Itinerary Check w/ Detailed cost estimates – 30/3 ~26/4

Hi! After months of planning, lurking here and random blog posts, I’ve finally landed on a itinerary that, to be fair, I’m already closing bookings with hotels.

Small context – couple travelling (M/F both 32) for the first time to Japan, been to South Korea 2 years ago and we are coming back there for 6 days in the middle of this trip since we liked it so much, but the main focus here is the “first time route” in Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima) + road trip through the mountains (starting at 11th of April). I really enjoyed driving through South Korea in my last trip, so I expect the experience to be much the same, just on the other side of the road!

On the end I will be putting a summary of the costs in JPY and USD for reference.

**30th March – Tokyo:**

• Arrive 4PM at NRT, expecting to be 6\~7PM at Shinjuku (Keihan Tokyo Yotsuya)

• Probably extremely jetlegged (brazillian here, 12h apart), so expecting nothing

• If any soul in me, will try Kabukicho

**31th March – Tokyo:**

• Shinjuku Gyoen or Yoyogi for some hanami with a friend – will let her (and mother nature) decide

• Obligatory Shibuya scramble and some walking around

• NIGHT – Meguro River (reallly counting on them sakura)

**1st April – Tokyo:**

• Tsukiji Market (not really excited, kinda peer pressure here)

• Ginza speedrun (survey for shopping later in the trip)

• teamLab Planets

• Tsukishima for some monja (is it worth it?)

• NIGHT – Tokyo Tower sightseeing

**2nd April – Tokyo:**

• Asakusa region (Senso-ji and etc.)

• Akihabara speedrun (again, for later in the trip)

• NIGHT – Kabukicho again if not previously, or Harajuku – any indications for easy places to drink, outside the box?

**3rd April – Tokyo:**

• Kind of a free day, between three options:

○ Kamakura – I know it’s a common daytrip with Enoshima but ust seems too rushed, and I like to linger In historical places

○ Yokohama – basically because I’ve spent like 120h with Like a Dragon, but Cup Noodles museum and Chinatown wouldn’t make a days worth for me. Maybe the Gundam will still be in the harbour? Probably will decide on how spent we are

○ Kichioji – a bad weather option, if we are REALLY tired. More window shopping and couting on a last frantic vibe than the other neighbours

**4th April – Tokyo/Osaka:**

• Normal Check-out and trip to Osaka (will be back to Tokyo later in the trip!)

• Check-in at Sotetsu Fresa Nanba

• Say hello to Osaka Castle (if any luck, on a sakura setting)

• NIGHT – Dotonbori

**5th April – Osaka/Kyoto:**

• Kyoto Daytrip 1:

○ Fushimi Inari

○ Higashiyama

○ Miyako Odori (got the 2h30 PM)

○ Gion

**6th April- Osaka/Kyoto:**

• Kyoto Daytrip 2:

○ Arashiyama (will try to get a good hike)

○ Nijo Castle (much for the museum aspect, but any recommendations of sights with good guides/plaques/etc?)

○ Kiyomizu-dera

**7th April- Osaka/Nara:**

• Nara Daytrip 2:

○ Nara Park

○ Todai-ji

○ Horyuji

• NIGHT – Dotonbori

**8th April- Osaka/Himeji/Hiroshima:**

• Luggage forward to HIroshima

• Universal Studios Japan

**9th April – Hiroshima:**

• Normal check-out and trip to Himeji

• Himeji Castle

• Try to get a glimpse of Kobe also but might spend all day at Himeji

• Arrive late at Hiroshima – Righa Roya Hotel

**10th Aprill – Hiroshima:**

• Luggage forward to Tokyo (small hotel next to HND)

• Hiroshima Peace Musem

• Itsukushima (is it feasible to cram both in a day? Really doubting here)

**11th April – Hiroshima/???/Tokyo:**

• Early Check-out

• Options here:

○ Itsukushima if not able the day before – but what about the options below…

○ Izumo and Matsue – all by public transport and would be pretty tight. My original ideia wat to pick-up the sunrise Izumo, but I’ve read wong the timetables and seems a really difficult ticket to buy. Again, how feasible would be a day rip ththrough both regions, bearing in mind I need to be back to Tokyo the same day?

○ Okayama – the more reallistic here since I could pick up a late train back to Tokyo and it’s “in the way” right?

• (very) late Check-in at Tokyo at Metropolitan Tokyo Haneda (just beside HND, will make sense later)

**12th April – ROADTRI Tokyo/Takayama :**

• Car rental pick-up 8 AM at HND

• Around 12h30PM arrive at Fujikawaguchiko at Saiko-Iyaishi-no-Sato – Luckily on a clear day for the main japanese photo there is

• If arrive earlier than this, maybe Oshino Hakkai

• Around 3PM rive at Matsumoto to say hi to the castle

• Around 6 PM arrive at Takayama – actually 30min from there at Mozumo onsen

• Rest.

**13th April – Takayama:**

• Two (or three?) options:

○ Shirakawa-go – the obvious but again, is it worth a whole day?

○ Nakasendo trail – I really enjoy hiking but my wife, not so much – but again, not a reaaaal hike here, seem 3 hours courses with almost no elevation gains

○ Explore Takayama a bit – yes, could cram it here if only do one of the above. But if REALLY fast and if he city doesn’t close too much at night, maybe spend the night here

**14th April – Takayama:**

• Takayma for the Sanno Matsuri – apparently it’s THE day, and would be crowd watching and elbowing every other tourist happily.

• Try to early book a brewey our here also (any recommendations? Yes, I know how awful it maybe booking any tours this day)

**15th April – Takayama / Hakone:**

• Normal check-out and star my way back through Hakone, but in the way…

• Ghibli Park – but only possible to know in february. If not, got straight to Hakone

• Late check-in at Lake Side Inn MIRAHAKONE

**16th April – Hakone:**

• Lake Ashi

• Cable car

• Hakone Open Air Museum

• Kuzuryu Shrine

• Not too hyped here, if day is clear will try to take every picture possible of Mt. Fuji and do only 2 of the above

**17th April – Hakone / Izu / Tokyo:**

• Early Check-out

• Roadtrip through Izu – options for clear daysr/rainy days? Will try whatever here, everything seems cool, but what i prioritized is:

○ Irozaki

○ Jogasaki

○ Nigashiizu

• Arrive at HND at the last posible car rental delivery (probably 10 PM)

• Wait in HND for my 02 AM flight to Seoul.

**18th to 23th – South Korea:**

To be fair, haven’t planned anything yet. We spent 20 days here in 09/2022 and know many things we would like to see again (and prices too). Basically, want to eat and drink cause it’s cheap and S tier level almost any place. If anyone needs any recommendations also, just ask!

**24th – Tokyo**

• Will try to be in Kita cause our go is to shop around Akihabara and Ginza, but maybe will discover anything else? Anyway, estimated hotel cheaper than Shinjuku but higher than HND

**25th – Tokyo**

• No plans again, will do whatever

**26th – Bye bye Tokyo by the afternoon!**

**COST BREAKDOWN**

Ok, I have this more detailed , but don’t think anyone will read much more after the above, so here is the TL;DR for the costs:

**I’M EXCLUDING THE SOUTH KOREA AND FLIGHTS PART FOR THESE COSTS BELOW**

**COST PER PERSON – 20 DAYS IN JAPAN**

**Attractions** \- 39.240 JPY / 280,29 USD – 18 total, from temple fees to the USJ

**Foodstuff** \- 170.800 JPY / 1.222 USD – I’m basing this in tabelog estimates for 4 grades of food options I made (2k konbini/4k cheap/7k medium/10k expensive). 4 Days Great, 5 days Medium, 8 Days Cheap, 3 full konbini

**Hotels** \- 219.554 JPY / 1.565,81 USD – Cheapest in Osaka, Expensiver (?) in Takayama at the Onsen.

**Transportation** \- 106.290 JPY / 759,10 USD- So I just estimated the JR Pass + Nissan rental here and eyeballed the gas+toll, but maybe I can go lower than this?

**Others** \- 16.000 JPY / 114,29 USD – internet chip, luggage forwarding, onsen here or there

TOTAL – 551.554 JPY / 3.939 USD PER PERSON

If you got this far, have a cookie!