metro passes for tokyo. what’s the cheapest method for 7 days? what about other cities?
4. Are Japanese restaurants ok to go to with just one person? I’ve seen some very solo friendly places like ichiran but what about typical restaurants and izakayas?
5. I typically read on my kindle when I’m eating alone. Will this be seen as rude in a japanese restaurant?
6. Do you have any favourite cheap places to eat besides conbinis?
7. I am Australian and I’m scared I will freeze to death😬. I did live through one winter in Edinburgh where I wore a uniqlo ultra heat tech top, another layer, and a jacket on top, and uniqlo heat tech leggings and jeans on the bottom. Do you think this will be ok or do I need more layers…..
8. Will I need snow boots? I’m thinking about getting them, especially considering I’m spending time in Nagano and Gifu
9. Any firework events or festivals on in this period? All the ones I’ve seen are more for late Jan 🙁
10. Any tips on places to go where locals and/or travellers are social?
11. Any tips for solo travelling in general!!
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I really appreciate any tips and answers at all! Sorry for the overload of info and questions😭🫶
2 comments
I don’t have any suggestions because I’m also solo traveling to Japan for the first time during your exact dates and same cities too. Definitely borrowing some of the stuff on your itinerary. I have been working on making mine. Let me know if you find good spots for music!!!
Hi!
None of this is meant to be rude.
I can’t answer some of your questions but can say that YES, you will likely be very cold in Takayama, Matsumoto, Nagano and Nikko. I think all of them get considerably colder than Edinburgh. All of them can also have snow, how much snow varies.
Heck, last year Tokyo and Kyoto were quite cold in late December. It was cold enough last year that Nagoya got snow.
I would make sure to have a good hat, good gloves, and a scarf.
I think most cities try to clean the walkways and streets asap, but jigokudani can have snow. When I went it was a mixture of snow, slush and mud lol I brought boots, but wish I had just borrowed galoshes from my ryokan because my boots got super muddy and gross.
I think some of your days will be hard because it is unclear if they are travel days or what.
Some examples:
It’s like 3.5 to 4+ hours to get between Kyoto Station and Takayama Station. It can be longer depending on where your hostel is located. I think unless you leave very early it is going to be hard to get all that done. I don’t know if you are planning to go to Matsumoto via JR Pass or pay out of pocket via bus. Paying out of pocket to go via bus will get you there much earlier. If you want to do train you’re looking at not getting there until 2ish at the absolute earliest because the first Hida is not until 11:00 am and I want to say the locals leave around 8 am which can just be very hard to catch and take a lot longer than the expresses.
If you want to go to Hida Furukawa, just be aware of the train times because there are only 8 trains a day that are going to go all the way from Takayama to Toyama. It’s a very infrequent route.
There is no way you are going to make it to Narai-juku before it gets dark.
I think on the 30th you will have to pay attention to what trains you can take. It hopefully won’t be an issue and you can always go non-reserved, but I would book that train ASAP because around New Years trains can get very busy.
I hope you have your lodging booked in Takayama, Matsumoto and Yamanouchi. Places do book up with domestic tourists as well as foreign tourists, I would particularly want to make sure Yamanouchi was booked.
Whether a Metro Pass really makes sense with how much travel you are doing each day and if the places you want to go are along a metro station. The JR lines (like Yamanote) are trains and not metro. If you are determined to get your money’s worth and don’t mind walking further than necessary you might be able to make one work but Shimokitazawa is on two private lines (Odakyu and Keio) Setagaya is also on private lines depending on station, Keio, Odakyu and Tokyu) Koenji Station is JR (though you could go to Shin-Koenji via metro, though the Marounouchi past Shinjuku doesn’t run as frequent.) and Kichijoji is on JR and Keio.
Some places you want to go will be pricier even with a pass, like Kawaguchiko. (There are various additional fees because the tracks between Otsuki and Kawaguchiko are not JR, fees vary by train you take) and you want to the private Nankai line to visit Koya-san. (which will also be super cold. The one time I went there was snow and it was November!)
Good luck!