Hello! I’m planning on going to Japan with a couple of friends late next month. I was hoping I could receive some feedback on our itinerary so far. It’s still very open to additions and removals. We haven’t planned food yet, so if you have any suggestions we’d love to hear them. We’re planning on buying the express pass for USJ.
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* Does anything seem too ambitious or unrealistic?
* Will anything be closed during our visit since we’ll be there during New Years?
* Is it possible to send luggage from Osaka to our Ryokan in Izu-kogen? Or Izu-Kogen to Tokyo?
Thank you so much in advance 🙂
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|Location|Day|Morning|Afternoon|Evening|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Tokyo to Kyoto|December 29|\-|Arrival at HND Airport at 3:30pm|Catch a train to Kyoto and check into the hotel|
|Kyoto|December 30|Kinkaku-ji, Ryōan-ji|Fushimi Inari Taisha|Nishiki Market, Shinkyogoku Shopping Street, Pontocho|
|Kyoto|December 31|Higashiyama Jisho-ji, Philosopher’s Path, Nanzenji Fukuchicho|Maruyama Park, Kōdai-ji Temple, Kiyomizu-dera|Higashiyama Ward|
|Kyoto|January 1|Arashiyama Monkey Park, Togetsu-kyo Bridge, Tenryu-ji, Arashiyama Bamboo Grove|Giō-ji Temple, Saga Toriimoto Street, Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple, Daikaku-ji Temple|Gion Corner, Explore Gion|
|Nara / Uji|January 2|Nara Park, Kasuga Taisha Shrine|Kōfuku-ji Temple, Higashimuki Shopping Street,|Byodo-in, Dinner in Uji|
|Osaka|January 3|Kuromon Ichiba Market, Nanba|Osaka Castle, Nintendo Osaka|Umeda Sky, Dotonburi|
|Osaka|January 4|Universal Studios Japan|Universal Studios Japan|Osaka Aquarium, Tempozan Giant Ferris Wheel|
|Himeji / Kobe|January 5|Himeji Castle, Koko-en|Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens|teamLab Botanical Garden, Shinsaibashi|
|Izu Peninsula|January 6|Travel to Izu as early as possible|Jogasaki Coast, Mount Omuro, and Izu-Shaboten Zoo|Explore the town and relax at the Ryokan|
|Tokyo|January 7|Arrive in Tokyo, Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden|Harajuku and Takeshita Street Square, Institute for Nature Study|HYOZAEMON Chopsticks Specialty Shop, Explore around hotel|
|Tokyo|January 8|Meiji Jingu, Yoyogi Park|Shibuya City Shopping (MEGA Don Quijote, Parco)|Shibuya Sky, Shinjuku Golden Gai|
|Tokyo|January 9|Ueno Park, Tokyo National Museum|Senso-ji, Nakamise-dori Street|Akihabara|
|Tokyo|January 10|Tsukiji Outer Market, Pokemon Center and Café|Hamarikyu Gardens|teamLab Planets and Rainbow Bridge|
|Tokyo and Flight|January 11|Pack, Check-out|Arrive at HND Airport and depart at 5:00 pm|\-|
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7 comments
The pacing looks OK to me.
Have you booked your accommodation? You’re travelling during the absolute peak of the NY holidays. Some things will be closed, and others will be super busy (Kyoto’s attractions are already crowded even during normal days). It’s easy enough to find out if the major attractions close, but smaller shops and restaurants are much harder to get that info. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2276.html
What do you intend to do in Izu? Just staying in the ryokan? It’s a large area with limited public transport, so you will likely need a car if you intend to explore more widely.
Shrines are good to go to for New Year’s day wherever you are. The Japanese like to bring in the new year at a shrine
I would try to plot my Arashiyama day on a map to find the best order to visit all the sites you want. It may end up being too much walking, especially the monkey park which is a fairly tough climb.
Izu peninsula is gigantic. What part(s) are you going to?
Expect nearly all commercial establishments to be closed early on 31 December and all of 1 January. In Tokyo, at least, many things will be closed until 4 January, but maybe that doesn’t apply so much to tourist places.
Expect shrines and temples to be extraordinarily crowded during the first three days of the new year. (In Tokyo, for example, the wait to get in to even minor places can be hours long.)
Just a note, Nishiki market closes pretty early (looks like around 5-6pm?). For nara, todaiji temple was more impressive than the other temples, and mount wakakusa view beat them all, it’s seriously panaromic. For some of these I feel like your route involves a lot of double crossing which means more transit time, like kinkaku to fushimi passes by nishiki market, and ueno to sensoji to akihabara means you’ll pass by ueno. You can save some time by making the path more linear/straight
I think you list a few things that I wouldn’t necessarily include in a schedule as packed as this.
You’re going to Ryoanji, but not Ginkakuji, Heianjingu, Yasakajinja, Enryakuji… I think all of these are more impressive / important.
Byodoin is a big sight… you’re trying to press that into an evening along with returning to the train station, riding back to Uji, and having dinner in Uji. I think I would make more space for that.
I’m also not sure I would do Shinjuku gyoen, Yoyogi koen, and Ueno koen on three successive days. It’s three parks. Yoyogi koen is probably the most important one because of course you want to see Meiji-jingu, but I’m not sure I’d sacrifice two whole mornings for the other two. I’d pencil in Ueno koen as a maybe if there’s a few hours to fill somewhere and might skip Shinjuku gyoen.
Don Quijote might get boring after about 30 minutes. Parco is just a mall. If you have a lot of gift shopping to do, sure, but I’m not sure I’d spend a whole afternoon on those two.
But yeah overall nothing that sounds glaringly inefficient or backwards, and those are all interesting sights. You could do a lot worse than this. Even if you change nothing and stick to this to a T, I think you’re gonna have a great time.