I will be travelling to Japan with my two friends from April 3rd to 13th and there are quite a few things I am unsure about. Hotels and flights are booked (all hotels are really close to a train station) but the hotels can be changed free of charge. We will have a 7-day JR-pass.
Tokyo
Day 1 : arriving at about 2pm. Will take the bus to the city and from there to our hotel in Shinjuku. We will eat something and maybe explore Shinjuku.
Day 2: thinking about booking a free walking tour. We want to visit a museum and an art museum. Explore shops and anime stores.
Kyoto
Day3 : Travel via Shinkansen to Kyoto (activate JR Pass) and explore the city. (Perhaps booking a tea ceremony, maybe going to an onsen?
Day 4: free walking tour again? If not, we want to see Fushimi-Inari Taisha Shrine, Nijo Castle, and the closest temples.
Osaka
Day 5: from Kyoto to Universal Studios Osaka.
Day 6: exploring Osaka and its rich kitchen!
Nara
Day 7: via train from Kyoto to our hotel in Nara, visiting kofuku-ji and Nara deer park.
Tokyo
Day 8: via trains back to Tokyo, participating in a tour at night
Day 9: Disneyland
Day 10: if possible Ghibli museum and free time
Day 11: a short free time until we have to go to the airport.
Do you think there are places I have to visit or places I plan on visiting that are too unrealistic?
And can we bring our luggage with us on the trains? We will have one middle sized luggage and three small carry-on bags.
Thank you so much for your help!
Edit: sorry I meant Disneyland of course!
3 comments
I’d double check if you really need a JR pass for this trip this seems to be on the edge in terms of saving money.
> Day 2: thinking about booking a free walking tour. We want to visit a museum and an art museum. Explore shops and anime stores.
Tokyo is very large so you will kind of need to narrow down an area of the city you want to see. The criteria here could apply to many different areas.
> Nara Day 7: via train from Kyoto to our hotel in Nara, visiting kofuku-ji and Nara deer park.
Not sure it makes much sense to change hotels for a single night just for Nara. Unless there is a specific reason why you want to stay at that hotel or overnight in Nara. It’s probably best to just stick with 1 hotel while you’re in the Kansai region. This will save on the hassel of checking in and out of different places.
> Day 9: Disney World
This is in Florida.
> Do you think there are places I have to visit or places I plan on visiting that are too unrealistic?
Nothing seems really unrealistic, you probably need to actually have more definition in what you want to do.
> And can we bring our luggage with us on the trains? We will have one middle sized luggage and three small carry-on bags.
You can bring luggage on trains. Depending on the dimensions of your larger suitcase you may need to reserve space on the shinkansen for it.
May I ask how much did the flight tickets and hotel cost you? I’m planning a trip around the same time but the tickets are super expensive (£1,000+)
depending on how deadset you are on Disneyland, I would actually suggest Disney Sea instead. It’s a unique park to Japan. Disneyland is very similar to the other ones in FL/CA.