Hi Everyone! My husband and I are planning our first trip to Japan in early March. Wanted to get a sanity check on our itinerary. We are in our early 30s and our biggest travel interests are food, hiking/nature, and history/culture. We’re relatively early risers, happy to pop into a chill bar but not big nightlife people.
**Day 1: Tokyo**
Arrive late afternoon, check into hotel near Tokyo Station
Grab dinner in Tokyo station (ramen street?)
**Day 2: Tokyo**
6 AM – Noon: Airbnb experience tour of Toyosu + Tsujiki markets and Sensoji-temple, followed by large lunch of the fish purchased in Toyosu.
\- Curious if anyone here has done this tour – it’s expensive so I’m debating whether it’s worth it,
but reviews on Airbnb are great and we’ll likely be up early anyway with jet lag
Afternoon – explore Asakusa, Kappabashi kitchen shopping street
**Day 3: Tokyo**
Ueno Park and Tokyo national Museum (opens 9:30)
Head to Ahikabara, grab lunch
Spend afternoon exploring Akihabara
Dinner TBD – get reservation in Ginza
Day 4: Hakone
Ship suitcase to Osaka
Train from Tokyo Station to Matsuda Station (8:27 – 9:27 AM)
Matsuda Yama Herb Garden to see cherry blossoms (20 min walk from station)
\-Assuming the weather is good, is this a reasonable detour/worth it or should I just go straight to
Hakone? Since our trip ends in mid March this could be our only chance to see cherry blossoms.
Arrive in Hakone in afternoon (1 hr 30 min from Matsuda), check into Ryokan (Yoshimatsu) and spend evening here
**Day 5: Osaka**
Hakone → Osaka (roughly 4 hours travel time from Ryokan, arrive mid afternoon)
Check into hotel in Namba area
Namba Yasaka Shrine
Explore Dotonbori + America-mura (food tour?) in evening
**Day 6: Osaka**
Train to Himeji in morning
Himeji Castle (opens 9 AM)
Kokoen Gardens
Train to Kobe
Visit family and grab dinner in Kobe before returning to Osaka in evening
**Day 7: Osaka**
Train to Nara in morning
Nara park
Sake tasting at Harushika Brewing
Return to Osaka, dinner in Osaka
Am I shortchanging Osaka by mainly using it as a base for daytrips? From what I’ve read, a lot of the appeal is the street food/wandering around at night but want to make sure I’m not missing anything.
**Day 8: Kyoto**
Osaka → Kyoto, arrive by midmorning
Nazenji Temple
Walk up Philosopher’s path, grab lunch
Mt Daimoji Hike
Check into hotel in Sanjo station area
Explore Ponchoto Alley in evening
**Day 9: Kyoto**
Fushimi Inari Shrine hike (ideally arrive by 7:30)
Train to Kiyomizu Gojo station, Kiyomizu-dera temple
Walk Sannen Zaka and Ninen Zaka Path
Kennin-ji
Yasaka Shrine / Maruyama Park
Explore Gion, dinner in Gion
**Day 10: Kyoto**
Train to Arashiyama (45 min)
Arashiyama bamboo grove
Okochi Sanso villa
Togetsukyo bridge
Lunch in Arashiyama
Train from Saga-Arashiyama to Nijo
Nijo castle
**Day 11: Kyoto**
Train to Kurama Station
Kurama to Kibune Hike
Train from Kibune-guchi Station back to central Kyoto
Nishiki market for lunch
Afternoon – free time for exploring / buffer for anything missed on previous days due to bad weather or lack of time
**Day 12: Tokyo**
Kyoto → Tokyo
Check into hotel in Shibuya or Shinjuku (or is elsewhere better if we’re not planning on being out late? Just figured we should stay on the west side as our first nights in Tokyo are east side)
Explore Shibuya/shopping
Shibuya Sky after dinner
**Day 13: Tokyo**
Explore Shinjuku and Harajuku
Omakase sushi dinner
**Day 14: Return home**