Hey everyone!
Can’t tell you how excited I am about my trip to Japan, it is been a dream of mine for so long and I am finally doing it. I want to go early March and I am travelling solo. Want to share my itinerary to get some valuable feedback and any tips from you are very welcome.
Am I overbooking my days or missing anything? I am also interested in nature, relaxing and pretty landscapes as well so any suggestions are welcome. As well as any recommendations for experiences in any of these places.
Day 1 – Arriving in Tokyo
Day 2 – **Tokyo** (Golden Gai, Yoyogi Park, Meiji Shrine, Shibuya crossing and National Garden, Harajuku)
Day 3 – **Tokyo** ( Tsukiji market, Hamarikyu Onshi Teien, Tokyo Tower, Roppongi hills, Imperial Palace, GInza)
Day 4 – **Tokyo** (Akihabara, Kanda Shrine, Ueno Park, Sensō-ji temple, Suitengu- not sure if worth it?)
Day 5 – **Lake** **Kawaguchi** (Travel from Tokyo to the lake and stay for the night)
Day 6 – **Kyoto** ( Depart maybe a lunch time from the lake and travel to Kyoto)
Day 7 – **Kyoto** (Togetsukyo bridge, Arashiyama Bamboo Grove and surrouding area, Gio-ji Temple, Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple – not sure if worth it)
Day 8 – **Kyoto** (Imamiya Shrine, Higashiyama Jisho-ji temple, Philosopher’s Path, Heian-jingū Shrine, Kyoto Gyoen National Garden)
Day 9 – **Kyoto** (Shirakawa Lane, Hanamikoji Street, Yasaka-jinja Shrine, Kōdai-ji Temple, Ninenzaka, Kiyomizu-dera, Pontocho)
Day 10 – **Nara** (Travel from Kyoto to Fushimi Inari Taisha, Uji and Nara. EOD travel to Osaka)
Day 11 – **Osaka** (Osaka Castle, Dotonbori, Tsūtenkaku)
Day 12 – Return from Osaka
Thank you in advance!
![[itinerary check] first-timer solo trip! tokyo and kyoto march 19 - 30](https://www.lonelyjapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/UE8CRq4Ry4fofvc395HL5h2JJoZqDEXfl2Ok8Mg_hzg-380x220.jpg)
5 comments
Nara really needs a full day – there’s lots of excellent things to see and they’re spread out – so it doesn’t seem practical trying to combine it with two other places.
If you’re interested in nature and landscapes you should get well away from the cities, which you’re not doing at present.
You’re going to want to be careful with your trip to/from Kawaguchi. It can be difficult to get on a bus to and from there. It’s not really like travelling between cities in Japan, where you just show up and get a ticket.
It looks good 🙂
I did Fushimi Inari and Nara in one day. It’s totally doable. Get to Fushimi Inari early (like by 7am), spend 2 hours there, continue along the JR Nara Line to Nara, and spend the rest of your day there.
Also there is not a lot of “nature” in your itinerary. Just Kawaguchiko really. But as a first time visit to Japan I think your itinerary is good. Save the nature for your second trip. I just spent two weeks in the Nagano prefecture and it was amazing natural scenery.
The Tokyo parts look OK, but you might have a better time if you cut out
* Yoyogi Park
* Meiji Shrine
* (Shinjuku) National Garden
They’re all nice enough places, but none is anything special, and you’ll see much more attractive places at Hamarikyu and several of your Kyoto destinations. Yoyogi Park, Meiji Shrine, and the National Garden are popular with tour groups and other tourists because they’re convenient for tour buses or to train stations, but none is remarkably beautiful or architecturally or horticulturally interesting (though the greenhouse at the National Garden is nice).
You can put some of your Day 3 activities on Day 2: I was just at Sensoji on Sunday, and it was so crowded that we didn’t even bother to walk up to the temple.
Early March is a good time to visit Tokyo, but you should be prepared for cold in Kyoto.
Day 2 I think you should leave out 1 or 2 out of Yoyogi Park, Meiji Shrine, and Shinjuku Gyoen. If you are going to Harajuku to shop, you won’t have time to do 2 huge parks.
Day 3 If you are planning to go up to the observatory decks of both Tokyo Tower and Roppongi Hills, I’d just do one.