This is our first time visiting Japan, we are both pretty experienced travellers (in our late 20’s, early.30’s), but Japan feels a bit more overwhelming to plan for compared to other countries, so some help is appreciated. I’ve done a lot of research in this sub especially, so I hope I’ve not overlooked anything simple.
Interests: temples, nice hiking trails, forests, cute or quirky things, both big Ghibli fans but not any anime or manga, exploring big cities, arcades … we are quite easy to please and up for doing most things.
I doubt this will be our only trip to Japan, so we aren’t trying to cover everywhere and do everything.
Other info: we are both vegan so we aren’t interested in visiting zoos, aquariums, animal cafes or eating a lot of the speciality food. We aren’t huge drinkers either, so nightlife for us is usually food markets, going on nighttime walks, going to a show or just getting an early night. We are both big walkers and can manage 30k steps a day for days on end.
JR pass: based on the online calculators it doesn’t seem like the JR pass is worth it for us.
Questions:
1.) Overall, does this seem like a realistic itinerary? Is there anywhere we are rushing, or spending too long in?
2.) We land at Haneda at 9:30pm – will we have enough time to get through immigration, pick up our suica card and SIM card, get our bags and be able to make the last monorail and connection to Ueno station? Google maps says we will be able to get the last monorail at 23:48, transfer at Hamamatsucho and make the last train to Ueno at 00:32, I’m not sure if this is realistic though.
3.) Lake Kawaguchi seems very weather dependent, so we were thinking of just leaving this as a possible day trip from Tokyo, is this a good idea? I’ve seen that you can get the 2hr Highway bus from Shinjuku which would give us enough time to do the basic sites.
4.) Universal Studios – the donkey Kong area will have just opened when we are meant to go. Assuming we buy the timed entry and express passes, is it worthwhile? The though of queuing for 3 hours does not appeal and neither of us are massive enough Nintendo fans to make this a must-do, but I would still like to visit, it just would make for a very expensive day.
5.) Ghibli Park – we want to visit the Monday after it reopens, the tickets go on sale in January and you can buy 1 ticket for all areas now. Anyone else planning to visit around this time? Would be interested to know what your thoughts are on how quickly tickets will sell out – we plan to be on the site an hour beforehand, but can imagine they will be snapped up on this day very quickly.
**Day 1 (March 5th) – Tokyo**
– Arrive Haneda 9:30pm.
– Pick up suica and SIM card.
– Travel to Ueno to check into hotel.
**Day 2 to 5 Tokyo**
– Shinjuku area
– Tokyo Metropolitan Gov Building
– Shibuya area
– Yoyogi Park
– Imperial Palace
– teamLAB planets
– Ghibli Museum
– Nakano broadway
– Koto area
– Asakusa area
– Tokyo national museum
**Day 6 to 7 – Nikko**
– Use the Nikko 2 day heritage pass.
– Train from Asakusa to Nikko.
– Stay at hotel near station.
– Visit shrines (Nikko Toshogu, Nikko Futarasan jinja, Taiyu-in Temple Hall)
– Kanmangafuchi Abyss
– Kegon Falls
– Ryuzu Falls, then hike to Yudaki Falls
– Kinugawa Onsen, if enough time.
**Day 8 to 11 – Tokyo**
– Train back to Asakusa.
– Stay in a different area of Tokyo, maybe near Shinjuku.
– Day trip to Lake Kawaguchi via Highway bus, weather permitting.
– Day trip to Mount Takao.
– Day trip to Yokohama, or just stay around Tokyo.
**Day 12 – Hakone**
– Use the Hakone free pass.
– Train to Hakone.
– Stay at Ryokan near Venetian glass museum.
– Open air museum.
– Owakuduni
– Boat trip
– Hakone Shrine
– Heiwa no Torii
– Dinner and onsen at Ryokan.
**Day 13 – Nagoya**
– Breakfast at Ryokan.
– Finish up anything we missed in Hakone.
– Train to Nagoya.
**Day 14 (18th March) – Nagoya**
– Ghibli Park (if we can get tickets)
**Day 15 – Osaka**
– Train to Osaka.
– Osaka castle
– Dotonburi area
**Day 16 – Osaka**
– Universal Studios (unsure if worth the money, Donkey Kong area will be open so v busy)
**Day 17 (21st March) – Osaka**
– Sumo Grand Tournament (if we can get tickets)
**Day 18 – Osaka**
– Day trip to Nara.
– Kofuku-ji
– Isuien Garden and Neiraku Museum
– Tōdai-ji
– Nara park
**Day 19 – Osaka**
– Day trip to Koyasan.
– Walk the pilgrims route to Nyonin-do Hall
– Walk to Daimon Gate
– Koyasan Reihokan Museum
– Okunoin Cemetery
**Day 20 to 23 – Kyoto**
– Train to Kyoto.
– Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
– Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple
– Kinkaku-ji
– Kamigamo Shrine
– Higashiyama Jisho-ji
– Heian-jingū Shrine
– Kiyomizu-dera
– Fushimi Inari Taisha
– Nijō Castle
**Day 24 – Kobe**
– Train to Kobe.
– Ikuta Jinja
– Kobe Chinatown
– Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum
**Day 25 – Himeji**
– Train to Himeji.
– Himeji Castle
– Koko-en gardens
– Engyoji temple
**Day 26 – Okayama**
– Train to Okayama.
– Okayama Korakuen
– Okayama Castle
– Kibitsu Jinja
**Day 27 – Okayama**
– Day trip to Naoshima
**Day 28 to 29 – Hiroshima**
– Train to Hiroshima.
– Hiroshima Castle
– Peace memorial park and museum
– Atomic Bomb Dome
**Day 30 – Hiroshima**
– Day trip to Miyajima.
– Itsukushima Jinja
– Daishoin
– Momijidani Park
**Day 31- Hiroshima**
– Day trip to Okunoshima, otherwise an extra day around Hiroshima or another day trip.
**Day 32 to 33 – Fukuoka**
– Train to Fukuoka.
– Tochoji Temple
– Kushida-jinja Shrine
– Ohori Park
**Day 34 (7th April) – Travel to Busan**
– Catch the ferry to Busan.
Thanks for reading!