# Summary
Hi! Husband (H) and I are in our early 30s, from the US, no kids. We love our dog, sushi/food, anime, gaming, hiking, and more eating haha. This will be our first looong vacation together ever (delayed honeymoon :)).
Thank you in advance for any help!! We are super excited to be visiting Japan next year!
* Would love itinerary feedback, JR rail tips/advice, and internet access tips!
* We are in Japan for 14 days (not including travel days)
* Flying into Tokyo/HND & flying out of Osaka/ITM
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# Questions
* Is this itinerary too packed?
* Have any omakase recommendations in any of the cities?
* Looking to do maybe a michelin restaurant if there are any recommendations of favs you had 🙂
* Any tips for buying our rail pass or going “a la carte”?
* Hotspot vs Added Intl Data (AT&T) vs Intl Sim Card?
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# TRAIN TRAVEL
Looking to see what would be best in terms of money-savings. JR Rail Pass or buying “a la carte”? This is our tentative possible train rides:
* Mon Mar 25: **Roundtrip** Tokyo > Nikko
* Can delay to Tue Mar 26 if that makes more $ sense
* Wed Mar 27: Tokyo > Kyoto
* Sat Mar 30: **Roundtrip** Kyoto > Uji
* Sun Mar 31: Kyoto > Osaka
* Wed Apr 3: **Roundtrip** Osaka > Kobe
* Can move up a few days if that makes more $ sense
* Thu Apr 4: **Roundtrip** Osaka > Nara
* Can move up a few days if that makes more $ sense
​
# JAPAN (Thu Mar 21 – Fri Apr 5)
# Tokyo — Thu Mar 21 – Wed Mar 27 — 6 nights
* **Thu Mar 21**
* Arrive 4:20 PM HND
* Check into Hotel (near Tokyo Station)
* Relax/find dinner local to Hotel
* **Fri Mar 22**
* Tsukiji Fish Market
* TeamLabs Planets
* Ginza / Art Aquarium
* **Sat Mar 23**
* Meiji Shrine
* Shibuya / Crossing
* Harajuku
* **Sun Mar 24** \– may be overextending here?
* Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
* Sushi Wasabi (omakase maybe?)
* Tokyu Kabukicho Tower
* Omoide Yokocho
* Golden Gai
* **Mon Mar 25 — NIKKO DAY TRIP** (or stay in Tokyo if tired)
* Hike?
* **Tue Mar 26**
* Ueno Park
* Akihabara
* Food tour?
# Kyoto — Wed Mar 27 – Sun Mar 31 — 4 nights
* **Wed Mar 27**
* Before 11am Out of Tokyo Hotel
* Tokyo > Kyoto train // Drop bags at Ryokan (Downtown Kyoto)
* Wander around the area / Fushimi Inari Shrine?
* 4p Check into Ryokan
* Dinner @ Ryokan
* **Thu Mar 28**
* 7a Breakfast @ Ryokan
* Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
* Tenryu-ji
* Saga Toriimoto Preserved Street
* Mr Omurice
* **Fri Mar 29**
* 10a Out of Ryokan
* Kinkaku-ji Shrine
* Nishiki Market
* 4p Check into Affordable Hotel (Downtown Kyoto)
* Night stuff?
* **Sat Mar 30 — UJI DAY TRIP** (or Stay in Kyoto if tired)
* I love matcha!
# Osaka — Sun Mar 31 – Fri Apr 5 — 5 nights
* **Sun Mar 31**
* Before 11a Out of Hotel
* Kyoto > Osaka // Drop Bags at Hotel (Namba)
* 3p Check into Hotel
* Kuromon Ichiba Market
* **Mon Apr 1**
* Osaka Castle
* Dotonbori
* Namba Yasaka Shrine
* **Tue Apr 2**
* CupNoodles Museum
* Shinsekai?
* **Wed Apr 3 — KOBE DAY TRIP** (or stay in Osaka if tired)
* Kobe Nunobiki Ropeway
* Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens
* Kobe Steak restaurant?
* **Thu Apr 4 — NARA DAY TRIP**
* DEER!
* **Fri Apr 5**
* Depart 1:30 PM ITM
7 comments
No, rail pass is not worth it at all. I will go through your itinerary and leave a longer comment, but wanted to make sure to say first, don’t get a rail pass.
Your only expensive trips are a Nikko round trip and Tokyo to Kyoto. The other trips are not very expensive, and to be honest you can take a private line and have the trip to Nikko be a lot less expensive as well, you don’t need to take a shinkansen to Utsunomiya.
Good luck!
March 22 is too packed. Ginza is huge and shopping around will eat up most of your day. If you are not into luxury brand shopping then skip it and do your shopping day in Shibuya/Harujuku.
For Osaka I’d recommend the Osaka aquarium, and then you can ride the ferry across to Universal studios. If adventurous, can also try teamlabs osaka botanical garden. It’s a nighttime, outdoor experience. The Shinsekai tower only goes up 100m and it’s kinda cramped, abenos harukas goes up 300m with big windows and has some cool parks/shrines close by, umeda sky 170m with open air roof and giant shopping malls/train stations.
Gyukatsu Motomura Coredo Muromachi 牛かつもと村 コレド室町店. If you like meat.
Skip teamLabs Planet if you want a real experience and not a fake one for only instagram pictures.
Fushimi Inari late in the day is a huge mistake.
Early morning is a must !
I’d drop Kuromon Ichiba Market as it’s more and more like a tourist trap now… And don’t get the train pass. Local trains for certain part of your itinerary is actually more convenient and cheaper.