Hi there! This is my first time traveling to Japan and I am extremely excited! I’ll be going solo and my main interests are food and the culture. Below is an itinerary I have created learning from the many posts on this subreddit – would love some feedback and recommendations.
Day 1: Land at Narita at 5 PM. Take the Skyliner from Narita to Ueno. Check in to hotel in Ueno, grab dinner nearby and call it a night
Day 2: Senso ji in the morning. Nakamise Dori for lunch. Akihabara in the afternoon for some arcades and then explore Ameyoko/Ueno for the evening. Dinner around there
Day 3: Slower morning. Lunch around the Ueno/Asakusa area. Sumo tournament at Ryogoku Kokugikan from 3-6ish. Possibly Gyukatsu Motomura (Ueno or Akihabara locations) for dinner. Hit up some bars in Asakusa after. Recs welcome!
Day 4: Maybe Meiji Jingu in the morning depending on how I feel. Harajuku and Takeshita street for lunch. Shinjuku and Shibuya for the rest of the afternoon/evening. Uogashi Nihon-Ichi for dinner. Maybe Golden Gai after?
Day 5: Relaxed morning. Lunch omakase at Manten Sushi Marunouchi (near Ginza) at 1:30. Check out closed streets in the Ginza area (but I’m not much into luxury shopping). Evening is open – looking to do whatever was interesting over the past few days.
Day 6: Shinkansen to Kyoto in the morning. Check in to hotel near Nishiki market. Nishiki market for lunch around 2ish (Is this too late?). Maybe walk around Gion/surrounding areas and call it an early night.
Day 7: Up at 6-7am. Walk from Kodaiji to To Kiyomizu-dera, through Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka. Or should I do this the other way around? Grab food along the way. Lunch around Gion. Evening is open but I suspect I’ll be quite tired.
Day 8: Fushimi Inari early in the morning. Debating doing the 3 hour hike to the top and back or just walk up for an hour to beat the crowds. Take a break after. Head to Osaka for lunch and spend the day there. Maybe Dotonbori in the evening? Open to recs for other areas to check out, especially for during the day. Head back to Kyoto after the day is up
Day 9: Train to Osaka and enjoy the day there. Still determining how to spend my time there.
Day 10: Shinkansen back to Tokyo. My flight is on Day 11 and I will book the hotel for this night once I figure out which part of Tokyo I want to stay in for the last night. Plan on spending this day to do things I didn’t get to do in Tokyo during the first few days or re-do things I enjoyed.
Day 11: Leave Tokyo around 2 to Narita to catch the flight
Questions
* Can I buy a Suica/Pasmo card at the Ueno station on Day 2? I’ll be taking the Skyliner from Narita to Ueno (where my hotel is) so presumably won’t need it until the next day.
*Any tips for visiting a Sumo tournament for the first time? I know close to nothing about Sumo but love sport and this seems like a fun cultural experience. I have already bought Chair seats
*Any fun bar recs in the Asakusa area? I want to be close to Ueno so I can stay out past 12 and still walk back to the hotel
*Anything fun around the Ginza area I can do on the evening of Day 5?
* Is 2 pm too late for lunch at Nishiki market?
* In the early morning, walk from Kodaiji to Kiyomizu-dera or the other way around?
* Except for Dotonbori and Amerikamura, what are some other fun areas to check out in Osaka?
Things I plan on skipping (Am I making a grave mistake with any of these?)
* Tsukiji market – heard it is overpriced, mostly only tourists, and doesn’t have something unique that you have to visit for
* TeamLab Planets – Not interested in Instagram moments and if I don’t go right at 9 am, it becomes packed and somewhat smelly lol
* Shibuya Sky rooftop – I’ve been to enough rooftops albeit not this high up and doesn’t seem worth it since I’m not interested in the photos anyway.
*Arashiyama Bamboo forest – An hour from my hotel and if I wanna go early to beat the crowds, thats gonna be super early. Not sure if it’s worth it to just see some bamboo.
*Kinkaku-ji – although this does seem beautiful, it’s also an hour away and too out of the way.
Please share any thoughts on this itinerary!