My husband and I are honeymooning in Japan next March-April for two weeks and are working on our itinerary. We have hotels booked, and are now working out the rest of the details of the trip. We will be there for 2 weeks, will be traveling from Tokyo to Hakone, Kyoto, Osaka, and back to Tokyo. We plan on utilizing the JR rail pass for one week, and will pick up Pasamo cards and pocket WiFi when we land at Haneda. Below is a super rough itinerary of what we plan to do each day. We are open to critiques and suggestions. I want to make sure we have realistic expectations for this trip, as neither of us have ever traveled internationally or been on a trip for this long. Forgive any formatting errors, I’m typing this out on mobile. Thank you in advance!
Day 1 3/23/24 (Shinjuku)
-Landing at Haneda 5:00pm
-picking up Pasamo/wifi/etc at airport
-Airport Limousine to Tokyo Kabukicho Tower and walking to hotel from there
-dinner at street vendors/7-11, explore the area
Day 2 3/24 (Shinjuku)
-Go see Godzilla Statue/Don Quijote (purchase stamp books)
-Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
-train to Sunshine City Mall (Ikebukuro)
-back to Shinjuku to explore/shop
Day 3 3/25 (Shibyua)
-Meiji Jingu Temple/Yoyogi Park
-Parco Mall
-see the scramble crossing
-explore
-Shibuya sky (sunset/evening)
Day 4 3/26 (Day trip to Nikko)
-rise early, purchase train tickets to Nikko to see Toshogu Shrine
-back to Tokyo, explore Akihabara if feasible
Day 5 3/27 (Tokyo Disney)
-Tokyo Disney
Day 6 3/28 (Hakone)
-Depart Tokyo, JR Pass starts
-packing overnight bag, ship luggage to Kyoto
-depart for Hakone, checking into Ryokan
-R&R in private open air onsen
Day 7 3/29 (Kyoto)
-Depart Hakone, Shinkansen to Kyoto
-arrive in Kyoto, check into hotel
-explore
Day 8 3/30 (Higashiyama)
-rise early for Fushimi Inari
-Kiyomizu-Dera
-explore Higashiyama
Day 9 3/31 (Arashiyama)
-Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
-Kimono forest
-Bus to Kinkaku-Ji
-explore Nishiki Market
Day 10 4/1 (Nara)
-Train ride to Nara
-explore the deer park/temples
-mochi at Nakatanidou
-back to Kyoto, walk philosophers path
Day 11 4/2 (Osaka)
-depart Kyoto, pack overnight bag and ship luggage to Tokyo
-arrive in Osaka, explore Dotonbori
Day 12 4/3 (Akasaka)
-Depart Osaka, arrive back in Tokyo (Akasaka)
-Harry Potter station stairs/shop
Day 13 4/4 (Central Tokyo)
-Tokyo Tower
-TeamLab Planets
Day 14 4/5 (Tokyo)
-Catch up day, finish any shopping/last minute must-see’s we may have missed
Day 15 4/6
-depart Japan
We are open to any suggestions/critiques of this super rough itinerary! We’ve definitely hashed out more details at the beginning of the trip, the last half still has some kinks/details to work out. Feel free to roast us! Thank you!
1 comment
You will be travelling in Tokyo just after the school year and university academic years end. Many of the places you’re going to visit (especially Tokyo Disneyland) will be extra crowded. (The new school year begins in the first week in April, but the exact day varies by municipality or private/public status.) I live in Tokyo, so I don’t know about Kyoto, but I would imagine the situation will be the same or worse in Kyoto.
In most places, Tokyo doesn’t really have street vendors any longer. Some office/company areas have food trucks during the week, but that’s about it. Even 30 years ago street vendors were unusual. There are tens of thousands of restaurants, however.
Maybe look for another place instead of Meiji Jingu and Yoyogi Park. They’re mainly famous and well travelled because they (unusually for Tokyo) have a bus parking lot, which makes them convenient for tour groups. Meiji Jingu is only 127 years old, and Yoyogi Park is a park modeled after parks in the West, so there’s nothing especially Japanese about it, nice though it is. Koshikawa Park (about 20 minutes east of Shinjuku) would be a better experience. (I went to both places just yesterday, coincidentally, and my non-recommendation stands.)
The Harry Potter stairs are temporary, not permanent. You should check if they’re actually still there or not before going to see them. (At least one of the other temporary exhibits [in a different location] begun when the Harry Potter stairs opened is long gone.)