Current plan is to fly into Osaka, landing on October 22, and fly out of Tokyo on November 2. I'm trying to keep the days relaxed and not completely packed full of things to allow for exploration (walking about) and opportunities to pop into any interesting shops or such.
That out of the way, here we go!
- October 22
– Arrive and get IC at the airport
– Transit to hotel and check in
– Nothing else explicitly planned. Probably walk a bit to get the lay of the immediate area and grab some food before crashing (I can sleep on planes, my partner cannot)
- October 23
– Travel to Himeji, enjoy the castle and garden
– Back to Osaka
– Spend a few hours at the Osaka Aquarium
- October 24
– Universal Studios Japan
– Shopping at Nintendo Osaka
- October 25
– Transit to Nara, do various Nara stuff until we're bored
– Back to Osaka
– Maybe visit teamLab Botanical Gardens?
- October 26
– Transit to Kyoto
– Adashino Nenbutsu-ji
– Tenryu-ji
– Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
– Okochi Sanso Villa
– Iwatayama Monkey Park
– Dendengu
– ??? Do I need anything more here? I'm not sure how much time the above would take.
– Transit back to Osaka to sleep
- October 27
– Back to Kyoto
– Samurai and Ninja museum (looks like silly fun), might do their package with blacksmithing
– Daigo-ji
– Nintendo Museum
– This day is very much subject to change depending if the Nintendo Museum is actually open and what we learn about it between now and then.
– Back to Osaka for sleep
- October 28
– Bullet train to Tokyo and then transit to ??? (thinking we'll stay in Akihabara, but not certain yet)
– Senso-ji
– Sumida Park/Matsuchiyama
– Ueno Park/Gardens (maybe)
– Maybe pop by Tokyo Dome to look around
– teamLab Borderless (maybe)
– Back to hotel to sleep
- October 29
– Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo cafe (could move to another day if I can't get a reservation here)
– Round 1 arcade
– Maybe a food tour
– Back to hotel
- October 30
– Gyoen National Garden
– Arcades
– Mipig Cafe
– Meiji Jingu
– Yoyogi Park
– Walking around Shibuya
– Back to hotel
- October 31
– Transit to Takaosan
– Hike
– Back to Tokyo
- November 1
– Tama Zoological Park
– teamLab Planets (maybe)
- November 2
– Flight home
Other things we're interested in that weren't listed here:
Owl cafe
Kirby cafe
Arcades (seriously, half the reason I'm so excited to go is for arcades)
Shopping (souvenirs, clothes)
Okay, with all of that said, I have a couple bonus questions outside of looking for general itinerary feedback:
Does anyone have a strong preference of airline when flying to Japan? My cheapest options right now are Eva Air and Air Canada. JAL and ANA are both $500+ more which doesn't seem worth it to me, but maybe someone can change my mind.
Is there a good rule of thumb when it comes to how much cash to bring? Neither of us have an iPhone, so we know we'll need cash to refill IC cards for transit. I'm assuming arcades will need cash as well. Anything else that could trip us up? We have two CCs that are free of international fees (Visa and Discover). I can use those or my debit card to pull cash if we get desperate, but I'd rather not if I can avoid it thanks to fees (I think it's 3-5% of the amount).
Thanks so much to everyone to takes the time to read and respond. This sub has already been very helpful! 😀
by Luminaria19