Itinerary Check – 13 Day Trip: 12/5 – 12/18 – Tokyo – Kawagoe – Hakone – Kyoto – Osaka – Nara

Hello JapanTravel! After three years of planning from my original trip being cancelled back in 2020, my partner and one of my oldest and best friends are ready to embark on our first trip to Japan next month!

I wanted to get a pulse check on our itinerary, I’ve been working on it for a while and really wanted to strike a balance between structure and exploration. Want to make sure we’re not doing too much on any given day and that our day trips make sense. Here’s the plan:

**12/5 – Tokyo**
Arrive at Haneda \~9 pm, customs, SIM cards, cash, etc.Head to hotel in Shinjuku (already confirmed with them that a late arrival is ok)Check in, grab some food at a conbini if necessary and crash

**12/6 – Tokyo**
Jet lag friendly day – exploring Shinjuku, potentially Meiji Shrine if we have the energy and time

**12/7 – Tokyo**
Shibuya / Harajuku / Akihabara / Nakano Broadway – Shibuya Sky in the evening if we can get a reservation this month

**12/8 – Kawagoe**
Morning train to Kawagoe from Shinjuku – spend day there exploring and eating lots of sweet potato foods. Back to Tokyo for the evening and hanging out in Shinjuku area before crashing.

**12/9 – Tokyo**
Early Morning Toyosu Market, 9 am reservation at TeamLabs Planets (BOOKED), Odaiba, Tsukiji Outer Market, find somewhere to hang for dinner and evening exploration

**12/10 – Hakone**
Check out of hotel & forward luggage to Kyoto – Take Romancecar to Hakone – Sightseeing during the day (Open Air Museum, Gora, Lake Ashii, Ropeway) before checking into Ryokan at 3 pm. Dinner and onsen soaking in the evening.

**12/11 – Kyoto**
Early morning soak and traditional breakfast at Ryokan – Check out – take shuttle to Hakone Odawara station – Tokaido Shinkansen to Kyoto. Hang out near Kyoto Station before checking into hotel. Dinner near hotel (Kyoto Station area).

**12/12 – Kyoto**
Philosopher’s Path until Honen-in or Higashiyama Jisho-ji Temple. Not sure in the evening yet, maybe just near our hotel across from Kyoto Station.

**12/13 – Kyoto**
Early morning Fushimi Inari shrine – Kiyomizudera to Gion (including Kodai-ji, Kennin-ji, walk around…) – Nishiki Market in the evening

**12/14 – Himeji / Osaka**
Early morning train from Kyoto Station to Himeji to check out Himeji Castle. Late morning train to Osaka. Osaka Castle Gardens, Dotonbori, lots of food. Take late evening train back to Kyoto.

**12/15 – Nara / Kyoto**
Morning train to Nara – spend first half or so of day there, then back to Kyoto for some afternoon/evening exploration. If we have the energy we can try for Arashiyama!

**12/16 – Tokyo**
Breakfast in Kyoto / Tokaido Shinkansen from Kyoto Station to Tokyo – my partner has a tattoo appointment in Ikebukuro so my friend and I will explore around and maybe check out the Nintendo Store or something while that’s happening. Check into hotel in Asakusa.

**12/17 – Tokyo**
Early morning Sensoji Temple / Asakusa / Ueno – Hagoita-Ichi Fair is going on this weekend so we’ll check that out as well.

**12/18 – Last Day**
Breakfast, check out of hotel, train to Narita, flight out of Japan.

Let me know what you think, hoping it gives us room to explore and stumble into things but also gives us some locational structure so we’re not rushing around too much. I also have been building a Google Map with 200+ restaurants, bars, temples, etc. to rely on when we are looking for something specific so hoping that’ll be helpful too.

Cheers!