# Itinerary
Hi! My SO and I are planning a 25 day honeymoon trip to Japan, hopefully next year. I made an itinerary [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/otjfq6/itinerary_check_21_days_in_japan_in_2022/) then, but have since tweaked it quite a bit and added a couple of days. We’d like to target probably a split of 1/2 exploration, shopping and nightlife, 1/2 historical sights, shrines, and temples and nature.
Here are the biggest questions that I still have:
– This is a 25 day trip, and I still have 6 days unplanned. What should we do with these unspent days? Should I give myself an extra day at some places (e.g. Osaka?). Would visiting an entirely new city be a good idea? Where should we go?
– Is this an acceptable amount of travel, or is there a way I can cut down on it? I know that Part 2 contains a lot of travel (average of 2.5h per day), but given that we want to see both Himeji and Koyasan, there’s a lot of travel going on during that time.
– Is it acceptable to arrive between 8-11 PM for check in at hotels (non-Ryokan)? I tried to move most travel to new cities to the late evening (e.g. leaving around 5).
– If there’s any advice you have on this itinerary, that would be great! It’s still open for tweaking.
Here’s my current itinerary:
## Part 0 – Arrival
– Day 1 – Leave, 12-13 hour flight to Haneda (timezone day skip)
– Day 2 – (afternoon) arrive in Tokyo & eat, then go to hotel. jet lag
## Part 1 – Tokyo (& Kanto)
– Day 3: Tokyo
– Morning: Asakusa
– Senso-ji, Nakamise Shopping Street
– Afternoon/Evening:
– Skytree, Akihabara, Ameyoko Yokocho (whichever we want)
– Day 4: Kamakura
– Morning: Hasedera Temple
– Afternoon: Great Buddha, Light hiking, Other temples/shrines
– Evening: Komachi-Dori, exploring
– Day 5: Enoshima
– Morning, Early Afternoon: Visit Enoshima Island
– Late Afternoon: Trip to Hakone, check into Ryokan **(2h travel)**
– Day 6: Hakone
– Morning: Open Air Museum
– Afternoon: Pola Museum or Okada Museum of Art
– Evening: Travel to Osaka **(3.5h travel)**
## Part 2 – Kansai
– Day 7: Osaka
– Morning/Early Afternoon: Himeji Castle **(2h there, 2h travel total)**
– Late Afternoon/Evening: Minami (Namba), Dotonbori
– Day 8: Koyasan
– Morning: Travel to Koyasan, check in at temple lodging **(2.5h travel)**
– Afternoon: Okunoin Temple, ???
– Evening: Stay at temple lodging (宿坊, shukubō)
– Day 9: Osaka
– Morning: Check out from Koyasan and travel back to Osaka **(2.5h travel)**
– Afternoon: Osaka Aquarium, Osaka Station City
– Evening: (Night) Umeda Sky Building
– Day 10: Kyoto
– Morning: Travel to Kyoto **(<1h travel)**
– Morning: Kiyomizudera Temple & Surroundings
– Afternoon: Higashiyama District & Gion
– Evening: Explore Kyoto
– Day 11: Kyoto
– Morning: Fushimi Inari Shrine
– Afternoon: ??? Porta Mall
– Day 12: Kyoto
– Morning/Aftern: Arashiyama (Tenryuji, Bamboo Groves)
– Evening: Travel to Takayama **(3.5h travel, Kyoto → Nagoya → Takayama)**
## Part 3 – Chubu
– Day 13: Takayama
– Morning: Hida Folk Village
– Afternoon: Old Town
– Evening: Travel to Kanazawa **(2.5h travel)**
– Day 14: Kanazawa
– Morning/Afternoon: Kenrokuen, Seisonkaku Villa, Ninjadera
– Evening: Ryokan check in, Ryokan dinner, see town at night. Stay at Ryokan
– Day 15: Kanazawa
– Morning/Afternoon: Higashi Chaya District, Katamachi
– Evening: Travel to Tokyo **(2.5h travel)**
Days 16-21: ???. What do I do with these? Spend more time in certain cities? Visit a new one?
## Part 4 – Tokyo Again
– Day 22 – Tokyo (Shinjuku)
– Morning: Ghibli Museum
– Afternoon: Nakano Broadway & Shinjuku
– Evening: Explore Shinjuku
– Day 23 – Tokyo (Shibuya)
– Morning: Meiji Shrine
– Afternoon: Takeshita Dori (Harajuku Station) shopping
– Evening: Shibuya shopping
– Shibuya Crossing & Hachiko Statue
– Day 24: Tokyo (Yokohama)
– All Day: Explore, Shopping
– Day 25: Tokyo
– Morning: Eat & head to airport
– Leave Japan
18 comments
I got to day three and I’m already tired, remember to take some time and relax too. Japan is a beautiful place, have fun and congrats to you both 🎉
Hey Looks like a good though out itinerary.
I don’t think it’s overflowed with stuff besides the Tokyo area. Remember you can always skip stuff while being there. Ofc in some days you could add more sights and I would have recommended some good sights you didn’t mention but I won’t do that. I just like how though out everything is.
I like how you focused solely on Kanto, Kansai and Chubi area. There is lot to see even with ~ 4 weeks.
With that said you have 6 more days to allocate.
I suggest to do a (1)day trip to Yokohama. It’s a beautiful town especially at night. As a couple I am sure you will enjoy it.
Give Kyoto a little bit more time. Maybe one (2)more day would be perfect so you can relax there.
Definitely give the village between Kanazawa and takayama a look. It’s a nice (3)old village that has some really relaxing vibe. Forgot the name but you can for sure find it something with G.
With that being said there are couple other areas that are great. Or just add some more days to the places you will see anyway.
Hiroshima
Miyajima
Kobe
Nikko
Nagoya area
Nagano
Don’t forget to check out Tsukiji’s Outer Market when you’re in Tokyo for an amazing foodtrip!
Also since you have 6 unplanned days, you might want to use some of them to visit Nikko. They have amazing sights there and Edo Wonderland was really fun!
Also when in Osaka, dont forget to stop by Kuromon Market! Food there is A++
Make sure your spouse is onboard for all that planning, have a general plan like you do and enjoy it. Play it by ear a bit also. You’re literally going to be in the honeymoon phase so your spouse may not want to disappoint you and agree to everything. Look for body language and non verbal cues.
It might be okay to leave the 6 days with a more relaxed itinerary. While you’re in Kansai area; Kobe Sannomiya is one of my favorites for the night life. You can also go to Arima Onsen.
Congratulations!!
Hi! My experience with a 3 week trip was that you can easily overplan things and get tired, also, you have a lot of unknowns as of now. It matters a lot if you go in the spring, or autumn, the latter has less rain, so more outdoor programs are enjoyable. Strictly IMO, but in general, have a list for each city, that you must do, and some optionals, then mix and match according to weather and energy levels.
About Kanazawa, the ninja temple is interesting, just be aware it actually had no ninjas… for me that was annoying. Like, the things they did were still very interesting, but why botch it with false advertising?
Make sure to stop in Shirakawa-go on the way to Takayama.
And my biggest recommendation: Takayama has two festivals each year, the autumn and the spring. So you have a chance to see it no matter which of your two season choices you pick in the end. It was lovely, such an atmosphere. And also, the foodstalls along the river, yum!
BTW for Chubu, you might add an onsen town day for example Gero.
Nikko was recommended by someone else, I think it was lovely.
As a sidetrip from Osaka, Nara is a great place to spend a chill day, feeding the deer and such, always good (I wanted to say the girls loved it, but who am i kidding, we all did…)
Six day is plenty to spare, you can add an extra location like Hiroshima if you really want, Miyajima would be great for honeymooners for example, and its quite distinct from the other major Japanese cities we saw.
I know it wasn’t on the to-do list, but no Disneyland or Universal? Disneyland I defs rank above America and Hong Kongs offerings.
Kanazawa is a nice visit. Osaka is overrated. Nara is nice. Hiroshima is a good visit. Don’t do lots of short visits in one day. Assume you will go back again.
Will start to answer the question that do not require reading the itinerary, just check the check-in time of the hotel, it should be in the info of booking webpages like [booking.com](https://booking.com), From experience, yes it is absolutely ok, that is the moment when I most often get to my accommodation for check-in. Also, there is ryokan than can accept late check-in, obviously not when you have the dinner included (then it’s usually before 5 or 6 pm)
Day 6 : interestingly, you are only planning art museum in Hakone (that is not my cup of tea I must admit) but you should consider checking Owakudani, at least it would give you one chance to see Mount Fuji from Hakone.
Day 11 : place that is easy to access from Fushimi Inari is northern part of Higashiyama, like Philosopher’s path, or you could go more central Kyoto and check Nijo-jo.
In general it seems quite fine.
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For idea of places where you can stay longer. Osaka to have at least a proper full day there. Can also add one day in either Osaka or Kyoto for a day trip to Nara. To add places, you can add a day to move from Takayama to Kanazawa and do it by bus with a stop of a couple of hours by Shirakawa-go (I see you removed it from the original itinerary…). If you want to add at least two more days, then take one day to move from Takayama to Matsumoto (by bus crossing the alps, so you can stop by Hirayu onsen or Kamikochi) and next day for Matsumoto. If you do change the order to do Kanazawa first.
Is it acceptable to do 2.5h of train by day in average ? That is purely a question of travel style and maybe a bit of experience. I’ve done around 7 weeks (over 3 trips) with an average of less than 1.5 nights by accommodation, so changing city as often and easily doing over an hour in the train every day. And that suit my travel style.
Yes, it is a bit more planning, more accommodation to book, more thought into when to take the train (in general I try to be in the train after 5pm, but in some occasion I would be in the train at 7am). You have to plan what to do with luggage, so either ask accommodation to keep it before check-in or after check-out, or bring it to a locker in the train station, so accommodation location is important so you do not lose too much time with that. I must say, there is days I planned that I had to carry my bag all day. And finally, you want to travel light. I personally go with a backpack and maybe for 4 days of cloth, so yes I would do my laundry 2-3 times in two weeks.
Well I live in Kyoto and was quite surprised to see your day 11 plan… I have never seen anyone list the porta mall before.
> Afternoon: ??? Porta Mall
This is just an underground mall at Kyoto station, nothing really special about it. You could explore the station and area around it if want.
It might help to say what time of year you will visit here. The seasons can make some places go from average to must see.
Being you will be at fushimi inari you could go a bit south to the sake brewery district if that interests you. Or really consider taking the rest of the day and just take the Kintestu-kyoto line down to Nara. Todaiji is really worth seeing.
Just as general comment, I did a similar itinerary of 25 days, (tokyo-takayama-shirakawa-ise-osaka-koyasan-nara-kyoto-himeji-hiroshima-naha-ishigaki-tokyo).
We stayed 4 days at kyoto and for us it was short. I would suggest 5 days if you can, but certainly more than what you have now.
I also recommend a day trip (or night then travel elsewhere) to Nara.
Also consider staying one night at shirakawa-go.
I would not suggest going to Ise, it was curious as it is the biggest temple complex and there were no occidental tourists but it is too much far from other places… You will get a similar feeling from kyoto/koyasan.
Try to consider visiting Hokkaido/okinawa or even Kobe if you want something different for the extra days.
This looks like a great itinerary! You will have an amazing honeymoon! I agree with some of the other comments to add Hiroshima/ Miyajima. I would stay for 3 nights, and add the other 3 nights to some of your other stays. You could also stop off in Himeji on the way there to see the castle.
I’d add exploring kichijoji after the ghibil museum. Nakano Broadway and Shinjuku aren’t going anywhere. It’s on the chuo line, which is the same line to both Nakano and Shinjuku, so it’s also super easy access to the rest of your itinerary.
The park ([inokashira ](https://blog.japanwondertravel.com/best-places-to-visit-in-kichijoji-15996)park) where the museum is leads to both mitaka and kichijoji. Kichijoji is a super cute area with a lot of cute shops, cafes and restaurants it also shares a lot of the same big box stores as shinjuku if you want to check those out. There’s even a cute “yokocho” that’s a lot less touristy than golden gai and a totally different feel from Ame yokocho.
[Here’s]( https://www.japanvisitor.com/tokyo/tokyo-area-guides/kichijoji) more info on kichijoji.
My two favorite things in Kyoto were [the monkey park](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g298564-d665440-Reviews-Monkey_Park_Iwatayama-Kyoto_Kyoto_Prefecture_Kinki.html) and [Nara](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4103.html). [Nishiki Market](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g298564-d554672-Reviews-Nishiki_Market_Shopping_District-Kyoto_Kyoto_Prefecture_Kinki.html) is a can’t miss too!
I’m stealing this for my solo trip 100%, you and your partner have a fucking blast!
With your 6 days you can easily find more things to do in Kansai and Chubu, but it depends on how rushed you want things.
For Kansai, you can have another day in Osaka to see a few more sights and eat more of the great food there. Kyoto can easily have another day as there is a lot to see and do there. You can then add another day to either Osaka/Kyoto for a day trip to Nara.
For Chubu, if you like hiking then you can add a day to Takayama and visit Kamikochi. Also there are a few onsen near Kanazawa – check out Kaga Onsen which you might enjoy for a night. If you still have days free then Kiso Valley, Nagano (if in winter) and Matsumoto are all interesting areas to check out.
Two things pop out to me at first. I’d do two nights in Hakone myself. I’ve done it three times with one night and it just feels so rushed. Heading out of Hakone and hopping the train to Kansai is a lot in one day.
Also, I’d avoid a ryokan stay in Kanazawa. I dunno, ryokan are great and all but I don’t think most people really want a ton of nights in them, and Kanazawa has such a great food scene that I’d hate to be stuck eating Kaiseki those nights.
If you stay in a Ryokan, don’t check in too late. I would check in at least one hour before dinner time to be able to go to the open air baths. Some you can ask them to have dinner later at 19:00 instead of 18:00.
Taking a slow time there is an important part of the stay and in most places, the view is much nicer before darkness.
For day 3 I can also recommend a short trip to Kappabashi for cooking ware (if you ever want to get your hands on expensive Japanese chef knives).
Ueno park is also near by Asakusa and worth a visit.
And last time I went to Hoppy Dori (also in Asakusa), highly recommended if you want to mingle with the locals.
Keep in mind that most of the shops in Akiba close around 9pm.