Hello! I’m planning a trip for my siblings and me to Japan, it’s the first time we visit and there is so much we want to see! I really need help regarding the itinerary, I have a draft of everything we want to do, I’m mostly having issues with Tokyo…
I tried to place all the activities focused on the area or distance between each (for example, if we visit Senso-ji, might as well do Asakusa as well!) and so on. However, I feel we might be having too many days in Tokyo than needed, I would really appreciate some advice to shrink a few days.
There are days where I put only 1 activity because I believe it would take all day (between traveling from a city to another or the activity might be taking the wholeee day, aka Universal Studios)
So, without further ado, here’s the itinerary (please don’t judge):
\[NO SPECIFIC ORDER OF DAYS YET, but for the sake of making it easier to point it out, each day will have a number\]
Day 1: Tokyo – Disneyland & DisneySea
Day 2: Tokyo – transporting to Zao Fox Village (I considered this to be a whole day because the distance between these two is around an hour an half, but can more activities fit on this day?) ~~and don’t come at me saying animal cruelty~~
Day 3: Tokyo/Shibuya – Godzilla Head, Meiji Jingu, Harajuku Cafes (piggies & owls), Capcom store, Shibuya Sky near sunset and after that Don Quijote and/or Clubs
Day 4: Tokyo – Iskcon Tokyo, Akihabara & Yanaka
Day 5: Tokyo – Mitsukoshi Ginza & TeamLab Borderless
Day 6: Tokyo – Gotokuji Temple & Jindaiji Temple. I added these together because they seem very distanced from the rest of the activities in the city.
Day 7: Tokyo – Kaminarimon, Namikase-dori, Senso-ji temple, Asakusa, Kirby Cafe
Day 8: Tokyo – Anime Tokyo Station & Gashapon Ikebukuro Main Store. I was thinking of leaving this day for the last day since we were planning to use our leftover yens for the gamble in Gashas.
Day 9: Mt. Fuji – The best way is to travel from Tokyo, we want to spend one night here. Yamanakako Hananomiyako Park, Arakurayama Sengen Park, Oshino Hakkai and getting breakfast next morning at The Park (fluffy pancakeees!)
After Mt. Fuji, I was thinking of returning to Tokyo for a day or so and then prepare to travel to Kyoto.
Day 10: Kyoto – Kinkaku-ji, Kimono Forest. Same as day 6 Tokyo, they’re too far apart from the rest of activities planned.
Day 11: Kyoto – Samurai Ninja Museum, Kimono Tea Ceremony, Kyoto Samurai Experience, Nishiki Market.
Day 12: Kyoto – Okunoshima. Is this the best way to travel to the bunny island? I am afraid to plan anything else around this day because the trip is a bit far.
Day 13: Kyoto – Gion AYA Maiko & Geisha Makeover, Kiyomizu-dera, Matsubara Street, Fushimi Inari Taisha.
Day 14: Kyoto – Esperanto Kokoro Kyoto Okazaki Studio. I was thinking we could take this day to travel to Osaka, like just one small activity and then head to another city.
Day 15: Osaka – Nara Park. Should there be more activities this day, we were thinking of walking around the area.
Day 16: Osaka OR Kyoto – Himeji Castle. This monument is a bit afar, should more activities be added this day? Should we travel from Osaka or from Kyoto?
Day 17: Osaka – Universal Studios (definitely this will be a whole day activity)
Day 18: Osaka – Dotonbori, North Shore Kitahama, Nintendo Osaka, Rabbit Cafe, TeamLab Botanical Garden Osaka
AND THAT’S IT. I know the days are all over the place, but it’s just a basic idea of all the places we want to visit and enjoy. I REALLY APPRECIATE HEAVY FEEDBACK, because 18 days is a bit too much, and I didn’t include the arrival and departure days either, so that would make it perhaps 20 days (?)
I’m having the hardest time with Tokyo due to the traveling to other cities, when we arrive I think we should stay for a day or two and then head to either Mt. Fuji or Miyagi (Fox Village) and return to Tokyo for a few more days. I also think we should spend a few days in Tokyo before leaving too, or what’s the best way for all this?
I didn’t include meals because we might just let our curiosity guide us those days (and rely on 7/11 as backup plan)
And last question, with all that traveling, would JR Pass be a must have? I did the calculations and it would only be worth it for a week, but the difference isn’t that much
I also need to figure out which day would be best to travel from Tokyo to Kyoto, Kyoto to Osaka and Osaka to Tokyo.
And I would like to leave most of the shopping for last days if needed… it would be painful to travel to other cities with multiple suitcases and bags.
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Sorry this thread was super long, if you read until here I just want to say you are an amazing human being and I’m very thankful for any advice I can get
by Mejary_Ikana