Hi we are planning a trip mid August to Japan and this is our planned itinerary for the moment:
Day 1 (Hiroshima):
Arrive in Hiroshima (after flying to Tokyo and getting another flight to Hiroshima) at 13:30.
4PM Peace memorial and garden, walk a little bit to see some, some shopping and things eat and early night in.
Day 2 (Miyajima + Hiroshima):
Miyajima early in the morning, floating torii, mount Misen, Daisho-in and more. (We are planning about 7 hours for this activities)
Around 16:00 go back to Hiroshima and do the castle and museum
Around 21:30 get a Shinkansen to Osaka
Hotel is really near to the station so around 23:00 got to hotel and to sleep.
Day 3 (Osaka):
Must do – Osaka Castle, Yasaka Namba and Dotonbori
Possibles in between: Osaka Tenmangu, Sennichimae Doguyasuji, Shinsaibashi
Day 4 (Osaka)
Must do – Isshinji Temple, Shitenno-Ji, Osaka Station shopping area (to do some shopping), Humeda Sky Building
Possibles in between: Hokiboshi, Sumiyoshi Taisha, Tsutenkaku, Shinsekai Hondori, Nipponbashi and Dotonbori again.
Day 5 (Osaka)
USJ day
Day 6 (Kyoto)
Early train to Kyoto.
Must do: Imperial Palace, Nijo Castle and Nishiki Tenmangu
Day 7 (Kyoto)
Must do: Kiyozumidera Temple, Sanjusangendo Temple, Gion (the parts that are still accessible) and Miyagawa-cho, Eikando Temple and Pontocho.
Day 8 (Kyoto)
Must do: Fushimi Inari, Byodo-In, To-ji temple
Day 9 (Kyoto)
Must do: Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, Otagi nenbutsu-ji, Kinkaku-Ji, Ryoan-ji, Ninna-ji
Day 10 (Kyoto – Nara trip)
Early trip to Nara:
Must do: Nara Park and deers, Todai-ji, Kasuga Taisha, Heijo Palace, traditional mochi and Higashimuki shopping steet.
Possibles: Afternoon shopping back in Kyoto.
Day 11 (Tokyo)
Early shinkansen to Tokyo
Hotel near Akihabara, so some Akihabara shopping
Must do: Ginza, Zojo-Ji, Tower of Tokyo
Possibles: Hamarikyu gardens and Kyushiba-Rikyu gardens
Day 12 (Tokyo)
DisneySea
Day 13 (Tokyo)
Must do: Walk around Chiyoda, Yasukuni shrine, Tokyo Daijingu, Mejiro Garden. Night at Shinjuku
Day 14 (Tokyo)
Must do: Senso-ji, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Observatories, Nezu Shrine, Tokyo Skytree and shopping
Day 15 (Tokyo)
Must do: Shinjuku, Meiji shrine, Imperial Palace, Shibuya Crossing and Hachiko Statue.
Day 16 (Tokyo)
At the moment is a "free day", I want to do Kamakura and Yokohama (Yokohama in particular). but might be better suited for something else you might recommend.
Day 17 (Tokyo)
Flight back early in the morning.
To consider:
Please feel free to recommend something else in on of the days as a Must or Possible or ask for clarifications.
Days in each city are set in stone (we have acommodations already) but the order of each day in each city can be moved around.
If a day is too packed or too light (doubt it) please suggest to add or remove something.
by Individual-Bath-8067