A few important notes going into this itinerary. My fiancé (28) and I (29) will be getting married this summer and Japan was our obvious choice for our honeymoon. We are south Floridians who understand humidity and frequent downpours of rain. We travel frequently in the summer, mostly 20-30 day road trips domestically. We go with the flow so a lot of this itinerary is based on proximity/convenience, but we may swap days around or skip to focus more on food and “lazy” touring areas if we need to recharge during our travels.
This is a bucket list trip for us and we have saved for years to splurge on it. It helps that the yen is so weak at the moment we get a lot of bang for our buck. All of our hotels are pretty much booked and paid for. My fiancé is vegetarian so any suggestions are great! We know most Kaiseki meals won’t be the most accommodating for her and we understood that going in. She is willing to adapt around that for the overall experience. She has a rather large torso tattoo and several smaller ones.
Flight and Arrival
6/20 – 6am Depart from Eastern U.S. to Tokyo
6/21 – Scheduled to arrive at Haneda at 1:35 PM. Check-in at Park Hotel Tokyo after 3PM in Minato. Light day. Grab some food nearby, try to recover from jet lag.
Tokyo (5 nights)
6/22 – Want to soak up our anime and gaming vibes for 1 day in Akihabara. Maid Cafe maybe.
6/23 – Ueno Park. Spend time checking out food and temples near Asakusa and Senso-Ji in the evening.
6/24 – Check Out of Park Hotel Tokyo after breakfast. Drop luggage at Hotel Metropolitan in Ikebukuro for check-in later. Again, we’re big anime fans. My fiancé thinks it would be fun to check out some of the boy love stuff in Ikebukuro. Pokémon center possibly.
6/25 – Shinkuku we plan to visit Shinkuku Gyoen National Garden and sightseeing Godzilla. in the evening Omoide Yokocho, and hopefully some Karaeoke!
6/26 – Ghibli Museum during the day if we can get tickets. Shibuya Crossing. I’m a local musician so I’ve been following gigsintokyo Instagram account in hopes we can catch a show in the evening.
2 Nights Tokyo Disney Resort
6/27 – Check out of our hotel in Ikebukuro and head to Hotel Miracosta to drop off our things. Head to Tokyo Disneyland park for the rest of the day and evening.
6/28 – Tokyo DisneySea and Fantasy Springs. We have a vacation package that will cover passes and entrances for the new area and attractions. We plan on using the Miracosta entrance at some point if we want to rest up after we’ve done all we have energy for. Might return in the evening when the sun dies down a bit.
1 Night Shima Onsen
6/29 – Highway bus to Shima Onsen. Check-In at Kashiwaya Ryokan. Enjoy the tattoo friendly onsen baths and vegetarian dinner. Explore the town including Sekizenkan and the red bridge in the peace of night.
Matsumoto (3 Nights)
6/30 – Limited Express trains to Matsumoto where we’ll check in at Hoshino Resorts Kai Matsumoto. Relax at the resort from busy travel days.
7/1 – Matsumoto Castle and Kaichi School for sightseeing, Nawate and Nakawate Streets for some snacks and lunch in the afternoon. Massage and some local wine tasting in the early evening at the hotel. Rest up at the private onsen and dinner at the hotel.
7/2 – Early rise for Kamikochi National Park for nearly the whole day.
Takayama (2 Nights)
7/3 – Travel and 4PM check into Temple Hotel Takayama Zenkoji. Grab some food at Takayama Old Town where we want to enjoy a calm night. We’ve saved a few places on Happy Cow suggested for vegan/vegetarian meals! A drink or two at an Izakaya
7/4 – Early morning ceremony at the temple. We are considering a half-day at Shirakawa-Go and returning to Takayama for the later half of the day. Our other option would be more relaxed by visiting Hida Folk Village and spending more time exploring shrines and nearby Sanmachi-Suji to take a break on travel for a day. Opinions?
Magome (1 Night)
7/5 – Ship luggage to Nagoya. Leave Takayama for Magome. We will spend 1 night at Magome-Chaya with plans to walk to Tsumago in the morning.
Nagoya (3 Nights)
7/6 – Walk Magome to Tsumago on the Nakasendo early. Take the time to soak up the towns leisurely before we head to Nagoya. Check into Nagoya Marriott Associa Hotel at 3PM. Enjoy some food and relax after a long day of walking.
7/7 – Our only plan is to hopefully have tickets to Ghibli Park. We will take it easy beyond that. Sleeping in, eating, enjoying the beautiful hotel. Perhaps we will grab some food/drink near Sakae in the evening.
7/8 – We will be waking up, having a hotel breakfast and leisurely morning. Ship our luggage to Osaka and check out of our hotel by 12:PM. We’ll be heading into town to check out either the science or art museum before checking into Lamp Lights Book Hotel at 2PM. My fiancé is an avid reader and this is a small surprise for her to spend the night in a book store.
Osaka (5 Nights)
7/9 – Check out and travel to Osaka. Check in at Sotetsu Grand Fresa Osaka Namba. Location of this hotel is great for grabbing food and taking in the sights at Dotonbori during our stay.
7/10 – Explore Den Den Town during the day, especially looking to go to Super Potato. Eat some snacks at Kuromon Market. Shinsekai in the evening for food, lights, atmosphere.
7/11 – Universal Studios Japan day. Plan on getting express passes and trying to get into Nintendo World.
7/12 – Nara park and Todai-Ji temple day trip
7/13 – Osaka aquarium in the day. Tenma to see Tenmangu Shrine and Tenjinbashi-suji shopping street later on.
Kyoto & Gion Matsuri Festival (4 Nights)
A major highlight of the trip is being lucky enough to experience some of the summer festivities in Kansai.
7/14 – Check Out and head to our hotel Kyonomori Yurinsha to drop off our luggage. Mostly northern Higashiyama for Nansen-Ji, Eikan-do, and Ginkaku-ji. We will rest up at our hotel. Fushimi Inari and Gion in the evening.
7/15 – Plan on visiting the Arashiyama area as nature lovers. We are considering the Sagano Romance Train or Hozugawa River Boat. After the train/boat head to Tenryu-Ji Temple, Bamboo Forest (fighting crowds), and Gion-Ji temple. Back to hotel area to rest up before an evening of Yoiyoiyama and Byobu Matsuri in the lead up to Gion Festival.
7/16 – More temple and shrine walking through Higashiyama. Our route looks like Kiyomizu-Dera, Ninen-Zaka and Sannen-Zaka, Hokan-Ji, Ishibe-Koji Alley, Chion-in, Maruyama, and end near Yasaka Shrine for the Iwami Kagura for the Gion Festival. More Yoiyama. We can drop things as time/energy permits. It is impossible to see/do all of Kyoto.
7/17 – Gion Matsuri Yamaboko Junko Floats in the morning and the Mikoshi procession of portable shrines later. This day I am keeping open ended due to the festivities and crowds that will be more intense than even normal Kyoto gets.
Kagoshima (3 Nights)
7/18 – A long travel day via Shinkansen all the way to southern Kyushu to stay in Kagoshima. We will check into Sheraton Kagoshima and enjoy dinner and rest at the hotel.
7/19 – Sengan-En Garden and Iso-Beach during the day if weather permits. Kagoshima City Aquarium is another option. We will again rest up at the hotel before heading out to Tenmonkan in the evening to shop, eat, and drink.
7/20 – Visit Sakurajima via the ferry. We will take the bus tour, walk the Nagisa Lava Trail, and soak our feet at the visitor center foot bath before taking the ferry back. We’ll spend the evening near the hotel to rest up for our travel the next day.
Hiroshima (2 nights)
7/21 – We have a late check-out at 12PM so some flexibility with leaving from Kagoshima. Travel back toward Hiroshima via Shinkansen about 3 hours and check into Sotetsu Fresa Inn. This is a food, drinks, shopping, atmosphere night in and around Hatchobori. Jirokichi seems like a good option for vegetarian/vegan okonomiyaki for my fiancé and is in the area.
7/22 – I am a history teacher, so Hiroshima’s WW2 sites are a must for me. Atomic Bomb Dome, Peace Memorial Park and Museum, Hiroshima Prefectual Museum are on the table for the day. The night view from the Peace Pagoda along with exploring Hondoori for food and drinks in the evening.
Miyajima Island (1 Night)
7/23 – Forward luggage back to Osaka. Take the ferry to Miyajima where we will explore the many sites on the island with a bike rental. We will stay at Miyajima Seaside Hotel so that we can enjoy the island in the calm overnight.
Osaka Tenjin Festival (2 Nights)
7/24 – Check out at the hotel make our way back to the mainland for a Shinkansen to Osaka where we’ll be staying to attend the Tenjin Matsuri festival the next day. Visit Osaka Castle Park and check into Noku Osaka.
7/25 – This day is dedicated to the parade and the evening processions, along with the other festivities as part of Tenjin Matsuri.
Hakone (1 Night)
7/26 – After busy days of travel and festivities, we’ll stop at Hakone on our way back to Tokyo to stay at Hoshino Resorts Kai Hakone to rest up in the private Onsen and enjoy nature.
Tokyo (1 Night)
7/27 – Visit Lake Ashi and Hakone Shrine, pray for a shot to see Mt. Fuji in July (doubt it) and leave enough time to head to Tokyo where we’ll check in at Haneda Excel Tokyu.
Departure from Haneda
7/28 – 3:50 PM Flight back to U.S.
by AstraKyle