Could someone please help me review my itinerary?

4 comments

1. all I can say is if this is your first international trip and if you are crossing the date line from N America, you will be completely exhausted when you arrive. If you sorta have an okay sleep the first night, you will likely run out of gas by noon the following full day you are there. In bast case scenario drinking water, comfortable and eating well the time change is gruelling.

   Dealing with all the first time things, walking on the left, funny money, language issues and just the way things are in Japan..those first few days are strange. I realize you are on the move, but checking in for one night- crashing – and then checking out the next morning will not help your rhythm.

   Be aware of the way lockers are used in public spaces. And the theme of this sub is the never ending walking. I cannot stress to you enough about literally a small personal bag to travel with verses dragging around a suitcase. (most hotels for tourists have some sort of washing machine system). You are hoping to cover so much ground, even the best wheely luggage things make it challenging.

   Your last days in Tokyo are jam packed. I don’t know what to suggest. Not dumping on you- and I get you really want to see the Fuji area- but I really wonder how much you will experience on the 4-12 day and end in greater Tokyo? Even by bullet train and familiar with the area this is several hours journey.

   some minor edits

2. Nara needs at least a full day as there’s a lot to see, and it takes a while to get around. Osaka Castle is a postwar concrete reconstruction, so I’d suggest skipping it and allocating all of that day to Nara.

3. You’re trying to cram an awful lot into such a short period of time! Main things from me:
   – I’d do a full day in Nara or stick to Kyoto/Osaka. No point spending an hour each way to get there and only stay for three hours.
   – I’d skip Fuji. I’m also not sure exactly where you plan to stop if you intend to carry on to Tokyo. I’d hope for a photo on the Shinkansen and leave it at that.
   – There’s heaps to do in Tokyo so would recommend Shinjuku and Shibuya as two areas not currently covered by the itinerary.

   As others have mentioned, I can’t recommend strongly enough that you take only a carry on sized backpack. You’re going to be constantly on the move and (from experience) there’s nothing worse than hauling a huge suitcase up stairs and across town. Plus it’s one less thing that can go wrong – no airline can lose your carry on. Laundry is super easy to do in Japan (either in hotel or nearby at a laundry) so pack for 5 days and do a wash halfway through. Put your washing on one morning, go grab some breakfast, and it’ll be done before you leave to go explore.

4. Hi!

   I’m just going to throw out there, that you are going to be limiting your dinner options by trying to get dinner at 21:00 in Kyoto. A lot of places close by 22:00 and have last order at 21:30. If the restaurant is popular and has any sort of line going at 21:00 is going to curtail your choices of getting in. Quite a few restaurants close at 21:00. I would plan to eat dinner earlier. Japan in general is not a late night dinner sort of place.

   Getting from Kyoto to Mt. Fuji is going to take you longer than you think because you need to first get to Mishima and then take a reservation only bus to Kawaguchiko. I would make sure you know exactly what you are doing. I would also make sure you know which onsen are open to day trippers, because they won’t all be. You then are paying to travel another 2 hours + to get back into Tokyo.

   Since you mentioned a tight budget, I would personally cut it.

   I would spend some time with a website like Navitime to look at all the sights you want to see on December 6th, cause I just don’t see everything working. I would just spend that day in Tokyo, or if you can afford it, move things around and overnight in Kawaguchiko then.

   I’m pretty sure that Borderless is still closed, so I think you mean Planets.

   I think you are going to have a really hard time going to the Chichibu Night Festival on December 7, [because it’s being held December 2nd and December 3.](https://navi.city.chichibu.lg.jp/p_festival/1030/)

   You can also read about it [being the 2nd and 3rd here](https://tokyocheapo.com/events/chichibu-yomatsuri/).

   Good luck!