Hello everyone, I’ll be travelling to Japan for the first time between Nov 7 to Nov 27. I want to hear your feedback on the below itinerary to make sure I haven’t overcommitted to anything and also to see if you have any recommendations for other activities to do or suggestions of places to visit or places to eat at!
Day 1 Arrive at Narita at roughly 8am. Head to accommodation in Roppongi. Explore Yanaka Ginza, Ueno Park, and Akihabara.
Day 2 TeamLab Planets in the morning. Explore Shinjuku and Shibuya – checking out Golden Gai, the crossing, Shibuya Sky potentially? Open to any suggestions here!
Day 3 Day trip out to Kamakura and Enoshima
Day 4 Explore Harajuku, couple of museuems/galleries (Nanzuka Underground & Mori Art Musuem), visit Meiji Jingu, Yoyogi Park.
Day 5 Travel from Tokyo to Kawaguchiko. Spend the day at Fuji-Q.
Day 6 Explore the other locations near Kawaguchiko like Chureito Pagoda, Oshino Hakkai & Arakurayama Scenic Park. Any recommendations for Kawaguchiko?
Day 7 Travel to Hakone. Check out the open air museum, go on the Hakone Ropeway, explore Owakudani, go to a tatt-friendly onsen if there is one (please let me know :’) )?
Day 8 See the Hakone Shrine very early on! Travel to Kyoto. Check out Kodai-ji temple, Sannenzaka, Ninenzaka & the general Gion district Open to any suggestions here in Kyoto!
Day 9 I want to potentially pick up a rental bike on this day and explore one of their recommended bike trails in Kyoto? I also want to check out Fushimi Inari Shrine at some point on this day. Not sure if I should do it first thing in the morning and then go for a cruisy bike ride or the other way around. let me know your thoughts here
Day 10 Check out the Arashiyama area – monkey park, bamboo forest etc.
Day 11 Day trip out to Nara.
Day 12 Check out Nishiki Market and the Teramachi & Shinkyogoku Shopping Arcade. Pick up rental car and drive out to Nachikatsuura.
Day 13 Probably the part of the trip that I’m most looking forward to :’) Start super early and hike a section of the Kumano Kodo trail. Specifically from Kumano Nachi Taisha to Koguchi. Bus from Koguchi to Shingu and then train back to Nachi. is this realistically doable?
Day 14 Drive back from Nachi stopping by Koyasan. Visit Okunoin Cemetery. Travel to Osaka and drop off the rental car. Will probably end up crashing at the accommodation this night.
Day 15 Check out Kuromon Ichiba Market, Nipponbashi Denden Town, Hozenji Temple, America-Mura & Dotonbori. Just noting these down as available options and don’t intend to visit all of them. Depends on fatigue and whatnot.
Day 16 Kobe day trip potentially? It is labor thanksgiving on this day and I’m not sure if there’s much I can do here. What can I expect on a public holiday like this? Any suggestions?
Day 17 Still in Osaka and want to check out Orange Street, Osaka aquarium & Umeda Sky Building. Open to any suggestions. Might check out some vintage/anime shopping areas if any.
Day 18 & 19 Travel back to Tokyo. Check out Tsukiji outer market and maybe Gotokuji temple if I have the time? But for the most part I do intend to do the bulk of my shopping on this last leg of the trip – clothes/animes stuff/shoes. Want to check out Koenji, Shimokitazawa & Kichijoji if I have the time again? Flight back is at 6pm on day 19. Not sure how much I can do these last couple days.
Also apologies if the formatting is all dodgy! First time submitting an actual post lol But also please do let me know if you have any comments/suggestions on any of the above itinerary! It would be greatly appreciated 🙏🙏🙏
4 comments
Day 1: You can go exploring Tokyo only if you are not tired from long flight and don’t want to sleep.
Day 6-7: You don’t say how and when you go from Kawaguchiko to Hakone. Even though these 2 places are geographically close, a part of Mt. Fuji is between them and there is virtually no direct public transportation.
If you have a car, you can go from Kawaguchiko to Hakone in less than 2 hours. But as a traveler, you don’t have a car. And taxi is expensive.
The best way is to take a bus from Kawaguchiko to a place called Gotemba. Then take another bus from Gotemba to Hakone(3-4 hours in total). It’s gonna be pretty complicated though. Do you have a clear plan as to how and when(evening of Day 6 or morning of Day 7?)?
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As I live near Tokyo, I have no comment for the 2nd half near Kyoto and Osaka because I don’t know much.
Hakone – For tattoo friendly onsen you can try Hakone Yuryo, it allows you to reserve a room with private onsen for an hour or two. Also you can try Yunessun which is like a theme park spa that requires swimsuits and allows covered tattoos. Its more for kids imo but its still a unique experience. You can bathe in like wine, green tea, coffee, etc..
Nara – Also hit up Uji on your way there or back. Theres a green tea street where tea is roasted and all the food is green tea infused. Well worth it if you like tea.
For the Tokyo parts, you have got too much scheduled and too many places in different locations on the same day(s): for examples
* Tsukiji and Gotokuji are on opposite sides of the city and an hour apart by public transport.
* Yanaka Ginza, Ueno, *et al.* are, say, 45 minutes away from Roppongi.
* Enoshima and Kamakura are effectively an hour apart, also.
* Hakone Shrine is an more than an hour away from the Shinkansen Station in Odawara.
* Travelling from Kawaguchiko to Hakone takes a couple of hours in the best circumstances.
* You’ve got Shinjuku and Shibuya on one day and Harajuku on another even though Harajuku is between Shinjuku and Shibuya and only a 20-30 minute walk from Shibuya.
Look at a map and rearrange things you would like to see. Use Google Maps to check transportation between various spots, being especially careful to enter rough estimates of which hours you’ll be arriving/departing as, especially outside of the big cities, there may not be many trains or buses.
Labor Thanksgiving in the Tokyo/Kanto area is no big deal for most people; it’s just a day off. Most places will be more crowded than usual, but that’ll be the extent of the effects.
Day 2 if you are starting with team labs and it’s only your first day you’re probably still gonna be wrecked from Jetlag. I’d suggest go to at the tuna auction and breakfast there at the municipal trading center.